Chapter One: Who Ate Lunch with Abraham?

One of the popular beliefs of Judaism is that it is impossible to see God. From the thirteen
foundational principles of the faith by Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon (1135-1204), the prayer
hymn “Yigdal,” and the creed “Ani Maamin,” we find the words:
‫אין לו דמות הגוף ואין לו גוף‬
“God has no form of body and has no body.”
This understanding is derived from Deuteronomy 4:12
And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the
words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice.
‫ּות מּונָה אֵּ י ְנ ֶכ ם ֹּר ִא ים‬
ְ ‫ׁש ְמ עִ ים‬
ֹּ ‫ַו ְי דַ ֵּב ר ְי הוָה ֲאלֵּי ֶכ ם מִ ֹּתוְך הָ אֵּ ׁש ֹּק ול דְ בָ ִר ים אַ תֶ ם‬
‫זּול ִָת י ֹּק ול‬
However, this verse does not say that God has no form. It says that the people at Sinai did not
see any form. The verse in context is not making a statement about the visibility of God. It is
a warning against the making of graven images and worshiping idols (vv. 15-24).
The belief that it is impossible to see God is partially true and partially not true. The
invisibility of God is also reiterated in the New Covenant:
John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time
John 5:37 You have not… seen His form
John 6:46 Not that anyone has seen the Father
Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God
1 Timothy 1:17 To the King eternal, immortal, invisible
1 Timothy 6:16 Whom no man has seen or can see
1 John 4:12 No one has seen God at any time
1 John 4:20 …how can he love God whom he has not seen?

With all these verses, it is easy to understand why people think that it is impossible to see
God. However, when taken in context a different picture arises. The fact that people do not
normally see God does not mean that He is un-seeable. Rather, because of our fallen
condition, we are not able to see Him. If we were to see God in the fullness of His power, it
would kill us (Exod. 33:20). We will deal with this difference at length in part two.
On the one hand it is impossible to see God. On the other hand, our patriarchs and prophets
did see “Someone” from time to time. Abraham saw this “Someone” on several occasions:
Genesis 12:7—Then YHVH appeared to Abram
‫ַוי ֵָּרא ְי הוָה אֶ ל־אַ בְ ָר ם‬
Genesis 15:1—And the word—YHVH came to Abram in a vision
‫הָ יָה דְ ַב ר־ ְי הוָה אֶ ל־אַ בְ ָר ם בַ מַ ֲח זֶה‬
Genesis 17:1—And YHVH appeared to Abram
 ‫ַוי ֵָּרא ְי הוָה אֶ ל־אַ בְ ָר ם‬
Genesis 18:1—Then YHVH appeared to him at the oaks of Mamre
‫ַוי ֵָּרא אֵּ לָיו ְי הוָה בְ אֵּ ֹלנֵּי מַ ְמ ֵּר א‬
In the verses above the word appeared in Hebrew is the passive form of the verb to see. It
clearly means that Abraham saw something, and could also be translated as “was seen by
Abraham.”
On the first three occasions we have no description of whom or what Abraham saw.
However, in chapter 18, the description is detailed and specific. Scholars and rabbinic
commentators go to great lengths to explain that this chapter cannot be taken in a literal or
plain sense meaning (‫)פשט‬. Yet, the text is explicit and quite “physical” in the detail of its
descriptions.
The staggering and inescapable truth is that YHVH Himself comes to visit Abraham in the
form of a human being. He eats lunch with him, and they discuss together a number of
important issues, from the upcoming pregnancy of Sarah to the impending destruction of
Sodom. (Please take a few moments to read the entire chapter of Genesis 18 and then follow
along in your Bible as we analyze it.)
[Note: From this point on we will use the term “Yehovah” to translate the name YHVH. It is
imperative for this study to know when that name is being used in the original text, so we can
not translate the name by the generic, “Lord” or “LORD.” For a discussion on the decision
and preference to use the name Yehovah, see Appendix #3, “Yehovah or Yahweh.” Writing
Yehovah instead of YHVH also makes the text a little more readable, even though there are
no vowel points in the original Hebrew.]
Genesis 18:1-2
Then Yehovah appeared to him at the oaks of Mamre, as he was sitting at the tent
opening in the heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes and saw, and behold three men were
standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent opening to meet them,
and bowed himself down to the ground.
