Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

ABRAHAM AS INTERCESSOR 18 : 1-3 3
opinion on the fact, as Kurtz expresses it, that their mis-
sion was not merely to promise, but to punish as well as
to deliver, Others maintain that it was the Lord who
appeared, speaking through the medium of his messengers.
But this view is open to many and strong objections:-
1. Because the superiority of the one whom Abraham ad-
dressed is acknowledged through the whole interview, whilst
his two attendants, as his inferiors, ,observe a respectful
silence. 2. Because he speaks and undertakes to act as a
Divine person, whilst the other two claim only to be
messengers (19:13). 3. Because Scripture does not give
any instance of an address being presented to God as repre-
sented by a created angel. 4. Because, not to mention the
name Adonai, which is used six times, that of Jehovah is
applied eight times to him in this passage. 5. Because he
ascribes to himself the right and power of independent
judgment in the case of Sodom. 6. Because, on the hy-
pothesis that they were all three created angels, it is im-
possible to account for the third not taking part in the
judicial work at Sodom; whereas the cause of his absence,
if he was the angel of the Covenant, is perfectly explicable.
7. And only this view affords a satisfactory explanation of
the circumstance that throughout this chapter the three
are called men, while in the next chapter, the two are
designated angels-viz., to prevent a confounding the Lord
with the angels who attended Him. The condescending
familiarity of the visit accords with the simplicity of the
early patriarchal age, and with the initial education of
Abraham in religious knowledge. It is probable that in
some of the past revelations with which Abraham was
favored, a visible appearance had been vouchsafed: and
that he who must have been incapable of rising to the
conception of a spiritual Being would become familiar
with the idea of an all-powerful mysterious man, who both
in Chaldea and Canaan had repeatedly manifested himself,
promising, guiding, protecting, and blessing him as a
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