Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Abraham receives three angels with hospitality and a banquet. Second, these angels, verse 9, promise him a son from Sara. Third, verse 17, they reveal to him the impending destruction of Sodom; whereupon Abraham prays and intercedes for Sodom.
Vulgate Text: Genesis 18:1-33
1. And the Lord appeared to him in the valley of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the very heat of the day. 2. And when he had lifted up his eyes, there appeared to him three men standing near him: whom when he had seen, he ran to meet them from the door of the tent, and bowed down to the ground. 3. And he said: Lord, if I have found favor in Your eyes, do not pass by Your servant: 4. but I will bring a little water, and wash your feet, and rest under the tree. 5. And I will set a morsel of bread, and strengthen your heart; afterward you shall pass on: for therefore have you turned aside to your servant. They said: Do as you have spoken. 6. Abraham hurried into the tent to Sara, and said to her: Make haste, mix three measures of fine flour, and make cakes baked under the ashes. 7. And he himself ran to the herd, and took from there a calf, very tender and very good, and gave it to a young man: who hastened and cooked it. 8. He took also butter and milk, and the calf which he had cooked, and set it before them: but he himself stood by them under the tree. 9. And when they had eaten, they said to him: Where is Sara your wife? He answered: Behold, she is in the tent. 10. And He said to him: I will return and come to you at this time, life accompanying, and Sara your wife shall have a son. When Sara heard this, she laughed behind the door of the tent. 11. Now they were both old and advanced in age, and the customary things of women had ceased for Sara. 12. She laughed secretly, saying: After I have grown old, and my lord is an old man, shall I give myself to pleasure? 13. And the Lord said to Abraham: Why did Sara laugh, saying: Shall I, who am an old woman, indeed bear a child? 14. Is anything difficult for God? According to the appointment I will return to you at this same time, life accompanying, and Sara shall have a son. 15. Sara denied it, saying: I did not laugh, being struck with fear. But the Lord said: It is not so, but you did laugh. 16. When therefore the men had risen from there, they directed their eyes toward Sodom: and Abraham walked along with them, accompanying them. 17. And the Lord said: Can I hide from Abraham what I am about to do: 18. since he is to become a great and very mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth are to be blessed? 19. For I know that he will command his sons, and his household after him, to keep the way of the Lord, and do judgment and justice: that the Lord may bring upon Abraham all the things He has spoken to him. 20. And the Lord said: The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is multiplied, and their sin is made exceedingly grievous. 21. I will go down and see whether they have done according to the cry that has come to Me; or whether it is not so, that I may know. 22. And they turned themselves from there, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham still stood before the Lord. 23. And drawing near, he said: Will You destroy the just with the wicked? 24. If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish together? and will You not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just, if they be therein? 25. Far be it from You to do this thing, and to slay the just with the wicked, and the just be treated as the wicked: this is not Your way; You who judge all the earth will by no means do this judgment. 26. And the Lord said to him: If I find in Sodom fifty just within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake. 27. And Abraham answered and said: Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes. 28. What if there be five less than fifty just? Will You for the sake of forty-five destroy the whole city? And He said: I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there. 29. And he spoke to Him again: But if forty be found there, what will You do? He said: I will not strike it for the sake of forty. 30. I beseech You, he said, be not angry, Lord, if I speak: What if thirty be found there? He answered: I will not do it, if I find thirty there. 31. Seeing I have once begun, he said, I will speak to my Lord: What if twenty be found there? He said: I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty. 32. I beseech You, he said, be not angry, Lord, if I speak yet once more: What if ten be found there? And He said: I will not destroy it for the sake of ten. 33. And the Lord departed, after He had ceased speaking to Abraham: and Abraham returned to his place.
