Genesis 18

But let us see what this tree represents, under which Abraham stood and provided a meal for the Lord and the angels. “Under the tree of Mamre” the text says. Mamre in our language is translated “vision” or “sharpness of sight.” Do you see what kind of place it is where the Lord can have a meal? Abraham’s vision and sharpness of sight pleased the Lord. For he was pure in heart so that he could see God. In such a place, therefore, and in such a heart the Lord can have a meal with his angels. In fact, earlier prophets were called seers.

Homilies on Genesis 4.3

Thus the Lord God is said to have appeared as a common man to Abraham while he was seated by the oak of Mamre. But [Abraham] immediately fell down, although he saw a man with his eyes, and worshiped him as God, besought him as Lord and confessed that he was not ignorant as to who he was, using these very words, “O Lord, judge of all the earth, will you not judge righteously?” For if it should be unreasonable to suppose that the unbegotten and immutable substance of God the Almighty was changed into the form of man and, in turn, that the eyes of the beholders were deceived by the phantasm of something created and that such things were falsely invented by Scripture, who else could be proclaimed God and the Lord who judges all the earth and judges righteously, appearing in the shape of a man—if it be not proper to call him the first cause of all things—than his preexistent Word alone?

Ecclesiastical History 1.2.7-8

Abraham, ready to receive strangers, faithful towards God, devoted in ministering, quick in his service, saw the Trinity in a type; he added religious duty to hospitality, when beholding Three he worshipped One, and preserving the distinction of the Persons, yet addressed one Lord, he offered to Three the honour of his gift, while acknowledging one Power. It was not learning but grace which spoke in him, and he believed better what he had not learnt than we who have learnt. No one had falsified the representation of the truth, and so he sees Three, but worships the Unity. He brings forth three measures of fine meal, and slays one victim, considering that one sacrifice is sufficient, but a triple gift; one victim, an offering of three.

On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus

1–2

[Daniel 8:15] "And it came to pass that when I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it." He beheld the vision by way of a picture or likeness, and he failed to understand it. Consequently, not everyone who sees comprehends what he has seen; it is just as if we read the Holy Scripture with our eyes and do not understand it with our heart,

"...And behold, one stood before me who resembled the appearance of a man." Angels, after all, are not actually men by nature, but they resemble men in appearance. For example, three persons appeared as men to Abraham at the oak of Mamre (Genesis 18:1-2), and yet they certainly were not men, for one of them was worshipped as the Lord. And so the Savior also stated in the Gospel: "Abraham beheld My day; he beheld it and rejoiced" (John 8:56).

St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER EIGHT

God appeared again to Abraham at the oak of Mamre in three men, who it is not to be doubted were angels, although some think that one of them was Christ and assert that he was visible before he put on flesh. Now it belongs to the divine power and invisible, incorporeal and incommunicable nature, without changing itself at all, to appear even to mortals, not by what it is but by what is subject to it. And what is not subject to it? Yet if they try to establish that one of these three was Christ by the fact that although he saw three, he addressed the Lord in the singular, as it is written, “He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men stood in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth and said, ‘My lord, if I have found favor in your sight.’ ” Why do they not refer also to this, that when two of them came to destroy the Sodomites, while Abraham still spoke to one, calling him Lord and interceding that he would not destroy the righteous along with the wicked in Sodom, Lot received these two in such a way that he too in his conversation with them addressed the Lord in the singular? For after saying to them in the plural, “My lords, turn aside, I pray you, to your servant’s house,” yet it is afterward said, “So [the angels] seized him and his hand, [because] the Lord [was] merciful to him, and they brought him forth and set him outside the city. And when they had brought them forth, they said, ‘Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley; flee to the hills, lest you be consumed.’ And Lot said to them, ‘Oh, no, my lords; behold, your servant has found favor in your sight.…’ ” And then after these words the Lord also answered him in the singular, although he was in two angels, saying, “Behold, I grant you this favor.…” This makes it much more credible that Abraham in the three men and Lot in the two recognized the Lord, addressing him in the singular number, even when they were addressing men; for they received them as they did for no other reason than that they might minister human nourishment to them as men who needed it. Yet there was about them something so excellent that those who showed them hospitality as men could not doubt that God was in them as he was wont to be in the prophets and therefore sometimes addressed them in the plural, and sometimes God in them in the singular. But that they were angels the Scripture testifies, not only in this book of Genesis, in which these transactions are related, but also in the epistle to the Hebrews, where in praising hospitality it is said, “For thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

