The Lord Visits the Recovering Abraham on the Third Day

Parashat Vayera. "And the LORD appeared to him" (Genesis 18:1). It is written, "After the LORD your God you shall walk" (Deuteronomy 13:5) [explained at remez 16 and remez 33]. "And after my skin is destroyed, this, yet from my flesh I shall behold God" (Job 19:26). Abraham said: after I circumcised myself, many converts come to attach themselves to this sign of the covenant; "from my flesh I shall behold God" - had I not done so, from where would the Holy One, blessed be He, have been revealed to me? "And the LORD appeared to him." Rabbi Levi opened: "An ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the LORD" (Leviticus 9:4). They said, if to this one who offered an ox and a ram in My name I am revealed and bless him, then Abraham, who circumcised himself in My name, how much more so. "And the LORD appeared to him." "He who walks in righteousness" (Isaiah 33:15) - this is Abraham, as it is said, "that they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness." "He who dwells on high" (Isaiah 33:16) - He raised him above the dome of the firmament, as it is said, "Look now toward the heavens" (Genesis 15:5). Rav Chama bar Chanina said, that day was the third day of Abraham's circumcision, and the Holy One, blessed be He, came and inquired after him. A parable: of a shopkeeper who had a priest for a friend, and there was impurity in his courtyard. The priest said to him, if you wish me to enter your courtyard, clear away the impurity from it. He arose and cleared it, and the priest entered the courtyard. So too the Holy One, blessed be He, loved Abraham, except that the foreskin was hanging upon him; and once he was circumcised, immediately "the LORD appeared to him." Rabban Gamliel, the son of Rabbi Yehudah the Prince, taught: when our father Abraham was circumcised, on the third day he had very great pain in his wound. What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He bored a hole out of Gehinnom and heated the world as on the day of the wicked, and Abraham went out and sat at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to the ministering angels, let us go down and visit the sick man. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to the angels, come and see the power of circumcision: before he was circumcised he would fall on his face and then I would speak with him; now that he is circumcised he sits while I stand. As it is written, "And he sat" - and as for "You gave me the shield of Your salvation" (Psalms 18:36), this is Abraham, "I am a shield to you" (Genesis 15:1). "And Your right hand supports me" - in the fiery furnace, in the famine, and in the war with the kings. "And Your humility makes me great" - what humility did the Holy One, blessed be He, show Abraham? That he sat while the Divine Presence stood, as it is said, "and he was sitting." He sought to stand. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, sit; you are a sign for your children: just as you sit while the Divine Presence stands, so your children shall sit while the Divine Presence stands, as it is said, "God stands in the assembly of God" (Psalms 82:1) - it does not say "is standing" but "stands ready," as you say, "and you shall stand ready for Me there upon the rock" (Exodus 33:21). "The entrance of the tent" - a good entrance you opened for the passersby, a good entrance you opened for converts. "The tent" - for were it not for you I would not have created heaven and earth, "and He stretched them like a tent to dwell in"; were it not for you I would not have created the orb of the sun, "for the sun He set a tent among them" (Psalms 19:5); were it not for you I would not have created the moon, "behold, even the moon, and it does not shine" (Job 25:5). Rabbi Levi said, in the time to come Abraham will sit at the entrance of Gehinnom and will not allow any circumcised man of Israel to descend into it; and as for those who sinned too much, what does he do for them? He removes the foreskin from infants who died before they were circumcised and places it upon them, and sends them down to Gehinnom. This is what is written, "He has put forth his hands against those at peace with him, he has profaned his covenant" (Psalms 55:21). "In the heat of the day" - when that day comes, "for behold the day is coming, burning like a furnace" (Malachi 3:19). "In the heat of the day," it was taught, "and the sun grew hot and it melted" (Exodus 16:21) - at the fourth hour, or perhaps at the sixth? When it says "in the heat of the day," the sixth hour is meant; or is it the reverse? At the fourth hour the shade is cool and the sun is scorching; at the sixth hour both shade and sun are scorching, and there is no shade for any creature beneath it. "In the heat of the day" - a hole was bored out of Gehinnom and it heated the whole world for a brief moment. The Holy One, blessed be He, said, this righteous man is in distress while the world is at ease. "In the heat of the day" - this teaches that heat is good for a wound. "He said" (Genesis 18:2): before I was circumcised, the