Verse 1: The Lord Appeared to Him
AND THE LORD APPEARED TO HIM -- in the form of three men, as follows; for the three men (of whom the next verse speaks) represented the Lord, as I shall shortly explain. In memory of this appearance of angels to Abraham near the oak of Mamre, Jews, Gentiles, and Christians used to gather there every year at the same time, and each would celebrate festivals and sacrifices according to their own rite. But the Emperor Constantine, having abolished the impious rites of the Jews and Gentiles, ordered the place to be purified, and a temple having been erected there, he decreed that it be designated and consecrated solely for Christian worship, as Sozomenes narrates, book 2, chapter 3.
SITTING IN THE VERY HEAT OF THE DAY. -- From this it appears that Abraham was accustomed to sit at his door around midday and mealtime, and to watch for travelers and guests, who in the heat of the day are accustomed to turn aside to lodgings; hence, when he spread the net of his hospitality, he received not only men but also angels without knowing it: for this is what the Apostle says, Hebrews 13:2: "Do not forget hospitality; for by this some have unknowingly received angels as guests." See the praise of hospitality discussed there, and St. Chrysostom here, homily 41; St. Ambrose, book 1, On Abraham, chapter 5; and St. Augustine, sermons 68 and 70 On the Seasons.
Hear St. Ambrose: "How do you know," he says, "whether you are receiving God, when you think it is a guest? Abraham, while offering hospitality to travelers, receives God and His angels as guests: and indeed when you receive a guest, you receive God. For thus it is written in the Gospel as you read, the Lord Jesus saying: I was a stranger, and you took Me in; for what you did to one of the least of these, you did to Me. By the hospitality of a single hour, that widow who received Elijah, with a small amount of food, found perpetual sustenance for the entire time of famine, and received a marvelous reward, so that the flour from the jar never ran out. Elisha also, by the gift of raising a dead son to life, repaid the debt of hospitality." These things and more from Ambrose.
Again St. Ambrose notes here: "Learn," he says, "how eager you should be, so that you may be the first to welcome the guest, lest someone else get there first and deprive you of the abundance of a good gift." And St. Chrysostom here: "He runs," he says, "and the old man flies; for he saw the prey he was hunting: he did not call his servants; as if to say: This is a great treasure, a great transaction; I myself must bring in this merchandise, lest so great a profit slip away." And again: "See the generosity of Abraham: he slaughtered a calf and kneaded flour. Hear also his eagerness: he does this himself and through his wife; consider also how free he is from pride: he bows down and begs. The one who receives guests must have all these qualities: eagerness, cheerfulness, generosity. Let men hear, let women hear. Men indeed, so that they train their companions, that when spiritual gain arises, it not be accomplished through servants, but they themselves do everything; women, on the other hand, so that they hasten to help their husbands in such good works by their own hands; let them imitate the holy old woman willingly taking on labor in such great old age, and performing the work of maidservants." Indeed in the house of the just no one is idle: each person is eager to be the first to lend a hand to hospitality or any similar pious work. Indeed St. Charles Borromeo, though he had a large household, so distributed to each person their tasks throughout the entire day, tasks both useful and pious, that no one had even a quarter of an hour free and unoccupied during the day. Those who lived with him for a long time told me this in Rome. For this reason his entire household was peaceful, orderly, holy, and fruitful like bees. Let princes and prelates imitate this; for idleness ruins households, especially courtly ones. And St. Jerome, epistle 26 to Pammachius: "He himself (Abraham) washed their feet, he himself carried the fat calf on his shoulders from the herd, he stood as a servant while the travelers dined, and set before them food cooked by Sara's hands, though he himself would fast."
Verse 2: Three Men
THREE MEN. -- The Council of Sirmium, Canon 14, holds that the middle one of these three was the Son of God; but this was a conventicle of the Arians, as Baronius explains at length, under the year of Christ 357.
Note therefore first, that these three men were angels, who formed and assumed a human body from air, in order to speak with Abraham. For Paul, Hebrews chapter 13, verse 2, and Moses in the following chapter, verse 1, calls them angels. So St. Augustine, book 16 of The City of God, chapter 29, and others throughout. The Hebrews and Lyranus think that one of these three was sent to announce the birth of Sara's child; the second, to overthrow Sodom; the third, to rescue Lot from Sodom. But in fact not one, but two were sent together, both to overthrow Sodom and to rescue Lot from it, as is clear from chapter 19, verses 1, 10, and 16. So Abulensis.
