Avraham's Guests – Angels or Men/2

Avraham's Guests – Angels or Men?

Exegetical Approaches

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Angels

The guests who came to Avraham were three angels. This position subdivides regarding the relationship between the angel's visit and Hashem's revelation to Avraham in 18:1:

One Event

Hashem appeared to Avraham via the three angels who came to him.

Sources: JubileesChapter 16:1-11,20-23About Jubilees, PhiloOn Abraham XXII-XXIIIAbout Philo, RashbamBereshit 18:1,13,14,16,20,26Bereshit 19:24About R. Shemuel b. Meir, ShadalBereshit 18:1,3,9,13,17,20,22Bereshit 19:17,18About R. S.D. Luzzatto, R. D"Z HoffmannBereshit 18:1-19:38,18:1-2,3-8,6-8,13-14,20-21Bereshit 19:1-3,18-20About R. D"Z Hoffmann

Hashem's revelation - "'וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו ה" – According to this position, the first verse of the chapter is a general introduction to the story, and the rest of the chapter provides the details (כלל ופרט).  Thus, the unit opens by sharing that Hashem revealed Himself, and then explains how this revelation took place - via the three angels who visited Avraham.¹  As such, there is no missing speech of Hashem; the whole chapter constitutes the revelation.

Why isn't Avraham mentioned by name? Since this position views verse 1 as beginning a new unit, it is difficult why Avraham is referred to by a pronoun (connoting a continuation)  and not by his name.  R. D"Z Hoffmann suggests that this teaches that the story is integrally related to the preceding one regarding Avraham's circumcision.  Due to the covenant, Avraham achieved a new level of closeness to Hashem, meriting a visit by angels who could behave as his guests and share with him Hashem's plans.

Calling the angels "Hashem" – According to this approach, the Torah often refers to angels by the name of Hashem, since they are His messengers doing His bidding (‎שלוחו של אדם כמותו).‎²

• שם אדנות – Shadal³ explains both 18:3 and 19:18 as referring to the angels.⁴ He explains the singular that Avraham was talking only to one of the angels who was walking ahead of the others.
• שם הויה – Rashbam and Shadal⁵ are consistent explaining all "Hashem" in the chapters to be talking about the angels, besides from 18:14 and the second one in 19:24. There is a dispute between them regarding 18:17, Rashbam explains it as the angels but Shadal says it is really Hashem talking.

Purpose of the vision=visit – According to Shadal and Hoil Moshe, the main goal of the visit was to tell Avraham about the upcoming destruction of Sedom, and not about Yitzchak.⁶ They point out that there was no reason to repeat news of the birth,⁷ and the angels only mentioned it tangentially in response to the fact that Sarah was sitting alone in her tent, presumably lamenting her barrenness.

Why are the guests referred to as people? This approach works well with the verses which call the guests angels, but needs to explain those which call them people. Philo suggests that they were so called because they took the form of people,⁸ but does not account for the switch in titles.

Angelic or human actions – This approach easily explains how the guests knew that Sarah was to give birth and how they could blind the people of Sedom or destroy the city.  It has more difficulty explaining their corporeal actions. Philo explains that the angels simply pretended to eat and drink.⁹ R. D"Z Hoffmann also brings the opinion of Seder Eliyahu Rabbah 13 that the angels actually ate in deference to Avraham.

Did Avraham recognize them as angels? R. D"Z Hoffmann argues that at first Avraham must not have realized that the guests were angels or he would not have offered them food.  Philo and he suggest that it is only after the angels chastise Sarah for her doubt that Avraham begins to realize that the beings before him are not normal passers-by.

Beliefs about angels – Jubilees often explains Hashem to mean angels.

How many guests – It explains why only two came to Lot because one stayed to talk to Avraham about Sedom, and that is who is referred to in 18:17 and 22. According to Philo, one came to destroy the four cities and the other to save Tzoar.

Crux of the position

Distinct Events

Hashem's revelation to Avraham was distinct from the visit of the three angels.

