It is asked how, when there were three men who had appeared to him, he addresses the Lord in the singular, saying, 'Lord, if I have found grace before you.' Did he understand one of them to be the Lord and the others angels? Or rather, perceiving the Lord in the angels, did he choose to speak to the Lord rather than to the angels — since, with one of the three remaining afterward with Abraham himself, two are sent to Sodom, and Lot speaks to them as to the Lord? 'Let water be taken and let them wash your feet and refresh yourselves under the tree. And I will take bread and eat.' It is asked, if he understood them to be angels, how he could invite them to this human hospitality, which is necessary for the refreshment of mortal flesh, not for the immortality of angels. 'But Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in days;
and it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.' The age of the elderly (seniores) is less than that of the aged (senes), although the aged too are called elders. Whence, if what is asserted by some physicians is true — namely, that an elderly man cannot beget children with an elderly woman, even if the woman's monthly courses still come — according to this we can take Abraham to have marvelled at the promise of a son, and the Apostle to have set it down as a miracle: 'his body being now as good as dead.' For 'a body as good as dead' is not to be so understood as though it could have no power of generation at all, if the woman were of youthful age, but 'dead' in this respect, that he could no longer beget of a woman of advanced age. For he was able to beget of Keturah precisely because he found her youthful in age.
For thus the physicians teach, that a man whose body has so far failed in this respect that he cannot beget with a woman of that age — even though she still suffers her monthly courses — can yet beget of a young woman; and again, a woman who is already of advanced age, though her monthly courses still flow, so that she cannot bear by an old man, can yet bear by a young man. Therefore that was a miracle, because, according to what we have said, with the man's body as good as dead, the woman too was of such advanced age that the manner of women had ceased to be with her. For if anyone presses the word by which the Apostle says 'a body as good as dead' — because he said 'dead,' then it must be understood that it had no soul either, but was a corpse — that is of the most absurd falsehood.
Thus, then, this question is resolved. Otherwise it rightly perplexes us how, when Abraham was near the middle age according to which men then lived, and afterward begot sons of Keturah, he is said by the Apostle to have had a body as good as dead, and is proclaimed as a miracle because he begot. 'And the Lord said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh within herself, saying, Shall I then truly bear a child? But I have grown old.' It is asked why the Lord reproves her laughter, since Abraham also laughed — unless it be that his laughter was of wonder and gladness, but Sarah's of doubt, and this could be discerned by Him who knows the hearts of men. 'Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh; for she was afraid.'
How did they understand that it was God who was speaking, when Sarah even dared to deny that she had laughed, as though He could be ignorant of this? Unless perhaps Sarah thought them to be men, while Abraham understood Him to be God. But he too, by offering those services of hospitality of which I spoke above, which could be necessary only for weak flesh, it would be strange if he did not first suppose them to be men. But perhaps, you will say, he understood God to be speaking through certain signs of divine majesty existing and appearing, as the Scripture testifies has often happened in men of God. But again it is asked, if this is so, how they afterward came to know that they had been angels — unless perhaps because, while they watched, they went up into heaven.
'For I knew that he will command his sons and his household after him, and they will keep the ways of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham all the things which He has spoken to him.' Behold, here the Lord promises Abraham not only rewards, but also the obedience of his sons to justice, so that concerning them too the promised rewards may be fulfilled. 'Going down, therefore, I will see whether they are being consummated according to their cry which comes to me; but if not, that I may know.' If we take these words not as of one doubting which of two things will rather come to pass, but as of one who is angry and threatening, there is no question. For God speaks in the Scriptures to men after the human manner, and those who have known His anger have known how to understand it without perturbation in Him.
We too are accustomed to speak thus by way of threat: 'Let us see whether I do not do it to you,' or 'Let us see whether I do not do it to him,' and 'If I cannot do it to you, at least let me know,' that is, 'This very thing I will try, whether I cannot.' When this is said by way of threatening, not of ignorance, the affection of one angry appears; but perturbation does not befall God. The manner of human speech is both customary and suited to human weakness, to which God adapts His own speech. It is customarily asked whether what God said concerning Sodom — that He would not destroy the place if even ten just men were found there — is to be understood by a certain special sentence concerning that city, or generally concerning all, that God spares a place in which even ten just men are found.