Second, one of the three, namely the middle one, appeared more illustrious than the others, because he was a superior angel; hence he alone speaks here for the most part, and is called Lord. The Hebrews, according to Lyranus and Tostatus, think this middle one was Michael, who had Gabriel on his right and Raphael on his left; these two he afterward sent to overthrow Sodom and to lead Lot out from it, as discussed in the following chapter. Hence Abraham addresses this one middle angel, as being more illustrious than the other two, listens to him and worships him. Whence allegorically Eucherius, book 2 on Genesis, chapter 27: "In the three men," he says, "who came to Abraham, the coming of the Lord Christ was prefigured, accompanied by two angels, whom most take to be Moses and Elijah; one the lawgiver of the old law, who through that same law indicated the Lord's coming; the other who is to come at the end of the world, to announce the second coming of Christ, and to preach His Gospel."
Third, Abraham at his first encounter with these three, thought all three were men, that is, ordinary guests of his; for the Apostle, Hebrews 13, says that he unknowingly and without realizing it received angels, because namely he thought them to be men, not angels: hence he washes the feet of all three as if they were men, and diligently prepares and provides a feast and everything else that guests need. So St. Chrysostom and Ambrose.
You will say: how then is it said here that he worshipped them? I respond: "he worshipped them," that is, prostrating himself on the ground, he showed them the civil reverence customary among Easterners. In a similar manner he worshipped the sons of Heth, chapter 23, verse 7.
Notice here with what great not only charity, but also reverence Abraham was accustomed to receive guests. From Abraham, Abbot Apollonius learned this reverence, as is recorded in the Lives of the Fathers: for he himself would receive brothers coming from abroad, worshipping them and prostrating himself to the ground, and rising he would kiss them, and he would advise the brothers to receive arriving brothers as if receiving the Lord: "For," he used to say, "our tradition holds that arriving brothers should be worshipped, because it is certain that in their coming, the coming of Christ is present;" and he added the example of Abraham. Imbued with this tradition of the Fathers, St. Benedict prescribes: "To all guests whether arriving or departing, with bowed head or with the whole body prostrate on the ground, let Christ be worshipped in them, who is also received in them."
Fourth, Abraham, as he dealt with these three, gradually from their splendor, speech, majesty, and other signs, and from God's prompting, recognized that they were not men but angels, ambassadors of God, indeed bearing the role and person of God, especially the middle one who speaks in the person of God and is always called "Jehovah," which is the proper name of God, to whom adoration is due.
In a similar way, an ambassador of a king can be honored in two ways: first, as an ambassador; second, as the king whose person he assumes and represents, so that it is considered that not so much the ambassador as the king in the ambassador is venerated and honored, just as saints are represented and venerated in their images: for an ambassador is the living image of his king.
Fifth, these three symbolically signified the Holy Trinity, and the middle one signified the divine essence, common to the three Persons. So St. Ambrose, Eusebius, and Cyril; whence Abraham saw three and worshipped one, as the Church sings.
From this it follows that Abraham first worshipped these angels with dulia, as angels and ambassadors of God; second, recognizing that they represented God and the Holy Trinity represented in them, he worshipped with latria, as St. Augustine teaches; for the one who here appears and speaks with Abraham is always called "Jehovah," which is the proper name of God, to whom latria is due.
Verse 4: Let Them Be Washed
LET THEM BE WASHED. -- Allow my servants, or rather I myself (as St. Augustine suggests, sermon 70 On the Seasons, and St. Jerome, epistle 26 to Pammachius) to wash your feet. Abraham turned from the middle one, whom he first addressed, to the two on the sides, directing his speech to them, as we are accustomed to do when we are dealing with several people.