‫ ַו ִי שָ א ֵּע ינָיו ַו י ְַר א‬:‫ַוי ֵָּרא אֵּ לָיו ְי הוָה בְ אֵּ ֹלנֵּי מַ ְמ ֵּר א וְ הּוא ֹּי ׁשֵּ ב ֶפ תַ ח־הָ אֹּ ֶה ל כְ ֹּח ם הַ ֹּי ום‬
‫וְ הִ נֵּה ְׁש ֹלׁשָ ה ֲא נ ִָׁש ים ִנ צָ בִ ים ָע לָיו ַוי ְַר א ַוי ָָר ץ לִ קְ ָר אתָ ם ִמ ֶפ תַ ח הָ אֹּ ֶה ל ַו ִי ְׁש תַ חּו ָא ְר צָ ה‬
Abraham saw “three men” coming to visit him. Who are these three men? One of the three
was called Yehovah; the other two were angels.
Genesis 19:1—Then the two angels came to Sodom
‫ַו ָי ֹּבאּו ְׁש נֵּי הַ מַ לְ אָ כִ ים סְ ֹּד מָ ה‬
These were not any two angels, but the two angels. They were the same two angels who were
with Yehovah and Abraham. The three visitors that Abraham saw were 1) Yehovah in the
bodily form of a man, and 2) two angels. All three are called “men.”
Two angels and the Yehovah-Man came to visit Abraham in the heat of the day. In exquisite
Bedouin hospitality, Abraham leaps to his feet and runs to welcome them. But this is not
mere hospitality. One reason that Abraham ran to them is that he recognized this Yehovah-
Man. He had already seen Him several times before.
Abraham runs to Him, bows down and calls Him Lord. The word here for bow down is
‫וישתחו‬, which may be translated as either “bow down” or “worship.” It is the primary Hebraic
word for “worship.” The word for Lord here is ‫אדוניי‬, Adonai, which is the plural form of
Lord, most often used in reference to the name Yehovah.
Throughout Genesis chapter 18, there is not one indication that Abraham does not recognize
and realize with whom he is speaking. He treats Him as Yehovah, and as “Someone” he
already knows. The three figures of the group are called “men” three times: in verse 2, verse
16 and verse 22. The special One in the group is called Yehovah four times: verse 1 (above),
verse 17, verse 22, and verse 33.
Genesis 18:16-17
Then the men arose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham was walking
with them to send them on the way. And Yehovah said, “Shall I cover up from
Abraham that which I am doing?”
‫ַויָקֻ מּו ִמשָ ם ָה ֲא נ ִָׁש ים ַו י ְַׁש קִ פּו ַע ל־פְ נֵּי סְ ֹּד ם וְ אַ בְ ָר הָ ם ֹּהלְֵּך עִ מָ ם לְ ׁשַ ְל חָ ם׃ וַי ֹּהוָה אָ מָ ר‬
‫הַ ְמ ַכסֶ ה ֲא ִנ י מֵּ אַ בְ ָר הָ ם ֲאׁשֶ ר ֲא ִנ י ֹּעשֶ ה׃‬
After they finish eating lunch and talking about Isaac’s birth, the three “men” get up to leave.
The two angels go on to do their work in Sodom. The Yehovah-Man stays to talk a little more
with Abraham alone.
Genesis 18:22
Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still
stood before Yehovah.
‫ַו ִי פְ נּו מִ שָ ם הָ ֲא נ ִָׁש ים ַויֵּלְ כּו סְ ֹּד מָ ה וְ אַ בְ ָר ָה ם ֹּע ודֶ נּו ֹּע מֵּ ד לִ פְ נֵּי ְי הוָה׃‬
Abraham and Yehovah discuss issues of judgment and grace concerning Sodom. By the time
they finish talking, the two angels are well on their way to arrive in Sodom. At the end of the
conversation, the Yehovah-Man leaves, presumably to go back to heaven.
Genesis 18:33-19:1a
So Yehovah left when He finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his
place. Now the two angels came to Sodom.
‫ַויֵּ לְֶך ְי הוָה ַכ ֲא ׁשֶ ר כִ לָה לְ דַ ֵּב ר אֶ ל־אַ בְ ָר ָה ם וְ אַ בְ ָר הָ ם ׁשָ ב לִ ְמ ֹּק ֹּמ ו׃ ַו ָי ֹּב אּו ְׁש נֵּי‬
‫הַ מַ לְ אָ כִ ים סְ ֹּד מָ ה‬
The two angels go on to rescue Lot and destroy Sodom. The whole encounter of Abraham
with Yehovah in Genesis 18 is described in realistic detail. The weather is hot. They eat a full
meal, including meat and milk together. The destruction of Sodom is tangible. This is not
portrayed as a dream or vision, but as an actual historical event.
One may or may not believe that the Bible is true. However, it is unquestionable that the
biblical text considers this event to have taken place literally. In this description, we have an
astonishing biblical claim: Yehovah is seen, heard and touched. Yehovah has come to visit
man in a human form.
