Gênesis 18
Ephrem the Syrian · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Gênesis 18:2
Although Abraham ran from the tent toward them as if toward strangers, he ran to receive those strangers with love. His love for strangers was thus proved by the haste with which he ran to meet those strangers. Therefore the Lord, who had just appeared to him at the door of the tent, now appeared to Abraham clearly in one of the three. Abraham then fell down and worshiped him, seeking from him in whom majesty dwells that he condescend to enter his house and bless his dwelling. "If I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant." God did not oppose him, for he said, "Do as you have said." Then Abraham ran to Sarah [telling her] to make three measures of wheat, and then he ran to the herd to get a fatted calf. — COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 15:1
Gênesis 18:7
The bread and meat, which was in abundance, was not to satisfy the angels but rather so that the blessing might be distributed to all the members of his household. After the angels had washed and sat down beneath a tree, "Abraham brought and set before them what he had prepared"; he did not dare recline with them but like a servant "stood apart from them." — COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 15:2
Gênesis 18:9
After they had eaten, "they inquired about Sarah." She, who even in her old age had preserved her modesty, came out from inside the tent to the door of the tent. From Abraham's haste and from the silence that Abraham imposed on everyone with his gestures, those of his household knew that these who, because of the man of God, allowed their feet to be washed like men were not men. — COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 15:2
Gênesis 18:9
"Then [God] said of Sarah, 'At this time I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son.' " But Sarah, even though Abraham was standing behind her to strengthen her, "laughed and said, 'After I have grown old shall I [again] have youthfulness? My husband is also old.' " A sign would have been given her if she had asked to hear or to see and then believe: first, because she was a woman, old and barren; and second, because nothing like this had ever been done before. God then gave a sign specifically to her who had not asked for a sign, and said, "Why did you laugh, Sarah, and say, 'Am I, who am old, to bear a child?' " But Sarah, instead of accepting the sign that was given to her, persisted, by this falsehood, in denying the true sign that had been given to her. Even though she had denied it because she was afraid, nevertheless in order to make her know that a false excuse did not convince him, God said to her, "But you did laugh in your heart; lo, even your heart is denying the foolishness of your tongue." — COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 15:3
Gênesis 18:16
After the three men promised Sarah fruit, "they arose, and they looked toward Sodom." It was not revealed to Sarah that they were going to Sodom lest, on the same day that they had given her joy in the promise that a son was to be hers, she be grieving over her brother on account of that sentence of wrath decreed on Sodom and the nearby villages. They hid this from Sarah lest she never cease weeping, but they revealed it to Abraham so that he not cease praying and so that it be announced to the world that nowhere in Sodom was there found a single just man for whose sake it might be saved. — COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 16:1
Gênesis 18:20-21
It was not that God, who had just said, "their sins were very grave," did not know that they had sinned. This was an example to judges not to prejudge a case, even based on very reliable hearsay. For if he who knows all set aside his knowledge lest he exact vengeance without full knowledge before the trial, how much more should they set aside their ignorance and not effect judgment before the case is heard. — COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 16:1