Note here the custom of Abraham and the ancients of washing the feet of guests, both to remove dirt and to relieve weariness, about which I have spoken at 1 Timothy 5, verse 10. See also William Hamer here, and at length James Gretser in his work On Footwashing.
You may ask here, what kind of feet and what kind of body do angels assume, and in what manner? I answer: first, angels cannot unite any body to themselves substantially, that is, by hypostatic union, because this belongs to divine power alone; second, angels can assume bodies by uniting them to themselves accidentally, and moving them as if they were alive. Third, although angels can assume recently deceased corpses and move them as if they were truly alive, as demons sometimes do, they commonly fashion a body for themselves from the surrounding air, mixing in denser exhalations, some darker, some brighter, so that they blend and condense both kinds together in such a way that they resemble solid bodies with true colors and shapes of human limbs, so that the truth cannot be discerned by the eyes. This is evident from the fact that these bodies, when the angels disappear, immediately dissolve into air and vapor. So Vasquez, Part 1, Question 184.
From this it follows first, that in such bodies there are not true colors but apparent ones, such as we see in clouds; second, that an angel in such a body cannot exercise any vital operations common to living beings, such as seeing, eating, hearing, feeling, speaking: because for these to be vital, a living and animated body is required, and an angel cannot animate a body, yet he can so imitate these operations that we cannot detect them to be false, feigned, or simulated. Third, such bodies are not truly dense and solid, like other bodies: but they appear so because the angel resists.
Vasquez infers from this that such bodies do not have true softness or hardness; and consequently second, that by touching we could detect that they are not true human bodies, and he proves this from John 20: "Touch and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see Me have." But this passage is not conclusive, as I have said there. Just as an angel can exhibit the other attributes of a body, so also softness and hardness of the human body, by resisting more or less in this or that part, he can exhibit in such a body, so that it cannot be distinguished by a human being; for just as we can make a hand, arm, or finger now rigid, now soft and flexible, according as the soul through the nerves and muscles wills or does not will to resist; and just as the hedgehog, or garden pig, which we commonly call a hedgehog, can extend or retract its quills like thorns: so can an angel. That this is so is evident: for the angels allowed themselves to be touched, when Abraham here washed their feet, as is clear from verse 5; and when they seized Lot's hand and led him out of Sodom, chapter 19, verse 16.
Verse 5: A Morsel of Bread
A MORSEL OF BREAD. -- He modestly invites them only to bread, while he prepares a splendid banquet for them, as is evident from what follows; frugal nonetheless, in the manner of that age; for you do not read here of partridges, capons, deer, etc. Similar is chapter 31, verse 34, and elsewhere.
Thus Plato reproved the luxury of Aristippus in buying fish. Phocion, rebuking his son Phocus, who had purchased more provisions than usual, threatened him that if he ate or gorged himself with more than nature required, he would pay the fitting penalty. By the law of the Consul C. Fannius, it was ordained that among the Romans no poultry should be served except a single hen that was not fattened; and he fixed the limit for each domestic dinner at ten asses: Macrobius and Gellius are witnesses to this. Cicero praised Q. Crassus and Q. Scaevola not for mere elegance, but for elegance mixed with much frugality: "Crassus," he said, "was the most frugal of the elegant, Scaevola the most elegant of the frugal." M. Cato drank the same wine in his praetorship and consulship as his workmen did: he purchased dinner provisions at the market for thirty asses, and said he did this for the sake of the republic, so that his body might be robust for enduring military service.
THEREFORE -- that is, so that you may honor me by accepting my hospitality; or, as others explain, as if to say: God's providence has arranged it so that at this dinner hour you pass my way, so that you might experience my hospitality, and thus you gratify not so much yourselves as me, who takes wonderful delight and sustenance in guests and hospitality.
Verse 6: Three Measures
THREE MEASURES. -- "Satum," or as the Hebrews say, seah, is a type of dry measure, equal to a bath, which is for liquids; our translator elsewhere renders it as a modius; since therefore three modii, or three sata, made one ephah, as is clear from Ruth 2:17, just as ten ephah made one kor, which contains thirty modii, as is clear from Ezekiel 45:11, it follows from this that a satum was one-third of an ephah, and one-thirtieth of a kor.