City of God 16.29

Now where did this happen? “Near the holm-oak of Mamre,” which in Latin is interpreted as “vision” or “discernment.” Do you see what kind of a place it is in which the Lord can have a feast? The vision and discernment of Abraham delighted him; he was clean of heart, so that he could see God. Therefore in such a place and in such a heart the Lord can have his feast. Of this vision our Lord spoke to the Jews in the Gospel when he said, “Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day. He saw it and was glad.” He saw my day, he says, because he recognized the mystery of the Trinity. He saw the Father as day, the Son as day, the Holy Spirit as day, and in these three one day. Thus the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and these three are one God. For individually each person is complete God, and all three together are one God. Moreover, because of the unity of substance, in those three measures of flour the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not unfittingly understood. However, this can also be taken in another way by understanding Sarah as the church; the three measures of flour then are faith, hope and charity. In these three virtues all the fruits of the church are contained, so that if one merits to possess the three within oneself, one can with security receive the entire Trinity at the banquet of one’s heart.

Sermon 83.5

The Lord appeared to him in the valley of Mamre as he was sitting at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day, etc. This appearance of the Lord is considered to be more sacred than all the previous ones, in which He was seen so many times by the blessed Abraham. And rightly so, after receiving the sacrament of circumcision, after the name was amplified by which he was to be marked as the father of all nations, he came to know the more secret mysteries of God, of which, notably, not only circumcision but also the uncircumcised were to be participants. Rightly, the appearance in the valley of Mamre is remembered as having taken place. For Mamre, as we read above, was indeed an Amorite by race, but together with his brothers, he was allied with Abraham; hence the valley of Mamre aptly represents our humility, who, having derived fleshly origin from the nations, have Abraham as our father in spirit and faith. To whom the Apostle, drawing from Abraham both the origin of flesh and virtue, says: We announce to you eternal life, which was with the Father and appeared to us; what we have seen and heard, we declare to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us (1 John 1:2). And indeed in this reading, apart from the spiritual understanding, it greatly edifies the readers that Abraham, seeing unknown men, immediately ran to meet them as if to offer the grace of hospitality to strangers; that he approached them humbly, worshipped on the ground, that he asked them to wait and accept his service, and hastily provided what they agreed to; and that he completed this not through servants and maidservants, but by himself and Sarah. It is indeed remarkable if, upon first seeing them, he did not believe they were men, why he would want to bring them water to wash their feet; how he would ask them to rest under a tree as if weary from walking; why he requested to strengthen their bodies with refreshment, as if they were laboring in fasting. If anyone seeks to investigate this reading more deeply, he will find it to be full of spiritual senses. For the fact that the Lord appeared to Abraham sitting at the entrance of his tent greatly suits both Abraham's devotion and that of all the heirs of the same promise, who testify that they are strangers and sojourners in this world but truly citizens of another life, that is, of the heavenly homeland. For we use tents in a journey or in war, but a house in our homeland, in which mystery, Isaac and Jacob are also read to have dwelled in tents. He who remains in the midst of his tent, knowing that he is a stranger and not destined to live forever in this world, and yet is not ashamed to engage himself as much as he can in the affairs and allurements of the world, remains. But Abraham and his followers, who conduct the things of the world out of necessity and not out of pleasure, sit as if at the entrance of their tent, because they are ready to leave the world at any moment, always with a joyful mind stretched towards the future rewards and waiting for the entrance into the following life. And it is well added, in the heat of the day; for the heat of the day, in which Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent, signifies the virtue of love with which he was burning in his mind with respect towards the Sun of righteousness. And such a state of place and time was fitting for him who was to see the Lord and enjoy His conversation, in which both the sojourner of this world would be figuratively represented, and irradiated by the light of true heavenly grace, and zealously enflamed with the love of divine contemplation.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Let us compare, first of all, if you please, this appearance with that one which Lot experienced. “Three men” come to Abraham and stand “before him”; “two” come to Lot and sit “in the street.” See if, in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, these events did not occur as each man deserved. For Lot was far inferior to Abraham. For if he had not been inferior, he would not have been separate from Abraham, nor would Abraham have said to him, “If you go to the right, I will go to the left; if you go to the left, I will go to the right.” And if he had not been inferior, the land and habitation of Sodom would not have pleased him.Three men, therefore, come to Abraham at midday; two come to Lot and in the evening. For Lot could not receive the magnitude of midday light, but Abraham was capable of receiving the full brightness of the light. Let us see now how Abraham received those who came and how Lot did, and let us compare each man’s preparation of hospitality. First, however, observe that the Lord also was present with Abraham with two angels, but two angels alone proceed to Lot. And what do they say? “The Lord has sent us to consume the city and destroy it.” He therefore received those who would give destruction. He did not receive him who would save. But Abraham received him who saves and those who destroy.

