Genesis 18

This remarkable chapter is divided about equally between the reaffirmation of the covenant for the benefit of Sarah (Genesis 18:1-15), and the announcement of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:16-33).

As Payne pointed out, there are a number of dramatic contrasts visible in this chapter and the next, (Genesis 19), the two in fact being a unit and reaching a climax in the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah.

1. "The long-awaited birth of Isaac, an event so full of joy and hope, stands in parallel and contrast to the birth, unheralded, unwanted and degrading of the two ancestors of Moab and Ammon.[1]
   
2. It was high noon when God and two angels appeared before Abraham; and it was a terrible night at the time of their arrival in Sodom.
   
3. Abraham's tent was a place of honor and righteousness, but Lot's house was in the midst of the most lustful and violent wickedness.
   
4. Abraham's most generous and delightful hospitality stands in naked contrast with the most vicious and wicked mistreatment of strangers in Sodom.
   
5. There is the contrast between the blessings of God upon the posterity of Abraham and the summary judgment and punishment of the wicked cities, the destruction of which would stand as a type of the eternal judgment throughout the ages.
   

The visit of the Lord and two angels to Abraham has the side effect of "revealing an additional characteristic of Abraham, in his hospitality."[2] Regarding the time when the events of these first fifteen verses took place, it was no doubt not very long after the appearance of the Lord to Abraham in the previous chapter. However, Plaut probably went too far in supposing that Abraham was still "recuperating from his circumcision," and that God visited him "in order to show the importance of visiting the sick!"[3] We should study this chapter in the full consciousness that there are mysteries here which lie totally beyond the perimeter of our human understanding.

Before a passage such as this, we must always remain humble and receptive, realizing the limitations of our knowledge but willing to believe all that God reveals to us.[4]