In this question it is indeed not necessary that we be compelled to take this concerning every place; yet nevertheless concerning Sodom it could be said thus also, because God knew that there were not even ten there. And therefore it was answered thus to Abraham, so that it might be signified that not even so many could be found there, to the aggravation of their iniquity. For it was not necessary for God to spare such wicked men, lest He should destroy the just along with them, since He was able, the just being delivered from thence, to render fitting punishments to the ungodly. But, as I have said, to show the malignity of that multitude, He said, 'If I find ten there, I will spare the whole city.' As if He were to say:
'Certainly I can neither destroy the godly with the ungodly, nor yet on that account spare the ungodly, since, the godly being delivered and separated thence, I can repay the ungodly their due; and yet, if they are found there, I spare' — that is, because not even so many could be found there. Something similar occurs in Jeremiah, where he says: 'Go about the streets of Jerusalem and see and seek in her squares and know: if you find a man doing justice and seeking faith, then I will be merciful to their sins' — that is, 'Find even one, and I spare the rest,' to aggravate and demonstrate that not even one could be found there. That Lot met the angels and bowed his face to the ground, he seems to have understood that they were angels;
but again, when he invites them to the refreshment of the body, which is necessary for mortals, he seems to have thought that they were men. Therefore the question is resolved in like manner as it was resolved concerning the three who came to Abraham: that by certain signs it appeared they were sent from God, who nevertheless were believed to be men. For this too is in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where, when the Scripture was speaking of the good of hospitality, it says: 'For by this some, without knowing it, entertained angels as guests.' As to what Lot said to the Sodomites: 'I have two daughters who have not yet known men; I will bring them out to you, use them as it pleases you; only to these men do no wrong.'
Since he wished to prostitute his daughters by this compensation, so that his guests should suffer no such thing from the Sodomites, it is rightly asked whether such a compensation of shameful deeds or of any sins whatever is to be admitted — that we should do some evil, lest another do a graver evil — or whether it is rather to be attributed to Lot's perturbation, not to his deliberate counsel, that he said this. And doubtless this compensation is admitted most perilously. But if it is attributed to human perturbation and to a mind so agitated by so great an evil, it is by no means to be imitated. 'But the men who were at the door of the house they smote with blindness.' The Greek has 'aorasia,' which signifies more, if it could be so said, 'not-seeing' — such as makes one not see, not all things, but what is not needful.
For it rightly perplexes us how they could fail in seeking the door, if they had been smitten with such blindness that they saw nothing at all; for in that case, confounded by their own calamity, they would seek the door no further. This 'aorasia' both those who sought Elisha were smitten with. This too those had who, walking with the Lord on the road after the resurrection, did not recognize Him, although the word is not there set down, but the thing itself is understood. 'And Lot said to them, I pray, Lord, since your servant has found mercy before you and you have magnified your justice which you do toward me, that my soul may live; but I cannot be saved in the mountain, lest perhaps evils overtake me and I die.'
In this perturbation of fear he did not believe the Lord Himself, whom he recognized in the angels — the same fear by which he had also said that thing about prostituting his daughters — so that we may understand that what he said about the shame of his daughters is not to be held as of authority; for neither is this to be held as of authority, that the Lord is not to be believed. 'And God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow.' The Scripture commends that Lot was delivered rather by the merits of Abraham, so that we may understand Lot to have been called just in a certain manner, chiefly because he worshipped the one true God, and on account of the comparison with the crimes of the Sodomites, among whom, living, he could not be inclined to a life like theirs. 'And Lot went up from Zoar and dwelt in the mountain.'
It would be strange if it were not that same mountain, into which he went up of his own accord, though at the Lord's warning he had been unwilling to go up; for either there is no other, or none appears. 'For he feared to dwell in Zoar.' To his weakness and his fear the Lord had granted the city which Lot himself had chosen, and in it He had promised him safety, that on his account He would spare the city. Yet even there he was afraid to be; so his faith was of no great strength. 'And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister; for he feared to say, She is my wife, lest perhaps the men of the city should kill him on her account.' It is customarily asked how at that age Abraham still feared danger on account of Sarah's beauty.
But the power of her beauty, which could still be loved, is rather to be marvelled at than to be thought a difficult question. As to what God said to Abimelech on account of Sarah: 'And I spared you, that you should not sin against me,' when He warned him that she whom he thought to be his sister was Abraham's wife — it must be observed and noted that one sins against God when such things are committed as men think are to be held lightly, as sins of the flesh. But as to what He said to him, 'Behold, you shall die,' this too must be noted, how God speaks as one foretelling without doubt that which will come to pass, which He says by way of warning, so that by abstaining from the sin it may be guarded against. It is rightly asked why Abraham made a feast neither on the day his son was born to him nor on the day he was circumcised, but on the day he was weaned.
