Genesis 18: 1-15
18:1 The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day.
18:2 He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground.
18:3 He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant.
18:4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.
18:5 Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on–since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.”
18:6 And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.”
18:7 Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it.
18:8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
18:9 They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.”
18:10 Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him.
18:11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
18:12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?”
18:13 The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’
18:14 Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.”
18:15 But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”
ΩΦΘΗ δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ Θεὸς πρὸς τῇ δρυΐ τῇ Μαμβρῇ, καθημένου αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς αὐτοῦ μεσημβρίας. 2 ἀναβλέψας δέ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτοῦ εἶδε, καὶ ἰδοὺ τρεῖς ἄνδρες εἱστήκεισαν ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἰδὼν προσέδραμεν εἰς συνάντησιν αὐτοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ προσεκύνησεν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν. 3 καὶ εἶπε· κύριε, εἰ ἄρα εὗρον χάριν ἐναντίον σου, μὴ παρέλθῃς τὸν παῖδά σου· 4 ληφθήτω δὴ ὕδωρ, καὶ νιψάτωσαν τοὺς πόδας ὑμῶν, καὶ καταψύξατε ὑπὸ τὸ δένδρον· 5 καὶ λήψομαι ἄρτον, καὶ φάγεσθε, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο παρελεύσεσθε εἰς τὴν ὁδὸν ὑμῶν, οὗ ἕνεκεν ἐξεκλίνατε πρὸς τὸν παῖδα ὑμῶν. καὶ εἶπαν· οὕτω ποίησον, καθὼς εἴρηκας. 6 καὶ ἔσπευσεν Ἀβραὰμ ἐπὶ τὴν σκηνὴν πρὸς Σάρραν καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ· σπεῦσον καὶ φύρασον τρία μέτρα σεμιδάλεως καὶ ποίησον ἐγκρυφίας. 7 καὶ εἰς τὰς βόας ἔδραμε Ἀβραάμ καὶ ἔλαβεν ἁπαλὸν μοσχάριον καὶ καλὸν καὶ ἔδωκε τῷ παιδί, καὶ ἐτάχυνε τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτό. 8 ἔλαβε δὲ βούτυρον, καὶ γάλα, καὶ τὸ μοσχάριον ὃ ἐποίησε, καὶ παρέθηκεν αὐτοῖς, καὶ ἔφαγον· αὐτὸς δὲ παρειστήκει αὐτοῖς ὑπὸ τὸ δένδρον. 9 Εἶπε δὲ πρὸς αὐτόν· ποῦ Σάρρα ἡ γυνή σου; ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· ἰδοὺ ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ. 10 εἶπε δέ· ἐπαναστρέφων ἥξω πρὸς σὲ κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον εἰς ὥρας, καὶ ἕξει υἱὸν Σάρρα ἡ γυνή σου. Σάρρα δὲ ἤκουσε πρὸς τῇ θύρᾳ τῆς σκηνῆς, οὖσα ὄπισθεν αὐτοῦ. 11 Ἀβραὰμ δὲ καὶ Σάρρα πρεσβύτεροι προβεβηκότες ἡμερῶν, ἐξέλιπε δὲ τῇ Σάρρᾳ γίνεσθαι τὰ γυναικεῖα. 12 ἐγέλασε δὲ Σάρρα ἐν ἑαυτῇ, λέγουσα· οὔπω μέν μοι γέγονεν ἕως τοῦ νῦν, ὁ δὲ κύριός μου πρεσβύτερος. 13 καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρὸς ῾Αβραάμ· τί ὅτι ἐγέλασε Σάρρα ἐν ἑαυτῇ, λέγουσα· ἆρά γε ἀληθῶς τέξομαι; ἐγὼ δὲ γεγήρακα. 14 μὴ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ ρῆμα; εἰς τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον ἀναστρέψω πρὸς σὲ εἰς ὥρας· καὶ ἔσται τῇ Σάρρᾳ υἱός. 15 ἠρνήσατο δὲ Σάρρα λέγουσα· οὐκ ἐγέλασα· ἐφοβήθη γάρ. καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ· οὐχί, ἀλλὰ ἐγέλασας.
Comments
The episode recalls two themes familiar to classicists: First, the notion, which recurs in literature and inscriptions from Homer to the end of Greek antiquity, that (in the words of Antinoos, one of Penelope’s suitors), ‘All sorts of gods in the likeness of foreign strangers range through men’s cities, watching over their insolence and orderly behaviour’ (Odyssey 17. 485-7). Second, the pericope recalls at first sight— in some superficial details– the ‘international tale type’ (as folklorists call it) Hospitality Rewarded (AT [=Aarne-Thompson] 750B), on which see W. Hansen, Ariadne’s thread, A guide to international tales found in classical literature, Ithaca & London, 2002, pp. 211-23. The tale in nuce: ‘One or more supernatural beings (gods, angels, fairies, saints, etc.) in the guise of mortals visit a household where, being hospitably received, they reward their hosts or, being inhospitably received, they punish the inhabitants.’ (Hansen op. cit., p. 211.) A variant tale type, AT 750*, is Hospitality Blessed, which subsumes tales of reward and punishment that do not quite fit the main pattern. A Greek and Roman congener of the predominant tale type is Hellenistic but traces back to Homer, namely the tale about the ‘reception of a great personage in a humble dwelling’ (E. J. Kenney), of which Ovid’s tale of Philemon and Baucis (Metamorphoses 8. 616-725) is just one example. Gen. 18: 1-15 may be diffusely indebted to the generic tale types mentioned, but it is divergent in that a) it features not one but three passersby,b) it does not present the promise (Isaac’s birth) as a reward (this is the fourth in a series of promises of a son to Abraham and Sarah),and c) one of the strangers promises to return.
