“He lifted his eyes and he saw, and, behold, three men were standing over him; he saw and ran toward them from the entrance of the tent, and prostrated himself to the ground” (Genesis 18:2). He [Abraham] said: ‘Before I was circumcised, passersby would come in to me.’18Abraham was concerned that perhaps he would no longer have visitors (see Bereshit Rabba 47:10). The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘Before you were circumcised, uncircumcised people would come to you.
Now, I and the members of my entourage are revealing ourselves to you.’ That is what is written: “He lifted his eyes and saw, and, behold, three men were standing near him; [he saw…].” “He saw” – the Divine Presence; “he saw” –the angels. Rabbi Ḥanina said: The names of the months19Nisan, Iyar, etc. ascended from Babylon.20Before the Jews were exiled to Babylonia, the months were referred to as first month, second month, etc., and had no proper names.
These names are mentioned only in the post-exilic books of the Bible. Reish Lakish said: The names of the angels, Mikhael, Refael, and Gavriel, as well.21Before the Babylonian exile, personal names for angels were never used. They first appear in the book of Daniel. Rabbi Levi said: One appeared to him in the image of a Saracen, one in the image of a Nabatean, and one in the image of an Arab.
He [Abraham] said: ‘If I see that the Divine Presence waits for them, I will know that they are prominent people. If I see that they act respectfully towards to one another, I will know that they are reputable people.’22This explains why it says: “He saw” twice in the verse. When he saw them acting respectfully towards one another, he knew that they were reputable people. Rabbi Abahu said: The main tent of our patriarch Abraham was open on both sides, like a large plaza.
He said: ‘If I see them, that they turn off from their way to approach this way, I will know that they are coming to me.’ When he saw that they had turned off the road, he immediately “ran toward them from the entrance of the tent, and prostrated himself to the ground.”