Genesis 18

Genesis 18:1

Ambrose of Milan: Abraham, ready to receive strangers, faithful towards God, devoted in ministering, quick in his service, saw the Trinity in a type; he added religious duty to hospitality, when beholding Three he worshipped One, and preserving the distinction of the Persons, yet addressed one Lord, he offered to Three the honour of his gift, while acknowledging one Power. It was not learning but grace which spoke in him, and he believed better what he had not learnt than we who have learnt. No one had falsified the representation of the truth, and so he sees Three, but worships the Unity. He brings forth three measures of fine meal, and slays one victim, considering that one sacrifice is sufficient, but a triple gift; one victim, an offering of three. — On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus

Augustine of Hippo: God appeared again to Abraham at the oak of Mamre in three men, who it is not to be doubted were angels, although some think that one of them was Christ and assert that he was visible before he put on flesh. Now it belongs to the divine power and invisible, incorporeal and incommunicable nature, without changing itself at all, to appear even to mortals, not by what it is but by what is subject to it. And what is not subject to it? Yet if they try to establish that one of these three was Christ by the fact that although he saw three, he addressed the Lord in the singular, as it is written, “He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men stood in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth and said, ‘My lord, if I have found favor in your sight.’ " Why do they not refer also to this, that when two of them came to destroy the Sodomites, while Abraham still spoke to one, calling him Lord and interceding that he would not destroy the righteous along with the wicked in Sodom, Lot received these two in such a way that he too in his conversation with them addressed the Lord in the singular? For after saying to them in the plural, “My lords, turn aside, I pray you, to your servant’s house,” yet it is afterward said, “So [the angels] seized him and his hand, [because] the Lord [was] merciful to him, and they brought him forth and set him outside the city. And when they had brought them forth, they said, ‘Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley; flee to the hills, lest you be consumed.’ And Lot said to them, ‘Oh, no, my lords; behold, your servant has found favor in your sight.…’ " And then after these words the Lord also answered him in the singular, although he was in two angels, saying, “Behold, I grant you this favor.…” This makes it much more credible that Abraham in the three men and Lot in the two recognized the Lord, addressing him in the singular number, even when they were addressing men; for they received them as they did for no other reason than that they might minister human nourishment to them as men who needed it. Yet there was about them something so excellent that those who showed them hospitality as men could not doubt that God was in them as he was wont to be in the prophets and therefore sometimes addressed them in the plural, and sometimes God in them in the singular. But that they were angels the Scripture testifies, not only in this book of Genesis, in which these transactions are related, but also in the epistle to the Hebrews, where in praising hospitality it is said, “For thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” — City of God 16.29

Bede: The Lord appeared to him in the valley of Mamre as he was sitting at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day, etc. This appearance of the Lord is considered to be more sacred than all the previous ones, in which He was seen so many times by the blessed Abraham. And rightly so, after receiving the sacrament of circumcision, after the name was amplified by which he was to be marked as the father of all nations, he came to know the more secret mysteries of God, of which, notably, not only circumcision but also the uncircumcised were to be participants. Rightly, the appearance in the valley of Mamre is remembered as having taken place. For Mamre, as we read above, was indeed an Amorite by race, but together with his brothers, he was allied with Abraham; hence the valley of Mamre aptly represents our humility, who, having derived fleshly origin from the nations, have Abraham as our father in spirit and faith. To whom the Apostle, drawing from Abraham both the origin of flesh and virtue, says: We announce to you eternal life, which was with the Father and appeared to us; what we have seen and heard, we declare to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us (1 John 1:2). And indeed in this reading, apart from the spiritual understanding, it greatly edifies the readers that Abraham, seeing unknown men, immediately ran to meet them as if to offer the grace of hospitality to strangers; that he approached them humbly, worshipped on the ground, that he asked them to wait and accept his service, and hastily provided what they agreed to; and that he completed this not through servants and maidservants, but by himself and Sarah. It is indeed remarkable if, upon first seeing them, he did not believe they were men, why he would want to bring them water to wash their feet; how he would ask them to rest under a tree as if weary from walking; why he requested to strengthen their bodies with refreshment, as if they were laboring in fasting. If anyone seeks to investigate this reading more deeply, he will find it to be full of spiritual senses. For the fact that the Lord appeared to Abraham sitting at the entrance of his tent greatly suits both Abraham’s devotion and that of all the heirs of the same promise, who testify that they are strangers and sojourners in this world but truly citizens of another life, that is, of the heavenly homeland. For we use tents in a journey or in war, but a house in our homeland, in which mystery, Isaac and Jacob are also read to have dwelled in tents. He who remains in the midst of his tent, knowing that he is a stranger and not destined to live forever in this world, and yet is not ashamed to engage himself as much as he can in the affairs and allurements of the world, remains. But Abraham and his followers, who conduct the things of the world out of necessity and not out of pleasure, sit as if at the entrance of their tent, because they are ready to leave the world at any moment, always with a joyful mind stretched towards the future rewards and waiting for the entrance into the following life. And it is well added, in the heat of the day; for the heat of the day, in which Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent, signifies the virtue of love with which he was burning in his mind with respect towards the Sun of righteousness. And such a state of place and time was fitting for him who was to see the Lord and enjoy His conversation, in which both the sojourner of this world would be figuratively represented, and irradiated by the light of true heavenly grace, and zealously enflamed with the love of divine contemplation. — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Caesarius of Arles: Now where did this happen? “Near the holm-oak of Mamre,” which in Latin is interpreted as “vision” or “discernment.” Do you see what kind of a place it is in which the Lord can have a feast? The vision and discernment of Abraham delighted him; he was clean of heart, so that he could see God. Therefore in such a place and in such a heart the Lord can have his feast. Of this vision our Lord spoke to the Jews in the Gospel when he said, “Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day. He saw it and was glad.” He saw my day, he says, because he recognized the mystery of the Trinity. He saw the Father as day, the Son as day, the Holy Spirit as day, and in these three one day. Thus the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and these three are one God. For individually each person is complete God, and all three together are one God. Moreover, because of the unity of substance, in those three measures of flour the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not unfittingly understood. However, this can also be taken in another way by understanding Sarah as the church; the three measures of flour then are faith, hope and charity. In these three virtues all the fruits of the church are contained, so that if one merits to possess the three within oneself, one can with security receive the entire Trinity at the banquet of one’s heart. — SERMON 83.5

Eusebius of Caesarea: Thus the Lord God is said to have appeared as a common man to Abraham while he was seated by the oak of Mamre. But [Abraham] immediately fell down, although he saw a man with his eyes, and worshiped him as God, besought him as Lord and confessed that he was not ignorant as to who he was, using these very words, “O Lord, judge of all the earth, will you not judge righteously?” For if it should be unreasonable to suppose that the unbegotten and immutable substance of God the Almighty was changed into the form of man and, in turn, that the eyes of the beholders were deceived by the phantasm of something created and that such things were falsely invented by Scripture, who else could be proclaimed God and the Lord who judges all the earth and judges righteously, appearing in the shape of a man—if it be not proper to call him the first cause of all things—than his preexistent Word alone? — ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 1.2.7-8

Jerome: [Daniel 8:15] “And it came to pass that when I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it.” He beheld the vision by way of a picture or likeness, and he failed to understand it. Consequently, not everyone who sees comprehends what he has seen; it is just as if we read the Holy Scripture with our eyes and do not understand it with our heart,

“…And behold, one stood before me who resembled the appearance of a man.” Angels, after all, are not actually men by nature, but they resemble men in appearance. For example, three persons appeared as men to Abraham at the oak of Mamre (Genesis 18:1-2), and yet they certainly were not men, for one of them was worshipped as the Lord. And so the Savior also stated in the Gospel: “Abraham beheld My day; he beheld it and rejoiced” (John 8:56). — St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER EIGHT

