The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”
“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of fine flour and knead it and bake some bread.”
Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.
“Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.
“There, in the tent,” he said.Then the LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”
Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD ? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.”
Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”
But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”
My Thoughts:
This is just a wonderful story – full of rich meaning, and oh so human!
The scene is set – you can almost see Abraham at the entrance to his tent, sitting in the shade, as it was in the heat of the day – and he sees three strangers approaching. Interesting that the verse begins saying the Lord appeared to Abraham – so one of these three strangers had to be the Lord. Abraham may not have known that at the time – but then what better way to see how people really are, than to come to them as ordinary folk, not someone of note.
Abraham rushes to greet the strangers, and make them comfortable. This is a hallmark of middle eastern hospitality – Abraham greets them as ‘my lord’ – and refers to himself as ‘servant’. He has water brought so they can wash their feet, and makes arrangements for a lavish meal to be prepared and brought to them. Sarah hurried to get the bread baked, and the servants hurried to prepare a young calf – getting it killed, cut up and roasted. When all was prepared and brought to these three, they ate, while Abraham stood near them under a tree. So Abraham did not eat with them – this meal was theirs alone.
Then one of the strangers asks where Sarah is – and Abraham answers that she is in the tent. Now…if he didn’t know who these strangers were, he would certainly have wondered how on earth they knew who Sarah was. Then ‘the Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah, your wife will have a son.” ‘ God seems to really want to impress this upon Abraham and Sarah – for this has now been repeated three different times.
Sarah in the tent was listening to this, and she (just as Abraham did before) laughed to herself, thinking that ‘yeah, right – I’m this old and going to have a baby?’ Then the Lord said to Abraham ‘why did Sarah laugh?’ – and more importantly, why did she doubt that God could do this? I love the text “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” And then the Lord repeats again that Sarah will have a son.
Interesting end note – Sarah denies laughing – obviously thinking that these strangers could not know that she did. But the Lord retorts to her “yes, you did laugh”.
Interesting to me that sometimes, when God is giving us what we want – we then second-guess that He can do it, or we want to put conditions on it. Need very much to learn to just accept it and be grateful for it!
