Setting: Genesis 18:1-16
Extra-biblical Sources: Bereishit Rabbah 48:19
It was just three days after the circumcision of our men. It was an especially hot day; not the kind of day when men travel across the desert to greet each other, but the kind of day when they sit in the shade of their tents and meditate. I was dozing under a broom tree in the heat of the day, awakening every few minutes to shift my position so that my eyes stayed out of the sun. I was falling in and out of daydreams. I awakened to the sound of running feet, and as I turned my head I was surprised to see the sandals of our lord Abraham running past.
I propped myself up and my eyes confirmed that these were also his red robes billowing as he ran.
I saw that he was approaching three men. The one in the middle was slightly taller, with the other two at his sides. Abraham bowed himself toward the ground as he drew near.
I heard his voice, for I was hardly a stone’s throw away: “My Lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, pass not by this place, I pray, from your servant. Let a little water, I pray, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. I will fetch a morsel of bread, and refresh your hearts; after that you shall pass on, since you have come to your servant.”
They said more or less in unison, “do as you have said.”
He gestured for them to sit under the fabled oak of Mamre, and I ran forward to make my presence known to Abraham. Our eyes met and without a word, a nod of his head let me know that I must go quickly to fetch water and to wash the feet of our guests.
Abraham was hot on my heels as I ran to his tent. I entered to collect the water, and he entered to speak with Sarah. I had never seen the placid man Abraham so hurried. Said he: “Make ready quickly three seahs of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.” And with that he was gone out of the tent on another errand. I did not understand why he asked her to use three seahs of flour, for that would surely yield enough bread to feed a hundred men!
There was not enough water in the skins in Sarah’s tent, so I ran quickly to the well to draw more. As I returned with the water, Abraham met me with a fatted calf. He exchanged with me the calf for the water, and said to me “hasten to dress it.” Rarely have I skinned a calf in my life, and never so quickly. Before I was finished, my father Eliezer had joined me, and was cooking the meat in his great iron pot.
Abraham returned to us, and he had us carry the stewed meat, while he himself carried milk and cakes and butter, and these we set before the men who sat beneath the tree.
Abraham glanced at my father, who called me aside and said to me softly “I am needed again in the fields. Do not disturb these great men as they talk. Make yourself scarce.” I decided I would lay myself down beneath my broom tree once more and watch this scene with that invisibility that we slaves enjoy.
The men said to Abraham, “Where is your wife, Sarah?”
I wondered what kind of question this might be, that a stranger comes and asks a man at once where is his wife. “Behold,” answered Abraham, sweeping his arm to indicate the place, “in the tent.”
The taller one, who sat in the middle, spoke up: “I will certainly return to you when this time of year returns again, and behold, your wife Sarah will have a son.”
I heard a soft chuckle from the tent, followed by a sigh. The men must not have known of Sarah’s age or her condition, and Sarah found some twisted humor in their failed attempt at predictive prophecy.
The man said suddenly, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying,’ Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?’ Is there anything too hard for the LORD? He created man in the beginning, and you think that he cannot restore man to youth? At the time appointed I will return unto you, this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
I was surprised that the man had heard her, for the chuckle had been soft enough that my young ears had hardly picked it up from my place at the broom tree, and this man, at twice the distance and easily three times my age, seemed to have heard clearly not only her laughter but presumably whatever else she may have muttered under her breath.
Was this man a man of God? Perhaps a priest of El Elyon, like the great Melchizedek of Salem? Would Sarah really become pregnant?
Sarah appeared in the doorway of the tent and her face was sullen. “I did not laugh,” she declared.
“No,” said the man, “you did laugh.”
With that they turned and began walking away. Abraham glared as Sarah, and stepped quickly to join them and to escort them as they departed.
I shuddered to think of what curse must fall upon Sarah’s child, if indeed she had defied the very man of God who announced the child’s coming.