Origen of Alexandria: But let us now see what is also said in what follows. “But Abraham himself,” it says, “was standing by them under the tree.” For narratives of this kind we require circumcised ears. For it is not to be believed that it was of the greatest concern to the Holy Spirit to write in the books of the law where Abraham stood. For what does it profit me, who have come to hear what the Holy Spirit teaches the human race, if I should hear that “Abraham was standing under a tree”? But let us see what this tree is, under which Abraham was standing and displaying a banquet to the Lord and to the angels. “Under the tree,” it says, “of Mamre.” “Mamre” in our language is interpreted as vision or clear-sightedness. Do you see who and what kind is the place in which the Lord can hold a banquet? The vision and clear-sightedness of Abraham delighted him. For he was pure in heart, so that he could see God. In such a place, therefore, and in such a heart, the Lord can hold a banquet with his angels. Finally, in earlier times the prophets were called seers. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 4.3

Augustine of Hippo: APPEARANCE OF THE THREE ANGELS TO ABRAHAM. — And having seen them he ran to meet them from the door of his tent, and did obeisance to the ground. And he said, Lord, if indeed I have found grace in your sight, pass not by your servant . We can ask why, when there were three who appeared to him, he called him Lord in the singular, saying, Lord, if I have found grace in your sight. Is it perhaps because he believed that one of them was the Lord and the other angels? Or rather, perceiving the Lord in the angels, he chose to speak to the Lord rather than to the angels, because when there remained one with Abraham, the other two are sent to Sodom and Lot speaks to them as if he were speaking to the Lord? [ — QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 32 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Genesis 18:2

Ambrose of Milan: Hospitality is good, it has its reward, first the gratitude of man, and then, what is greater, the reward of God. We are all guests in this abode; for a time we have a place to stay: we are emigrating soon. Let us beware that if we have been harsh or negligent in receiving guests, even the holy hostels may be denied to us after the course of this life. Hence in the Gospel the Savior says: Make friends for yourselves with unjust wealth, so that they may receive you into eternal dwellings. Then also in this body often arises the necessity of wandering. What therefore you have denied to others, you decide for yourself: and what you have granted to others, you will make yourself worthy to seem. If everyone were to follow this opinion of not accepting strangers, where would there be rest for wanderers? Therefore, leaving behind human dwellings, we will seek the retreats of wild animals, the lairs of beasts. — On Abraham

Bede: And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw three men standing near him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the door of the tent, and worshipped upon the ground, and said: Lord, if I have found grace in thy sight, do not pass by thy servant, etc. The fact that three men appeared to him is a mystery of the Holy Trinity; indeed, when he saw three, he worshipped one, and prayed to the Lord, because although there is a Trinity in persons, there is nevertheless one and co-adorable equality in divinity of the Lord, just as in Isaiah when the angelic hosts were singing the glory of the Holy Trinity, saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, they immediately add the unity of dominion and deity, saying: The Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is full of His glory. And it is fittingly said that Abraham lifted up his eyes to see the angels, because indeed it is necessary that one who wishes to see the citizens of heaven, who desires to know the glory and secrets of the Divine Majesty, should raise every gaze of his mind from lowly desires and with diligent intention open up to the light of the true Sun. It is fittingly added that when he saw the angels, he ran to meet them, worshipping, and asked them not to pass him by, because it is necessary that whenever we conceive any taste of internal sweetness in our soul, we should immediately strive with all our prayers and prompt steps of good works, lest the same sweetness should leave us too quickly; but what is tasted for a time should refresh our minds somewhat longer by the memory of supernal sweetness and suspend them in the contemplation of eternal things, abstracted from the delights and cares of this world. It may perhaps move some that in this reading both Abraham and in the following Lot, having seen the angels, received them as guests as if they were men, and refreshed them with human food as if they were mortals, while yet they spoke with them as with God, and received their words no otherwise than as heavenly oracles. “But it is credible,” as Saint Augustine says, “that both Abraham in the three men and Lot in the two men recognized the Lord; to whom they spoke with singular number, even when they considered them to be men. For they received them in no other way than as mortal men and ministered to them with human refreshment as if they were in need; but surely there was something by which they so excelled, though as men, that in them the Lord was present as He is wont to be in prophets, so that those who offered them hospitality could not doubt; and therefore sometimes they called them in the plural, and at other times the Lord in the singular in them. Scripture testifies that they were angels, not only in this book of Genesis where these events are narrated, but also in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where, when hospitality was praised, it says: By this some, being unaware, entertained angels (Heb. XIII, 2).” However, in this reception one can appropriately sense that it was divinely arranged so that the patriarchs, seeing angels, would receive them as men indeed but venerate them as God, so that through the distinction of such service and devotion it would be prefigured that in the future the Lord Himself, appearing in the flesh, would be satisfied with carnal foods and received in human hospitality. In which hospitality, however, He would more be devoted to preaching the gospel and healing the sick than to eating and drinking, as the gospel history often testifies. Finally, the interpreters of the sacred scriptures have understood this place as accomplishing what the Lord said to the Jews: Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad (John VIII, 56). He saw indeed the day of the Lord, when seeing the three angels, he worshipped one, and addressed the Lord, because in the distinction of the three persons, he recognized the essence of one majesty. — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Caesarius of Arles: Notice, brothers, and see how God appeared to Abraham and how he appeared to Lot. The three men came to Abraham and stood over him; two came to Lot and stayed in the street. Consider, brothers, whether these things did not happen through the dispensation of the Holy Spirit according to their merits. Indeed, Lot was far inferior to Abraham; if he had not been, he would not have merited to be separated from Abraham, nor would the dwelling of Sodom have pleased him. Now the three men came to Abraham at noon, while the other two came to Lot in the evening for this reason: Lot was unable to endure the power of the noonday sun, but Abraham could stand its full brightness. — SERMON 83.2

Caesarius of Arles: “Three men came to Abraham and stood over him.” Observe how it is that they come upon him but not against him. He had subjected himself to God’s will, and for this reason God is said to stand over him. “They stood over him,” not against him to repulse him but over him for protection. — SERMON 83.4

Ephrem the Syrian: Although Abraham ran from the tent toward them as if toward strangers, he ran to receive those strangers with love. His love for strangers was thus proved by the haste with which he ran to meet those strangers. Therefore the Lord, who had just appeared to him at the door of the tent, now appeared to Abraham clearly in one of the three. Abraham then fell down and worshiped him, seeking from him in whom majesty dwells that he condescend to enter his house and bless his dwelling. “If I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.” God did not oppose him, for he said, “Do as you have said.” Then Abraham ran to Sarah [telling her] to make three measures of wheat, and then he ran to the herd to get a fatted calf. — COMMENTARY ON Genesis 15:1

Origen of Alexandria: Let us first compare, if it seems good, this vision with the one that took place with Lot. “Three men” come to Abraham and stand “over him”; to Lot “two” come and sit “in the street.” See whether the matters are not carried out by the dispensation of the Holy Spirit according to merits. For Lot was far inferior to Abraham. For unless he had been inferior, he would not have been separated from Abraham, nor would he have said to him: “If you go to the right, I will go to the left; if you go to the left, I will go to the right.” And unless he had been inferior, the land and dwelling of Sodom would not have pleased him. Therefore three men come to Abraham at midday, and to Lot two come, and in the evening. For Lot could not contain the greatness of the midday light; but Abraham was capable of receiving the full radiance of the light. Let us now see how Abraham received those who came and how Lot did, and let us compare what the hospitality of each was. But first observe that with Abraham, together with the two angels, the Lord also was present, whereas to Lot only two angels proceed. And what do they say? “The Lord has sent us to crush the city and to destroy it.” That one, therefore, received those who would give it over to destruction; he did not receive the one who would save; but Abraham received both the one who saves and those who destroy. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 4.1

