2 b And he lifted up his eyes | saw them, he ran to meet them and looked, and lo, three men from the tent door, and bowed stood by him: and when he himself toward the ground, b Heb. 13. 2. c ch. 19. 1. 1 Pet. 4 9. the incident which is more fully detailed in its particulars in the ensuing verses. As we gather from the sequel, the object of this renewed manifestation of the divine presence was again to repeat the promise of a son, and to make known to Abraham the purposed destruction of Sodom. It was probably vouchsafed a short time after the events recorded in the preceding chapter. - In the plains of Mamre. Or, Heb. in the oaks, or the oak-grove of Mamre. See Note on Gen 13. 18.- - He sat in the tentdoor in the heat of the day. The intense heat of those eastern climes still compels the labourer and the traveller to seek shelter and rest during the middle of the day. 'Often has my mind reverted to the scene of the good old patriarch sitting in the door of his tent in the heat of the day. When the sun is at the meridian, the wind often becomes softer, and the heat more oppressive; and then may be seen the people seated in the doors of their huts, to inhale the breezes, and to let them blow on their almost naked bodies.' Roberts, The scene here described presents a beautiful picture of patriarchal manners, and one strikingly accordant with the customs of other nations of remote antiquity, as transmitted to us by their historians and poets, particularly Homer, who thus describes the hospitable Axylus ; Fast by the road his ever-open door Obliged the wealthy and relieved the poor. Iliad, B. 6. The annotators on this chapter seem to have had in view the single tent of Abraham, with flocks and herds feeding around. But there must have been many tents for his numerous dependants and servants; while the bulk of his cattle were probably at pasture many miles distant. Among the Bedouin tribes it is the duty of the chief or sheikh to entertain strangers, and as the custom requires them to stop at the first tent they reach, the sheikh's tent is usually pitched so as to be the first in that direction from which strangers most commonly arrive. This custom would account for Abraham's being the first to perceive the strangers as he sat in the shade of his tent-door to enjoy any air that might be stirring, while the heat of the day rendered the interior of the tent too close and sultry to be conveniently occupied. In the heat of the day the external shade of the tent is much more cool and pleasant than the interior.' Pict. Bible. ed. 2. And he lifted up his eyes and lookTo lift up the eyes does not mean to look upward, but to look directly at an object, and that earnestly. A man coming from the jungle might say, 'As came this morning, I lifted up my eyes, and behold, I saw three elephants.' 'Have you seen any thing to-day in your travels?'-'I have not lifted up my eyes.' 'I do not see the thing you sent me for, sir.'-'Just lift up your eyes, and you will soon find it." Roberts. And lo, three men stood by him. Such they were in outward appearance, but the Apostle Heb. 13. 1, calls them 'angels,' whom Abraham entertained unawares, i. e. not knowing them to be such. To him they appeared to be three strangers on a journey, and as such he treated them. But it is generally conceded that two of these were created angels. As to the third, it can scarcely be doubted that he was the same divine personage who, under the name of 'Angel,' or 'Angel of Jehovah,' so frequently appeared to the 3 And said, My lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant : With patriarchs in human form. Certain it is that this personage appears in the subsequent part of the narrative, v. 13-22, and yet there is not the least intimation of any other appearance than that of the three men whom Abraham entertained. The inference therefore is fair that the Son of God, anticipating thus his future manifestation in the flesh, constituted one of the company. The persons that now appeared at the tentdoor of Abraham were certainly unknown to him. He was ignorant of their quality, their country, and their destination; yet his behaviour to them was as respectful as if they had been attended by a pompous retinue, or had sent a messenger to him beforehand announcing their names, and their intention of paying him a visit. how much propriety the Apostle inculcates the duty of hospitality from this incident will be obvious at once, and we may remark in addition, that those who hold themselves in readiness to show kindness to the stranger and the traveller, may chance sometimes to be favoured with the presence of guests who will have it in their power and in their hearts to bless them as long as they live.- He ran to meet them. His generosity on this occasion is not more conspicuous than the amiable manner in which it was expressed. The instant he sees them, he rises up, as by a kind of instinctive courtesy, to bid them welcome to his tent, and that in the most respectful manner. This and other passages in the Bible may be illustrated by the gradations of Persian etiquette. When a Persian is visited by a very superior person he crosses the open court of his house, and receives him at the street-door; if decidedly su perior, but not greatly so, he rises hastily and advances to receive his visiter at the entrance of the room; if the visiter be an equal, he simply rises from his seat on his entrance; and if an inferior, he only makes the motion of rising.-T Bowed himself toward the ground. Heb. 1. The original word is elsewhere rendered 'worshipped,' as is also the corresponding Gr. term pоσxvvεw proskuneo both in the Old and New Testament. Its primary meaning is to do homage, or pay obeisance to one, but whether this homage be civil or religious cannot be determined from the word itself; this must be ascertained from the context. Thus where one Evangelist, Mat. 8. 