The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 309

(Knliecb). "Whenever our path led ue near tent unto Sarah, and ,a.id, Make ree.dy an encampment, as was frequently the case, quickly three meaB11rea - Hebrew, three we always found some active sheikh or eeahs, a seah being R third of an ephah, and venore.blo patriarch sitting 'in his tent containing 374 cubic inches each (Keil) ; a door,' and ns soon as we wero witttin hail third of a bushel (Kalisch)-of 1ine meal, wo heard the earnest words of welcome nnd -literally, of flour, fone flour; a,µioa>.,~ invitation which the Oltl Testament Scrip- (LXX.); the first term when alone der:otiug tures had rendered long ego familiar to us : flour of ordinary quality (cf. Le,it. ii. 1; v. 'Stay, my lord, stay. Pabs not on tiH thou 11; Num. vii. 13)-Jmee.d it, e.nd make cakes hast-eaten bread, and rested under thy serv- upon the hee.rth-i. e. "ronnd unleavened ant's tent. Alight and remain until thy cakes baked upon hot stones" (Keil). servant kills a kid and prepares a feast'" Ver. 7.-And Abraham ran unto the herd, (Porter's 'Giant Cities of· Bnshan,' p. 326; e.nd fetcht a co.If tender and good,-the cf. ibid. p. 87). greatness of the honour done to the strangers Ver. 4.-Let a little we.tar, I pre.y you, was evinced by the pet"Sonal activity of the be fetched, e.nd wash your feet. Feet wash- patriarch, and the offering of animal food, ing was a neccssnry part of Oriental 'hos- which was not a common article of con- pitality (cf. eh. xix. 2; xxiv. 32; xliii. 24). sumption among Orientals- and gave it "Among the ancient Egyptians the basins unto e. young man ;-i. e. the servant in kept. in the houses of the rich for this _pur- attendance (cf. eh. xiv. 2!)-a.nd he he.ated pose were sometimes of gold" (Freeman, to dress it. Bible Manners, 'Homiletic Quarterly,' vol. Ver. 8.-And he took butter,-il~)?~, from i.' p. 78). "In lnria it is considered e. the root Non, to curdle or become thick, necessnry part of hospitality to wash the signifies curdled milk, not butter (/3ovrvpov, feet and ankks of the weary traveller, and LXX.; butyrum, Vulgate), which was not oven in Palestilie this, •interesting custom used among Orientals except medicinally. is not extinct. Dr. Robinson e.nd party on The word occurs seven times in Scripture arriving at Ramleh repaired- to the abode with four letters (Deut. xxxii. 14; Judges of a wealthy Arab, where the ceremony was v. 25; 2 Sam. xvii 29 ; Isa. vii. 15, 22 ; performed rn. the genuine style of ancient Prov. xxx. 33; Job xx. 17), and once with- Oriental hospitality" (vide Kitto's 'Bible out N (Job xxix. 6; vide Michaelis, 'Supple- Illnstrations,' vol. i. p. 230). And rest your- selves (literally, recline by resting on the ment,' p. 807)-and milk,-:170, wilk whilst elbow) under the tree. still fresh, or containing its fatness, from a Ver. 5.-And I will fetch a morsel of root signifying to be fat (cf. eh. xlix. 12; oree.d,-a modest description of what provod Prov. xxvii 27)-and the ea.If which he- a. sumptuous repast (vid~ vers. 6, 8)-and i. e. the young ma.n-had dressed, and set comfort ye·your hearts;-literally, st1·enr,then it before them; e.nd he stood by them under or support them, i. o. by ea.ting and drinking the tree,-a custom still observed among the (Judges xix. 5; 1 Kings xxi. 7)-after that Arabs, who honour their guests not by sitting; ye she.11 pe.se on : for therefore-t:1i-S1Z- 1:;, to cnt with, but by standing to wait upon, them-and they did ee.t. Not seemed to eat introduces the ground of what has already (J osepbus, Philo, Jonathan), nor simply been stated, something like quando quidem, ate nftor au allegorical fashion, as fire con- forasmuch as (Ewnld, 'Hob. Synt.,' § 353), sumes the materials put into it (Justin since, or bocnusc (lfalisch), and not= 1.:;i-1~-Sll, Martyr), but did so in reality ('rertullian, for this cnuso that (Gcscnins, 'Gram.,'§ 155), Delitzsch, Keil, Kurtz, Lange). Though the or "becnnse for this purpose" (Keil)-e.re angel who appeared to Mnnoah (Judges xiii. ye;come to (literally, ltave ye f.assed befoi-e) 16) rofusod to partake of food, the risen thy servant. -'l'ho patriarch s meaning is Saviour ato with his disciples (Luke xxi,. not that they ha,l como with the design of 43}. Physiologically inexJ?licable, this latter receiving his gifts (LXX., A. V. ), bnt either action on the part of Chnst Wtl.S uot a mero thnt, unconsciously to them, God had ordered </)a,voµ.,vov or simulntion, but a veritable their journey so as to give him this oppor- manducation of material food, to which tunity (Calvin, Bush, Wordsworth, 'Speaker's Christ nppealetl in confirmation of the reality Commentary,' Keil), or perhaps simply that of his resurrection ; and the acceftance of since they had passed by his tent they shoultl Abraham's hospitality on the part o Jehoval1 suffer him to accord them entert,tinmeut and his angels mny in like manner hnve been (Kalisch, Roscnmiillcr). And they so.id, So designe,l to prove that their visit to his tent do, a9 thou hast snid. 'l'horcforo we must at Ma.mre was not a dream or a vision, but believe thnt Abmhnm washed the men's feet, 11 genuine external manifestation. nnd they did ont (ver. 8). Here is n mystery Ver. 9.-And they said unto him (i. e. (Wonlsworth ). the Principal One of the throe, speuking; for V,·r. 6. -And Abrahn111 hastene~ into tbc the other'!, intc!'rog,itcd Alm1h:1rn ,\nring tl1ll ljJ·:>;1>1,, 11  THE BOOK OF GENESIS. [cu. XVIII. 1-15.