Moreover this modius, or Hebrew satum, contained three Attic modii, as can be gathered from Josephus, book 15 of the Antiquities, chapter 11. But it contained one and a half Italian modii, according to St. Jerome on Matthew chapter 13, and Josephus, Antiquities book 9, chapter 4.
Cakes baked under the ashes. -- These are broad and flat, without leavening, cooked immediately under ashes outside the oven: so that by this means we might at once relieve the hunger of guests.
Note: The Hebrews of old, as the Saracens and nearly all the Moors still do, who are similar to the Hebrews in language, dress, and rites, used to knead flour daily in an earthen vessel and bowl, and from it bake bread each day, either in ovens, or on a grill, or in a covered pan surrounded on all sides with coals and ashes: both so the bread would be fresher, and so it could be prepared on the spot and ready at hand -- when guests arrived. Hence there is frequent mention in the Scriptures of bread baked under ashes, which the Hebrews call ugga, as if they were saying "scorched."
Tropologically, on the duty of Abraham and Sara, that is, of spirit and flesh in divine matters and promises, St. Gregory discusses in book 9 of the Moralia, chapter 51: "Sara," he says, "hearing the promises of God, laughs, but laughing she is rebuked, and being rebuked she is immediately made fruitful: because when the care of the flesh has ceased to have confidence in itself, contrary to hope she receives from the divine promise what she doubted she would have from human reasoning; whence also Isaac is rightly called 'laughter,' because when the mind conceives confidence in heavenly hope, what else does it bring forth but joy? Care must therefore be taken, lest either the care of the flesh exceed the bounds of necessity, or presume upon itself in what it moderately carries out," etc.
Verse 8: He Stood Beside Them
HE STOOD BESIDE THEM -- as one serving and encouraging his three guests to dine well. UNDER THE TREE. -- St. Augustine, sermon 66 On the Seasons: "Abraham," he says, "dwelt by a tree, under which some sort of shelter had been set up, narrow indeed for a man, but sufficient for the divine majesty. For devout faith fashioned a palace worthy of God, in which the divine majesty was to dine."
Verse 9: When They Had Eaten
And when they had eaten. -- This eating of the angels was not real, nor vital, because it was not performed by a soul informing the body, but by one assisting an airy body assumed by them; therefore the angels passed the food inside the body they had assumed, and there dissolved it into air, just as the sun dissolves and consumes moisture from the earth into vapor, without converting it into itself. So Theodoret. See what was said at verse 4.
It is different with Christ, who after His resurrection truly ate with the Apostles, but in a similar manner to these angels, dissolved the food He had eaten into air; for a glorified body is not nourished by food. So St. Thomas, Part 1, Question 51, article 2, reply 5.
Verse 10: I Will Come to You
HE SAID TO HIM (Abraham) -- one speaking for three, namely the middle one, more illustrious than the others, who was chiefly sent for this purpose; for the other two afterward went to Sodom to destroy it, as is clear from verse 22.
I WILL COME TO YOU AT THIS TIME -- the following year, on this same day and hour, as the Septuagint has it; therefore it is certain that he returned to Abraham: for he promises this here, although the fact that he actually fulfilled it is not narrated in what follows.
LIFE ACCOMPANYING. -- While you live, and Sara is vigorous and joyful; in Hebrew it is, "according to this time of life," that is, as the Chaldean translates, at this time when you shall be alive; for they are not speaking of their own life (since they are angels, about whose perpetual life there can be no doubt), but about the life and well-being of Abraham and Sara, and they here pledge both to each of them, along with offspring, as if to say: You will be alive then, and you will have a son.
Therefore Abulensis does not correctly explain "life accompanying" as meaning "if life survives for both you and me," as if the angel were speaking doubtfully about his own life, like a man who is uncertain about his future life; for the angel here certainly promises that he will return to Abraham and Sara, and certainly promises them offspring, and consequently pledges certain life to both; therefore he excludes all doubt about both offspring and life.