2, says, 'Behold there came a leper and worshipped him,' another, Mark 1. 40, speaking of the same incident, says, And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him.' This determines the sense of worship' in the former passage to be merely assuming a reverential posture. So also, Luke 14. 10, Then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee;' i. e. have reverence. In the present case, Abraham's bowing was doubtless intended rather as a token of civil respect than as an act of religious adoration; for he seems not at first to have been aware of the true character of his guests, particularly the principal of them. ་ 3. And said, My lord. Addressing himself to that one of the three who had the most dignified and commanding air, or who perhaps advanced somewhat in front of the rest.—¶ If now I have found favour in thy sight. That is, if you are disposed to do me a favour, pass not away, &c. 5 And I will fetch a morsel on: for therefore are ye come to of bread, and comfort ye your your servant. And they said, So hearts; after that ye shall pass do, as thou hast said. e Judg. 6. 18. & 13. 15. f Judg. 19. 5. Ps. 104. 15. g ch. 19. 8. & 33. 10. 4. Let a little water be fetched, and sible the merit of every office he prowash your feet. That is, have them poses to perform for them. If they wash d; for this was performed by are to be refreshed with water, he calls servants, and not by the guests them- it 'a little water;' and if with food he Eelves. 'Water for the feet is a neces- calls it 'a morsel of bread.' In order sary and most grateful part of hospital- to spare them the formality of apolity in the East. Where the people ogies and relieve them from the anxiewear sandals, which are intended only ty they might feel under the apprehento protect the soles, the feet soon be- sion of the trouble he might be at on come foul and parched; and to have their account, he says not a word of the feet and ankles bathed is the most the best of the entertaiments which gratifying of refreshments after that of he determined to provide for them. quenching thirst. The office is usually Comfort ye your hearts. Heb. performed by servants. Mr. Roberts 1750 sustain, uphold, strengthmentions, that in passing through Hin-en your hearts. Gr. payɛooɛ eat. Thus doo villages it is common to see this Judg. 9. 5, 'Comfort (Heb. 170 stay) office performed for the weary traveller. your hearts with a morsel of bread.' In the sandy deserts of Arabia and Hence bread is ternied the staff of life, the bordering countries no covering for and the Lord threatens by the prophet, the feet can prevent the necessity for Is. 3. 1, to 'take away from Jerusalem this refreshment at the end of a day's and from Judah, the stay and the staff, journey. The fine impalpable sand or the whole stay of bread and the whole dust penetrates all things, and, with staff of water.'the perspiration, produces an itching and feverish irritation, which, next to the quenching of his thirst, it is the first wish of a traveller to allay; and to uncover his feet, and to get water to wash them, is a prime object of attention. If sandals only are used, or the feet are entirely without defence, it becomes still more necessary to wash them after a journey:' Pict. Bible. -T For therefore are ye come to your servant. Heb. 'For therefore have ye passed by (7) to your servant,' i. e. for this has it been so ordered in Providence that your steps have been conducted hither. Not that he would intimate that their sole design in passing that way was to avail themselves of his generous hospitality, but that God had so ordered things, that he was bound to regard them and treat them as if sent with that special purpose. The sentiment so casually inti-T Under the tree. Col-mated in the text discloses a very inlect. sing. for 'trees,' as his tent stood teresting trait in Abraham's character in a grove. as a pious man. It shows how habit5. I will fetch a morsel of bread. ually he recognised a superintending As before remarked, 'bread' among the and directing Providence. Even an Hebrews was the general name for any incident so apparently fortuitous as the kind of food. Nothing is more remark-passing by his door of a few strangers able than the refinement of this ad- he instinctively refers to the ordering of dress. He diminishes as much as pos-heaven, and therefore feels that a -¶ Rest yourselves. Heb. 12 lean ye down. Gr. Kuravžare refresh yourselves. 6 And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three meas obeying the impulses of a benevolent heart he is at the same time discharging a duty expressly enjoined upon him by the circumstances of the case. His example teaches us to consider every unexpected opportunity for befriending our fellow-creatures as divinely afforded. So do as thou hast said. 'How exceedingly simple was all this! No compliment on either side, but such as a generous heart and sound sense dictate.' A. Clarke. ures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. great interest, and traced the analogies they afforded to the "usages recorded in the Bible. As we shall have occasion to describe these processes in notes to the various passages which refer to them, we now only notice that which is supposed to be here intended, and which is still in use among the Arabs and other people of the East. It is done by kindling a fire upon the ground or hearth when the ground is sufficiently heated the fire is removed and 6. Abraham hastened into the tent the dough placed, and being coverunto Sarah. That is, into Sarah's ed with the hot ashes and embers is tent, into the woman's apartment, soon baked, although not so rapidly as which was separated from his.