John Gill Commentary Genesis 18

And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre
That is, to Abraham; and very likely this appearance of God was quickly after the affair of the circumcision, to show his approbation of his ready obedience to his command; and at this time he was in the plains, or at the oaks of Mamre, the oaken grove there, as has been observed on (Genesis 13:18); and which seems to be the best rendering of the words, since in (Genesis 18:4Genesis 18:8); mention is made of a tree to sit and stand under; and Abraham might choose this place for his habitation, because of the shadiness of it, in those hot countries:

and he sat in the tent door, in the heat of the day ;
partly to cool and refresh himself, and partly to observe if any passengers passed by, to invite them in; this being a time of day when such needed refreshment, and it was proper for them to lie by a while, and not proceed on their journey until it was cooler: or rather to or "near" the tent door, as Noldius ^F7 , or before it, without or under the shade of the tree, after mentioned.

FOOTNOTES:

• F7: Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 13.

And he lifted up his eyes and looked
To see if he could observe any passengers coming that way:

and, lo, three men stood by him ;
having perhaps descended at once from heaven upon the spot near where Abraham sat; for these, whoever they were, appeared in a human form, and they were taken by Abraham at first sight to be men, and as such he treated them.

Some have taken these to be the three divine Persons, as some of the ancients; of which opinion was Dr. Lightfoot, who expressly says ^F8 , ``three months after this, (i.e. the institution of the circumcision,) the three Persons in the Trinity dine with Abraham, and foretell the birth of Isaac; again, the Son and the Holy Ghost go down to Sodom, but the first Person in the Trinity stays with Abraham'' and elsewhere <sup>F9</sup> , ``the three Persons in the Trinity, in the shape of three men, appear to Abraham and dine with him, and eat the first flesh mentioned eaten in all the Scripture.''

But to this may be objected, that the Father and the Holy Spirit are never said to appear in a human form, see (John 5:37) ; or are ever called angels, as these are, (Genesis 19:1) ;

But they rather seem to be angels, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call them, in the likeness of men, who were sent on three messages, as they suggest; one to bring the news of Sarah's bearing Isaac; the other to deliver Lot; and the third to overthrow Sodom and Gomorrah; which is a much better sense than that of Ben Gersom, who takes them to be three prophets, and mentions the names of two of them, Shem and Heber; for two of these are expressly called angels, (Genesis 19:1) ; and the apostle seems to refer to this history, (Hebrews 13:2) ; in the Talmud ^F11 they are said to be Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael:

The truth of the matter seems to be this, that one of them was the son of God in a human form, that chiefly conversed with Abraham, and who rained from heaven brimstone on Sodom; and the other two were angels in the like form that accompanied him in that expedition:

and when he saw [them], he ran to meet them from the tent door ;
for, though they are before said to stand "by him", it must be understood of their being near him, but at some little distance; and as soon as he saw them, he did not stay for their coming up to him, but, to show how ready he was to entertain them, he arises from his seat at the tent door and ran to meet them, and gave them a hearty welcome to what he would provide for them:

and bowed himself toward the ground ;
not in a way of religious adoration, for, had he taken them for angels, he could not have done that, and he knew not as yet that one of them was Jehovah; but in a civil manner, as was the custom of those countries when in the presence of, or when they received great personages, and such, by their look and habit, Abraham took these to be.

FOOTNOTES:

• F8: Works, vol. 1. p. 13.
• F9: Ib. p. 695.
• F11: T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 37. 2.

And said, my Lord
He addressed himself to one of them who appeared to him to be the greatest and most honourable, either by the appearance of his countenance, or by his dress, or by the situation in which he was between the other two, and by their carriage and behaviour to him:

if now I have found favour in your sight ;
signifying he should esteem it an honour done him, that he and his companions would vouchsafe to stop and refresh themselves:

pass not away, I pray you, from your servant ;
they might seem, by some motion they made, as if they were going another way, and declined turning in to him.

Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your
feet
Which was very refreshing to travellers in hot countries, who walked barefoot or in sandals; and this he proposes to be done by one of his servants, whose business it was, only desires they would give him leave to order it, (1 Samuel 25:41); and so it was usual in other countries, and in later times, for servants to fetch water to wash the hands and feet of guests ^F12 :

and rest yourselves under the tree ;
before the tent door, under which doubtless were seats to sit down upon, where they might rest their weary limbs; it is very probable this was an oak tree, and which, and a turpentine tree the ancient writers speak of, continued to the times of Constantine, (See Gill on Genesis 13:18); and the Jewish writers say ^F13 , that now near the city (Hebron), between the vineyards, are the oaks of Mamre, where is the house of Abraham our father, on whom be peace, and the tree under which the angels ate, and the stone on which he (Abraham) sat when he was circumcised.

FOOTNOTES:

• F12: ----- dant manibus famuli lymphas." --Virgil. Aeneid. l. 1.
• F13: Cippi Hebr. p. 9. Ed. Hottinger.

And I will fetch a morsel of bread
A piece or a loaf of bread, as De Dieu shows the word signifies; bread being put for all the necessaries of life:

and comfort you your hearts ;
eat to refresh your spirits and renew your strength, that you may be able to pursue your journey: and

after that you shall pass on
your way; I will retard you no longer:

for therefore are you come to your servant ;
not that he thought they came this way on purpose to take some refreshment with him, but so it was ordered by the providence of God; and since it was, he desires that they would accept of his invitation:

and they said, so do as you have said ;
they agreed to it, that water should be fetched to wash their feet, and food for them to eat.