Who would be the most exciting person you can imagine coming to visit your home? Would it be the president of the United States? A movie star? Your favorite author? What if God Himself came to visit? Can you imagine it? That is what happens to Abraham today in our story. God Almighty drops by for a visit to his tent. Read verse 1. What time of day was it and what was Abraham doing at the time?
So, it is the hot part of the day, and Abraham is just sitting at the entrance to his tent. In verse 2, he looks up and sees three men. Now, we know from verse 1 that one of these three men is God. Who are the other two (18:16, 18:22, 19:1)? What does Abraham do when he sees them? Imagine now, that you are sitting in the entrance to your house when you look up and see that these three have dropped by. How would you respond? How will your response differ if you know who the men are as opposed to if you don’t know who they are?
Verses 3-5 tell us of Abraham’s offer to meet the men’s physical needs. Foot washing was a common courtesy offered in Biblical times when people arrived at a home after walking on dusty roads. It is possible that Abraham did not know who these visitors were. Notice in verse 3 that the word ‘lord’ has no capitalization and therefore probably means ‘sir’ or ‘master’ rather than a reference to Deity. In those days, hospitality to strangers was very important and Abraham would have naturally made sure that any strangers would have had sufficient food and shelter.
Even strangers were treated as important guests in those days. It is important for us, as Christians, to also show this same hospitality, ensuring that the people we encounter have sufficient food and care. The Bible teaches us that many people have entertained angels in this way without being aware of being in their presence (Heb 13:2). Do you take sufficient concern for the physical needs of the people with whom you come into contact during the course of your day?
In verse 6, Abraham sends Sarah to bake some bread for the visitors. In the KJV, he tells her to make it with three measures of the finest flour, but the NIV translates this more specifically as three seahs. Now, let’s do some math. Dry measurements, at that time, were such that the smallest unit of measurement was an omer. There were 3 omers in a seah and 10 omers in an ephah. Thus, a seah, was 3/10 of an ephah.
Looking at Numbers 15:8-9, in The Law, the people of Israel were instructed to bring grain offerings of 3/10 of an ephah of the finest flour. This would have been one seah of the finest flour. Abraham instructed Sarah to use three seahs of the finest flour. That would have been three grain offerings, under The Law… one for each of the visitors. Though The Law had not yet been given, Abraham is offering the visitors the exact amount of the finest flour which will one day be required for the grain offerings before the Lord. And just for your understanding, a seah is about 30 cups of flour. Abraham asked Sarah to bake some bread with about 90 cups of flour. That’s a lot of bread for three men!
Now, if you’ve ever prepared homemade bread, you know that this bread would have taken a little while to make. These men were not going to be eating right away. But that is nothing. In verse 7, Abraham gets a tender young calf from the herd, gives it to a servant, and asks him to prepare it. If you think it takes a while to prepare homemade bread, just think how long it takes to slaughter a calf, butcher it, and cook it. These men are not going to be eating in the next few minutes. We can see in verse 8, however, that when the food has been prepared, he brings it, along with some curds and milk, and sets it all in front of the men. This is an enormous amount of food, yet he does not join them. He stands near them under a tree.
In His Word, what does God call Abraham (2 Chron 20:7, Is 41:8, James 2:23)? God created man to have fellowship with Him, and here we have seen God having fellowship with Abraham. God wants to have fellowship with us also (1 Cor 1:9, 2 Cor 13:14, 1 John 1) but He cannot tolerate sin. We must deal with the sin in our lives so that we might have fellowship with him.
In vs.9-10, the visitors give Abraham some news. What was it? Do you remember the age of Sarah and Abraham at this point? If you were this age, would it be hard for you to believe a promise like this from God?
Sarah was nearby eavesdropping. What was her reaction to this news (vs. 11-12). Sarah thought this was not possible. She had already gone through menopause (vs. 11). Are we ever tempted to not believe that God is able to do something big? In vs. 13-14, the Lord rebukes Sarah, reminding Abraham that nothing is too hard for God. He then repeats His promise. We can see here that God is ready to help with our unbelief. Trust Him.
How does Sarah respond in vs. 15? That’s right, she lied. The Bible tells us she was afraid. Have you ever been tempted to lie (or some other sin) when you were afraid? What does the Bible tell us that we must do when we are afraid (Psalm 27:1, Psalm 56:3-4, Matt 10:28-31)? Learn to turn to God when you are afraid. He is always there for us.
God has just told Abraham and Sarah what he is about to do. They both laughed. We know from previous lessons that they have had a hard time believing that a child was possible. They even took matters into their own hands to produce a child with a servant (Gen 16). They are about to learn that nothing is too hard for God.
Responding to God: Do you show God’s love for others through the hospitality you offer? Ask God to make you more thoughtful to the needs of others. Ask Him to help you to be generous to those in need. Pray for discerning eyes and for opportunities to minister to the physical needs of others. Ask God to reveal to you anything which might be interfering with your fellowship with Him and make any changes you may need to in light of this. Pray about any fears you may be experiencing and trust Him to take care of you. When you pray about needs, do you believe things are too hard for the Lord? Ask Him to help you with your unbelief. Strive to see evidence of the miraculous all around you.
Further Research: Using a concordance, search the Bible to learn what is has to say about lying.
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