Origen of Alexandria: But let us now for the present pursue what Abraham does with the three men who “stood over him.” See this very thing, what kind of thing it is, that they come “over him,” not against him. For he had subjected himself to the will of God, and therefore God is said to stand “over him.” — HOMILIES ON Genesis 4.2

Origen of Alexandria: Now let us see how each one receives. “Abraham saw,” it says, “and ran to meet them.” Consider at once how tireless and eager Abraham is in his duties. He himself runs to meet them, and when he had met them: “he hastens back,” it says, “to the tent and says to his wife: hasten to the tent.” See in each detail how great is the eagerness of the one receiving. There is haste in everything, everything is urged on, nothing is done in leisure. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 4.1

Genesis 18:4

Caesarius of Arles: Moreover he adds, as though speaking to the men, “I will bring water, that you may wash your feet.” Learn from blessed Abraham, brothers, to receive strangers gladly and to wash their feet with humility and piety. Wash, I repeat, the feet of pious strangers, lest there remain in them some dust that they will be able to shake off of their feet to your judgment. In the Gospel we read, “Whoever does not receive you—go forth and shake off the dust from your feet. Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that town.” Abraham foresaw this in spirit and for this reason wanted to anticipate it by washing their feet, lest perchance any dust remain that might be kept and shaken off on judgment day as an evidence of unbelief. Therefore the wise Abraham says, “I will bring water, that you may wash your feet.” Carefully listen to this, brothers, if you are unwilling to exercise hospitality and to receive even your enemy as a guest. Behold, while blessed Abraham welcomed those men warmly, he merited to receive God in consideration of his hospitality. Christ further confirmed this in the Gospel when he said, “I was a stranger, and you took me in.” Therefore do not despise strangers, lest perhaps he himself be the one you have rejected. — SERMON 83.4

Origen of Alexandria: But how does he add again, as though speaking to men: “Let water be taken,” he says, “and let your feet be washed”? Through these things indeed Abraham, the father and teacher of the nations, teaches you how you ought to receive guests and that you should wash the feet of guests; yet this too is said in a mystery. For he knew that the dominical sacraments are not to be consummated except in the washing of feet. But neither did the weight of that precept escape him, in which it is said by the Savior: “If any will not receive you, shake off even the dust which has clung to your feet, as a testimony against them. Amen I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for that city.” He wished therefore to anticipate and to wash their feet, lest perhaps any dust should remain which, shaken off as a testimony of unbelief, could be reserved “for the day of judgment.” Therefore the wise Abraham says: “Let water be taken and let your feet be washed.” — HOMILIES ON Genesis 4.2

Augustine of Hippo: ON THE MEAL SERVED TO THE ANGELS BY ABRAHAM. — Let water now be brought, and let them wash your feet, and do refresh under the tree . And I will bring bread . If Abraham took them for angels, how could he invite them to this hospitality? For food is a need for our mortal flesh, but not for the immortal nature of the angels. [ — QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 33 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Genesis 18:5

Bede: He refreshed them with the feasts that were prepared because he understood that from his seed would be born the one who, although he is God before the ages, consubstantial with the Father, appearing at the end of the ages as a true man, would truly dwell among men; the food with which he refreshed them is also full of spiritual sacraments, of which it is thus remembered: — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Genesis 18:6

Ambrose of Milan: He says, sprinkle three measures of flour, and make it ash-colored. In Greek, they are called ἐγκρύφια, that is, hidden; because every mystery should be hidden and covered with faithful silence, lest it be rashly divulged to profane ears. The divine majesty is nourished by this, and it feasts on this affection, which is sparing in speech and does not bring sacred things into the open. But briefly, the mystery of faith is taught by Sarah, making three measures of one likeness, which has the typology of the Church to which it is said: Rejoice, barren one who does not bear; burst forth and cry out, you who are not in labor. For it is this which nourishes faith with its innermost spirit, asserting the Trinity of the same divinity, with equal measure and reverence for the Father and the Son, adoring the Holy Spirit, and celebrating the unity of majesty and the distinctiveness of the persons, sprinkle your devotion with this affirmation of faith. — On Abraham

Bede: Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said to her: “Hurry, mix three measures of fine meal, and make cakes upon the hearth.” And he himself ran to the herd, and took a tender and good calf and gave it to the servant, who hastened and cooked it. Where it is firstly to be noted that everything is done quickly, as if in the service of divine reception; Abraham hastens, he orders Sarah to hurry, the servant quickly completes the assigned task, so that it becomes clearly evident that blessed Abraham truly, according to the voice of the Lord, rejoiced to see his day, and he saw it and was glad (John 8:56). But also all who are touched in soul by the regard of divine grace immediately leap with joyful steps of good works and thoughts into the service of the heavenly will, and with diligent exhortation provoke themselves and those who hear them to the speedy observance of the commandments of heaven. — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Bede: The flour that Sarah mixed to refresh the angels is the internal sweetness of God’s word, which the prophet promises to the heavenly Jerusalem, that is, the holy Church, saying of the Lord: “He makes peace your borders, and fills you with the finest of the wheat” (Psalms 147:14). And immediately, explaining more clearly what the finest wheat is, he added: “He sends out his command to the earth.” Now there are three measures of this same flour because in the sacred Scripture there is a threefold sense of understanding, namely the historical, the allegorical, and the anagogical; for example: “Lord, I have loved the beauty of your house” (Psalms 26:8); according to history, he desired the beauty of the house which Solomon made for the Lord to remain inviolate, being praised by his people in it. According to allegory, he desired the beauty of the holy Church to shine throughout the whole world, to whom the Apostle says: “For you are the temple of God” (2 Corinthians 6:16). According to anagogy, that is, the sense leading to higher things, he desired to see the beauty of the heavenly homeland, that is, the house not made with hands but eternal in the heavens. The Lord also mentions this threefold measure in the gospel parable, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” For the evangelical leaven the woman hid in the three measures of flour to leaven the whole, when the holy Church, which Sarah signifies in this place, either preaches history in the Scriptures, reveals allegory, or lifts up the eye of its exposition to contemplate higher things. It always instills the power of either the Lord’s or fraternal charity in its words. And no one should think they have rightly understood Scripture in which they have not found the institution of charity. A “measure” was a type of measurement among the Palestinians, holding one and a half bushels. — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Bede: But the fact that Sarah makes bread under the ashes is very relevant. Bread baked under the ashes, while being baked, is indeed cooked with fire and lies hidden in the darkness, but only the ash that accumulates on top is visible to the eyes of onlookers. However, when they are baked, the ash is removed, and the clean bread is presented before the faces of those who will eat, because the words of the Lord have been tested by fire, namely the Holy Spirit, through whom the scripture itself was made. Sometimes, however, the style’s baseness and simplicity contain so much knowledge in themselves that the spiritual fervor and celestial nourishment within them are not easily apparent; but when the veil of the letter is removed through the preacher’s ministry and the sweetness of the spiritual sense is revealed to the hearts of the listeners, just like shaking off the ash, the sweetest bread is offered to refresh the faithful. — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Jerome: (Chapter 18, Verse 6) And he said to him: Hurry, mix three measures of wheat flour. Because three measures are explicitly mentioned here, and the measure is uncertain: therefore I added that in Hebrew it has three sata, that is, three amphoras: so that we may understand the same mystery here and in the Gospel, where a woman is said to have fermented three measures of wheat flour (Matthew 13:33). — Hebrew Questions on Genesis

Origen of Alexandria: He sets forth therefore loaves sprinkled with “three measures of fine flour.” He received three men, he sprinkled loaves with “three measures of fine flour.” The whole of what he does is mystical, the whole is filled with sacraments. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 4.2

Origen of Alexandria: He says therefore to his wife Sarah: “Hasten to the tent, and sprinkle three measures of fine flour, and make loaves baked in the ashes.” This in Greek is called ἐγχρυφίας, which indicates hidden or concealed loaves. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 4.1