passersby used to come to me; do you mean to say that now, since I have been circumcised, they no longer come to me? The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: before you were circumcised, uncircumcised human beings used to come to you; now I and My retinue are revealed to you. This is what is written, "And he lifted his eyes and saw, and behold three men were standing over him." "And he saw" - "and he saw" with the Divine Presence, "and he saw" the angels. Rabbi Chanina said, the new names of the angels came up with them from Babylon. Resh Lakish said, even the names of the angels: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael. Rabbi Levi said, one appeared to him in the likeness of a Saracen, one in the likeness of a sailor, and one in the likeness of an Arab. He said, if I see that the Divine Presence waits for them, I will know that they are worthy men, and if I see that they show honor to one another, etc. Once he saw that the Divine Presence waited for them and that they showed honor to one another, he knew that they were worthy. Rabbi Abahu said, the tent of our father Abraham was open on all sides, like that of Romulus. He said, if I see them turning aside, etc., I will know they are coming to me; once he saw them turning aside, immediately "he ran to meet them." "And the LORD appeared to him" - that day was the third day of his circumcision. What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He brought the sun out of its sheath so as not to trouble him. He said to Eliezer, go out and see in the marketplace whether travelers are coming. He went, looked, and came back to him, saying, no one is coming. Abraham said, slaves have no faithfulness in them. He arose and went out himself and did not see; the Holy One, blessed be He, saw him going in and out, and said, it is not proper conduct to keep standing here. And this is what is written, "Do not, I pray, pass on from Your servant." It was taught: three who walk on the road, the master in the middle, the greater at his right and the lesser at his left. And so we find with the three ministering angels who came to Abraham: Michael in the middle, Gabriel at his right, and Raphael at his left. The teaching means that he turned slightly aside; but one who walks at his master's right is a boor, and behind his master is of the coarse-spirited. One does not show honor on the roads, and see there. It is written, "And he lifted his eyes and saw," and it is written, "And he ran to meet them." When he saw them, that they were going to and fro, and then drew apart, immediately "he ran to meet them." Who were the three men? Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. Michael came to bring tidings to Sarah. Raphael came to heal Abraham. Gabriel came to overthrow Sodom. But is it not written, "And the two angels came to Sodom" (Genesis 19:1)? That was the one who came to rescue Lot. It is also precise, for it is written "and he overthrew." Why is it that with Abraham it is written, "so shall you do as you have spoken," while with Lot it is written, "and he urged them greatly"? From here we learn that one refuses a lesser person but does not refuse a greater one. Rabbi Yochanan said, welcoming guests is as great as rising early to the house of study, for it is taught that one may clear away even four or five baskets of straw and grain for the sake of guests and to avoid neglecting the house of study. Rav Dimi of Nehardea said, it is greater than rising early to the house of study, for it teaches that guests are mentioned first. Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav, welcoming guests is greater than receiving the Divine Presence, for it is written, "And he said, my Lord, if I have found favor in Your eyes, do not pass on from Your servant." Rabbi Elazar said, come and see that the measure of the Holy One, blessed be He, is not like the measure of flesh and blood. With flesh and blood, a lesser one does not say to a greater, wait until I come to you; but of the Holy One, blessed be He, it is written, "do not pass on from Your servant." Rabbi Yochanan said, there are six things a person does whose fruits he eats in this world while the principal remains for him in the world to come: welcoming guests, visiting the sick, rising early to the house of study, attentiveness in prayer, raising one's children to the study of Torah, and judging one's fellow favorably. And to these also belong honoring father and mother, acts of lovingkindness, making peace between a person and his fellow; and the study of Torah is equal to them all. All the names mentioned in connection with Abraham are sacred [refer to God] except this one, which is profane: "And he said, my lord, if I have found favor in your eyes." Chananyah the nephew of Rabbi Yehoshua, and Rabbi Eliezer in the name of Rabbi Elazar of Modi'in, said that this too is sacred. Whose view does this follow? That which Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav, welcoming guests is greater than receiving the Divine Presence - whose view is it? That of those very sages.