CHAPTER X.

SODOM.

Three heavenly visitors-Renewed promise of a son to Sarah--Abraham intercedes for Sodom-Ramet-el-Khalil-Destruction of the Cities of the Plain-Testimonies of ancient writers-Physical agents of the catastrophe-Site of the five cities-Treatment of the angels in Sodom-Lot saved-Lot's wife-Catastrophe widely reported -Subsequent history of Lot--Moabites and Ammonites-Lot called ' righteous."

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It was shortly after the institution of the covenant of circumcision that Abraham had an opportunity of showing another side of his character, his hospitality to strangers, his boldness in intercessory prayer. As one day he sat sheltered in his tent door from the heat of the midday sun, he beheld three men approaching over the plain. To see weary strangers and to see guests was with Abraham a natural impulse. Not knowing whom he was receiving, he eagerly offered them hospitality, and thus "entertained angels unawares" (Heb. xiii. 2). With true Eastern ceremony, and perhaps observing some unusual dignity in their bearing, he bowed himself to the ground before them. First addressing one who appeared to be the principal personage of the three, he bids him turn aside and rest; and then, with that care for comfort which travellers shod with sandals find so grateful, he provides for them all water for their feet and refreshing food after their journey. Not at once did he recognize the Divine character of his visitants, or he would scarcely have presumed to offer them meat and drink. It was from the liberality of his heart that he received them so hospitably; and he was rewarded. Some have compared this episode to the sweet history of the childless

pair, Philemon and Baucis, in Ovid's "Metamorphoses" (viii. 626 ff.), or to the story of the aged Hyricus in the same poet's "Fasti" (v. 495 ff.), in the days when, according to Homer (“Odyss.” xvii. 485 ff.), the gods assuming human forms used to roam the earth in order to try the dispositions of men.

To the believing mind there can be no doubt that these three angels did really appear objectively to Abraham on this occasion, and that one of them was of higher dignity than the others. The account begins: “And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre " (Gen. xviii. 1), and then goes on to narrate how he suddenly saw “three men” before him as he sat in his tent-door in the noontide heat, thus implying that the appearance of the Lord was the visit of these three personages. When two of them departed to the Cities of the Plain, and one is left, Abraham is said to have stood yet before the Lord, and the one who answers him is repeatedly called Jehovah. The strict monotheism of Moses would never have allowed the majestic "I," if the speaker were a mere created being, a messenger and nothing more. He who speaks in the first person, as Himself making promises, covenants, and bringing mighty things to pass, must either be God, or have in him some special Presence of God. God is by nature invisible. To be seen by mortal eyes, He must act through some created being; and therefore St. Augustine holds that these appearances are rather self-manifestations of God through a created being, than those of one of the Persons of the Godhead. But they show remarkably how God was preparing man for a nearer contact with Himself, and pointing to the emptying Himself of His glory in the Incarnation, and teaching the duty of recognizing His Divinity under a created form. So we shall not err in seeing herein a Theophany, a manifestation of the Logos, a revelation of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, who appeared, as He did after His resurrection, with two attendant angels. Or we may put it thus: Man could not bear the sight of God in His absolute nature, for "no man shall see Him and live;" in mercy therefore to his weakness, when He would make Himself known to His creature, He uses the intervention of some angelic being, investing him for the time with the Divine authority and plenary excellence. Thus Abraham, at

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J. H. Blunt, "Dictionary of Theology," Art. Theophany. Liddon, ,'Bampton Lecture," ii. 78, ff. ed. 1867.

first unwittingly, fulfilled the word and won the blessing of the Lord Jesus: "I was a stranger and ye took Me in. Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it unto Me" (Matt. xxv.).

This great man, with his hundreds of slaves ready to do his bidding, himself waited on his guests: he brought the cakes which his wife had baked, and the calf which he had dressed, and butter and milk, and set them before the visitors, and, even as a sheikh will act in the present day, stood humbly by while they ate.' Josephus and Philo found a difficulty in supposing that these heavenly visitants actually ate mortal food. The former says ("Antiq." i. 11. 2) that they appeared only to eat, and the latter ("De Abrah.” 23), that they gave the impression (món) of persons feasting. Theodoret asserts that this was no real consumption of food, because the angels possessed only bodies formed of air, assumed for a special purpose; and the meat that entered these bodies was resolved into the elements, even as the sun turns the moisture of the earth into vapour, but assimilates it not. But there is nothing incredible in the fact, that, as they had assumed human bodies, so they took food as men do, whether miraculously or not. It is true that the angel who visited Manoah (Judg. xiii. 16) refused to eat of his bread; but the action of the three angels may be reverently compared to that of our blessed Lord after His Resurrection, when, to confirm His disciples' faith, He ate before them of a broiled fish (Luke xxiv. 43). So these three by their condescension enabled Abraham to realize their presence, and to assure himself that what he saw was no mere intangible vision. The meal ended, they asked for Sarah, who was close behind them in the tent, and able to hear all that passed. She, as it seems, did not quite share the faith of her husband in the promise of a child; the natural impossibility of such an event struck her as a woman with greater force. And yet it was necessary that she should believe and act as a willing agent in the matter. Hence the visit of the three "angels." But they did not address themselves at once to her. The reserve of sex and the dignity of rank kept her secluded in her own apartment, but the words spoken were intended for her ear, and were sufficiently startling. For then