Genesis 18:7

Ambrose of Milan: Nor was it useless, when he ran to the cattle, he took a tender and good calf, and placed it with milk. Finally, in Exodus, when Moses was declaring the Passover of the Lord, he said: The lamb without blemish, clean, complete, a yearling, male, shall be taken for you from sheep and goats. You shall take and kill him, said he, the whole assembly of the synagogue at evening. Hence, this is also described as midday, when Abraham offers hospitality to the Lord. But at the supper a calf is sacrificed, and is eaten with milk; that is, not in blood, but with the purity of faith. A good calf, capable of washing away sins. Tender, because it recognized the gentle yoke of the law, not with a stiff neck, and did not refuse the cross’s gibbet. And deservedly tender, from whose head and feet and internal organs nothing was left, and its bones were not broken, but it yielded completely to the food of those feasting. Such a calf was figuratively portrayed for us by the shadow of the Law, such did the truth of the Gospel demonstrate. — On Abraham

Bede: The tender and excellent calf that Abraham took from the herd signifies the Mediator between God and humans, whom the most merciful Father killed for his returning younger son, that is, the Gentile people, according to the parable of the Gospel. He is the tender and excellent calf taken singularly to be slain and cooked for the citizens of heaven because he alone from the entire human race was specially chosen, whose blood would redeem the world, and through whom all things on earth and in heaven are restored in him, as the Apostle says. This calf is rightly called tender and excellent. For what is as tender and excellent as He who humbled Himself for our elevation: Becoming obedient to the Father unto death, even death on the cross? — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Caesarius of Arles: Lot too received men, but only two, not the whole Trinity; moreover in the evening, not at noon. What did he serve them? “He baked unleavened bread, and they ate.” Because he was much inferior to Abraham in merits he did not have a fatted calf. Nor did he recognize the mystery of the Trinity in the three measures of flour. However, since he offered what he could in a kindly spirit, he merited to be freed from the destruction of Sodom. Notice, brothers, that even Lot deserved to receive the angels, because he did not reject strangers. Behold, angels enter a hospitable home, but houses that are closed to strangers are burned with flames of sulphur. — SERMON 83.3

Caesarius of Arles: He received the three men and served them loaves out of three measures. Why is this, brothers, unless it means the mystery of the Trinity? He also served a calf; not a tough one, but a “good, tender one.” Now what is so good and tender as he who humbled himself for us even unto death? He himself is that fatted calf which the father killed upon receiving his repentant son. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son.” For this reason Abraham went to meet the three men and adored them as one. In the fact that he saw three, as was already said, he understood the mystery of the Trinity; but since he adored them as one, he recognized that there is one God in the three persons. — SERMON 83.4

Ephrem the Syrian: The bread and meat, which was in abundance, was not to satisfy the angels but rather so that the blessing might be distributed to all the members of his household. After the angels had washed and sat down beneath a tree, “Abraham brought and set before them what he had prepared”; he did not dare recline with them but like a servant “stood apart from them.” — COMMENTARY ON Genesis 15:2

Origen of Alexandria: “But he himself ran,” it says, “to the cattle and took a calf.” What kind of calf? Perhaps the one that could happen to run up first? It is not so, but a “good and tender” calf. And although he hastens in all things, yet he knows what things, being chief and great, are to be offered to the Lord or to the angels. He took therefore, or rather chose, from the herd a “good and tender” calf and handed it to the servant boy. “The boy,” it says, “hastened to prepare it.” He himself runs, the wife hastens, the boy makes speed; no one is sluggish in the house of the wise man. He sets forth therefore the calf and together with it the loaves and the fine flour, but also milk and butter. These are the duties of hospitality of Abraham and Sarah. Now let us see also what Lot does. This one has neither fine flour nor clean bread, but meal. He knows neither three measures of fine flour, nor is he able to set before those who come ἐγχρυφίας, that is, hidden and mystical loaves. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 4.1

Origen of Alexandria: A calf is set forth—behold, another sacrament. The calf itself is not tough, but “good and tender.” And what is so tender, what so good as he who “humbled himself” for us “even unto death” and “laid down his soul” “for his friends”? That “fatted calf” which the father slaughters for the son received back in repentance. “For God so loved this world, that he gave his only Son” for the life of this world. Yet it does not escape the wise man whom he had received. He meets three and adores one and speaks to one, saying: “Turn aside to your servant and refresh yourself under the tree.” — HOMILIES ON Genesis 4.2

Philoxenus of Mabbug: Now although this meat is a burden unto the wise and prudent, yet was it given by promise unto Noah, and it was sent unto Elijah in a gift, and Abraham received God and His angels thereby, and Isaac was pleased to pour out blessings upon Jacob thereby, and Samuel offered this gift beforehand to Saul as to a king, and David and all the righteous kings made use of such meat, and it was employed by all the righteous; and they were not blamed therefor, because they were superior to lust. And they did not eat like slaves with lust, but they made use of every thing with authority like free men, and they in their eating of rare meats were praised, while those who fed themselves upon ordinary and common foods were rejected and reprobated. — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 – On Abstinence

Genesis 18:8

Bede: He also took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had cooked, and set it before them. By the milk, the beginnings and as it were the elements of the Mosaic law; by the butter, the perfection of evangelical doctrine; by the milk, the simplicity of the letter in the Scriptures, by the butter, the virtue of the mystical sense which is usually generated from the letter, is expressed. Or certainly, the milk indicates the beginning of faith, the butter indicates the perfection of the work which is created from faith. All of which Abraham placed before the men whom he had received, to signify that the sons of promise would always offer spiritual feasts to the Lord, namely the breads of holy readings, the calf of the Lord’s Incarnation, the milk of faith or historical perfection, the butter of good senses or good works, where it is well added: — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Bede: But he himself stood by them under the tree, because certainly we should so feed the Lord with the feasts of faith and virtues by good living, that is, delight Him, so that we always remember to stand in His presence, according to the saying of Blessed Elijah: “The Lord lives, in whose sight I stand” (3 Kings 17:1). And as the Psalmist says: “In the sight, I will sing to you among the angels” (Psalms 138:1). And this under the tree of the Lord’s passion, saying with the Apostle: “But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14). — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Philoxenus of Mabbug: But thou wilt not be able to stand in the freedom of spiritual beings until thou hast cast away entirely the bondage of carnal beings, for when thou hast cast away this bondage like a spiritual being and freeman thou mayest eat of every thing blamelessly, without making thy heart gross by the eating of flesh, and the drinking of wine will not cloud thy thoughts, even as it is written concerning the angels, that “They ate flesh and drank wine with Abraham;” and their spiritualness was not weighed down by this food; moreover, like unto them also are all the righteous whose names are written in the Scriptures, who ate, and whose hearts neither became heavy nor gross, because they did not eat with a longing desire. — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 – On Abstinence

Genesis 18:9

Bede: And when they had eaten, they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” He answered, “Behold, she is in the tent.” Then he said, “I will return to you at this time next year, if life be with us, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” Both indeed the lords of the house, and evidently Abraham and Sarah, prepared with the utmost haste a meal; but as if in a well-ordered house, Abraham, with the meals prepared, more boldly approached the Lord; Sarah, with womanly fear and modesty, restrained herself in the tent, in fact behind the tent door, and no longer dared to approach, but listened from within to what her husband spoke with the Lord. Therefore, since she was both devoted to God and well subjected to her husband, she heard the joy of childbirth which she greatly desired; not indeed any childbirth, but that in which both she in the future and all nations would receive a blessing. And well, after the angels had eaten, they promised a son to their hosts, because when the Lord has accepted the meals of our good work and faith, he rewards us with the grace of his blessing. But the angels ate, or rather seemed to have eaten, as holy Raphael explained to Tobias, to signify the mystery of the Lord’s Incarnation, in which he, the Angel of Great Counsel, was to eat as a man, not only visibly appearing, but even sitting at the table of men and eating; but they, as the same Raphael said, used invisible food, that is, which cannot be seen by men living in the flesh, namely the joy of contemplation; of which also the Lord in the Gospel: “For their angels,” he says, “always see the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10); for they always see, that is, even when they come outside to us to minister something; it is credible, moreover, that the food which they ate, as soon as it touched their spiritual or ethereal body, was consumed like water thrown into a burning flame, and not like water poured into dry land to refresh their bodies, as happens to us when we eat. — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Ephrem the Syrian: After they had eaten, “they inquired about Sarah.” She, who even in her old age had preserved her modesty, came out from inside the tent to the door of the tent. From Abraham’s haste and from the silence that Abraham imposed on everyone with his gestures, those of his household knew that these who, because of the man of God, allowed their feet to be washed like men were not men. — COMMENTARY ON Genesis 15:2