Sources: Justin Martyr in Dialogue with Trypho56-57About Dialogue with Trypho, R. Saadia GaonCommentary Bereshit 18:2,8,17-33Tafsir Bereshit 18:33Tafsir Bereshit 19:18HaNivchar BaEmunot UvaDeiot 2:6About R. Saadia Gaon, RashiBereshit 18:1,2,3,8,16,22,33Bereshit 19:1,18About R. Shelomo Yitzchaki, RambanBereshit 18:1,3,6,15,20Bereshit 19:24About R. Moshe Nachmanides, Akeidat YitzchakBereshit #19About R. Yitzchak Arama, AbarbanelBereshit 18:1,2,4,9,16,22About R. Yitzchak Abarbanel, SefornoBereshit 18:1,2,3,9,12,14,20,22,33Bereshit 19:27About R. Ovadyah Seforno

Vision and guests – Hashem revealed himself to Avraham in 18:1, and afterwards the angels came to him. Did Hashem leave before they came, or was Hashem still there as Avraham served the guests food? Rasag says Hashem stayed with Avraham, though Rashi and Ramban say Hashem left, but it is hard then to explain the switch between plural and singular in 18:3, and the fact Hashem continues to talk to Avraham in 18:13-14 and 20-22. On the other hand, Abarbanel says 18:1 is an introduction for 18:20 where Hashem tells Avraham about Sedom.¹⁰

Purpose of the vision – The commentators give different possibilities for the purpose of the vision, and relate it to different contexts:¹¹

• Conclusion of the circumcision – Bavli Sotah and many others¹² relate the vision to the previous chapter, that Hashem was appearing either to cure Avraham, visit him,¹³ as a reward for keeping the commandment,¹⁴ or as one side in the covenant of the circumcision.¹⁵ Ramban notes this explains the omission of Avraham's name in 18:1, since it is a continuation of the previous story which mentioned Avraham.¹⁶
• Notification they were angels – Rasag¹⁷ explains this appearance of Hashem as a light that showed up to tell Avraham the guests were angels and not just any people.¹⁸
• News about Sedom – Abarbanel says the vision was to tell Avraham about Sedom, as he is told later in 18:20.¹⁹ In 18:3 Avraham davened to Hashem in his own initiative, since Hashem did not appear to him before.

Purpose of the visit – – 

• Avraham wanted guests – Rashi.
• Reward for Avraham – Ramban.²⁰ Ramban says Avraham did not have time to tell Sarah what Hashem told him in chapter 17 that he will have a child or that he waited so she can hear from the angel.
• To tell Sarah she will give birth – Akeidat Yitzchak, Seforno.
• To tell Avraham about Sedom – 

How are the guests referred to

• The angels looked like people – Rasag,²¹ Rashi, Ramban,²² Abarbanel.
• The terms are interchangeable – Rasag.²³
• When Hashem is with the guests they were called people – Rashi.
• Avraham got to see angels often so they are called people by him – Rashi.

Is "Hashem", Hashem or the guests – Rasag says the verses which refer to Hashem are just missing the word angel before Hashem like in many cases one is missing a word,²⁴ but Ramban and Abarbanel explain since Avraham realized they were Hashem's messengers, he called them in Hashem's name.²⁵

• שם אדנות – These commentators say 18:3 refers to the angels.²⁶ Ramban explains the singular that Avraham asked each one of the angels not to leave,²⁷, Akeidat Yitzchak says Avraham did not ask all three because he thought that is a big thing to ask for, and Seforno says he turned to the head of the angels and told him. Rasag says the same for 19:18, but Rashi says it is to Hashem who has the ability to kill and bring back to life.
• שם הויה – These commentators explain 18:1 to refer to Hashem, and also verse 13, 17, 20, and 22.

Angelic or human actions – These commentators disagree whether the angels ate:²⁸

• Pretended to eat²⁹ – Rasag's first opinion, Rashi, Ramban.
• The people who were there ate³⁰ – Rasag's second opinion.
• Ate what they always eat – Akeidat Yitzchak.

Beliefs about angels – Abarbanel says angels do not have a body but Avraham and Lot saw them as people.

