Gen 18:1-15 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram: “Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram” (Gen 16:16).
Thirteen more years went by. “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty’” (Gen 17:1). The LORD changed his name: “Your name will no more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations” (Gen 17:5). His wife too: “you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah” (Gen 17:15). The LORD told them that the males of the household were to be circumcised; “It will be a token of the covenant between me and you” (Gen 17:11).
The LORD said Sarah would bear him a son. “Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, ‘Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?’” (Gen 17:17).
This lesson is a midday not long afterward.
1The LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.
2He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood near him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,
3and said, “My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don’t go away from your servant.
4Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.
5I will get a piece of bread so you can refresh your heart. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant.” They said, “Very well, do as you have said.”
6Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly prepare three seahs of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.”
7Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it.
8He took butter, milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree, and they ate.
9They asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” He said, “There, in the tent.”
10He said, “I will certainly return to you at about this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.
11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.
12Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
13The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child when I am old?’
14Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes around, and Sarah will have a son.”
15Then Sarah denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
In the heat of the day. “The LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day” (v. 1). “He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood near him” (v. 2).
He ran to meet them. “He ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth” (v. 2), and begged them, “please don’t go away from your servant” (v. 3). He offered only “a little water” and “a piece of bread” (vv. 4, 5), yet what he prepared was “three seahs of fine meal” (v. 6) and “a tender and good calf” (v. 7). The passage uses one quick word after another: ‘ran,’ ‘hurried,’ ‘Quickly’ (vv. 2, 6, 7). He himself “stood by them under the tree, and they ate” (v. 8).
Where is Sarah? The visitors ask about Sarah: “Where is Sarah, your wife?” (v. 9). Then: “I will certainly return to you at about this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son” (v. 10). “Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him” (v. 10).
She laughed within herself. The passage first explains: “Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing” (v. 11). “Sarah laughed within herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’” (v. 12). She said it within herself.
Is anything too hard? “The LORD said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh’” (v. 13). Then comes this line: “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (v. 14). And he says the promise again: “At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes around, and Sarah will have a son” (v. 14).
You did laugh. “Then Sarah denied it, saying, ‘I didn’t laugh,’ for she was afraid” (v. 15). “He said, ‘No, but you did laugh’” (v. 15). The passage stops there and says nothing more. In the chapter before, hearing the same promise, Abraham too “fell on his face, and laughed” (Gen 17:17).
Many years later, the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was shut up in the court of the guard (Jer 32:2). He prayed: “Ah Lord GOD! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you” (Jer 32:17). The LORD answered him: “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me?” (Jer 32:27).
Readers can see this: the words spoken at the tent door at Mamre were still being said by the people of Israel in their hardest days.
Perhaps you, too, have something you have hoped for so long that you no longer dare to hope.
This lesson does not say that if you believe, everything you hope for will happen. What it shows you is this: Sarah laughed within herself, and the LORD knew; he did not take back his promise, but said it to her again. This lesson also shows you how Abraham welcomed some strangers in the heat of the day. The New Testament says: “Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers” (Heb 13:2).
This week: Write down the thing you no longer dare to hope for, and beside it write: “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (v. 14). Then talk with God about it, just as it is in your heart.
Scripture: World English Bible.