Ephrem the Syrian: “Then [God] said of Sarah, ‘At this time I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son.’ " But Sarah, even though Abraham was standing behind her to strengthen her, “laughed and said, ‘After I have grown old shall I [again] have youthfulness? My husband is also old.’ " A sign would have been given her if she had asked to hear or to see and then believe: first, because she was a woman, old and barren; and second, because nothing like this had ever been done before. God then gave a sign specifically to her who had not asked for a sign, and said, “Why did you laugh, Sarah, and say, ‘Am I, who am old, to bear a child?’ " But Sarah, instead of accepting the sign that was given to her, persisted, by this falsehood, in denying the true sign that had been given to her. Even though she had denied it because she was afraid, nevertheless in order to make her know that a false excuse did not convince him, God said to her, “But you did laugh in your heart; lo, even your heart is denying the foolishness of your tongue.” — COMMENTARY ON Genesis 15:3

Origen of Alexandria: What then does the Lord say to Abraham? “Where is,” he says, “Sarah your wife? And he: behold, he says, in the tent. And the Lord said: coming I will come to you in season according to this time, and Sarah your wife shall have a son. But Sarah was listening, standing behind the door of the tent, behind Abraham.” Let women learn by the examples of the patriarchs, let women, I say, learn to follow their husbands. For it is not without cause written that “Sarah was standing behind Abraham,” but so that it might be shown that if the husband goes before to the Lord, the wife ought to follow. What I say, that the wife ought to follow, is in this: if she sees her husband standing before God. Otherwise let us ascend to a higher grade of understanding and let us say that the husband in us is the rational sense, and the wife, who is joined to it as to a husband, is our flesh. Let the flesh therefore always follow the rational sense, nor let it ever come to such sloth that the rational sense, brought into subjection, obeys the flesh flowing loose in luxury and pleasures. “Sarah” therefore “was standing behind Abraham.” But we can also perceive something mystical in this passage, if we see how in Exodus “God went before in a pillar of fire by night and in a pillar of cloud by day,” and the synagogue of the Lord followed after him. Thus therefore I understand that Sarah too followed, or stood, “behind Abraham.” What is said after these things? “And they were both,” it says, “elders”—that is, old—“and advanced in their days.” As far as pertains to the age of the body, many before them had led a life of more numerous years, yet none was called an elder. Whence it seems that this name is ascribed to the saints not by reason of longevity, but of maturity. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 4.4

Genesis 18:10

Jerome: (Verse 10) However, he said, ‘Returning, I will come to you at this time and in this hour, and Sarah will have a son.’ For ‘hour,’ we read ’life’ in Hebrew, so that the order or sense is: I will return to you in the time of life, as if he were saying, if I live, if life accompanies me. This, however, is anthropopathically expressed, like other things. — Hebrew Questions on Genesis

Genesis 18:11

Bede: They were both old and advanced in years, and it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. To highlight the growth of heavenly power, he says that both were old, and moreover that Sarah, having been barren, was now also deprived of her menstrual blood, because of which she could no longer conceive, even if she had not been barren. Further, if a woman is of such an advanced age that the usual flow of women still occurs to her, she can conceive from a young man, but not from an old man; although the old man can still beget from a young woman, as Abraham, after Sarah’s death, was able to beget from Keturah, because he found her age to be vigorous; this therefore is what the Apostle clearly commends when he says: “He believed against hope in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to what was said to him: Thus shall your offspring be; and not weakening in faith, he did not consider his own body already dead, being about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; in the promise of God he did not doubt” (Romans 4:18). For this reason he says that Abraham’s body was already dead, because he could still beget from any woman who still had some final period of time left for bearing children at that age: we must understand the body as dead for some purposes, not for all; for if for all, then it is not the old age of the living, but the corpse of the dead. — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Augustine of Hippo: HOW ABRAHAM MIRACULOUSLY HAD A CHILD OF SARAH. — And Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in days, and the custom of women ceased with Sarah . The age of elderly people is less that those who are old, although the name of old people is also given to people who are simply advanced in age. Now, if it is true, as some doctors assert, that an elderly husband cannot have the children of an elderly woman, even if she is still experiencing what usually happens to women, We can understand Abraham’s astonishment at the promise of a son Cf. Gen. 17:17), and the reflection of the Apostle (Cf. Romans 4:19), who sees it as a miracle, since he says that the body of Abraham was already dead. It must not be imagined, however, that the body of Abraham was dead, to such an extent that he could not have had the children of a young woman; But it was so in the sense that it could not have been of a woman advanced in age. If he had children of Céthura, it is because he took still young. Doctors say that a man whose generative vigor has fallen cannot have children with an elderly woman, even if the woman still has menstruation; but you can have them with a young woman. And, on the other hand, an elderly woman, although she still has menstruation, cannot have children with an elderly man, may have in a union with a young man. Therefore, that act of Abraham was a miracle, because, according to what we have said, the body of that man was already dead, and the woman was of an age so advanced that she no longer had menstruation. Now, if anyone would insist on interpreting literally what the Apostle says that “Abraham’s body was already dead”, and, in saying, dead he understood it in the sense that he no longer had a soul, but was a corpse, he would be sadly wrong. Therefore, the question is solved as we say. On the other hand, we are rightly struck by the fact that the Apostle speaks of a dead body and says that it was a miracle that he had descendants, being as Abraham was a middle-aged man, according to what men lived then, and then, afterwards, he had children with Céthura. [ — QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 34 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Genesis 18:12

Bede: Who laughed secretly, saying: After I have grown old and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure? The Apostle Peter recalls this sentence when, admonishing women to obey their husbands, he added: “As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.” It seems, however, similar to this passage what is read about Abraham above, for when he heard about Sarah’s childbirth, he fell on his face and laughed in his heart, saying: Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? And he added, speaking to God: Oh that Ishmael might live before you! But since the Apostle says that Abraham did not waver in unbelief, but Sarah did hesitate, the following word of the Lord clarifies, saying to Abraham: — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Bede: Why did Sarah laugh, saying: “Shall I indeed bear a child, old as I am?” It remains to be understood that when she heard that Sarah would bear a son, Abraham had previously laughed in wonder with joy, and Sarah herself subsequently doubted in joy; whose doubt, nevertheless, was immediately removed when the reason for divine power was given, as the angel said to him: — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Jerome: (Verse 12.) But Sarah laughed within herself, saying: After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure? It is much differently read in Hebrew: And Sarah laughed within herself, saying: After I have withered, shall I have pleasure? Also note that where we have translated as pleasure, it is written as delight in Hebrew. Symmachus translated this passage as: After I have grown old, shall I have youth? — Hebrew Questions on Genesis

Augustine of Hippo: WHY GOD TAKES SARAH’S LAUGHTER. AND NOT THAT OF ABRAHAM? — And the Lord said to Abraham, Why is it that Sarah has laughed in herself, saying, Shall I then truly bear? I am grown old . Some wonder why the Lord only rebuked Sarah, while Abraham also laughed. The reason is that Abraham’s laughter was one of admiration and joy. Sarah’s, however, was originated by doubt, and God, who knows the hearts of men, could distinguish one laugh from another. (Cf. Prov. 24:12.) [ — QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 35 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Genesis 18:14