Unless this be referred to some spiritual signification, there is no solution to the question: namely, that there ought then to be great joy of the spiritual age, when a man has been made a new spiritual man — that is, not such as those to whom the Apostle says: 'I gave you milk to drink, not meat; for you were not yet able. But neither are you yet able; for you are still carnal.' It is asked, since Sarah said, 'Cast out the handmaid and her son; for the son of the handmaid shall not be heir with my son Isaac,' why Abraham was grieved, since this was a prophecy, which surely he himself ought to have known better than Sarah.
But it must be understood either that Sarah said this from a revelation, because it had first been revealed to her, while he — whom the Lord afterward instructs concerning this — was moved with fatherly affection for his son; or that both were at first ignorant of what that might be, and that this was prophetically spoken through Sarah, who did not know it, when she was moved with a womanly spirit on account of the handmaid's pride. It must be noted that Ishmael too was called by God the seed of Abraham, on account of that which the Apostle teaches is to be so taken, that was said, 'In Isaac shall your seed be called,' that is, 'Not the children of the flesh, but the children of the promise are counted as the seed':
so that this properly pertains to Isaac, who was not a son of the flesh, but a son of the promise, where the promise is made concerning all nations. 'And Abraham rose up in the morning and took loaves and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar; and he placed them on her shoulders, and the boy; and he sent her away.' A question is customarily raised how he placed on her shoulders the boy also, so grown. For he who had been circumcised at thirteen years before Isaac was born — when Abraham was ninety-nine, and Isaac was born when his father was a hundred — and since Ishmael was playing with Isaac when Sarah was provoked, that is, with the boy grown somewhat larger, who had already been weaned, Ishmael was assuredly more than sixteen years old when he was expelled with his mother from his father's house.
But even if we take what is said of his playing with the little one to be said by way of recapitulation, before Isaac was weaned, then even so it is quite absurd that a boy of more than thirteen years should be believed to have been placed on his mother's shoulders with the skin and the loaves. Yet how easily the question is resolved, if we understand not 'he placed,' but 'he gave.' For Abraham gave, as it is written, to his mother the loaves and the skin, which she placed on her own shoulders. And when it is added and said 'and the boy,' we understand 'he gave' — he who had given the loaves and the skin — not 'he placed on her shoulders.' 'And the water failed from the skin, and she cast the boy under a single fir tree; and she went away and began to sit down opposite him, far off, about a bowshot; for she said:
I will not see the death of my son. And she sat opposite him. But the boy, crying out, wept. And God heard the voice of the boy from the place where he was. And the angel of God called Hagar from heaven and said to her: What is it, Hagar? Do not fear; for God has heard the voice of your son from the place in which he is. Arise and take the boy and hold him with your hand; for I will make him into a great nation.' It is customarily asked how, since the boy was more than fifteen years old, his mother cast him under a tree and went far off, about a bowshot, so as not to see him dying. For it seems to sound, from what is said, as though she cast down the one she was carrying, especially because there follows, 'the boy wept.' But it must be understood that he was cast out not by one carrying him, but,
as it happens, by the mind, as one about to die. For neither was he being carried who said, as it is written, 'I have been cast away from before your eyes.' And it is in everyday usage of speech, when someone is said to be cast off by another with whom he was, so as not to be seen by him or to remain with him. But it must be understood — what the Scripture left unsaid — that the mother so withdrew from her son that the boy did not know where his mother had gone, and that she hid among the woodland thickets, so as not to see her son failing from thirst. And he, even at that age, what wonder if, his mother not being seen for a longer time and as it were lost, he wept in that place where he had remained alone? Therefore what is afterward said,
'Take the boy,' was said not so that she should lift him from the ground as though lying there, but that she should be joined to him and thenceforth hold him by the hand as a companion, just as he was — which those walking together, of whatever age, generally do. 'And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech said,' and so forth. It can be asked when Abraham made a covenant with this Abimelech and the well which he dug was called 'the well of the oath,' how it agrees with the truth. For Hagar, expelled from Abraham's house with her son, was wandering near the well, as was said, 'of the oath,' which is said to have been made by Abraham much later; for there Abimelech and Abraham swore, which had by no means yet been done when Hagar with her son had been expelled from Abraham's house.