Homilies on Genesis 4.1

But let us now, meanwhile, pursue what Abraham does with the three men who “stood before him.” Behold what sort of expression this is itself, that they come “before him,” not against him. He had, to be sure, subjected himself to the will of God; therefore God is said to stand “before him.”

Homilies on Genesis 4.2

Now let us see how each man receives his guests. “Abraham saw,” the text says, “and ran to meet them.” Notice that Abraham immediately is energetic and eager in his duties. He runs to meet them, and when he had met them, “he hastens back to the tent,” the text says, “and says to his wife: ‘Hasten to the tent.’ ” Behold in the individual matters how great is his eagerness to receive them. He makes haste in all things; all things are done urgently; nothing is done leisurely.

Homilies on Genesis 4.1

Although Abraham ran from the tent toward them as if toward strangers, he ran to receive those strangers with love. His love for strangers was thus proved by the haste with which he ran to meet those strangers. Therefore the Lord, who had just appeared to him at the door of the tent, now appeared to Abraham clearly in one of the three. Abraham then fell down and worshiped him, seeking from him in whom majesty dwells that he condescend to enter his house and bless his dwelling. “If I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.” God did not oppose him, for he said, “Do as you have said.” Then Abraham ran to Sarah [telling her] to make three measures of wheat, and then he ran to the herd to get a fatted calf.

Commentary on Genesis 15:1

Hospitality is good, it has its reward, first the gratitude of man, and then, what is greater, the reward of God. We are all guests in this abode; for a time we have a place to stay: we are emigrating soon. Let us beware that if we have been harsh or negligent in receiving guests, even the holy hostels may be denied to us after the course of this life. Hence in the Gospel the Savior says: Make friends for yourselves with unjust wealth, so that they may receive you into eternal dwellings. Then also in this body often arises the necessity of wandering. What therefore you have denied to others, you decide for yourself: and what you have granted to others, you will make yourself worthy to seem. If everyone were to follow this opinion of not accepting strangers, where would there be rest for wanderers? Therefore, leaving behind human dwellings, we will seek the retreats of wild animals, the lairs of beasts.

On Abraham

Notice, brothers, and see how God appeared to Abraham and how he appeared to Lot. The three men came to Abraham and stood over him; two came to Lot and stayed in the street. Consider, brothers, whether these things did not happen through the dispensation of the Holy Spirit according to their merits. Indeed, Lot was far inferior to Abraham; if he had not been, he would not have merited to be separated from Abraham, nor would the dwelling of Sodom have pleased him. Now the three men came to Abraham at noon, while the other two came to Lot in the evening for this reason: Lot was unable to endure the power of the noonday sun, but Abraham could stand its full brightness.

Sermon 83.2

“Three men came to Abraham and stood over him.” Observe how it is that they come upon him but not against him. He had subjected himself to God’s will, and for this reason God is said to stand over him. “They stood over him,” not against him to repulse him but over him for protection.