Verse 11: The Customary Things of Women
The customary things of women had ceased -- that is, the flow of menstruation, which is necessary for conception.
Verse 12: She Laughed Secretly
SHE LAUGHED SECRETLY. -- In Hebrew, Chaldean, and Greek it is, she laughed within herself: she laughed as at something impossible, namely that an old and barren woman would bear a child. So St. Augustine here, Question 36. For laughter is a kind of refutation, says Plato in the Gorgias. Hence the angel also reproved her laughter, as proceeding from doubt or diffidence, when he said: "Is anything difficult for God?" St. Ambrose however thinks that this laughter of Sara was an indication of a future mystery rather than an argument of unbelief: "For she laughed," he says, "not yet knowing what she was laughing at, namely that she was about to bear in Isaac a public joy." But what I said first is more true.
My lord -- my husband Abraham. After the example of Sara, good wives should reverence their husbands and call them lords, as St. Peter admonishes, 1 Peter 3:5-6.
Verse 13: The Lord Said
But the Lord said -- that is, that middle angel representing the Lord, as I said at verse 2. By this statement, the angel revealing Sara's hidden laughter showed himself to be not a man, but an angel or God. Hence for what follows: "Is anything difficult for God?" the Chaldean translates, "shall any word be hidden from the face of the Lord?" for the Hebrew pala can be rendered either way.
Verse 16: The Men
The men -- those three angels, verse 2.
Verse 17: Can I Hide
The Lord -- the middle angel, more illustrious, representing the person of God.
CAN I HIDE -- In Hebrew hamecasse, "shall I hide?" My love and familiarity does not permit Me to hide these secrets of Mine from My friend Abraham, so dear to Me, especially because I know that once he understands My decree about the destruction of Sodom, he will pray for them. I wish therefore by this revelation to give him matter for charity and prayer, and at the same time to show how much I grant to his prayers, and on the other hand I wished to make known how great was the perversity and corruption of Sodom, in which not even ten just people were found, so that Abraham did not dare to plead further for them.
Verse 18: Since He Is to Become
Since he is to become. -- This is an argument from the greater, as if to say: I have honored Abraham with so distinguished a benefit of such great posterity and blessing; therefore it is fitting that I should not deny him so small a benefit, namely the revelation of My secret.
MOST MIGHTY. -- In Hebrew atsum, that is "bony," as Aquila translates, that is "strong" (like bone), as Symmachus translates, that is "numerous," as the Septuagint translates: for the strength of a people consists especially in its numbers.
Verse 19: For I Know
FOR I KNOW. -- This is the second reason moving God to reveal His secrets to Abraham, namely that through them, that is, through the punishment of Sodom, He wishes Abraham to instruct his descendants, so that they may guard against their sins, lest they be similarly punished.
THAT THEY MAY DO JUDGMENT AND JUSTICE -- that is, that they may live rightly and justly: for "judgment" signifies that which by the judgment of God and of the wise is right, just, and holy. So Vatablus.
THAT THE LORD MAY BRING UPON ABRAHAM. -- This can also be translated from the Hebrew as "upon Abraham." God speaks here of Himself in the third person. For the meaning is: That I may fulfill what I promised Abraham, namely that I may bestow those things upon his descendants.
Verse 20: The Cry of Sodom
THE CRY OF SODOM. -- This is a personification, as if to say: The sins of Sodom were so enormous and shameless (for this is what "cry" signifies, says St. Augustine) that they were on everyone's lips publicly and everywhere, and thus the report (as Vatablus translates) of them spread through the angels to heaven and reached Me: indeed their very sins, like accusers, ascended to heaven to Me, and cry out against them.
Verse 21: I Will Go Down and See
"I will go down and see." God descended through these two angels, who likewise represented God; whom the third, namely the middle and more illustrious angel, sent into Sodom.