[1] ΩΦΘΗ δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ Θεὸς: ὤφθη, aor. mid., ‘appeared/ let himself be seen’ < ὁρῶμαι (άομαι). ὤφθη is a technical term in LXX for theophanies, as here, and angelophanies. In Greek myth gods mingled with mortals, esp. heroes, but as a rule they were in disguise. (In Homer Achilles could see his mother Thetis, a sea-nymph, and Odysseus once saw Athena. When Tiresias saw Athena bathing he was struck blind.)
ἐπὶ τῆς θύρας: θύρα (f.) = ‘door’; fig., entrance. Cf. Engl. thyroid.
μεσημβρίας: gen. of time; μεσημβρία (f.) means ‘midday’. The Engl. tr. over-translates: ‘in the heat of the day’. In ancient Greece the witching hour and generally the time of supernatural happenings, such as epiphanies of Pan or the nymphs, was midday.
[2] ἀναβλέψας δέ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτοῦ: ἀναβλέπω, a cl. Gr. cmpd, means ‘look up (wards)’. τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτοῦ, ‘with his eyes’, is redundant (pleonastic) in Greek.
ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ: the cpmd ἐπ- +άνω is a prep. here, meaning ‘over’. The three men stood ‘over him’, since, as Muraoka notes (s.v., p. 260), Abraham is seated.
προσεκύνησεν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν: < προσκυνῶ (έω), ‘prostrate myself’ (Muraoka, s.v., p. 596)—something a democratic Greek would not do before a mortal (see my comments for last week).
[3] κύριε: voc. of κύριος, which when used as a subst. in cl. Gr. means ‘lord, master’ (LSJ). κύριος in v. 12 means ‘husband’.
In koine κύριε is a respectful address, ‘Sir’, as here and in NT. Although three men are present, Abraham addresses one—a discrepancy best left to theologians.
μὴ παρέλθῃς τὸν παῖδά σου: aor. subj., 2nd pers. sg. < παρέρχομαι, here c. acc. pers., ‘I move past without taking notice of’ (Muraoka, s.v., p. 534), a meaning close to that found in Homer & cl. Gr. In v. 5, παρελεύσεσθε (fut.)εἰς τὴν ὁδὸν ὑμῶν, means ‘to depart and move on’ (cf. Muraoka, s.v.). The cmpd παρ-έρχομαι (‘come/go past’) brings out the fact that the three newcomers are passersby.
τὸν παῖδά σου: παῖς here means ‘servant’ (Muraoka, s.v., p. 520), a meaning also found in cl. Gr. Cf. v. 5, 7 for ‘servant’.
[4] ληφθήτω δὴ ὕδωρ, καὶ νιψάτωσαν τοὺς πόδας ὑμῶν: ‘let water be brought, and let them [the servants] wash your feet’; the Engl. version slightly differs: ‘Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet.’
καταψύξατε ὑπὸ τὸ δένδρον: aor. imper., 2nd pers. pl. < καταψύχω, intr., ‘cool off’, a koine meaning. The Engl. version is different: ‘and rest yourselves under the tree.’
[5] οὗ ἕνεκεν ἐξεκλίνατε πρὸς τὸν παῖδα ὑμῶν: οὗ ἕνεκεν = ‘on the ground that’ (Muraoka, s.v. ἕνεκεν, p. 237). ἐξεκλίνατε, aor., 3rd pers., pl. < ἐκκλίνω, intr., ‘to deviate from the set or right course’ (Muraoka, s.v., p. 210). Again, the three are en route, they are passing travellers.
[6] καὶ ἔσπευσεν Ἀβραὰμ: σπεύδω, intr., ‘Ι hasten’, already in Homer. In the same verse Abraham urges Sarah to hurry (σπεῦσον) in her preparations. In Homer and myth a good host or his servants will bustle about offering hospitality: in Ovid Baucis (see below) tended the two visiting gods ‘in busy haste’ (tr. A.D. Melville). In v. 7 the host will run to his herd of cattle (ἔδραμε Ἀβραάμ) to select a calf, and his servant will ‘be quick, hurry’ (ἐτάχυνε, aor. ταχύνω, intr., cl. Gr) to cook it.
[10] κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον εἰς ὥρας: καιρός in cl. Gr. = ‘right time’; ὥρα in cl. Gr. can mean ‘season’. Cf. Engl. hour. κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον = ‘at this opportune moment’. εἰς ὥρας = ‘on time, in good time’ (Muraoka, s.v. ὥρα, p. 747). Cf. v. 14.
[11] ῾Αβραὰμ δὲ καὶ Σάρρα πρεσβύτεροι προβεβηκότες ἡμερῶν, ἐξέλιπε δὲ τῇ Σάρρᾳ γίνεσθαι τὰ γυναικεῖα: the comparative form πρεσβύτερος occurs in koine as a subst.= ‘elder’, ‘elderly person’. The abstract τὰ γυναικεῖα, ‘womanly matters’, is a decorous expression for ‘menstruation’.
Abraham and Sarah recall Philemon and Baucis in Ovid’s rendering of the tale type Hospitality Rewarded in the Metamorphoses. The couple entertain Jupiter and Mercury, who travel incognito. They are ‘old and good’— pious—coevals, having ‘grown old together’. They live in poverty. They are childless but are not rewarded with a son. Their reward is the granting of their twofold wish: to become priests in the shrine of the two gods and to die at the same time. (They are changed into ‘two trees [an oak and a lime] from one twin trunk grown side by side’, tr. Melville.)
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 