Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.”
(Genesis 18:1)

Abraham had spoken to God. Abraham had obeyed God. Now Abraham was being physically visited by God. I believe, as do some others, that this is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Himself. Some scholars believe it was an angel (The Angel of the Lord), who was operating with the authority and power of the Lord, speaking as God in the circumstances and that is quite possible. It does happen elsewhere in scripture. But I think the personal pronouns, the WAY He talks to Himself and then to Abraham, they all point to this being God. And Jesus is the physical part of God that we interact with. That’s His role within the Trinity. The Father stays on the Throne in Heaven. Holy Spirit is incorporeal and cannot be ‘seen’. Jesus is the One we can touch. Jesus is the One we physically can interact with (Acts 9:1-19).

Abraham was resting when God appeared. He wasn’t working. He wasn’t talking. He was being quiet. It is often in the quiet moments that we have our deepest encounters with God. When we are quiet, we are putting aside the cacophony of our interior thoughts and letting ourselves listen. When we are listening is when we can realise that God is speaking (Psalm 46:10). Our stillness enables us to witness His goodness. We get out of our own way and let God be God – and then we SEE it.

God calls us to work. It’s part of what we were created to do. Adam was given a job almost immediately (Genesis 2:15). Paul exhorted the lazy to get to work (2 Thessalonians 3:10). Work isn’t a bad thing. But toil is part of the curse. Which means resting from work, or taking a break because circumstances are not favourable for doing work, isn’t a bad thing. Abraham was not pausing for the whole day. He was resting during the heat of the day. During the worst of the day. In that rest, God appeared – a picture of the Sabbath in my opinion (Hebrews 4:9-11).

This was about three months or so after the last time the Lord interacted with him – about the circumcision. In order to keep the timeline the Lord set down at that time for the birth of the promised son from Abraham and Sarah’s physical bodies, the pregnancy needed to happen soon. Abraham was not necessarily looking for a physical interaction with God, but he was probably looking for a verbal confirmation that things had begun. That Sarah WAS pregnant.

The sage Sforno writes: ‘וירא אליו ה’ באלוני ממרא, because this was where Avraham had circumcised himself at that time. His whole household had been circumcised with him at the time. This is where G’d manifested Himself as a sign that He stood by the covenant, similar to the verse at the beginning of Deuteronomy 29,9-11, commencing with the words אתם נצבים היום, and to Kings II 23,3 ויכרות לפני ה’. He appeared to Avraham seeing he was the individual most deserving to be the recipient of such a vision. We have a similar occurrence in Exodus 4,24 ויפגשהו ה’, where G’d “met” with Moses without delivering an oral message. At that time G’d’s purpose was to ensure that Moses would circumcise his son, to maintain the covenant which was to be an eternal covenant with the descendants of Avraham as spelled out in Genesis 17,11-12. Perhaps this is the reason why a chair is prepared at the occasion of the circumcision (Pirkey de Rabbi Eliezer 29, as well as Zohar Bereshit 13,10) This chair alludes to the fact that hopefully, the presence of G’d will attend this marking of the sign of the covenant by a new member of the Jewish people.’

The sage Chizkuni writes: ‘וירא אליו, “He appeared to him;” Rabbi Chama son of Rabbi Chanina, claims that this appearance occurred on the third day after Avraham had circumcised himself. (Talmud Babba Metzia 86, and quoted by Rashi.) G-d “visited” him as one visits a sick person. The interpretation by that Rabbi is plausible as we do not find anywhere else that the word: וירא is used without the purpose or message of that appearance being spelled out by the Torah. Other commentators believe that G-d’s appearance to Avraham was necessary in connection with revealing to him what He intended to do to the inhabitants of Sodom and the cities associated with it. The angels’ appearance to Avraham interrupted what G-d had planned to tell him at that point, seeing that one of them at least was charged with saving Lot. A third interpretation: The substance of the word וירא was the visit paid to Avraham by the three angels. It is not unusual for angels to be referred to as “G-d, Divine beings;”the author cites some examples of this being: Exodus 23,21, where G-d explains to Moses that His name his integral to the angel He plans to send ahead of the marching Israelites, and that this is a reason the people must be especially cautious not to offend him. The angel has the authority to react without first obtaining specific permission from G-d to do so. At the burning bush we find another such occasion where G-d and the angels are referred to interchangeably; we also find it at the binding of Yitzchok, when “G-d” is portrayed as commanding Avraham to offer his beloved son as an offering, whereas an “angel” orders him not to harm his son. כחום היום, “during the hottest part of the day.” This detail has been added in honour of Avraham who, at a time when the chance of potential guests being out in the sun was extremely slim, nonetheless positioned himself in that heat in such a way that he could not fail to notice anyone being out in the sun. This is why after begging the angels, (whom he thought to be weary travelers) he added that as soon as they had refreshed themselves he would not detain them any longer. After all, it was midday; when these angels came to Lot he offered them lodging for the night as it was too late to continue their journey on the same evening. (Compare 19,1.)’

The sage Or HaChaim writes: ‘I believe that the message to Abraham was that henceforth G’d’s presence would rest on him on a permanent basis [that he enjoyed a measure of the Holy Spirit. Ed.] In kabbalistic terms, Abraham had now become a “carrier of the שכינה.” Bereshit Rabbah 47,6 describes all the patriarchs in those terms. The present form of address indicates that G’d’s presence became felt by Abraham. Had the Torah used the usual wording we could not have become aware that G’d distinguishes between revelation itself, and the One who reveals Himself. It is because of this that Abraham’s future visions are never again introduced by the word וירא. We find only: “G’d spoke to Abraham.” This is a reminder he already wore the “crown” indicating that G’d’s presence was upon him.’

The sage Rav Hirsch writes: ‘וירא אליו. Gods Presence is everywhere, but it is not apparent to everybody. Only after an act of devotion such as Abraham had just performed, and as he was constantly performing, does it become really apparent to human beings. כחם היום, the heat of the day would drive people indoors into the shaded rooms. But Abraham — and אליו joins it directly to the preceding and makes the following directly connected with it — so that the pain and weakness from the Mila just recently performed must be added, Abraham did not seek the shade, did not allow himself this relief, but looked out for travellers, with the burning sun beating down on their heads, to invite them to the hospitality of the shade of his tent. Nothing was immediately told to Abraham at this visitation. What God really was to tell him we learn later on: ’וה׳ אמר המכסה וגו the revelation of the decision to destroy Sodom.’