Vayera (Part 2) - Genesis 18:1-22:24

The parasha begins with a story of the three men (the text doesn't say angels, who appear later in a later story about Sodom). And because of all of the additional legends added to it later on, people automatically think of these three men as being supernatural instead of simply three travelers who were well known and who also knew Abraham and Sarah.

This "extension by legend" process occurs a lot within religious circles. So it's not suprising that Christians see Jesus in this story.

Jesus?

Yes. And I want to touch on how that happens in order to extend that further to include all legends (aggadic midrashim) that follow the same type of logic.

Preface

In Christianity there is this belief in a pre-incarnate Jesus, meaning, that he existed before humanity.

Since the Torah (the so-called "5 books of Moses") has not a single mention of a messiah, which Christians equate to being a Christ, which becomes a problem. And so, the teachers of Christianity searched for places where Jesus could be inserted into the overall narrative.

After all, without any mention of a messiah, how can you claim that he existed before humanity?

There are a handful of these gems, and in this blog entry, I am going to focus on Genesis, chapter 18.

For brevity, I am going to omit the Hebrew text. (The English text is my translation). At points where comments are needed, I will insert them, otherwise I will continue on. 

Genesis 18:

1. And YHVH appeared to [Abraham] by some sapling at Mamre as [Abraham] sat at the tent opening in the heat of the day.

2. And [Abraham] lifted his eyes and he saw. And lo, three men were standing not too far from him, And [Abraham] saw, and he ran to greet them from the opening of the tent and bowed down to the land.

The Hebrew word for men here is "enoshim", which is often used for people of some importance. The Hebrew term for "standing" is actually "to have been positioned", being in one's place. The next term is difficult, because "ahl" means upon. Instead of "upon", I used "not too far". They were close enough for him to respond, but far enough away to run to them. 

This is important: bowing was a form of Honor, as well as calling someone "adoni" ("sir"), as we read in Genesis 23:11, when wanting to buy a grave for his wife, he calls the head of the town "adoni", and twice he bows down before the people of the community as he makes his request (Genesis 23:7 and 23:12). It has other meanings as well, which I will explain below.

So at this point, you have YHVH by a cluster of some sort of trees by the tent, Abraham outside of the tent, bowing, and these three men. And it is to the apparent leader of the 3, since the offer is to them, and he is speaking in the single tense. To Christians, this person, part of the "trinity" of men is Jesus

3. And [Abraham] said, "Sir, if I have found grace in your eyes, please do not pass by from your servant."

"found grace in your eyes" is an expression of seeking a favor, as in "if you find me worthy" with "servant" an expression of humility and not his status.

4. [Abraham]: "Now a bit of water will be fetched, you-all will wash your feet, and you-all will recline beneath the tree."

Here the trio is told, in the plural form, to go was and rest by the nearby tree where YHVH is stationed. YHVH is silent during this and in a few verses will excuse himself to leave, and the speaking form will switch.

5. [Abraham]: "And I will fetch a bit of bread, and you-all will stay your heart. After that, you-all will pass on, forasmuch as you are come to your servant." And they said, "Do thusly as you have spoken."

It is interesting that supernatural beings need to eat. Most apologetics state that they weren't really eating, but were appearing to do s, in that way they wouldn't hurt Abraham's feelings. However, it is important to note that the Gods in Canaanite literature were often served food and ate it and, at times, got drunk. But it is not clear that the three men are anything but men.

6.And Abraham hurried into the tent, unto Sarah, and said, "Make ready, quickly, three measures of fine meal, knead, and make cakes."

It is apparent that with the three men, and the three cakes, neither Abraham, nor YHVH will be joining them. These quick cakes are pancakes of dough pressed upon a hot surface and only take a few minutes.

7. And into the herd ran Abraham, and fetched a calf, tender and good, [killed it] and he gave [the remains] to the lad and [the lad] hastened to prepare it.

8. And [Abraham] took curd, and milk, and the calf that [the lad] had prepared, and [Abraham] set it before [the men], under the tree, and [the three men] ate.

9. And they said to [Abraham] "Where is Sarah, your wife"? And [Abraham] said, "Behold, in the tent."

Up to this point, the guests have been in the plural form. It now switches into the single form, which is YHVH, who is ready to go back to the top of His mountain (which he descends in verse 21, which is the start of a different story).

10. And He said, "I will certainly return to you [Abraham] according to [this] time of life, and lo, Sarah, your wife, will have a son." And Sarah heard in the door of the tent, and it was behind [Abraham].

The Gods of the Bible are not all that omniscient. As we will see later, YHVH will descend again to see what is going on in Sodom. The double-language of "return" I have rendered as "certainly return".

11. And Abraham and Saran [were] old-ones, advanced in years, it had ceased to be for Sarah after the manner of women.

I translated a pair of words that would mean many days of days had come to simply be "advanced in years". And Sarah was post-menopausal, in the tent, behind Abraham who was in front of the opening.

12. And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have become worn-out, shall I have pleasure, my husband, being old [also]?"

Here, Sarah calls her husband "Adoni", which means "sir", but also "my husband" or "my lord", "my master".

13. And YHVH said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, "Shall I surely bear a child [now that] I am old?"

14. [YHVH]: "I anything too hard of YHVH? At a set time, I will return to you [Abraham] according to [this] time of life and Sarah will have a son.

YHVH only says half of what Sarah said. Some wonder why He lied. Some say that it was to spare Abraham's feelings, that his wife felt that he was too old.

15. The Sarah denied, saying, "I didn't laugh" For she was afraid. And He said, "No, you did laugh."

At this point, YHVH is no longer there, and will descend to earth 6 verses later. Let's finish the story with the 3 men leaving and Abraham escorting them:

16. And the men rose up from there, and looked out towards Sodom, and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.

END OF STORY

A few points to know about how these stories are arranged:

1) The stories were broken into separate chapters during a later period. Due to ideological issues, the Christians and the Jews have chapter and verse matching issues because one side says that break should be "x" and the other side says that it should be "y". Keeping this in mind, there were never indicators as to when a story ended and a new one began. Somewhere between verse 15 and verse 17, YHVH goes from being with Abraham to being up high. Which is why I indicated that He left. But, in truth, one story is often unrelated to another and may have a different author. So the story of Sodom is a new story. The fact that you have 2 angels in that story and 3 men in the "Dining with Abraham" story doesn't mean anything.

They are unrelated.

In this story, are the men ever called angels? No.
In the next story, are there 3? No.

This is the problem with trying to force an anthology of unrelated stories into a linear history.

SUMMARY

YHVH appears to Abraham and three guys show up. YHVH remains silent until after the three men are done eating. During that time, all grammar is plural. Then YHVH gives the message, chastises Sarah, (all of the grammar is in the singular) and is not heard from again in the story. We assume He went home. The men get up and leave.

Now, where is Jesus?

If you want to say that the three men are the "holy trinity", then you have the problem with YHVH being there and showing up. By tradition, many call the three men angels, and paintings have them with wings and hovering over Abraham. But that problem is because people see the 2 angels in the next story and assume that they are part of the group in the previous story.

We don't know who these three men were. The narrative never gives that information. They were greeted as honored guests, going to a city that Abraham helped defend in a ward against the Gods (Chapter 14 of Genesis), and may have been men whom he had fought with.

We don't know.

And just because we don't know doesn't mean that you get to call one of them Jesus.