G

od appeared to 
Abraham by the oaks of 
Mamre, as he sat at the 
entrance to his tent in the heat 
of the day. He lifted up his eyes 
and looked, and, lo, three men 
were standing over against him; 
and when he saw them, he ran to 
meet them from 
the tent entrance, 
and bowed down 
to the earth…
” 
Genesis 18:1–2
Thus, Parshat 
Vayera opens with 
one of the most 
famous scenes in 
the Bible: Abraham’s meeting 
with the three enigmatic strang-
ers. The text calls them men. We 
later discover that they were in 
fact angels, each with a specific 
mission.
The chapter, at first glance, 
seems simple, almost fable-like. It 
is, however, complex and ambig-
uous. It consists of three sections:
Verse 1: God appears to 
Abraham.
Verses 2–16: Abraham meets 
the men/angels.
Verses 17–33: The dialogue 
between God and Abraham 
about the fate of Sodom.
The relationship between these 
sections is far from clear. Do 
they represent one scene, two or 
three? 
 The most obvious possibility is 
three. Each of the above sections 
is a separate event. First, God 
appears to Abraham, as Rashi 
explains, “to visit the sick” after 
Abraham’s circumcision. Then 
the visitors arrive with the news 
that Sarah will have a child. Then 
takes place the great dialogue 
about justice and the imminent 
punishment of the people of 
Sodom.
Maimonides suggests that 
there are only two scenes: The 
visit of the angels, and the dia-
logue with God. The first verse 
does not describe an event at all; 

it is, rather, a chapter heading. It 
tells us that the events that follow 
are all part of a prophetic revela-
tion, a Divine-human encounter.
The third possibility is that we 
have a single continuous scene. 
God appears to Abraham, but 
before He can speak, Abraham 
sees the passers-by and asks 
God to wait while he serves 
them food. Only when they have 
departed — in verse 17 — does 
he turn to God, and the conver-
sation begins.
The interpretation of the 
chapter affects — and hinges 
upon — the way we translate 
the word Ado-nai in Abraham’s 
appeal: “Please Ado-nai, if now I 
have found favor in your sight, 
do not pass by, I pray you, from 
your servant” (18:3). Ado-nai can 
be a reference to one of the 
names of God. It can also be 
read as “my lords” or “sirs.
” In 
the first case, Abraham would be 
addressing God. In the second, 
he would be speaking to the 
passers-by.
The same linguistic ambigu-
ity appears in the next chapter 
(19:2), when two of Abraham’s 
visitors — now described as 
angels — visit Lot in Sodom:
“
And the two angels came to 

Sodom in the evening, and Lot 
sat by the city gates. When he 
saw them, he rose to meet them 
and bowing low, he said, ‘I pray 
you now, adonai, turn aside to 
your servant’s house and tarry 
all night and bathe your feet and 
you shall rise up early and go on 
your way.
’” Gen. 19:1–2
As there is no contextual 
element to suggest that Lot 
might be speaking to God, 
it seems clear, in this case, 
that adonai refers to the visi-
tors.
The simplest reading then of 
both texts — the one concern-
ing Abraham, the other, Lot 
— would be to read the word 
consistently as “sirs.
” Several 
English translations indeed take 
this approach. Here, for example, 
is the New English Bible’s:
“The Lord appeared to 
Abraham … He looked up and 
saw three men standing in front 
of him. When he saw them, he 
ran from the opening of his tent 
to meet them and bowed low 
to the ground. ‘Sirs,
’ he said, ‘if I 
have deserved your favor, do not 
pass by my humble self without 
a visit.
’”
Jewish tradition, however, does 
not.

ANOTHER INTERPRETATION 
Normally, differences of inter-
pretation of biblical narrative 
have no halachic implications. 
They are matters of legitimate 
disagreement. This case of 
Abraham’s addressee is unusual, 
however, because if we trans-
late Ado-nai as “God,
” it is a holy 
name, and both the writing of 
the word by a scribe, and the way 
we treat a parchment or docu-
ment containing it, have special 
stringencies in Jewish law. If, by 
contrast, we translate it as “my 
lords” or “sirs,
” it has no special 
sanctity. Jewish law rules that 
in the scene with Lot, adonai is 
read as “sirs,
” but in the case of 
Abraham it is read as “God.
”
This is an extraordinary fact, 
because it suggests that Abraham 
actually interrupted God as He 
was about to speak, asking Him to 
wait while he attended to the vis-
itors. According to tradition, the 
passage should be read thus:
“The Lord appeared to 
Abraham … He looked up and 
saw three men standing over 
against him. On seeing them, 
he hurried from his tent door to 
meet them, and bowed down. 
[Turning to God] he said: ‘My 
God, if I have found favor in 

Rabbi Lord 
Jonathan 
Sacks

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH

God and Strangers

Abraham and the 
Three Angels, 
watercolor by 
James Tissot, 
c. 1896–1902

WIKIPEDIA

46 | NOVEMBER 2 • 2023 J
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