Abraham receives three unexpected visitors in today's passage.
"The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground." (Genesis 18:1-2) It's not clear whether Abraham immediately recognizes this as a visit from the Lord or not, but as was the custom of the day, he hurries toward them to be a good host.
It's also unclear from the original text in the following verses whether Abraham is addressing the leader of the group of three as "lord" (in the same way we might respectfully call a man "sir" in our day) or whether he means "Lord" (which would indicate he's aware one of these men is the pre-incarnate Christ). The NIV translation renders it as "lord", but has a notation that it could also be translated as "Lord". "He said, 'If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way---now that you have come to your servant.'"(Genesis 18:3-5a)
In Abraham's day, it was considered an honor to be able to refresh weary travelers, so although his hospitality may seem a bit over the top in our time when we have to be wary of "stranger danger", Abraham's behavior is typical of a man of his day. The men agree to his suggestion. "'Very well,' they answered, 'do as you say.'" (Genesis 18:5b)
"So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. 'Quick,' he said, 'get three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.' Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree." (Genesis 18:6-8) He stays nearby, like a server in a restaurant or like a servant in the dining hall of a great mansion, in case his guests need anything.
They finish their meal and ask a question to which they already know the answer. "'Where is your wife Sarah?' they asked him." (Genesis 18:9a) I think they ask this question for at least a couple of reasons. One, it reveals to Abraham (in case he doesn't already know) that this is a visitation from the Lord. Abraham hasn't brought his wife out of the tent to introduce her to them. He hasn't been standing there chatting about her and about their life together. Yet they know he has a wife and they know her name. Second, Sarah is within earshot of them and will hear the mention of her name. This will draw her to the doorway of the tent.
Abraham answers them. "'There, in the tent,' he said. Then one of them said, 'I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.'" (Genesis 18:9b-10a) I believe that the one who speaks is the one often referred to in the Old Testament as "the angel of the Lord": an appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ, otherwise known as a "Christophany". You will recall that earlier in Genesis the slave girl Hagar was met by "the angel of the Lord" and that she recognized Him as the Lord and gave Him worship as the Lord.
This visit must be taking place quite soon after Abraham's conversation with the Lord in Chapter 17. In Chapter 17 the Lord promised Abraham that Sarah would have a son "by this time next year". Sarah won't realize she is pregnant until Chapter 21, so the events of Chapter 17 and Chapter 18 must have taken place very close to each other. "Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, 'After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?'" (Genesis 18:10b-12) Abraham laughed in Chapter 17 when the Lord promised him a son by Sarah, but his laugh was one of delight and of receiving news that seemed almost too good to be true. Sarah's reaction is generally accepted to be one of scorn. I believe this is how the text is intended to be read, and in my mind I can almost hear her make a disrespectful snort before she says in her thoughts, "Now that my husband is an old man, and now that I am past the age of menopause, I'm going to at last obtain my heart's desire of a son? I don't think so!"
I don't feel we should be too critical of Sarah. In many ways, she has dealt with far more than Abraham has due to her barrenness. During all the fertile years of her marriage, month after month she was disappointed that a child was not on the way. All that time, she saw other women who were pregnant, and other women with babies in their arms, and other women holding small children by the hand. You know that in the back of her mind she was thinking, "Why not me? Why am I passed over by the Lord while these women are blessed?" She endured far more pitying looks than Abraham ever did, for in their culture a woman without a child wasn't considered much of a woman at all. Men were respected for other things besides being a father, such as for their character and their hard work at their occupations. But if a woman had no children, people tended to think she had nothing much to show for her life.
Imagine how often Sarah was excluded from the social gatherings (the "mom" groups) of the women in her community. When she was younger, she didn't fit in with the busy moms of small children. Now that she's older, she doesn't fit in with the proud grandmas either. Imagine all the whispering that went on behind her back, with some ladies merely feeling sorry for her but with others speculating that the Lord must be displeased with her due to some sort of sin in her life. A woman in her day could easily end up homeless and destitute if she had no grown son to take care of her after her husband died, so in some ways having a son was a matter of life and death. Sarah is going to be ninety years old before she bears a child, and assuming she married in her late to mid teens as women of her era did, we can calculate that she's had seventy to seventy-five years to develop the attitude she has on the day she lurks in the tent doorway. It must have seemed like a cruel joke to hear the visitor proclaiming she will have a son in her arms by this time next year. She thought he was making fun of her because she's been made fun of so many times in the past by so many other people.
Remember, Sarah didn't laugh out loud or voice her thoughts out loud, so you can picture how shocked she is when the speaker reveals he is aware of her reaction. "Then the Lord said to Abraham, 'Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.'" (Genesis 18:13-14)
Overcome with fright, Sarah tells a lie. "Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, 'I did not laugh.' But he said, 'Yes, you did laugh.'" (Genesis 18:15) For some reason I think we want to read His words as if they were spoken in an accusatory tone, but I really don't believe this is the way they were spoken. The Lord wants Sarah, and all of us, to come clean with Him. We need to be honest with Him and honest with ourselves. Sarah doesn't have the faith at this point in her life to believe that she can ever bear a child. She knows how a woman's body works. She knows that her fertile years are far behind her and that, even when she still had the physical signs of a fertile body, something was wrong. Something didn't allow conception to take place in her body. The Lord wants her to admit to herself and to Him: "I hear what You're saying but I just don't have what it takes to believe You. I've been disappointed too many times. I would love to believe You, but I don't dare let myself believe such a thing could be true. I think one more disappointment will kill me."
I'm reminded of the father of a demon-possessed boy who asked Jesus to help him and then said, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24) That father knew Jesus had done great things for others, or so he had heard. He wanted to believe Jesus would do great things for him, and in a way he did believe it, but in another way he didn't. I can relate to this so much! I can believe that the Lord is fully able to do a great thing for me, yet at the same time doubt that He will. I can believe He will do great things for others while doubting He will do great things for me. He knows we think like this and He wants us to admit it so He can help us. I think when the Lord says to Sarah, "Yes, you did laugh," He's not putting her down or accusing her of anything. I think He's asking her to acknowledge her doubts and be willing to take a leap of faith. That's what the father of the sick boy did in Mark 9: he admitted his doubts and asked the Lord to help him with them. We can't heal ourselves of our doubts, so the best thing we can do is admit to ourselves and the Lord that we have them and ask Him to relieve us of these doubts.
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