How then was she wandering near the well of the oath? Is it to be understood that it had already been done and afterward recorded by way of recapitulation — what Abraham transacted with Abimelech? Unless perhaps he who wrote the book long afterward named, from the name of the well of the oath, the region in which the mother was wandering with her son, as though he said: she was wandering in that region where the well of the oath was made — although the well was made afterward, yet long before the age of the writer; and it was so called when the book was being written, retaining the ancient name which Abraham had imposed. But if it is the same well which Hagar saw with opened eyes, nothing remains except that the question be resolved by way of recapitulation.
Nor ought it to trouble anyone how Hagar did not know the well which Abraham had dug, if it was dug before she was expelled. For it could very well have happened that, for the sake of his flocks, he dug a well far from the house in which he dwelt with his own, which she did not know. It can be asked how Abraham had planted a field at the well of the oath, if in that land, as Stephen says, he had received no inheritance nor even a foot's space. But that inheritance is to be understood which God was to give by His own gift, not bought with a price. And the space around the well is understood to pertain to that pact of purchase, in which seven ewe-lambs were given, when Abimelech and Abraham also swore to each other. 'And God tempted Abraham.'
It is commonly asked how this can be true, since James in his epistle says that God tempts no one. The answer is that, by the usage of Scripture, 'to tempt' is regularly said in the sense of 'to test.' But the temptation of which James speaks is understood only of that by which anyone becomes entangled in sin. Hence the Apostle says: lest perchance he who tempts should have tempted you. For elsewhere too it is written: The Lord your God tempts you, that he may know whether you love him. Here also the phrase 'that he may know' is used as if it were said 'that he may make you know,' since the strength of one's own love lies hidden from a man unless it is made known even to himself by a divine trial. The voice of the angel from heaven to Abraham: Lay not your hand upon the boy, neither do anything to him;
For now I know that you fear God. This question too is resolved by a similar mode of speech; for this is its meaning: 'Now I know that you fear God' signifies 'Now I have made you to know it.' In what follows this manner of speaking clearly appears, where it is said: And Abraham called the name of that place 'the Lord has seen,' so that men say to this day, 'On the mountain the Lord appeared.' 'He has seen' stands for 'he appeared,' that is, 'he has seen' stands for 'he caused to be seen,' signifying through the efficient cause the thing that is brought about, just as cold is called 'sluggish' because it makes men sluggish. And you have not spared your beloved son for my sake. Did Abraham not spare his son for the angel's sake and not for God's sake?
Either, then, the Lord Christ is signified under the name of the angel — who without doubt is God, and is plainly called by the prophet 'the Angel of great counsel' — or else God was in the angel and the angel spoke in the person of God, as often happens with the prophets too. For in what follows this seems the more apparent, where it is read: And the angel of the Lord called Abraham a second time from heaven, saying: By myself have I sworn, says the Lord. For it is not easily found that the Lord Christ calls the Father 'Lord' as though his own Lord, especially at that time, before he took flesh. For according to that whereby he took the form of a servant, this does not seem incongruously said. For according to the prophecy of this future thing is that saying in the psalm: The Lord said to me:
You are my Son. For not even in the Gospel itself do we easily find that God the Father is called 'Lord' by Christ, as though he were his Lord; although we do find 'God' in that place where he says: I go to my Father and your Father, my God and your God. But as for what is written: The Lord said to my Lord, this is referred to the very one who was speaking, that is: 'The Lord said to my Lord' — namely, the Father to the Son; and 'the Lord rained from the Lord' — he who was writing said this, so that it may be understood that his Lord rained from his Lord, that is, our Lord from our Lord, the Son from the Father.
As to the fact that among those who were reported to Abraham to have been born as sons to his brother, there is also named Kemuel the father of the Syrians, surely those who brought the report could not have reported the father of the Syrians; for from his origin the Syrian race was propagated long afterward. But it was said from the person of the writer, who, after all those times, narrated these things in writing, just as we said above concerning the well of the oath. And Abraham, rising up, did obeisance to the people of the land. It is asked how it is written: You shall adore the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve, whereas Abraham thus honoured a certain gentile people, so as even to do obeisance to them. But it must be observed that in the same precept it was not said: 'the Lord your God only shall you adore,' as it was said:
and him only shall you serve, which in Greek is 'latreuseis.' For such service is owed to none but God. Hence idolaters are condemned, that is, those who render to idols this kind of service which is owed to God. Nor let it disturb anyone that in another place, in a certain Scripture, an angel forbids a man to worship him and admonishes that the Lord should rather be worshipped; for such an angel had appeared as could be worshipped in place of God, and therefore the worshipper had to be corrected.
