Did Abraham literally meet YHWH face to face?
Did the
Eternal literally come to the Earth and speak with Abraham & partake of
food and drink? This comparative study helps answer this question.
We begin in
Genesis 18 where the three visitors meet Abraham.
Gen 18:1 And YHWH appeared to him by
the terebinth trees of Mamrĕ, while he
was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2
So he lifted his eyes and looked, and saw three men standing opposite him. And
when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to
the ground, 3 and said, “YHWH, if I have
now found favour in Your eyes, please do not pass Your servant by. 4 “Please let a little water be brought, and wash
your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5
“And let me bring a piece of bread and refresh your hearts, and then go on, for
this is why you have come to your servant.” And they said, “Do as you have
said.” 6 So Aḇraham ran into the tent to Sarah and said, “Hurry,
make ready three measures of fine flour, knead it and make cakes.” 7 And Aḇraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave
it to a young man, and he hurried to prepare it. 8 And he took curds and
milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them, and he
stood by them under the tree as they ate. 9
And they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “See, in the
tent.” 10 And He said, “I shall certainly
return to you according to the time of life, and see, Sarah your wife is to
have a son!” And Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him. 11 Now Aḇraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age, and Sarah
was past the way of women. 12 And Sarah laughed
within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my
master being old too?” 13 And YHWH said to Aḇraham,
“Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I truly have a child, since I am old?’ 14 “Is any matter too hard for YHWH ? At the appointed time I am going to return to
you, according to the time of life, and Sarah is to have a son.” 15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for
she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh!” 16
And the men rose up from there and looked toward Seḏom, and Aḇraham went with them to send them
away. 17 And YHWH said, “Shall I
hide from Aḇraham
what I am doing, 18 since Aḇraham is certainly going to become
a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in
him? 19 “For I have known him, so that he
commands his children and his household after him, to guard the way of YHWH, to do righteousness and right-ruling, so that YHWH brings to Aḇraham what He has spoken to him.” 20 And YHWH said, “Because
the outcry against Seḏom and
Amorah is great, and because their sin is very heavy, 21
“I am going down now to see whether they have done altogether according to the
outcry against it that has come to Me, and if not, I know.” 22 So the men turned away from there and went toward
Seḏom,
but YHWH
still stood before Aḇraham. 23 And Aḇraham drew near and said, “Would
You also destroy the righteous with the wrong? 24
“Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city, would You also destroy the
place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? 25 “Far be it from You to act in this way, to slay
the righteous with the wrong, so that the righteous should be as the wrong. Far
be it from You! Does the Judge of all the earth not do right?” 26 And YHWH said, “If I
find in Seḏom fifty
righteous within the city, then I shall spare all the place for their sakes.” 27 And Aḇraham answered and said, “Look, please, I who am but dust
and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to YHWH, 28 “Suppose there are
five less than the fifty righteous, would You destroy all of the city for lack
of five?” And He said, “If I find there forty-five, I do not destroy it.” 29 And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose
there are found forty?” And He said, “I would not do it for the sake of forty.”
30 And he said, “Let not YHWH be displeased, and let me speak: Suppose there are found
thirty?” And He said, “I would not do it if I find thirty there.” 31 And he said, “Look, please, I have taken it upon
myself to speak to YHWH: Suppose there are found twenty?” And He said,
“I would not destroy it for the sake of twenty.” 32
And he said, “Let not YHWH be displeased, and let
me speak only this time: Suppose there are found ten?” And He said, “I would
not destroy it for the sake of ten.” 33 Then YHWH went away as soon as He had ended speaking to Aḇraham. And Aḇraham returned to his place.
In this account we see Abraham is visited by three
individuals, one of which Abraham appears to view as YHWH himself. We
see that Abraham treats his visitors to bread, curds and meat. The meal is
partaken of under the Terebinth trees.
We now will turn our attention to an encounter that is very similar to the meeting that Abraham had with the Eternal. In this encounter we have Gideon of the tribe of Menashsheh who is visited by a messenger (Malak). Pay close attention to the details of this encounter, particularly the details that compare with the meeting Abraham had with his visitors.