Bede: “Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” With this statement heard, all doubt was so removed, and her faith so confirmed, that the Apostle rightly says of her: “By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive.” But when he says “I will return to you,” and added “with life as a companion,” he speaks in a human manner, as if he were to say: “If life is a companion.” But it should be understood more deeply that the angels always converse with life as a companion either in heaven or descend to earth, certainly with that life that says: “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself;” by whose vision and enlightenment the angels and holy men are perpetually blessed. Indeed, this place seems comparable by contrast with the deeds of the first man; for after his transgression, he did not see the Lord God but is said to have heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden; here, the future blessing’s faith, hope, and love inflamed he saw the Lord standing, because surely with this he was to remain, the contemplation of divine clarity having departed from him. Hearing the voice of the Lord God, trembling he hid himself because he truly blushed at his error. Here, having seen the Lord, he immediately joyfully ran, believing that by the merit of obedience he had pleased Him. He on the cool of the day, this one at the very heat of the day; because this one burned with the fire of divine love, the other by sinning had driven away the light of divine protection and love from himself. This one receives and entertains the Lord as a guest, to show with the carnal feast provided that he would foster Him with spiritual feasts in his heart by living devoutly, according to what the Lord Himself promised about His lovers: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). The other, that is, the first man, who ate what was forbidden, lost those delights which he could have had perpetually in the presence of the Lord and His angels, also being visibly excluded from the tree of life so that it might be openly shown that he had lost the incorruptible fruit of wisdom, which he used to enjoy invisibly. And because the blessed Abraham by the merit of pious devotion had already tasted the fruit of wisdom and life, which is Christ, rightly he is said to have seen and received the Lord standing under a tree. There Eve, having abandoned the fear of God, having neglected her husband’s counsel, rashly approached the serpent, in which the devil was speaking, by whom she was deceived into eating what was forbidden, and also made her husband complicit in her transgression; for which reason, receiving the sentence of just condemnation with her husband, she heard among other things: “In pain you shall bring forth children” (Genesis 3:16); and first she bore Cain, the cursed son and fratricide. Here Sarah, submitted to the fear of God, following likewise the religious faith and deeds of her husband, awaited at home the Lord’s appearance until her husband came and learned what should be done; but also with the dishes prepared for the Lord’s reception, she nevertheless modestly remained at home and rejoiced in having her husband go ahead with them to the Lord and offer the gifts of her devotion and his own. Therefore both received the reward of their kindness with a promised offspring; and not just any offspring, but indeed the one in whom all nations would be blessed. And rightly so, for there the guilt of transgression was punished with due retribution in the first Adam; here the time of redemption through the second Adam was both foreshadowed and prepared. It follows: — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Augustine of Hippo: AT WHAT SIGN DID ABRAHAM AND SARAH RECOGNIZE THE ANGELS? — But Sarah denied, saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid . How could they think it was God who spoke if Sarah dared to deny that she had laughed, as if God could ignore it? Maybe Sarah thought they were men; Abraham, on the other hand, believed that he (the angel) was God. But he too, in carrying out those charitable actions of which I have spoken before, which could only be necessary for the fragile flesh, must have thought at first that they were men. But perhaps you will say that Abraham believed that it was God who spoke through certain visible and perceptible signs of divine majesty, as the Scripture testifies which were often seen in men of God. But there is still the problem of knowing, if that is the case, how they knew afterwards that they were angels. And the answer is that perhaps they knew it when they went to heaven in their presence. [ — QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 36 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Genesis 18:16

Bede: When the men got up from there, they directed their eyes toward Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to see them on their way. When it is said that the men got up from there, it is shown that while they were sitting, Abraham was standing and ministering to them, although he had initially seen them standing. They directed their eyes toward Sodom so that just as they rewarded the faith of blessed Abraham with joyful promises, they would destroy the faithlessness of the impious city with avenging flames, according to what the Psalmist said, who after proclaiming the Lord’s mercy toward the holy: “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their cries” (Psalms 34:16), immediately added His severity in the punishment of the wicked: “But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth” (v. 17). But that Abraham walked with the angels to see them on their way, he is believed to have done from the custom of devoted hospitality; but blessed were those steps by which a man was deemed worthy to walk with angels on earth, and to lead them who had come to visit him back to heaven; now blessed are those lives that follow the angelic way of life on earth, by living soberly, righteously, piously, and chastely, and by always, as much as mortal is possible, devoting themselves to divine praises. Truly, blessed Abraham, because he so joyfully received the Lord coming, that he cared to see them off as if they were household members, deserved to know higher secrets of divine works; who, understanding himself the strictness of the forthcoming divine retribution on the world, as he had previously shown himself devoted to God in receiving guests, so afterward he showed himself solicitous for his neighbors by interceding for them. — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Ephrem the Syrian: After the three men promised Sarah fruit, “they arose, and they looked toward Sodom.” It was not revealed to Sarah that they were going to Sodom lest, on the same day that they had given her joy in the promise that a son was to be hers, she be grieving over her brother on account of that sentence of wrath decreed on Sodom and the nearby villages. They hid this from Sarah lest she never cease weeping, but they revealed it to Abraham so that he not cease praying and so that it be announced to the world that nowhere in Sodom was there found a single just man for whose sake it might be saved. — COMMENTARY ON Genesis 16:1

Augustine of Hippo: GOD PROMISES TO REWARD THE OBEDIENCE OF THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM. — For I know that he will order his sons, and his house after him, and they will keep the ways of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham all things whatever he has spoken to him . Here the Lord promises to Abraham not only rewards, but also the obedience of righteousness on the part of his children, so that the rewards promised will also come true. [ — QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 37 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Genesis 18:20

Bede: The Lord therefore said: “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah has been multiplied, and their sin has become very grave.” He calls the outcry of Sodom the reputation or rather the infamy of their crimes, from which the Apostle, admonishing us, says: “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and blasphemy, be put away from you, with all malice” (Ephesians 4:31). To this clamor indeed is opposed the clamor of the elect, who confidently supplicating their Creator, individually say: “Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you” (Psalms 102:2). Indeed, great is their clamor, a sublime merit and the intention of faith seeking heavenly things alone, where Christ sits at the right hand of God; since they do not desire earthly riches, nor vain and perishable glory, nor the fleeting joys of the flesh, but only heavenly goods, everything they do is surely lofty and, as it were, resonates with a clamor. But with the multiplied outcry of sins, that is, their enormous crime, let us see what follows. — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Caesarius of Arles: Now let us see what he means by saying, “I descended to see whether they have done all that the outcry which has come to me indicates; if not, I will know.” Because of this, pagans, and especially the exceedingly foul Manichaeans, are wont to assail us by saying, “Behold, the God of the law did not know what was being done in Sodom.” Now we reply with sound understanding and say that God knows the just in one way and sinners in another. What is said concerning the just? “The Lord knows who are his.” What is said about sinners? “Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; I do not know you.” Moreover, the apostle Paul says, “If anyone is the Lord’s, he knows what I am saying; if anyone ignores this, he shall be ignored.” What does it mean, then, “I do not know you”? “I do not recognize you in my pattern; I do not recognize my image in you. My justice knows something to punish in you, but my mercy does not find anything to crown.” For this reason if one’s actions are unworthy of God, one is said to be unworthy of his knowledge also. “I descended to see”; not in order to know what they are doing but to make them worthy of my knowledge if I find any of them just, repentant, or such as I should know. — SERMON 83.6-7

Ephrem the Syrian: It was not that God, who had just said, “their sins were very grave,” did not know that they had sinned. This was an example to judges not to prejudge a case, even based on very reliable hearsay. For if he who knows all set aside his knowledge lest he exact vengeance without full knowledge before the trial, how much more should they set aside their ignorance and not effect judgment before the case is heard. — COMMENTARY ON Genesis 16:1

