Is any thing too hard for the Lord ? Literally, Is any word too wonderful, i.e. impossible, for Jehovah μὴ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τῷ θεῷ ῥῆμα ( LXX .), with which may be compared Luke 1:37 . At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life ( vide supra, Luke 1:10 ), and Sarah shall have a son. read more
"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" I. TAKE IT AS THE QUESTION WHICH GOD ASKS OF MAN . 1. Remonstrance . The history of Divine manifestations proves that nothing is demanded of faith which is not justified by the bestowments of the past. 2. Invitation . We connect the question with the promise. He opens the gate of life; is it too hard for him to give us the victory? "At the time appointed" his word will be fulfilled. He would have us rest on himself . ... read more
Then Sarah (who had overheard the conversation, and the charge preferred against her, and who probably now appeared before the stranger) denied, saying, I laughed not. Sarah's conduct will admit of no other explanation than that which the sacred narrative itself gives. For she was afraid. The knowledge that her secret thoughts had been deciphered must have kindled in her breast the suspicion that her visitor was none other than Jehovah. With this a sense of guilt would immediately assail... read more
And the men rose up from thence ,—Mamre ( vide supra , Genesis 18:1 )— and looked towards Sodom . Literally, toward the face (Rosenmüller), or towards the plain (Keil), of Sodom, as if intending to proceed thither. And Abraham went with them —across the mountains on the east of Hebron, as far as Caphar-barucha, according to tradition, whence a view can be obtained of the Dead Sea— solitudinem ac terras Sodomae (vide Keil, in loco ) — to bring them on the way .... read more
Abraham's intercession for Sodom. The whole wonderful scene springs out of the theophany. Abraham's faith has given him a special position with the Lord. "Shall I hide from Abraham that thug which I do?" &c.; The true priesthood and mediatorship is friendship with God. The grace of God first gives the likeness and then exalts it. The Lord knew Abraham because Abraham knew the Lord . The superior angel, the Lord, remains behind his companions that Abraham might have the... read more
And the Lord said (to himself), Shall I hide from Abraham —the LXX . interpolate, τοῦ παιδός μου; but, as Philo observes, τοῦ φιλοῦ μου would have been a more appropriate designation for the patriarch (cf. 2 Chronicles 20:7 ; Isaiah 41:8 ; James 2:23 ) that thing which I do. I .e. propose to do, the present being used for the future, where, as m the utterances of God, whose will is equivalent to his deed, the action is regarded by the Speaker as being already as... read more
Sodom's doom revealed. I. THE REASON OF THE REVELATION . 1. Abraham's new position . Having been lately taken into covenant with God, allied by the holy tie of a celestial friendship to Jehovah, the patriarch seemed in the Lord's eyes to occupy a footing of intimacy before him that demanded the disclosure of Sodom's impending doom. That footing the patriarch no doubt owed to Divine grace—sovereign, unmerited, free; but still, having been accorded to him, it is, by a further... read more
Seeing that Abraham shall surely become (literally, becoming shall become ) a great and mighty nation (cf. Genesis 12:2 ; Genesis 17:4-6 ), and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him ? The import of Jehovah's self-interrogation was, that since Abraham had already been promoted to so distinguished a position, not only was there no sufficient reason why the Divine purpose concerning Sodom should be concealed from him, but, on the contrary, the gracious footing of... read more
For I know him, that —literally, for I have known (or chosen, יָדַע being— dilexi, as in Amos 3:2 ) him to the end that , the language expressing the idea that Abraham had been the object of Divine foreknowledge and election (Gesenius, Rosenmüller, Delitzsch, Keil, Oehler, Kalisch, Lange), although the reading of the text is substantially adopted by many ( LXX ; Vulgate, Targums, Luther, Calvin, Dathe, et alii ). The latter interpretation assigns as the reason of the... read more
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The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 18:13
And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh ,—a question which must have convinced Abraham of the Speaker's omniscience. Not only had he heard the silent, inaudible, inward cachinnation of Sarah's spirit, but he knew the tenor of her thoughts, and the purport of her dubitations— saying, Shall I of a surely bear a child, whilst (literally, and I ) am old? Sarah's mental cogitations clearly showed that the temporary obscuration of her faith proceeded from a strong... read more