Motivations – Rashi holds of omnisignificance and therefore does not say 18:1 is a כלל that summarizes the rest of the chapter.

How many guests – Rasag and Rashi say the one who told the news did not go to Sedom.³¹

Crux of the position

People

The three guests were human prophets.  Their discussion with Avraham was distinct from Hashem's revelation in 18:1.

Sources: R. Yosef Bekhor ShorBereshit 18:1,2-4,9,17-19Bereshit 19:1,18-19About R. Yosef Bekhor Shor, RalbagBeiur HaMilot Bereshit 18:2,3,13Beiur HaMilot Bereshit 19:13Beiur Divrei HaParashah Bereshit 18:1,2-8,9-10,13-14,16,17-19,20-21,22,33Beiur Divrei HaParashah Bereshit 19:27-28,37-38About R. Levi b. Gershom

Vision and guests – Hashem revealed himself to Avraham separately from the three human visitors.

Purpose of the vision – R"Y Bekhor Shor and Ralbag explain 18:1 is an introduction for 18:17³² or 20³³ where Hashem tells Avraham about his plans to destroy Sedom. 18:2-16 is in parenthesis and is here because they were sent for the same thing Hashem told Avraham about. When the guests left, Avraham got the prophecy which ended in 18:33.³⁴ It is unclear why this is not explicit in the verse and why Avraham's name is first mentioned in 18:6.

Purpose of the visit – R"Y Bekhor Shor and Ralbag say one of the angels came to announce the birth of a child.

How are the guests referred to – R"Y Bekhor Shor explains "מַּלְאָכִים" to mean messengers, and in our case the guests are messengers of Hashem.³⁵ Ralbag, on the other hand says prophets are called "מַּלְאָכִים"³⁶ only if they get more prophecies than the person they are prophesying about. Avraham got more prophecies than the guests therefore they are called there people, but Lot was not a prophet so by him they can be called "מַּלְאָכִים", though also people.

Is "Hashem", Hashem or the guests

• שם אדנות – R"Y Bekhor Shor explains "אֲדֹנָי" in 18:3 to refer to Hashem³⁷ that Avraham asked Hashem to make sure the prophets stopped in his house and did not continue on, though Ralbag understands it to be referring to the angel. R"Y Bekhor Shor says 19:18 refers to the angel though the next verse he says is Lot praying to Hashem.
• שם הויה – R"Y Bekhor Shor and Ralbag explain 18:1, 17 and 20 to refer to Hashem, and Ralbag brings both options for 18:13.³⁸

Angels or Humans – Abarbanel says these visitors could not have been prophets because they were no other prophets at that time besides Avraham, since they would have been commanded to circumcise themselves and we would have been told if so. In addition they would not be sent to Avraham since he himself was a prophet.³⁹ Abarbanel also says if these were prophets they would not say they will come back to Avraham, since what if they will die or be sick, and at least they would say so in the name of Hashem. He says the same about 19:13 since Hashem destroyed Sedom and not the guests how could they say they are.⁴⁰

Angelic or human actions – R"Y Bekhor Shor proves from Shofetim 13:16 that the guests were people because we are told twice that they ate and angels can not eat. They say the people were prophets which explains how they knew Sarah will give birth, laughed, and blinded the people of Sedom, because we have other cases where a prophet blinds people.⁴¹

Beliefs about angels

Motivations – R"Y Bekhor Shor says explicitly his explanation is an answer to the Christians who claim the three guests were three parts of god, therefore he does not take the approach they were angels because that is close to their read.

How many guests – Ralbag says the one who told Avraham he will have a child did not go to Sedom, and this proves how little these prophets prophesied because they were only told one thing.

Crux of the position

Divine Prophecy

All of chapter 18 was a Divine prophecy and the guests that visited Avraham did so only in this vision.