Sermon 83.4

And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw three men standing near him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the door of the tent, and worshipped upon the ground, and said: Lord, if I have found grace in thy sight, do not pass by thy servant, etc. The fact that three men appeared to him is a mystery of the Holy Trinity; indeed, when he saw three, he worshipped one, and prayed to the Lord, because although there is a Trinity in persons, there is nevertheless one and co-adorable equality in divinity of the Lord, just as in Isaiah when the angelic hosts were singing the glory of the Holy Trinity, saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, they immediately add the unity of dominion and deity, saying: The Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is full of His glory. And it is fittingly said that Abraham lifted up his eyes to see the angels, because indeed it is necessary that one who wishes to see the citizens of heaven, who desires to know the glory and secrets of the Divine Majesty, should raise every gaze of his mind from lowly desires and with diligent intention open up to the light of the true Sun. It is fittingly added that when he saw the angels, he ran to meet them, worshipping, and asked them not to pass him by, because it is necessary that whenever we conceive any taste of internal sweetness in our soul, we should immediately strive with all our prayers and prompt steps of good works, lest the same sweetness should leave us too quickly; but what is tasted for a time should refresh our minds somewhat longer by the memory of supernal sweetness and suspend them in the contemplation of eternal things, abstracted from the delights and cares of this world. It may perhaps move some that in this reading both Abraham and in the following Lot, having seen the angels, received them as guests as if they were men, and refreshed them with human food as if they were mortals, while yet they spoke with them as with God, and received their words no otherwise than as heavenly oracles. "But it is credible," as Saint Augustine says, "that both Abraham in the three men and Lot in the two men recognized the Lord; to whom they spoke with singular number, even when they considered them to be men. For they received them in no other way than as mortal men and ministered to them with human refreshment as if they were in need; but surely there was something by which they so excelled, though as men, that in them the Lord was present as He is wont to be in prophets, so that those who offered them hospitality could not doubt; and therefore sometimes they called them in the plural, and at other times the Lord in the singular in them. Scripture testifies that they were angels, not only in this book of Genesis where these events are narrated, but also in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where, when hospitality was praised, it says: By this some, being unaware, entertained angels (Heb. XIII, 2)." However, in this reception one can appropriately sense that it was divinely arranged so that the patriarchs, seeing angels, would receive them as men indeed but venerate them as God, so that through the distinction of such service and devotion it would be prefigured that in the future the Lord Himself, appearing in the flesh, would be satisfied with carnal foods and received in human hospitality. In which hospitality, however, He would more be devoted to preaching the gospel and healing the sick than to eating and drinking, as the gospel history often testifies. Finally, the interpreters of the sacred scriptures have understood this place as accomplishing what the Lord said to the Jews: Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad (John VIII, 56). He saw indeed the day of the Lord, when seeing the three angels, he worshipped one, and addressed the Lord, because in the distinction of the three persons, he recognized the essence of one majesty.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

But how does he continue again as if speaking to men: “Let water be received,” the text says, “and your feet be washed”?Abraham, the father and teacher of nations, is indeed teaching you by these things how you ought to receive guests and that you should wash the feet of guests. Nevertheless even this is said mysteriously. For he knew that the mysteries of the Lord were not to be completed except in the washing of feet. But he was not unaware of the importance of that precept, indeed, in which the Savior says, “If any shall not receive you, shake off even the dust which clings to your feet for a testimony to them. Truly I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for that city.” He wished, therefore, to anticipate that and to wash their feet lest perhaps any dust should remain, which, shaken off, could be reserved “in the day of judgment” for a testimony of unbelief. For that reason, therefore, wise Abraham says, “Let water be received and your feet be washed.”

Homilies on Genesis 4.2

Moreover he adds, as though speaking to the men, “I will bring water, that you may wash your feet.” Learn from blessed Abraham, brothers, to receive strangers gladly and to wash their feet with humility and piety. Wash, I repeat, the feet of pious strangers, lest there remain in them some dust that they will be able to shake off of their feet to your judgment. In the Gospel we read, “Whoever does not receive you—go forth and shake off the dust from your feet. Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that town.” Abraham foresaw this in spirit and for this reason wanted to anticipate it by washing their feet, lest perchance any dust remain that might be kept and shaken off on judgment day as an evidence of unbelief. Therefore the wise Abraham says, “I will bring water, that you may wash your feet.” Carefully listen to this, brothers, if you are unwilling to exercise hospitality and to receive even your enemy as a guest. Behold, while blessed Abraham welcomed those men warmly, he merited to receive God in consideration of his hospitality. Christ further confirmed this in the Gospel when he said, “I was a stranger, and you took me in.” Therefore do not despise strangers, lest perhaps he himself be the one you have rejected.

Sermon 83.4

He refreshed them with the feasts that were prepared because he understood that from his seed would be born the one who, although he is God before the ages, consubstantial with the Father, appearing at the end of the ages as a true man, would truly dwell among men; the food with which he refreshed them is also full of spiritual sacraments, of which it is thus remembered:

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

He serves therefore bread mixed “with three measures of fine wheat flour.” He received three men; he mixed the bread “with three measures of fine wheat flour.” Everything he does is mystical; everything is filled with mystery.