• Dillimann quotes Shaw, "Travels," p. 208. Buckingham, "Mesopota mia," p. 23.

the Lord revealed Himself. None but Jehovah could make such a promise in such terms: "I will certainly return unto thee when this season comes round again, and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son” (chap. xviii. 10). The hospitality was indeed rewarded. The hitherto indefinite promise was at length precisely determined. The long-announced son should be the child of this aged pair, who had years ago given up all expectation of seed, of whom, naturally speaking, it was impossible that a child should be born. And Sarah in her concealment heard this strange annunication, and laughed in unbelief. Not as her husband, who laughed in joy and wonder when the promise had been made before (chap. xvii. 17), Saralı was incredulous, and her laugh was one of derision as hearing a story beyond belief or hope. Rightly was she reproved by the angel who knew her thoughts. 'Is anything too hard or wonderful for the Lord?" he asks. Then as conviction grew in her heart, and she was afraid; forgetting the reserve hitherto maintained, she answered aloud from her concealment; a denial rose to her lips, but was repressed by the stern answer, "Nay, but thou didst laugh." Her doubts were soon dispelled. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (chap. xi. 11), bears witness to her trust in God's word: "By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive seed when she was past age, since she counted Him faithful who had promised.”

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But the angels had not come only to visit Abraham and to announce the happy news of Sarah's son; they had another purpose in view, which they proceeded to carry out. They set forth on their further journey, and Abraham accompanied them on their way. They were bound for Sodom; and when, as tradition says, they arrived at Caphar-berucha1 (now Beni Naim), whence through a ravine opened a glimpse of the hills around the Dead Sea, the Lord revealed to Abraham the intended destruction of the Cities of the Plain in punishment of their very grievous sin. And why were the secret counsels of God thus made known to a man? Because this man was 66 the Friend of God."2 He had been chosen out of all mankind to be the depositary of Divine truth; he was one who would lead his children in the way of religion and piety; and he would be

St. Jerome. Robinson, "Biblical Researches," i. p. 491.

2 Gen. xviii. 17: "Abraham, my servant," Sept. Philo, "De Sobriet." II (i. 401): "Abraham, my friend" (comp. 2 Chron. xx. 7).

thus able to hand down to those who should hereafter be dwellers in the land the hidden cause of the desolation of that spot, and an emphatic warning against those sins which were visited so heavily. "I have known him," says God, not to Abraham, but in His secret thought (as Gen. viii. 21), "I have foreknown and chosen him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment; to the end that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him” (chap. xviii. 19). The great covenant made with Abraham was conditioned by the moral conduct of the human party. There is no favouritism in God's dealings. Abraham was not to presume on the affection with which he was treated, but to remember that the blessing was dependent on the uprightness and piety of the recipient, and was not unalterably destined for him and his posterity irrespectively of moral fitness. The patriarch himself may not have needed this warning; but in after years no truth was more disregarded; and no error wrought more disastrous effects in heart and life than the belief that the mere fact of being Abraham's children secured God's favour for ever. The Lord is now about to show that He regarded not one family only, but all the tribes of earth. He was about to interfere in order to punish the guilty, and to display His abhorrence of sin. But God always tempers wrath with mercy. Speaking in human language He declares that He will not punish without investigation; He will " down," as He " went down at the building of the Tower of Babel, and see whether the inhabitants were as corrupt as they appear to be. So the two angels pass on to the valley, and the third, the representative of the Word of God, remains with Abraharn. "And Abraham stood before the Lord." He acknowledged the Presence of God, and, his perfect love casting out fear, he drew nigh unto the Lord, and with reverential boldness interceded for the guilty city. He knew enough of the attributes of Jehovah to be certain that He was perfectly just and infinitely pitiful; he had already learned that God would act with perfect impartiality even to the wicked inhabitants who were destined to make way for the promised seed; the Lord would not cast them out till hope of reformation was at an end and their iniquity was full (chap. xv. 16). Abraham would have God's justice acknowledged even if He was bound to punish

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