- -T by some other processes, the cakes beMake ready quickly three measures of ing thicker and not so wide as those in meal. Heb. xo wbw ¬¬na hasten most common use. Another process three seahs of meal. A 'seah' contain- resembles this, except that, instead of ed about two gallons and a half.- -the bare hearth, a circle of small stones Knead it, and make cakes upon the is arranged, and these being heated, the hearth. 'It seems very strange to us paste is spread over them, and then that in such an establishment as that overlaid with hot cinders. This is thinof the patriarch there was not ready ner than the former, and is only used baked bread for the strangers. But by the Arabs for their morning meal. the fact is, that in the East to this day, Sarah's process was probably the first so much bread and no more than will mentioned. It may seem extraordinasuffice for the household is baked daily,ry to see a lady of such distinction as as the common bread will not keep Sarah, the wife of a powerful chief, ocgood longer than a day in a warm cli- cupied in this menial service. But even mate. They also prefer bread when it now this duty devolves on the women is new. In the East, it is only in large of every household; and among those towns that there are bakers by trade. who dwell in tents, the wife of the In villages and camps every family proudest chief is not above superintendbakes its own bread; and while jour-ing the preparation of the bread, or neying in the East we always found even kneading and baking it with her that, except in towns, the women of own hands. Tamar, the daughter of a the familes which entertained us al-king, seems to have acquired distinction ways went to work immediately after as a good baker of bread (see 2 Sam. our arrival, kneading the dough and 13. 5-10); and there are few of the baking cakes,' generally on spacious heavy duties which fall upon the woround or oblong plates, of thin and soft men of the East which they are more bread, which were ready in an aston-anxious to do well, and get credit for, ishingly short time. We have often than this. It is among the very first watched the various processes with of an Eastern female's accomplish 7 And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a ments. The other duties of the kitchen titll often devolve upon the wives, even in families of distinction. When Dr. Richardson was at Jerusalem he was, as a physician, consulted about the complaints of the ladies of a Turk of high consideration, called Omar Effendi. 'I was surprised,' says the doctor, to hear many of them ascribe their complaints to fatigue, which, I was informed, arose from their employment in the kitchen.'' Pict. Bible. young man; and he hasted to dress it. but on the occasion of some great festival, or on the arrival of a stranger. If the guest is a common person, bread is baked and served up with the ayesh; if the guest is a person of some small consequence, coffee is prepared for him, and also a dish called behatta (rice or flour boiled with sweet camel's milk), or that called ftétat (baked paste, kneaded up thoroughly with butter); but for a man of some rank, a kid or lamb is killed. When this happens, the lamb is boiled with bourgoul (wheat dried in the sun after having been boiled) and camel's milk; and served up in a large wooden dish, around the edge of which the meat is placed. A wooden bowl, containing the melted fat of the animal, is put and pressed down in the midst of the boiled wheat; and every morsel is dipped into this melted 7. A calf tender and good. 'Here again the European reader is struck no less at the want of preparation than by the apparent rapidity with which the materials of a good feast were supplied. The dough was to be kneaded and the bread baked; and the meat had not only to be dressed but killed. The fact is, the Orientals consume a very small quantity of animal food; and the nom-fat before it is swallowed. A bowl of ades, with their ample flocks and herds, less than other Orientals. In our own journeys meat was never to be found ready killed, except in large towns, and then only in the mornings. There was probably not a morsel of meat in Abraham's camp, in any shape whatever. The usages of the Aeneze Arabe, as stated by Burckhardt, in his 'Notes on the Bedouins,' strikingly illustrate this entertainment prepared by Abraham for his visitants; and we know that, with some unimportant differences, the statement applies generally to other Arab tribes. Their usual fare (called ayesh) consists of flour made into a paste, and boiled with sour camel's milk. This is their daily and universal dish; and the richest sheikh would think it disgraceful to order his wife to prepare any other dish merely to please his own palate. The Arabs never indulge in animal food and other luxuries camel's milk is frequently handed round after a meal. Now in this account of the Arab mode of entertaining a stranger we have all the circumstances of Abraham's entertainment, if we change his 'calf' for a sheep, lamb, or kid. Here are the bread newly baked, the butter and the milk. If we should suppose that the process of boiling the choice parts of the calf was too long for the present occasion, we may conclude that the choice parts were cut up into small bits, and, being run upon small spits or skewers, broiled over the fire: this being a mode very common in the East of preparing a hasty meal of animal food. We have not supposed that the animal was dressed and serv ed up entire, as that would have required more time than the haste of preparing a real for merely passing strangers would allow. But amongst the Arabs, and indeed other Eastern people, it is |