John Chrysostom: Then, to teach the whole human race that even if their sins are exceedingly great and confessed to be such, he does not pronounce sentence before proof is manifest, he says, “I am going down to see if their deeds correspond to the outcry reaching me, so as to know if it is true or not.” What is meant by the deliberation of the expression? “I am going down to see if their deeds correspond to the outcry reaching me, so as to know if it is true or not.” What is meant by the considerateness of the expression? “I am going down to see.” I mean, does the God of all move from place to place? No indeed! It doesn’t mean this; instead, as I have often remarked, he wants to teach us by the concreteness of the expression that there is need to apply precision and that sinners are not condemned on hearsay nor is sentence pronounced without proof. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 42.12

Salvian the Presbyter: The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is multiplied, he said. Well did he say that sins can cry out. Great surely is the cry of sinners as it mounts from earth to heaven. But why does he say that the sins of people cry out? It is because God says his ears are assaulted by the cries of our sins that the punishment of sinners be not delayed. Truly is it a cry, and the cry is great when the love of God is overpowered by the cries of sins to the extent that he is forced to punish the sinners. The Lord shows how unwilling he is to punish even the gravest sinners when he said that the cry of Sodom ascended to him. This means: My mercy urges me to spare them, but the cry of their sins compels me to punish them. — THE GOVERNANCE OF GOD 1.8

Augustine of Hippo: GOD, SPEAKING TO MANKIND, LOWERS HIMSELF TO THEIR LANGUAGE. — I will therefore go down and see, if they completely correspond with the cry which comes to me, and if not, that I may know . By taking these words as expression, not a doubt about what will happen, but of anger and threat, poses no problem at all; for God in the Scripture speaks to men in the manner of men; and men, who really could understand this mystery, knew how to understand the wrath of God without any disturbance in God. In fact, we too often speak in this way, threatening: “Let’s see if I do not do this” or “let’s see if I will not do it”, and “if I cannot or will not know how to do it”; That is, I will try this to see if I cannot; Which, as it is said in a threatening tone, not because the thing is ignored, it appears that the person is affected by the anger. But God cannot be disturbed. It is therefore a human expression and a human way of speaking and that is consistent with human weakness, and God adapts his way of speaking to ours. [ — QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 38 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Genesis 18:21

Bede: “I will go down,” he says, “and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry which has come to me; and if not, I will know.” Therefore, when the Lord said that he would go down to see whether the same outcry was true, he did not show his ignorance, who possesses the knowledge of all things, but instructs our rashness, lest we presume to blame the deeds of others before we learn perfectly; which He also teaches us in the construction of the tower, where it is written that the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of Adam had built; for what would He not see from heaven to earth, of whom it is written that “Hell is naked before Him, and there is no covering for perdition”? — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Origen of Alexandria: What then after so great and such a banquet, which Abraham displayed to the Lord and to the angels under the tree of vision? The guests set out. “Abraham however was escorting” it says “them and was walking with them. But the Lord said: I will not hide from Abraham my servant what I am going to do. For Abraham shall become a great and numerous nation, and in him shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. For he knew that he would command his sons, and they will keep the ways of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may fulfill for Abraham the things which he indicated to him. And he said: the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is filled up, and their sins are exceedingly great. I have therefore come down, to see whether they are being consummated according to their cry which comes to me; but if not, that I may know.” These are the words of the divine Scripture. Let us therefore now see what in these things is worthy to be understood. “I have come down,” he says, “that I may see.” When responses are conveyed to Abraham, God is not said to come down, but to stand over him, as we expounded above: “three men stood,” it says, “over him.” But now, because the cause of sinners is being dealt with, God is said to come down. See that you do not perceive an ascent and descent of place. For frequently this is found in the divine letters, as in the prophet Micah: “behold,” he says, “the Lord has gone out from his holy place and has come down and will tread upon the high places of the earth.” God therefore is said to come down, when he deigns to have care of human frailty. Which is to be understood more especially of our Lord and Savior, who “did not deem it robbery to be equal to God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.” He came down therefore. “For no one else has ascended into heaven, except him who came down from heaven, the Son of man, who is in heaven.” For the Lord came down not only to care for, but also to bear, the things which are ours. “For he took the form of a servant,” and although he himself is of invisible nature, as being equal to the Father, yet he took a visible appearance, “and was found in appearance as a man.” But even when he came down, to some he is below, but to others he ascends and is above. For to the chosen Apostles he ascended “into a high mountain, and there he is transformed before them.” To those therefore whom he teaches about the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, he is above; but to the crowds and the Pharisees, whom he reproaches for their sins, he is below and is there with them, where there is hay. But he could not be transformed below, but ascended above with those who could follow him, and there he is transformed. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 4.5

Origen of Alexandria: “I have come down therefore,” he says, “that I may see whether they are being consummated according to their cry which comes to me. But if not, that I may know.” From this saying the heretics are accustomed to assail my God, saying: behold, the God of the law did not know what was being done in Sodom, unless he had come down to see, and had sent those who might find out. But let us, who are commanded to fight the battles of the Lord, sharpen against them “the sword of the word of God” and meet them for battle. Let us stand in the battle line “girded in our loins with truth,” and at the same time “bearing before us the shield of faith,” let us receive their venomous darts of disputations and, aiming them back more carefully, hurl them against those very men. For such are the battles of the Lord which David and the rest of the patriarchs fought. Let us stand against them on behalf of our brothers. “For it is better for me to die” than that they should snatch and plunder any of my brothers and, by the clever theft of words, lead away captive “the little ones” and those still nursing in Christ. But with the perfect they will be able neither to join hand nor will they dare to come into the contest. We therefore, first entreating the Lord and aided by your prayers, will undertake against them the battle of the word. We say therefore with confidence that according to the Scriptures God does not know all. God does not know sin, and God does not know sinners; those estranged from himself he does not recognize. Hear the Scripture saying: “The Lord has known those who are his, and: let everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” The Lord knows his own, but the wicked and the impious he does not know. Hear the Savior saying: “Depart from me all you workers of iniquity, I have not known you.” And again Paul says: “If anyone among you is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things I write are the Lord’s. But he who is ignorant, is ignored.” But we say these things not perceiving anything blasphemous about God, as you do, nor ascribing ignorance to him, but we understand it thus, that those whose deed is unworthy of God are also deemed unworthy of the knowledge of God. For God does not deign to know him who is turned away from him and is ignorant of him. And therefore the Apostle says that “he who is ignorant, is ignored.” Under such an appearance, therefore, it is now said also concerning those who dwell in Sodom, that, if indeed “their deeds are being consummated according to the cry” which ascends to God, they are deemed unworthy of his knowing; but if there is in them any conversion, if even ten just men be found in them, then at last God knows them. And therefore he said: “but if not, that I may know.” He did not say, that I may know what they do, but that I may know them and make them worthy of my knowledge, if I should find any just among them, if I should find any repenting, if any such as I ought to know. Finally, because no one who repented, no one who was converted, was found other than Lot, he alone is recognized, he alone is delivered from the burning. Neither do the kindred follow though admonished, nor the neighbors, nor those nearby; no one wished to recognize the clemency of God, no one to flee to his mercy; and therefore no one is recognized. These things indeed against those who “speak iniquity on high.” But let us give effort that our deeds be made such, our manner of life such, that we may be held worthy of the knowledge of God, that he may deign to know us, that we may be held worthy of the knowledge of his Son Jesus Christ and of the knowledge of the Holy Spirit, so that, recognized by the Trinity, we too may deserve to recognize the sacrament of the Trinity fully and wholly and perfectly, the Lord Jesus Christ revealing it to us, “to whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.” — HOMILIES ON Genesis 4.6