Sources: RambamMoreh Nevukhim 2:42Moreh Nevukhim 2:45About R. Moshe Maimonides, RadakBereshit 18:1,2,3,4,10,12,13,17,22,33Bereshit 19:1,2,3,11,15,16,18,24About R. David Kimchi, R. Yosef ibn KaspiTirat Kesef 2:3Bereshit 18:3,11Bereshit 19:1About R. Yosef ibn Kaspi, AbarbanelCommentary on Moreh Nevukhim 2:42About Abarbanel

Vision and guests – These commentators say that the content of Hashem's revelation in 18:1 is not missing, since the entire chapter and maybe even 19 is the prophecy that Avraham received.⁴² According to this approach, 18:1 is related to what comes after it and not what came beforehand.⁴³ Ralbag the Torah does not say explicitly the whole chapter was in a vision.

Purpose of vision = visit – Radak says the purpose was to tell Avraham about Sedom,⁴⁴ and even though Hashem already told Avraham in chapter 17 he will have a child he repeated it here to emphasize and so Sarah will hear. Ramban questions the Torah's need to tell us Sarah baked cakes, laughed, and Avraham made meat if it was all in a vision, and Radak and Abarbanel answer the story teaches us to act kindly like Avraham did.

How are the guests referred to – Rambam says Avraham saw angels often and was not surprised to see them therefore they are called people, but Lot did not see them too often so they are called angels by him. Abarbanel asks that they are only called angels twice by Lot and people more often. Radak says the guests are called people when they act in ways people act, and angels when they act in ways angels act.⁴⁵

Is "Hashem", Hashem or the guests

• שם אדנות – Radak⁴⁶ explains both 18:3 and 19:18 to refer to one of the guests.⁴⁷
• שם הויה – Radak says 18:10, 13 and the first Hashem in 19:24 are talking about the angels, while 18:1 and 17 are talking about Hashem.

Angelic or human actions – According to this approach the guests did not eat nor blind the people of Sedom, rather it was all what Avraham saw in his prophecy.⁴⁸ Did Avraham see angels or people in the vision?

End of prophecy – One would need to assume the people who came to Lot since they are the same people who came to Avraham, in reality did not come, and Lot saw them only in a prophecy just like Avraham. But how could Lot and the people of Sedom⁴⁹ have prophesied? Where did the prophecy end?

• After the end of chapter 18⁵⁰ – Radak.⁵¹ 18:33 which says Hashem left is talking about the end of the prophecy. According to Radak, Sedom was really destroyed which makes sense from later verses in Torah which mention the destruction of Sedom,⁵² but he does not explain where the guests in chapter 19 came from.
• Avraham prophesied chapters 18-19 – Abarbanel. According to Abarbanel, Sedom was destroyed and Lot was saved but not by angels rather Hashem burnt the cities and brought winds which caused Lot to leave. Abarbanel explains 18:33 which seems to end a vision that Avraham in the verse thought the prophecy ended but it did not.⁵³ He explains the repetition between 19:27-28 and 29, that the first two verses were in the prophecy, and 29 is explaining how Lot was saved in reality, and verse 30 he notes makes sense that Lot was afraid to stay in Tzoar because only in Avraham's prophecy did Lot know Tzoar was saved.
• Lot prophesied chapter 19 – Ibn Kaspi. He also understands 18:33 as the end of Avraham's prophecy, but he says Lot had a similar prophecy just he saw only two guests. Ibn Kaspi says Sedom was destroyed besides from in Lot's prophecy. Ibn Kaspi is assuming Lot can have a prophecy, which Rambam and Ralbag do not agree with.⁵⁴ Ralbag also asks how then the people of Sedom talked if it was all in a prophecy, and Ibn Kaspi probably answers like he says about Sarah, that Lot in his prophecy heard the people of Sedom talking to him.

Sarah prophesied – Radak brings a parallel to Daniel 11:7 where the people in the room with Daniel also felt something even though just Daniel was prophesying, and he says that was the case by Sarah which heard something even though just Avraham was prophesying. Sarah did not know he was an angel rather thought he was a prophet and that is why she laughed. Ralbag is not convinced and says Sarah could not have heard Avraham's prophecy, and if she prophesied herself she would not laugh at it. Ibn Kaspi says Avraham saw Sarah laughing in his prophecy, but she did not really laugh.