Homilies on Genesis 4.2

Therefore he says to his wife Sarah, “Hasten to the tent and mix three measures of fine wheat flour and make bread upon the hearth.” The Greek is en-kryphia, which indicates secret or hidden bread.

Homilies on Genesis 4.1

He says, sprinkle three measures of flour, and make it ash-colored. In Greek, they are called ἐγκρύφια, that is, hidden; because every mystery should be hidden and covered with faithful silence, lest it be rashly divulged to profane ears. The divine majesty is nourished by this, and it feasts on this affection, which is sparing in speech and does not bring sacred things into the open. But briefly, the mystery of faith is taught by Sarah, making three measures of one likeness, which has the typology of the Church to which it is said: Rejoice, barren one who does not bear; burst forth and cry out, you who are not in labor. For it is this which nourishes faith with its innermost spirit, asserting the Trinity of the same divinity, with equal measure and reverence for the Father and the Son, adoring the Holy Spirit, and celebrating the unity of majesty and the distinctiveness of the persons, sprinkle your devotion with this affirmation of faith.

On Abraham

(Chapter 18, Verse 6) And he said to him: Hurry, mix three measures of wheat flour. Because three measures are explicitly mentioned here, and the measure is uncertain: therefore I added that in Hebrew it has three sata, that is, three amphoras: so that we may understand the same mystery here and in the Gospel, where a woman is said to have fermented three measures of wheat flour (Matthew 13:33).

Hebrew Questions on Genesis

Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said to her: "Hurry, mix three measures of fine meal, and make cakes upon the hearth." And he himself ran to the herd, and took a tender and good calf and gave it to the servant, who hastened and cooked it. Where it is firstly to be noted that everything is done quickly, as if in the service of divine reception; Abraham hastens, he orders Sarah to hurry, the servant quickly completes the assigned task, so that it becomes clearly evident that blessed Abraham truly, according to the voice of the Lord, rejoiced to see his day, and he saw it and was glad (John 8:56). But also all who are touched in soul by the regard of divine grace immediately leap with joyful steps of good works and thoughts into the service of the heavenly will, and with diligent exhortation provoke themselves and those who hear them to the speedy observance of the commandments of heaven.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

The flour that Sarah mixed to refresh the angels is the internal sweetness of God's word, which the prophet promises to the heavenly Jerusalem, that is, the holy Church, saying of the Lord: "He makes peace your borders, and fills you with the finest of the wheat" (Psalm 147:14). And immediately, explaining more clearly what the finest wheat is, he added: "He sends out his command to the earth." Now there are three measures of this same flour because in the sacred Scripture there is a threefold sense of understanding, namely the historical, the allegorical, and the anagogical; for example: "Lord, I have loved the beauty of your house" (Psalm 26:8); according to history, he desired the beauty of the house which Solomon made for the Lord to remain inviolate, being praised by his people in it. According to allegory, he desired the beauty of the holy Church to shine throughout the whole world, to whom the Apostle says: "For you are the temple of God" (2 Corinthians 6:16). According to anagogy, that is, the sense leading to higher things, he desired to see the beauty of the heavenly homeland, that is, the house not made with hands but eternal in the heavens. The Lord also mentions this threefold measure in the gospel parable, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened." For the evangelical leaven the woman hid in the three measures of flour to leaven the whole, when the holy Church, which Sarah signifies in this place, either preaches history in the Scriptures, reveals allegory, or lifts up the eye of its exposition to contemplate higher things. It always instills the power of either the Lord's or fraternal charity in its words. And no one should think they have rightly understood Scripture in which they have not found the institution of charity. A "measure" was a type of measurement among the Palestinians, holding one and a half bushels.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

But the fact that Sarah makes bread under the ashes is very relevant. Bread baked under the ashes, while being baked, is indeed cooked with fire and lies hidden in the darkness, but only the ash that accumulates on top is visible to the eyes of onlookers. However, when they are baked, the ash is removed, and the clean bread is presented before the faces of those who will eat, because the words of the Lord have been tested by fire, namely the Holy Spirit, through whom the scripture itself was made. Sometimes, however, the style's baseness and simplicity contain so much knowledge in themselves that the spiritual fervor and celestial nourishment within them are not easily apparent; but when the veil of the letter is removed through the preacher's ministry and the sweetness of the spiritual sense is revealed to the hearts of the listeners, just like shaking off the ash, the sweetest bread is offered to refresh the faithful.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