Genesis 18:23

Bede: And they turned themselves from there and went towards Sodom; but Abraham still stood before the Lord, and approaching he said: Will you indeed destroy the righteous with the wicked? If fifty righteous are in the city, will they perish along with the rest, until he said: If ten are found there; and the Lord said: I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten. It is read further that two angels came to Sodom and were received by Lot; hence it seems likely that at this place two angels departed from Abraham, and he spoke with the one who remained with him, interceding for the perishing city. In which intercession, the humility of the blessed Abraham is especially to be considered, who, although he was esteemed so highly by God that he received Him as a familiar guest and interceded with Him as if with a friend of one mind for others, nevertheless in his own estimation he remained vile and despicable; hence in his second prayer he says to Him: — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Genesis 18:26

Ambrose of Milan: And in this manner, through a series of questions and answers, even if he finds ten righteous people in the city, he promises impunity to the entire people on account of the righteousness of a few. Where do we learn how great a wall is for our country, a virtuous man, how we should not envy holy men, nor disrespect them lightly. For their faith saves us, their justice defends us from destruction. Even Sodom, if it had ten righteous men, could have not perished. — On Abraham

Genesis 18:27

Bede: Since I have begun, I will speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes. By this word he clearly rebukes our pride, we who are far distant from the height of his merits, far removed from divine conversation due to our slowness and inertia, nevertheless inflated with the pride of arrogance, do not recall that we are destined to be dust and ashes; for blessed Abraham, the closer he approached the purity of the divine vision, the more certainly he dispersed and cast away the weaknesses of his own frailty. But we, who are excluded from the gaze of inner clarity by the cloud of our own depravity, the less we lament the darkness of misery inherent in us, the more we are accustomed to see nothing but these. — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Clement of Rome: Let us be imitators also of those who in goat-skins and sheep-skins [Hebrews 11:37] went about proclaiming the coming of Christ; I mean Elijah, Elisha, and Ezekiel among the prophets, with those others to whom a like testimony is borne [in Scripture]. Abraham was specially honoured, and was called the friend of God; yet he, earnestly regarding the glory of God, humbly declared, “I am but dust and ashes.” [Genesis 18:27] Moreover, it is thus written of Job, “Job was a righteous man, and blameless, truthful, God-fearing, and one that kept himself from all evil.” [Job 1:1] But bringing an accusation against himself, he said, “No man is free from defilement, even if his life be but of one day.” [Job 14:4-5] Moses was called faithful in all God’s house; and through his instrumentality, God punished Egypt with plagues and tortures. Yet he, though thus greatly honoured, did not adopt lofty language, but said, when the divine oracle came to him out of the bush, “Who am I, that Thou sendest me? I am a man of a feeble voice and a slow tongue.” [Exodus 4:10] And again he said, “I am but as the smoke of a pot.” — Clement’s First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 17

Jerome: [Daniel 8:27] “And I, Daniel, languished and was sick for some days. And when I rose from my bed, I performed the king’s tasks.” This is the same thing as we read in Genesis about Abraham, for after he had heard the Lord speaking to him, he averred that he was but dust and ashes (Genesis 18:27). And so Daniel states that he languished as a reaction to the horror of the vision, and suffered illness. And after he had risen from his sick-bed, he says he performed the tasks assigned to him by the king, rendering to all men all that was due them and bearing in mind the gospel principle: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Luke 20:25).

“And I was amazed at the vision, and there was no one who could interpret it.” If there was no one who could interpret it, how was it that the angel interpreted it in the previous passage? What he means is that he had heard mention of kings and did not know what their names were; he learned of things to come, but he was tossed about with uncertainty as to what time they would come to pass. And so he did the only thing he could do: he marveled at the vision, and resigned everything to God’s omniscience. — St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER EIGHT

Genesis 18:29

John Chrysostom: Who could worthily praise the God of all for his marvelous long suffering and considerateness or congratulate the good man for enjoying such great confidence? “He continued to speak,” the text goes on. " ‘But what if only forty can be found there?’ He replied, ‘For the sake of the forty I will not destroy it.’ " Then at that point the good man, while respecting God’s ineffable long suffering and being afraid of ever seeming to go too far and surpass the limit in his entreaty, said, “Pardon me, Lord, if I continue to speak: if only thirty can be found there?” Since he saw God was disposed to kindness, he still did not proceed gradually with his compromise. He sought to rescue not merely five good people but ten in pursuing his request thus, “If only thirty can be found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find thirty there.” Consider the degree of the good man’s persistence. As though he personally were due to be liable for sentence, he takes great pains to snatch the people of Sodom from the impending punishment. “He said, ‘Since I am able to speak to the Lord, what if there are only twenty there?’ He replied, ‘For the sake of the twenty I will not destroy it.’ " O, the goodness of the Lord beyond all telling and all imagining! I mean, which of us living in the middle of countless evils could ever choose to exercise such wonderful considerateness and loving kindness in executing a sentence against our peers? — HOMILIES ON Genesis 42.19

Genesis 18:32

Jerome: (Verse 32) And he said, ‘Is it, Lord, if I speak?’ Which is written in Greek, μήτι, Κύριε, ἐὰν λαλήσω. Secondly, Abraham spoke to the Lord, which does not seem to clearly indicate what he is saying. Therefore, in Hebrew it is written more explicitly: ‘Please do not be angry, Lord, if I have spoken.’ For since he seemed to be questioning, he qualifies what he seeks by beginning with a plea. — Hebrew Questions on Genesis

John Chrysostom: For proof that such persons’ good standing is a means of winning long suffering for us, take heed in that very story to what he says to the patriarch: “If I find ten good people, I will not destroy the city.” Why do I say ten good people? No one was found there free from lawlessness, except alone the good man Lot and his two daughters. His wife, you remember, perhaps on his account escaped punishment in the city but paid later the penalty for her own indifference. Now, however, since through God’s ineffable love the growth of religion was taking place, there were many people unobtrusively in the heart of the cities capable of appealing to God, others in hills and caves, and the virtue of these few succeeded in canceling out the wickedness of the majority.The Lord’s goodness is immense, and frequently he finds his way to grant the salvation of the majority on account of a few just people. Why do I say on account of a few just people? Frequently, when a just person cannot be found in the present life, he takes pity on the living on account of the virtue of the departed and cries aloud in the words, “I will protect this city for my own sake and the sake of my servant David.” Even if they do not deserve to be saved, he is saving. And [they] have no claim on salvation; yet, since showing love is habitual with me and I am prompt to have pity and rescue them from disaster, for my own sake and the sake of my servant David I will act as a shield; he who passed on from this life many years before will prove the salvation of those who have fallen victim to their own indifference. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 42.23-24

Augustine of Hippo: DOES GOD FORGIVE WHEREVER HE FINDS TEN RIGHTEOUS? — The question often arises as to whether what God said about Sodom, namely, that he would not punish that place if there were only ten righteous ones, is to be understood only of that city, or, more generally, of any place, so that God would forgive any place where only ten righteous ones would be found. I think that in this matter we are not forced to accept that the text has to be interpreted as a general law. But, as far as Sodom is concerned, God was able to keep this manner of expression, because he knew that it contained not even ten righteous. And his response was to make Abraham see that it was impossible to find that number, so great was their iniquity. For God had no need to forgive those wicked men so as not to punish the righteous with them, for he could give the wicked worthy punishments, excluding the righteous. But as I have said, to bring out the wickedness of that multitude, he said: If I find ten righteous men there, I will spare the whole city. As if to say, “I cannot punish the righteous with the wicked, but without forgiving the wicked; for, when the righteous are liberated and separated from there, I can give to the wicked their due; And yet, if those righteous ones are found there, I forgive them “, knowing that even that number was not there. A similar thing is found in Jeremiah (5:1), when he says, “Go through the streets of Jerusalem, and look and search in their places, and see: if you find one who practices righteousness and seeks faithfulness, I will forgive their sins, I will forgive others. In this way he exaggerates and proves that not one could even be found there. [ — QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 39 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)