Genesis · Pentateuch (Law)

Genesis 18

Three visitors announce that Sarah will bear Isaac, and Abraham intercedes for Sodom.

c. 2067 BCKey verses Genesis 18:10, 18:14, 18:19, 18:25Read Genesis 18 in the ESVopens BibleGateway
Haran, about 1,250 ftAbram’s road from Haran into Canaan (Genesis 12:4-6), about 420 milesShechem, about 1,900 ft

18:14

“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.”

Genesis 18:14, ESV

The chapter at a glance

  1. 1–8Three visitorsAbraham welcomes the LORD with lavish hospitality
  2. 9–15Sarah laughsNothing is too hard for the LORD
  3. 16–21Shall I hide it?God shares His purpose with the man He has chosen
  4. 22–33Abraham pleads for SodomThe Judge of all the earth will do what is just

The chapter in brief

The LORD appears to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre as he sits at his tent door in the heat of the day: Abraham looks up and sees three men. He runs to meet them, bows, and begs them to stay; he has Sarah bake cakes from fine flour, runs to the herd for a tender calf, and stands by while they eat under the tree. They ask for Sarah, and the LORD says, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” Sarah, listening behind the tent door, old and past childbearing, laughs to herself. The LORD asks why she laughed: “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” Afraid, she denies it, and He says, “No, but you did laugh.” As the men set out toward Sodom, the LORD asks whether He should hide from Abraham what He is about to do, since He has chosen Abraham to teach his household “to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice.” He tells Abraham of the great outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and goes down to see. Abraham draws near and pleads: will the Judge of all the earth sweep away the righteous with the wicked? From fifty righteous he comes down to ten, and each time the LORD agrees to spare the city for their sake.

The chapter shows the LORD coming near: eating at a man’s table, hearing a woman’s private laugh, and sharing His purpose with His friend. Many Reformed readers see in the one called “the LORD” among the three an appearance of the Son before His incarnation, the One who would later take our flesh and eat with sinners. Sarah’s laugh meets the question that runs to the virgin birth, “nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). And Abraham’s intercession, bold because it rests on God’s own justice, points to a greater Intercessor, who “always lives to make intercession” for those who draw near to God through Him (Hebrews 7:25).

Points for discussion

vv. 1–8

Three men at the tent

“The LORD appeared to him,” and Abraham sees three men. Later, two of them go to Sodom and are called “the two angels” (19:1), while Abraham “still stood before the LORD” (v. 22). The most natural reading is the LORD with two angels. Many Reformed readers see in the one called the LORD an appearance of the Son before His incarnation (John 1:18; 8:56); others read an appearance of God in human form without naming the person. Some early Christian readers saw the three as a picture of the Trinity; the text itself distinguishes the LORD from the two angels, so that reading is best held lightly, and the Trinity is revealed fully in the New Testament. On either reading the Son did not become anything He was not; He took our flesh only at the incarnation (John 1:14). Abraham’s welcome is all haste, “ran,” “went quickly,” “Quick!”, and it is the measure by which the next chapter judges Sodom. Hebrews draws the lesson: “some have entertained angels unawares” (Hebrews 13:2).

vv. 9–15

Sarah laughed

The visitors know her name and hear a laugh she let out only “to herself” behind the tent door, a hint that this guest is more than a man. “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” uses a word (pala’) for what is too wonderful or beyond reach; its root gives Isaiah’s “Wonderful Counselor” (Isaiah 9:6). Jeremiah echoes the question (Jeremiah 32:17, 27), and many readers hear it again when Gabriel tells Mary that “nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). Sarah denies laughing out of fear, and God corrects her without casting her off: “No, but you did laugh.” Hebrews still counts her among the faithful: “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive” (Hebrews 11:11). Grace meets weak faith and makes it strong.

vv. 16–21

Shall I hide it from Abraham?

The LORD speaks His reasons aloud. Abraham is the channel of blessing to “all the nations of the earth,” and “I have chosen him,” literally “I have known him” (yada’), the language of God’s personal, electing love (Amos 3:2). The purpose of the choosing is “that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice.” Election issues in a holy life; it is never a substitute for one, and it is never earned by one. Abraham is called God’s friend (2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23), and Jesus says the same of His disciples: “I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). The “outcry” against Sodom is the cry of the wronged, and God’s “I will go down to see” (as at Babel, 11:5) is not ignorance but the care of a just judge who examines before He sentences.

vv. 22–33

The Judge of all the earth

Abraham “drew near.” He pleads six times, from fifty to ten, and he is not wearing down a reluctant God. He appeals to God’s own character: “Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” He knows he is “but dust and ashes,” and he speaks anyway. God never refuses; Abraham is the one who stops. Many readers see the logic of the prayer running further than Abraham knew, toward the one righteous Man for whose sake many are spared (Romans 5:19). Ten were not found, yet God rescued Lot (19:29), more than Abraham had asked.

For discussion

Did Abraham change God’s mind, or did God draw out Abraham’s prayer? Compare Exodus 32:11-14 and James 5:16.

Threads across the chapter

  • The LORD who comes near. He eats at Abraham’s tent (vv. 1-8), hears Sarah’s private laugh (vv. 12-13), and goes down to see Sodom (v. 21).

  • Laughter and impossibility. Sarah’s laugh (v. 12) meets “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (v. 14).

  • Righteousness and justice. The way of the LORD Abraham must teach (v. 19) becomes the ground of his plea for Sodom (v. 25).

  • Hospitality and its opposite. Abraham’s welcome (vv. 1-8) sets the measure for Lot’s welcome and Sodom’s assault in chapter 19.

Key words

18:14
פָּלָא pala'“Too hard,” too wonderful; the root behind “Wonderful” in Isaiah 9:6
18:19
יָדַע yada'“I have chosen,” literally “I have known”; God’s personal, electing love
18:20
זְעָקָה ze'aqah“Outcry”; the cry of the wronged rising to God
18:25
שֹׁפֵט shophet“Judge”; the Judge of all the earth, who will do what is just

Cross-references

Questions for your group

  1. 1

    Why might the story set Abraham’s welcome of the three visitors right before the angels arrive in Sodom?

  2. 2

    What does “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” mean for Sarah, and how does Luke 1:37 carry the same question to Mary?

  3. 3

    What does Abraham’s prayer, from fifty down to ten, show about how God invites His people to plead with Him?

  4. 4

    For whom might God be calling us to stand before Him, the way Abraham stood for a city he did not live in?

  5. 5

    Why does it matter that Abraham’s boldest argument is God’s own justice (v. 25)?

My notes