“But he ran,” the text says, “to the cattle and took a calf.” What kind of calf? Perhaps the first one he encountered? Not at all, but “a good and tender” calf. And although he would hasten in all things, nevertheless he knows that what is excellent and great should be offered to the Lord or to angels. He took therefore or chose from the herd a “good and tender” calf and delivered it to his servant. “The servant,” the text says, “hastened to slaughter it.” He himself runs, his wife hastens, the servant makes haste. No one is slow in the house of a wise man. He serves therefore a calf and at the same time with it bread and fine wheat flour, but also milk and butter. These were the courtesies of hospitality of Abraham and Sarah.

Homilies on Genesis 4.1

A calf is served; behold, another mystery. The calf itself is not tough but “good and tender.” And what is so tender, what so good as that One who “humbled himself” for us “to death” and “laid down his life for his friends”? He is the “fatted calf” which the father slaughtered to receive his repentant son. “For he so loved this world, as to give his only Son” for the life of this world. Nevertheless the wise man is not ignorant of whom he has received. He runs to three men and adores one, and he speaks to the one saying, “Turn aside to your servant, and refresh yourself under the tree.”

Homilies on Genesis 4.2

The bread and meat, which was in abundance, was not to satisfy the angels but rather so that the blessing might be distributed to all the members of his household. After the angels had washed and sat down beneath a tree, “Abraham brought and set before them what he had prepared”; he did not dare recline with them but like a servant “stood apart from them.”

Commentary on Genesis 15:2

Nor was it useless, when he ran to the cattle, he took a tender and good calf, and placed it with milk. Finally, in Exodus, when Moses was declaring the Passover of the Lord, he said: The lamb without blemish, clean, complete, a yearling, male, shall be taken for you from sheep and goats. You shall take and kill him, said he, the whole assembly of the synagogue at evening. Hence, this is also described as midday, when Abraham offers hospitality to the Lord. But at the supper a calf is sacrificed, and is eaten with milk; that is, not in blood, but with the purity of faith. A good calf, capable of washing away sins. Tender, because it recognized the gentle yoke of the law, not with a stiff neck, and did not refuse the cross's gibbet. And deservedly tender, from whose head and feet and internal organs nothing was left, and its bones were not broken, but it yielded completely to the food of those feasting. Such a calf was figuratively portrayed for us by the shadow of the Law, such did the truth of the Gospel demonstrate.

On Abraham

Lot too received men, but only two, not the whole Trinity; moreover in the evening, not at noon. What did he serve them? “He baked unleavened bread, and they ate.” Because he was much inferior to Abraham in merits he did not have a fatted calf. Nor did he recognize the mystery of the Trinity in the three measures of flour. However, since he offered what he could in a kindly spirit, he merited to be freed from the destruction of Sodom. Notice, brothers, that even Lot deserved to receive the angels, because he did not reject strangers. Behold, angels enter a hospitable home, but houses that are closed to strangers are burned with flames of sulphur.

Sermon 83.3

He received the three men and served them loaves out of three measures. Why is this, brothers, unless it means the mystery of the Trinity? He also served a calf; not a tough one, but a “good, tender one.” Now what is so good and tender as he who humbled himself for us even unto death? He himself is that fatted calf which the father killed upon receiving his repentant son. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son.” For this reason Abraham went to meet the three men and adored them as one. In the fact that he saw three, as was already said, he understood the mystery of the Trinity; but since he adored them as one, he recognized that there is one God in the three persons.

Sermon 83.4

The tender and excellent calf that Abraham took from the herd signifies the Mediator between God and humans, whom the most merciful Father killed for his returning younger son, that is, the Gentile people, according to the parable of the Gospel. He is the tender and excellent calf taken singularly to be slain and cooked for the citizens of heaven because he alone from the entire human race was specially chosen, whose blood would redeem the world, and through whom all things on earth and in heaven are restored in him, as the Apostle says. This calf is rightly called tender and excellent. For what is as tender and excellent as He who humbled Himself for our elevation: Becoming obedient to the Father unto death, even death on the cross?

