1] And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
[2] And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,
[3] And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:
[4] Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:
[5] And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.
[6] And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.
[7] And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.
[8] And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.
[9] And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.
[10] And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.
[11] Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
[12] Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
[13] And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?
This is what we were originally talking about. Abraham greets ONE and sees THREE.
The foreshadowing of the final revelation of the Holy Trinity in the New Testament.
Originally posted by CribsThe Jews are wanting for an Earthly King.
Do Jews believe in the Holy Trinity, and that the Son
just hasn't been born yet? From what I understand, they
don't. And since Jews believe strongly in the Old Testament,
and they don't believe in the Holy Trinity, your explanation
is suspect. I'm not saying you're wrong, but your idea of
the Holy Spirit existing in Genesis really is new to me, an ...[text shortened]... seem to fit quite right with my knowledge of the doctrines
of Christianity or Judaism.
Cribs
Originally posted by FeivelNo Billy Graham he probably studies other religions to tell them way they are wrong.
If you want to know what a Jew believes shouldn't you be asking a Jew? I mean wouldn't it be "innacurate" of me to ask RBHILL what a pimp believes or ask Billy Graham what a Buddhist believes?
Feivel
Originally posted by ivanhoeWhat you cited here Genesis 18:1-11 (Bereishis) is a portion from the Torah reading called Parashas Vayeira. The proper way to divide the verses would be to quote verse 1-21 although the entire Parash runs from 18:1 through till the end of chapter 22. The reason for this division can be clearly deduced from the Hebrew. If you want to know why the name is Vayeira look at the Hebrew and the reason is again readily apparent. ivanhoe your interpretation (and the general christian misinterpretation is utter folly). This passage simply speaks about visiting the sick and hospitality to strangers. Quite a far cry from that interpretation that it is speaking of a triune god. What three appeared? I will quote from some Jewish writing for you.
1] And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
[2] And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,
[3] And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not ...[text shortened]... HREE.
The foreshadowing of the final revelation of the Holy Trinity in the New Testament.
As is apparent from the rest of the narrative, they were actually angels in the guise of men. God sent three different angels because, by definition, an angel is a function that god wishes to have performed. Thus, each function is a new angel, and since there were three missions to accomplish in connection with Abraham and Sarah at this time, there were three angels to carry them out. In the words of the Midrash "One angel does not perform two missions." In this case the three angels were Michael, who informed Abraham that Sarah would have a son (verse 14), Gabriel who overturned Sodom (19:25); and Raphael, who healed Abraham and saved Lot (Rashi as explained by Gur Aryeh).The last two tasks, healing Abraham and saving Lot, constituted a single mission because they were for the sake of rescue.
Quite a far cry from your trinity theory wouldn't you say?
Feivel