Abraham & Adonay

Adonay, Abraham & Angels

PART SIX

Genesis 18 NABRE

1 The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oak of Mamre, as he sat in the entrance of his tent, while the day was growing hot. 2 Looking up, he saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them; and bowing to the ground, 3 he said: “Sir, if it please you, do not go on past your servant. 4 Let some water be brought, that you may bathe your feet, and then rest under the tree. 5 Now that you have come to your servant, let me bring you a little food, that you may refresh yourselves; and afterward you may go on your way.” “Very well,” they replied, “do as you have said.”

6 Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick, three measures of bran flour! Knead it and make bread.” 7 He ran to the herd, picked out a tender, choice calf, and gave it to a servant, who quickly prepared it. 8 Then he got some curds and milk, as well as the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them, waiting on them under the tree while they ate.

Abraham ran to meet the three visitors, which he saw.  He seems to recognize one of them before whom he bowed and to whom he spoke. All three appear to be men. They have feet that can be washed, and they can eat and be refreshed.

If we continued reading into Chapter 19, we would find that two of the three visitors are angels in human form. The writer knows this, the writer also knows in this chapter that one of the three is actually Yahweh, for he points out that it is the LORD who appeared to Abraham. The question is, does Abraham know this?

Let’s keep reading. Genesis 18:16-18, 22-25 NABRE:

16 With Abraham walking with them to see them on their way, the men set out from there and looked down toward Sodom. 17 The LORD considered: Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 now that he is to become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth are to find blessing in him?

…

22 As the men turned and walked on toward Sodom, Abraham remained standing before the LORD. 23 Then Abraham drew near and said: “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there were fifty righteous people in the city; would you really sweep away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people within it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! Far be it from you! Should not the judge of all the world do what is just?”

The fact that Abraham addresses the One with the title “The Judge of all the earth” indicates that Abraham did know who he was speaking with.  Abraham had heard His Voice before.  Abraham had seen His form before.

“I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to my ‘Adonay (my LORD).”

— Genesis 18:27 NABRE

Finally, in the 27th verse Abraham calls this One “my ‘Adonay (H136).  The Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon says this title ‘Adonay is only used of YHWH where He is submissively and reverently addressed.

Abraham’s spiritual journey includes a divine figure that is integral to Israelite Godhead thinking: the visible appearance of YHWH as a man. This is another Old Testament precedent for Yahweh being visible and embodied. This would have helped a Torah observant believer accept the idea that the LORD God could show up in human form.

Additional Information About Angels

Genesis 22 marks a shift in the language used and the method of describing the appearance of the visible Yahweh figure. We have just read a passage of scripture where both angels and the LORD are entertained in the form of human men. The term the Angel of Yahweh, or the angel of the LORD is not as clear. This is partly because of the word angel.

We generally think of angels as a particular class of divine beings which the LORD created.  Therefore, no being referred to as an angel could possibly be a part of the Godhead.  However, the word angel does not refer to a class of heavenly beings, it is a word that applies to an assignment, a job description not a class beings or level of rank.

The Hebrew word translated angel is mal’ak (singular) and mal’kim (plural). This word means “messenger.” This is also used of human messengers.

Then Jacob sent messengers (mal’ak) before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

— Genesis 32:3 NKJV

When the Bible speaks of God sending a human messenger to deliver His word, they are also called a mal’ak, such was Haggai.

“Then Haggai, the messenger (mal’ak) of the Lord who had received the Lord’s message, said to the people, “I am with you, declares the Lord.”

— Haggai 1:13 NKJV

This shows us that the primary idea of this word is the concept of being sent with a message. This is the reason we need to examine a passage to understand the more clearly what the writer is communicating.

In this study our focus is not primarily on messenger’s or angels in a general sense. We are reading to discover how Yahweh identified and distinguished Himself as He engaged with the prophets and patriarchs in the Old Testament. This is why we ask, “Who is the messenger of Yahweh? Who is the Angel of the LORD?”

As we open the Bible to answer this question, it is good to understand that the use of capitals is really at the discretion of the translators and publishing house. Some translations capitalize all pronouns connected to God, others do not. Some translations capitalize titles, and terms when they think they apply to God, and others don’t. Such is the case with the title, Angel of the LORD.