Beliefs about angels – Rambam⁵⁵ is consistent with his general approach towards angels that any seeing or talking of a מלאך did not really happen rather was in a prophecy or dream, though he does bring some exceptions where the word is used to refer to a prophet. Radak and Ibn Kaspi say explicitly that Avraham was sleeping when he prophesied all of chapter 18. It is not clear according to Ibn Kaspi if Avraham imagined this or prophesied this.

How many guests – Ibn Kaspi says Lot had a similar prophecy but he only saw two people as opposed to Avraham who saw three.

Crux of the position

¹ R. D"Z Hoffmann is bothered why the story of Lot does not similarly open with "וירא ה' אל לוט" before detailing how the angels visited him.  This leads him to suggest that the phrase marks some internal vision in addition to the physical manifestation of the angels. 

² As evidence Rashbam brings other examplesSee Shemot 3:2-4 and 23:21.

³ Philo agrees about 18:3 but does not comment on 19:18.

⁴ R. D"Z Hoffmann explains 19:18 that Lot was davening to Hashem through the angels once he realized they were Hashem's messengers.

⁵ Philo says explicitly 18:13 is the angel.

⁶ The other commentators agree that the angels were supposed to speak to Avraham about Sedom, but it is unclear if they view the news of Yitzchak's birth as of equal import or if they also think this was just tangential.

⁷ Hashem had just told Avraham that Yitzchak was to be born at the end of Chapter 17.

⁸ If so, one would have expected them to be called angels in 18:22 after Avraham realized in verse 17 they are not people according to him.

⁹ See also Josephus.

¹⁰ It is not clear from him because he says Avraham prophesied as he was serving the guests, which seems that Hashem revealed to him in 18:1 and was still there through out the chapter.

¹¹ According to all of them, it is unclear why the purpose is not explicit in the verse.

¹² Bavli Bava Metzia 86b, Tanchuma Vayera 2, Ki Tisa 15, Rashi, Ramban, and Seforno

¹³ These variations anthropomorphize Hashem, and see Bavli Sotah that just like Hashem visited the sick we humans should also visit the sick.

¹⁴ Ramban brings parallels to Bereshit 32:2, Vayikra 9:23, and Bemidbar 14:10 where Hashem appears as a reward with no content. R. Elhanan Samet, עיונים בפרשת השבוע סדרה שניה, בראשית (ירושלים, תשס"ד): 59-81, differentiates between those cases where it says "מַלְאֲכֵי אֱלֹהִים" and "כְבוֹד ה'" appeared and our case where Hashem appeared.

¹⁵ Seforno brings a parallel to Shemot 4:24.

¹⁶ It is difficult to say 18:1 is a continuation because it mentions a place and time for the revelation which makes it seem like a new beginning. Ramban tries to explain the mention of Elonei Mamre, that it was to tell us where Avraham circumcised himself, and see Tanchuma Vayera 3 and Rashi.

¹⁷ Rasag also mentions Hashem appeared to tell Avraham 18:20.

¹⁸ See his understanding in general that Hashem shows a mark to prophets so they know it is Hashem talking and not just their own imagination.

¹⁹ Compare to R. Yosef Bekhor Shor below.

²⁰ N. Leibowitz, Iyyunim Chadashim BeSefer Bereshit (Jerusalem, 1970): 116 understands Ramban that only 18:1 is the reward and the story ends the way it began in 17:1, though R"E Samet says 18:2 can not be a beginning for the next story. He questions Ramban's opinion since there is no mention anywhere in chapters 18-19 of the circumcision and there is no proportions between Avraham's circumcision and his reward on it.

²¹ He explains they looked like people to show Avraham's kindness and so he would be restful as he gets the news.

²² Ramban explains either Sarah did not see the angels or she did not know they were angels and that is why she laughed. Seforno says Sarah thought the angels were just prophets and did not believe a prophet could make it happen, but he does say on 18:2 they looked scary like messengers of some king.

²³ Rasag proves this from Chaggai 1:13, and see Bereshit 32:25 (the man may be a human and not an angel), Shoftim 13:10-11 (before Manoach knew he was an angel), and Daniel 12:7.