From this passage the First Lateran Council, chapter 8, admonishes judges not to readily believe accusations, but to examine and investigate them slowly and maturely after the manner of God, before they condemn the accused. For as Seneca says, Book II On Anger: "The day reveals the truth, and a delayed punishment can still be exacted, but one already carried out cannot be recalled." The same is to be done by everyone, lest he readily believe accusers or detractors. For it is the mark of a small mind to be quickly angered and to believe rumors. For often malice gives rise to a sinister rumor, and credulity gives it increase.
"God," says Philo in On the Confusion of Tongues, "is said to descend to see, He who foresees all things most clearly before they happen, so that we may be taught that no man should think he can make conjectures about things absent, future, and uncertain; but he must first look ahead most carefully, for the sure witness of sight rather than the fallible witness of hearing should be employed." And St. Gregory, Book XIX of the Morals, chapter 23, expounding those words of Job, chapter 29, verse 16 -- "And the case which I did not know I investigated most diligently" -- says thus: "God, to whom all things are naked and open, punished the evils of the Sodomites not on hearsay but on sight." Hence St. Chrysostom admonishes prelates not to decide anything on account of popular rumors alone: "Do not," he says, "judge from your suspicion before you learn whether the matter is truly so; nor blame anyone; but rather imitate God, who says in Genesis 18: I will go down and see." Well known is the lapse of the Emperor Theodosius in his hasty sentence and the massacre of the Thessalonians, for which, after the admonition of St. Ambrose, he afterwards so deeply repented; and that of David regarding Mephibosheth, II Kings 16:4, compared with II Kings 19:27.
God here speaks and acts after the manner of our judges, who inquire into a matter at close range and inspect the thing itself, as I have said. For God knows all things from eternity, before experience.
Note: God took this experience in the following chapter, verse 5, when He presented Himself through these two angels to the Sodomites in the appearance of two men, who were immediately solicited by them for sexual assault.
Note secondly that the sins of Sodom were many, but the chief ones were idleness, gluttony, pride, inhospitality, cruelty, contempt of God, and from these was born such monstrous lust, Ezekiel 16:49, as I said at chapter 13, verse 13.
Verse 22: They Turned Away
"And they turned away." From this passage, and from the following chapter, verse 1, it appears that two angels departed from Abraham to Sodom, but the third remained with him still. Hence Moses adds concerning him (says the Chaldean) "before the Lord"; for Abraham prays to Him until the end of the chapter, that He spare Sodom. Hence when the prayer and conversation were finished, that third one departed from Abraham and disappeared, as is clear from verse 33.
Verse 25: You Who Judge the Whole Earth
"You who judge the whole earth" -- who are the most just judge, the standard of justice, and the judge of the judges of the earth.
Verse 26: In the Midst of the City
"In the midst of the city" -- in the city itself; for this is what the Hebraism signifies here. By this city or metropolis, namely Sodom, understand the whole Pentapolis; hence if God had found ten just men in the entire Pentapolis, He would have spared the entire Pentapolis. So says Abulensis. "Hence," says St. Ambrose, "we learn what a great wall for one's country a just man is, and how we ought not to envy holy men, nor rashly disparage them. For their faith saves us, their justice defends us from destruction; Sodom too, had it possessed ten just men, could have escaped perishing."
Verse 27: I Have Begun
"I have begun." The word "to begin" in Scripture often signifies to desire, to wish, to be eager, to attempt, to prepare, to undertake; for the Hebrew word is hoalti. Hence the Hebrew literally has: "I desire, or I am eager to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes," that is, the most worthless and lowly. So says Vatablus.
Acknowledge therefore, O man, O prince, especially before God in prayer, that you are dust and ashes: know yourself. St. Augustine, Book XIII of The City of God, chapter 8, relates that Alcibiades, born of the highest rank, when he had come to know himself through the discourse of Socrates, and realized that there was no difference between himself and any common porter, wept and begged that virtue be imparted to him.
