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So, we discovered last time that three strangers appears to Abraham whilst he was sitting at the entrance to his ten. Let’s remind ourselves of the opening text.

“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”.

(Gen. 18: 1-2)

So, Abraham looks up and saw three men standing nearby. When he sees them he bows down before them. The strangers in this story really are strangers in the sense of initially being unidentified. I think the ambiguity of who they are initially is important because when we encounter someone new, they are initially a stranger to us. However, even a stranger has intrinsic natural rights and worth is predicated on the biblical concept that we are all created in the image of God. Every human being has contains something of the logos, the divine nature. There's something in all human beings that must be respected. Not only in relation to how we view ourselves, but in our relationship to how we view others, but even more so in our relationship to strangers, even the marginalized.  Even the most hardened criminals had a touch of the divine in them. Everyone must always be respected as having the potential to be transformed. Without that we are in danger of developing an ever-increasing cynical view of the world.

The idea being offered here is that everyone, should be extended hospitality. Abraham knows what to do when strangers come along, and he bows before them offers hospitality. He determines to take a hospitable attitude towards them and thereby welcome them. I think, when you show trust to a stranger you by nature offer an opportunity to draw out the best from them. It's a minor act of courage, it's like making a gesture that encourages the divine image in them to step forward. Even in the most challenging of person-to-person communication, the decision to reach out warmly means that conversations have the potential to be nurturing, and even restorative sometimes. When you listen to people and their stories you learn something you didn't know before you met them. That means that you can treat the world of strangers as an endless vista of places to learn things you didn't yet know.

But did you notice verse one says the Lord appeared to Abraham.  A very important point to make to this point that the word translated “Lord” is the personal name of God. So, it actually says “Yahweh” appeared. (18: 1) We note Abraham was pitched under an Oak tree at Mamre in the middle of the day, it’s the middle of the day so it’s hot. It then says Abraham, “looked up” “raised up his eyes” (KJV) Many commentators suggest this means he may have been meditating or praying. At any rate his head was bowed, and these men approach him. When he sees them, he rushes from the tent door to meet them and bows before them, low to the ground. Now there's some nuances of things being suggested here. It's helpful to understand exactly what is happening, He is sitting in the door of the tent when they approach and they initially just stand there. That was the normal custom, a bit like somebody coming to our house and knocking on the door. They wouldn't just come in or begin a conversation with you until you stepped out and offered an invitation. When God shows up at your door it seems he is likely to wait for you to reach out, to offer an invitation for him to enter in. Abraham he looks up he sees them, and he invites them to stay.

I want to pause for a moment and talk about these 3 men. Who are they? It just says, “three men” in verse two but in verse one it already had said, “the Lord appeared to him.” General agreement across most bible commentators is that one of the three beings is in fact the Lord, “the preincarnate Jesus”. As a matter of fact, if you were listening carefully when the passage was first read you may have noticed that later in verse 13 it says, “and the Lord said to Abraham”. So, one of the 3 is definitely the Lord. Verse one implies it, but verse 13 will confirmed it. The other two are angels and that will also be confirmed later in this story both later in this chapter and in the next. I think it's significant that one of them is Christ the Lord, taking on the manifestation of a person. This event (A Christophany) happens several times in the Old Testament. So, there are three men including the Lord and one of them speaks, and Abraham sees them, and he bows down to them and then a conversation begins. We shall look at that in the next episode.