As to the fact that Abraham commands his servant to place his hand under his thigh, and so puts him under oath by the Lord God of heaven and the Lord of earth, this is wont to move the untutored who do not attend to the great prophecy about Christ contained therein — namely, that the Lord God of heaven and Lord of earth himself was to come in that flesh which was propagated from that thigh. It must be inquired how unlawful auguries differ from that asking for a sign by which Abraham's servant asked that God would show him her who was to be the wife of his master Isaac: he asked that, when he had begged of her that she give him to drink, it might be said to him, 'Drink you also, and I will draw water for your camels too until they cease to drink.'
For it is one thing to ask for some marvel which by the miracle itself may be a sign, and another to observe those things which happen in such a way that they are not marvels, but are interpreted by diviners with superstitious vanity. But this very thing — that some marvel is demanded whereby may be signified what anyone wishes to know, whether the matter should be ventured — is no small question. For to this pertains the fact that those who do this wrongly are said to tempt the Lord. For the Lord himself, when he was tempted by the devil, brought forward the testimony from the Scriptures: You shall not tempt the Lord your God. For it was suggested to him, as to a man, that he should himself by some sign explore how great he was, that is, how much he could avail with God: which is done faultily, when it is done.
But from this is distinguished what Gideon did when the danger of battle was imminent; for that was rather a consultation than a tempting of God. Hence also Ahaz in Isaiah is afraid to ask a sign, lest he should seem to tempt God, when the Lord admonishes him to do so through the prophet — believing, I suppose, that he was being tested by the prophet himself, whether he was mindful of the precept whereby we are forbidden to tempt God. The servant of Abraham, narrating what had been commanded him by his master, says that he had said to him: You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell in their land, but you shall go into the house of my father and into my tribe, and shall take a wife for my son from thence — and the rest.
If one reads how these things were commanded him, the same sense is found; but the words are not all either the same or spoken in the same way. This I thought worth pointing out on account of foolish and unlearned men who on this ground bring a calumny against the evangelists, because in certain words they do not agree in every respect, although in matters and meanings they do not disagree at all. For certainly one man wrote this book, so that he was able to set down thus, or on rereading, those things which Abraham said above when he gave the command, if he judged it pertinent to the matter — since the truth of a narrative requires nothing except that it be of the matters and meanings whereby the intention, for the sake of imparting which the words are made, may be sufficiently apparent. As to what the Latin codices have, when Abraham's servant narrates what his master had commanded him:
then you shall be guiltless of my oath, or: of my swearing — the Greek has: of my curse. For 'horkos' means an oath, 'ara' a curse; whence also one is called 'kataratos,' cursed, or 'epikataratos.' Accordingly the question arises how that oath can be understood as a curse, except that he is cursed who acts against the oath. If, then, you show mercy and righteousness toward my master, tell me. Those two things which are constantly set together in the other holy Scriptures, and especially in the Psalms — mercy and righteousness (for 'mercy and truth' means just as much) — here already begin to appear. Behold, Rebecca is before you; take her and run; and let her be the wife of your master's son, as the Lord has spoken.
It is asked when the Lord had spoken. The answer must be either that they knew Abraham to be a prophet and recognized that what had been said through him was spoken prophetically by the Lord; or else they called the Lord's speaking that sign which his servant narrated had been given to him — for this is the more clearly expressed regarding Rebecca. For what Abraham had said, he had not said of Rebecca, but of some woman from his tribe or kindred; and this was said as covering both cases, that the servant might be free from the oath if he did not obtain his request. But this is by no means said when something is prophesied; for prophecy ought to be certain. As to what Rebecca's brothers said to her as she set out: You are our sister;
may you become thousands of thousands, and may your seed possess by inheritance the cities of their adversaries — they were not prophets, nor did they wish this out of so great a vanity; but what God had promised to Abraham could not lie hidden from them. As to what is written: And Isaac went out to exercise himself in the field toward evening — those who do not know the Greek word regarding this matter think it means bodily exercise. But it is written in Greek 'adoleschesai'; and 'adoleschein' pertains to exercise of the mind, and is often reckoned a fault, yet by the usage of the Scriptures is for the most part set in a good sense. For this word some of our translators put 'exercise,' some 'garrulity' as it were 'wordiness,' which in a good sense, so far as pertains to Latin speech, is scarcely or never found.