The ultimate stumbling block for a religious Jew to believe in Yeshua is the claim of
Yeshua’s being divine, not of His being the Messiah. The orthodox Jewish Chabad
movement has made claims in recent years that their deceased head rabbi, Rebbe Schneerson,
had divine attributes. However, their view is somewhat less than the level of the New
Covenant claim of Yeshua’s divinity.
The bottom-line issue is our understanding of the nature of God. The idea that God could take
on the form of a man, a bodily form, and come to visit mankind seems non-monotheistic, let
alone non- Jewish. The root problem is not the interpretation of Messianic prophecies but the
essence of who the Messiah is. To think of “God becoming incarnate” seems abhorrent,
almost blasphemous.
Yet here we have it. Our father Abraham meets with God manifest in human bodily form. If
God appeared to Abraham in human form, then the foundational objection to the divinity of
Yeshua disappears. Genesis 18 is a more radical God-incarnate passage than any chapter in
the entire New Covenant.
One may reasonably argue that he does not see the figure in Genesis 18 as Yeshua. However,
it cannot be reasonably argued that the Genesis 18 text does not describe an appearance of
Yehovah in human bodily form. That appearance of God in a human form to Abraham
removes the most fundamental reason in Jewish thinking for not believing in Yeshua.
In the New Covenant, John chapter 8 does specifically make the claim that the One who
visited Abraham was Yeshua. In a heated discussion with some religious leaders, the issue of
Abraham came up. Yeshua replied:
John 8:56-59
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and indeed saw, and rejoiced. They said
to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?” Yeshua
responded to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” For this they
picked up stones to throw at Him.
Yeshua made several shocking statements here. One could understand why the religious
leaders would be offended and tempted to stone Him. Yeshua said He was alive before the
time of Abraham. He said that Abraham rejoiced to see His day. Yeshua didn’t mean that
Abraham rejoiced in a vision or rejoiced in seeing a date on the calendar. Abraham rejoiced
to see Yeshua on the day He visited him in Genesis 18. Many translations incorrectly insert in
verse 56 the word “it.” Abraham didn’t rejoice to see “it.” He rejoiced to see Him.
This can readily be seen by the response of the religious leaders when they said, “You have
seen Abraham?” It was clear that they understood that Yeshua claimed that He and Abraham
met and saw one another.
Yeshua stated here that He existed before Abraham. He also said, “Before Abraham was, I
am.” That is a reference to the name Yehovah. The man in Genesis 18 is referred to four
times as Yehovah. The name Yehovah and the name “I AM THAT I AM” are the same name
(Exod. 3:14-15). What could be the possible conclusion here other than that Yeshua is
directly claiming to be the Yehovah-I AM Man who had lunch with Abraham in Genesis 18?
Perhaps Yeshua was mentally unstable. But that is what He said. And that is how the
religious leaders understood what He said. That is what so infuriated them to the point of
wanting to kill Him. This was not a very “seeker-sensitive” approach. Yeshua left them only
three options: To think He was insane, to kill Him for being a blasphemer, or to believe that
He was the Yehovah-Man that visited Abraham.
For the religious leaders of the first century, deciding between Yeshua’s insanity or His
divinity was not a very easy choice. We Jewish people should desire to follow in the
footsteps of Abraham. We should believe in the same God he did. To the extent that God
appeared to Abraham as a man is the same degree to which we should believe that God can
become a man; not more and not less. Our faith is consistent with that of our forefathers.
According to both the Torah and the New Covenant, there is an aspect of God which we
cannot see. And there is another aspect of God who appears in the bodily form of a human
being. This dual aspect of not being able to see God, yet seeing God manifested in a human-
like form is what John described this way:
John 1:18—No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the
bosom of the Father, He has made Him known.
The God we cannot see is the one Yeshua referred to as “our Father in heaven.” The one we
can see and touch in a bodily form is referred to by several names, including the Word of
God, the Angel of Yehovah, the Son of Man, and the Son of God. (We will discuss those
references in detail in the coming chapters.) The claim of the New Covenant is that Yeshua is
that person.
One can see a parallel between Abraham eating lunch with the Yehovah-Man in Genesis 18
and Yeshua eating with His disciples at the last supper and on the shores of Galilee. Think of
the dynamic: intimate yet awesome; mystic yet earthly; divine yet human—God and man
having fellowship over a covenant meal. Think of the smell and taste of the food, of the
perspiration in the hot Middle East sun. Think of the manly conversations about justice,
family, and the coming Messianic kingdom. They experienced eternal revelation in the midst
of a most temporal situation.
You and I are invited into that same covenantal friendship that Abraham had, with the same
Yehovah-Man that he knew.