"Know," says the author of the book On the Spirit and the Soul attributed to St. Augustine, chapter 51, "that you are a man, whose conception is sin, whose birth is misery, whose life is punishment, and who must necessarily die; therefore attend carefully to what you do, or what you ought to do." And St. Bernard in his poem: "Whence does man grow proud, whose conception is sin, whose birth is punishment, whose life is labor, who must necessarily die?"
St. Giles, the companion of St. Francis, says admirably: "Humility," he says, "is like a thunderbolt, which strikes indeed, but leaves no trace behind it; so truly humility disperses every sin, and yet causes a man to be nothing in his own eyes." By this humility Abraham became dear and a friend to God; for as St. Louis, Bishop of Toulouse, used to say: "Nothing is so pleasing to God as if we who are great in the merit of our life are lowest in humility, since one is the more precious to God the more worthless he is in his own eyes for God's sake."
Verse 32: I Will Not Destroy for the Sake of Ten
"I will not destroy for the sake of ten." Here God struck fear and modesty into Abraham, lest he proceed further in his petition to four, who in fact were the only just persons in Sodom, namely Lot, his wife, and his two daughters, says St. Chrysostom. For all the rest, being guilty as it were, were consumed by heavenly fire in Sodom. God did this lest, if He offered less and Himself refused, He would sadden Abraham; for He had absolutely decreed to destroy these four cities, since the measure of the sins of Sodom was already full, indeed overflowing.
You will say: Why at least did God not allow Abraham to descend to eight or five, so that he might ask that the Pentapolis be spared for the sake of eight or five just persons? Abulensis answers that there easily could have been seven or eight just persons in the Pentapolis; for if there were four just persons in Sodom, in each of the remaining cities one just person could easily have been found; and since those cities were four, there would have been eight just persons altogether in the Pentapolis.
If you object: Did these four just persons then burn with the impious in the Pentapolis? Abulensis answers, by no means, because just as Lot with his wife and daughters left Sodom, so the remaining four just persons left their cities and the whole Pentapolis, either by the warning of angels or by God's prompting, before its destruction. But this is mere conjecture and divination. Since therefore all the inhabitants of the Pentapolis, except Lot with his family and except the inhabitants of the city of Segor, were struck and consumed by heavenly fire as by a sudden thunderbolt, it is clear that all of them were equally impious.
I answer therefore that Abraham did not descend below ten, partly because he had said in the preceding verse that this would be his last petition; for since he had descended so many times by reducing the number, he did not dare to descend further, lest he be importunate to God and provoke in Him weariness or anger; partly because Abraham had descended continuously from forty down to ten, by tens. By the same manner and consistency, therefore, he would have had to descend from ten to one or none. And finally, because he thought that ten just persons could easily be found in the Pentapolis.
But why did Abraham not mention his nephew Lot? Why did he not request that he be rescued from the common destruction? Did Moses pass over this as something obvious? Or did Abraham, knowing Lot was just, trust that he would be delivered?
St. Chrysostom, Homily 42, teaches here a moral lesson about how highly the just should be esteemed, even if outwardly they appear worthless and poor, since for their sake God spares wicked cities and provinces: for they are the foundations and pillars of the commonwealth. Such was David, of whom God said to Hezekiah: "I will protect this city, and I will save it for the sake of David My servant," IV Kings 19:34. Such was Elijah, who had only a sheepskin cloak, and Ahab clothed in purple needed the sheepskin of that man. With this sheepskin he closed heaven and stopped the descent of rains. And the tongue of the Prophet was a bridle for heaven; while the one clothed in purple and crowned with a diadem went about seeking the Prophet. Hence Paul says of him and others like him: "They wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, tormented -- of whom the world was not worthy," Hebrews 11:37. "So that it should not be doubted that the world still stands by their merits," says Rufinus, Preface to Book II of The Lives of the Fathers.
Verse 33: The Lord Departed
"And the Lord departed." This one angel, when the conversation with Abraham was finished, disappeared; but the other two went on to Sodom, as is clear from the following chapter, verse 1.