Jdg 6:7
And it came to be, when the children of Yisra’ĕl cried out to YHWH because of Miḏyan, 8 that YHWH sent a prophet to the children of Yisra’ĕl, who said
to them, “Thus said YHWH Elohim of Yisra’El, ‘I
have brought you up from Mitsrayim and I brought you out of the house of
bondage, 9 and I delivered you out of the hand
of the Mitsrites and out of the hand of all your oppressors, and drove them out
before you and gave you their land. 10 ‘And I
said to you, “I am YHWH your Elohim, do not
fear the mighty ones of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. And you have not
obeyed My voice.” ’ ” 11 And the Messenger
of YHWH
came and
sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to
Yo’ash the Aḇiʽezerite, while his son Giḏʽon threshed
wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the eyes of the Miḏyanites. 12
And the Messenger of YHWH appeared
to him, and said to him, “YHWH is with you, you mighty brave one!” 13 And Giḏʽon said to Him, “O my master, if YHWH is with us, why has all this come upon us? And where are
all His wonders which our fathers related to us, saying, ‘Did not YHWH bring us up from Mitsrayim?’ But now YHWH has left us and given us into the hands of Miḏyan.” 14
And YHWH turned to him and said,
“Go in this strength of yours, and you shall save Yisra’ĕl from the hand
of the Miḏyanites.
Have I not sent you?” 15 And he said to Him, “O YHWH, with what do I save Yisra’El? See, my clan is the weakest in Menashsheh, and I am the
least in my father’s house.” 16 And YHWH said to him,
“Because I am with you, you shall smite the Miḏyanites as one man.” 17
And he said to Him, “Please, if I have found favour in Your eyes, then show me
a sign that it is You who are speaking with me. 18
“Please do not move away from here, until I come to You and bring out my
offering and set it before You.” And He said, “I shall stay until you return.” 19 And Giḏʽon
went in, and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of
flour. The meat he put in a basket, and
he put the broth in a pot. And he brought them out to Him, under the
terebinth tree, and presented it. 20 And
the Messenger of Elohim said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread
and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. 21 And the Messenger of YHWH put forth the end of the staff that was in His hand, and
touched the meat and the unleavened bread. And fire went up out of the rock and
consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Messenger of YHWH went from his sight.
Gideon met with a messenger of YHWH. He prepared bread and meat for the messenger. He brought the meal (offering) to the messenger under the terebinth trees. We also see the similarity in verses 14 & 16 where the messenger speaks to Gideon in the esteem of YHWH, just as we see in verses 13, 17, 20, & 26 of the Genesis 18 account. And we see that Gideon responded to the messenger as if YHWH was standing before him.
Did Abraham literally see YHWH in the flesh? Or was it a messenger sent from the Eternal, who spoke in His esteem, and was viewed as having the authority of the Almighty just as Gideon’s encounter?
Lets look to Gideon for a deeper understanding….
22 And when Giḏʽon saw that He was a Messenger of YHWH, Giḏʽon said, “Oh Master YHWH! For I have seen a Messenger of YHWH face to face.” 23 And YHWH said to him, “Peace be with you! Do not fear, you do not die.” 24 And Giḏʽon built an
altar there to YHWH, and called it: YHWH Shalom. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Aḇiʽezerites.
We see that Gideon is in fear for his life because he has seen a messenger of the Eternal face to face. Why was he concerned?
Exo 33:18 Then he said, “Please, show me Your esteem.” 19 And He said, “I shall cause all My goodness to
pass before you, and I shall proclaim the Name of YHWH before you. And I
shall favour him whom I favour, and shall have compassion on him whom I have
compassion.” 20 But He said, “You are unable
to see My face, for no man does see Me and live.” 21
And YHWH said, “See, there is a place with Me! And you shall stand on
the rock. 22 “And it shall be, while My esteem
passes by, that I shall put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My
hand while I pass by. 23 “Then I shall take
away My hand and you shall see My back, but My
face shall not be seen.”
Gideon feared that he would perish because he had seen YHWH face to face. Gideon did not die, because he did not literally see YHWH face to face, just as Abraham and Moshe did not see the Eternal face to face, for if they had, they would have died.
We should now clearly see that the man that visited
Abraham was a messenger sent by the Almighty.
Shalom & Agape
Allen
