<b>And the Lord appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre (Gen. 18:1)</b> Why did the Holy One, blessed be He, appear <i>by the terebinths of Mamre?</i> May the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, be blessed, for He does not withhold a reward from any of His creatures. Abraham had three friends, Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre, and when the Holy One commanded Abraham to circumcise himself, he consulted each of them. He went first to Aner and related to him what the Holy One had said. Aner replied: “Do you wish to cripple yourself so severely that when the descendants of the kings whom you have slain attack, you will be unable even to flee from them?” He left him and went to Eshkol and told him what the Lord had commanded. Eshkol responded: “You are an old man, and if you are circumcised, considerable blood will flow from you, and you will not be able to survive the loss and will perish.” Whereupon he departed from him, and went to Mamre and said: “What do you advise?” Mamre retorted: “Need you seek my advice in such a matter? Did He not release you from the fiery furnace, perform miracles in your behalf, and rescue you from kings? The fact is that you would have been destroyed long ago were it not for His strength and His might. He saved your two hundred and forty-eight limbs, and yet you ask advice concerning merely a piece of one of your organs. Do as He has commanded!” Thereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, exclaimed: Blessed shall you be for having advised him to be circumcised; I shall reveal Myself to him only in your territory. Hence, it is written: <i>The Lord appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre.</i>
<i>And he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day</i> (Gen. 18:1). Why <i>the heat of the day?</i> It indicates that the Holy One, blessed be He, had made the day extremely hot so that no travelers would pass by, necessitating Abraham to fuss over them.
Another explanation. <i>Until the day breatheth</i> (Song 4:6). This refers to judgment day, as it is said: <i>For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall set them ablaze, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch</i> (Mal. 3:19).
<i>And the shadows flee away</i> (Song 4:6). This indicates that on that day there will be no shadow for the wicked, as it is said: <i>There is no darkness and shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves</i> (Job 24:32).
<i>I will get me to the mountains of myrrh</i> (Song 4:6) refers to the Temple, in which they brought offerings of myrrh. <i>And to the hill of frankincense</i> (ibid.) alludes to Jerusalem, whither they brought their offerings of frankincense.