²⁴ He brings Shoftim 7:20, 16:2, and Shemuel II 15:12.

²⁵ R. D"Z Hoffmann asks that if Avraham knew they were angels then why did he give them food to eat? Ramban can answer that angles do eat, although he says they pretended to eat.

²⁶ Rashi brings both options.

²⁷ He brings parallels from Torah where there is a switch between plural and singular like in Devarim 4:29.

²⁸ How about washing their feet, did they look like humans?

²⁹ Rasag explains "וַיֹּאכֵלוּ" from the language of כילוי, and brings a parallel to Shoftim 6:20 even though he says he was a person there.

³⁰ Rasag brings parallel examples where the Torah says an action was done in plural when it only refers to the objects that are able of the action being done to them, like in Bereshit 47:19, Yehoshua 7:25, Yeshayahu 5:12, and Ezra 8:35.

³¹ Trypho says one angel came to tell the news and two to destroy Sedom, and Rashi says one came to tell the news, one to destroy Sedom, and one to cure Avraham and save Lot. Rashi says one angel can not have more than one mission.

³² This approach explains why 18:17 is written in the past because it is referring to 18:1.

³³ Though Ralbag on 18:1 says Hashem appeared to Avraham in the past there.

³⁴ R"Yosef Bekhor Shor says Hashem's name in 18:3 is referring to Hashem, and Avraham then davened to Hashem from his own initiative because Hashem only revealed to him later.

³⁵ Often the Torah uses "מַּלְאָכִים" to describe people sent by others, and he brings as an example Bereshit 32:4.

³⁶ He brings Bereshit 16:7 as an example.

³⁷ If it refers to the angels 18:5 would seem redundant if it was already said in 18:5.

³⁸ He explains Bereshit 25:23 to mean by a prophet.

³⁹ Ralbag himself says these prophets prophesied very little relatively to Avraham.

⁴⁰ He notes it is not the same as Shemot 11:10 which Ibn Ezra brings as a proof because there Moshe and Aharon did the plagues with their hands.

⁴¹ But Abarbanel questions since in Melakhim II 6:18 Elisha davens to Hashem before he blinds the people.

⁴² Abarbanel proves that the vision in 18:1 does not stand alone since later verses (such as 18:20 and 22) mention Hashem speaking. See, though, Rashbam above who explains these verses to refer to the angel.

⁴³ Cf. Bavli Sotah above. This approach, thus, needs to explain why Avraham is referred to without a name in 18:1 (which works better if the verse is a continuation).

⁴⁴ He follows Bereshit Rabbah 50:2 that one of the guests came to share the news about the child, the second to destroy Sedom, and the third to save Lot.

⁴⁵ In 19:15 they save Lot like angels, and in 19:16 the guests held on to Lot like humans, but it is unclear what is angelic about them coming to Sedom.

⁴⁶ Rambam and Ibn Kaspi only say explicitly about 18:3.

⁴⁷ Radak proves 19:18 is the angels since Lot said to them in plural, and Eliyahu and Elisha brought people back to life so too angels can.

⁴⁸ Radak and Ibn Kaspi seem to say they did blind Sedom.

⁴⁹ Bereshit Rabbah 51:9 moves over the question to the wife of Lot saying she went to all her neighbors asking for salt for the guests and that is how they knew.

⁵⁰ One can similarly posit that the vision ends after the guests leave in chapter 18.

⁵¹ He does bring an option the prophecy continued to chapter 19.

⁵² See Devarim 29:22, Yeshayahu 1:9, 13:19, and more.

⁵³ Abarbanel himself is not convinced and for this reason he says the angels appeared to Avraham in reality.

⁵⁴ But it is not clear if Lot just imagined or prophesied this.

⁵⁵ Rambam does not say like R. Yosef Bekhor Shor and Ralbag either that the guests were people, because he thinks there are different levels of prophecy, the highest one being appearance of Hashem in the day which only Moshe reached, therefore he can not say Hashem appeared to Avraham separately in 18:1 in the middle of the day.