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

He also took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had cooked, and set it before them. By the milk, the beginnings and as it were the elements of the Mosaic law; by the butter, the perfection of evangelical doctrine; by the milk, the simplicity of the letter in the Scriptures, by the butter, the virtue of the mystical sense which is usually generated from the letter, is expressed. Or certainly, the milk indicates the beginning of faith, the butter indicates the perfection of the work which is created from faith. All of which Abraham placed before the men whom he had received, to signify that the sons of promise would always offer spiritual feasts to the Lord, namely the breads of holy readings, the calf of the Lord's Incarnation, the milk of faith or historical perfection, the butter of good senses or good works, where it is well added:

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

But he himself stood by them under the tree, because certainly we should so feed the Lord with the feasts of faith and virtues by good living, that is, delight Him, so that we always remember to stand in His presence, according to the saying of Blessed Elijah: "The Lord lives, in whose sight I stand" (3 Kings 17:1). And as the Psalmist says: "In the sight, I will sing to you among the angels" (Psalm 138:1). And this under the tree of the Lord's passion, saying with the Apostle: "But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14).

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

What then does the Lord say to Abraham? “Where,” the text reads, “is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “Lo, she is in the tent.” But the Lord said, “I will certainly come to you at this time in due season, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” But Sarah, standing behind the door of the tent behind Abraham, heard.Let the wives learn from the examples of the patriarchs; let the wives learn, I say, to follow their husbands. For not without cause is it written that “Sarah was standing behind Abraham,” but that it might be shown that if the husband leads the way to the Lord, the wife ought to follow. I mean that the wife ought to follow if she sees her husband standing by God.… But we can also perceive something mystical in this passage if we see how in Exodus “God went before them by night in a pillar of fire and by day in a pillar of a cloud” and the congregation of the Lord followed behind him. So therefore I understand also Sarah to have followed or stood “behind Abraham.” What is said next? “And they were both,” the text says, “presbyters”—that is, old—“and far advanced in their days.” So far as pertains to bodily age, many before them lived for more numerous years, but no one was called presbyter. It appears that this title is ascribed to the saints not by reason of longevity but of maturity.

Homilies on Genesis 4.4

After they had eaten, “they inquired about Sarah.” She, who even in her old age had preserved her modesty, came out from inside the tent to the door of the tent. From Abraham’s haste and from the silence that Abraham imposed on everyone with his gestures, those of his household knew that these who, because of the man of God, allowed their feet to be washed like men were not men.

Commentary on Genesis 15:2

“Then [God] said of Sarah, ‘At this time I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son.’ ” But Sarah, even though Abraham was standing behind her to strengthen her, “laughed and said, ‘After I have grown old shall I [again] have youthfulness? My husband is also old.’ ” A sign would have been given her if she had asked to hear or to see and then believe: first, because she was a woman, old and barren; and second, because nothing like this had ever been done before. God then gave a sign specifically to her who had not asked for a sign, and said, “Why did you laugh, Sarah, and say, ‘Am I, who am old, to bear a child?’ ” But Sarah, instead of accepting the sign that was given to her, persisted, by this falsehood, in denying the true sign that had been given to her. Even though she had denied it because she was afraid, nevertheless in order to make her know that a false excuse did not convince him, God said to her, “But you did laugh in your heart; lo, even your heart is denying the foolishness of your tongue.”

Commentary on Genesis 15:3

And when they had eaten, they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” He answered, “Behold, she is in the tent.” Then he said, “I will return to you at this time next year, if life be with us, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” Both indeed the lords of the house, and evidently Abraham and Sarah, prepared with the utmost haste a meal; but as if in a well-ordered house, Abraham, with the meals prepared, more boldly approached the Lord; Sarah, with womanly fear and modesty, restrained herself in the tent, in fact behind the tent door, and no longer dared to approach, but listened from within to what her husband spoke with the Lord. Therefore, since she was both devoted to God and well subjected to her husband, she heard the joy of childbirth which she greatly desired; not indeed any childbirth, but that in which both she in the future and all nations would receive a blessing. And well, after the angels had eaten, they promised a son to their hosts, because when the Lord has accepted the meals of our good work and faith, he rewards us with the grace of his blessing. But the angels ate, or rather seemed to have eaten, as holy Raphael explained to Tobias, to signify the mystery of the Lord’s Incarnation, in which he, the Angel of Great Counsel, was to eat as a man, not only visibly appearing, but even sitting at the table of men and eating; but they, as the same Raphael said, used invisible food, that is, which cannot be seen by men living in the flesh, namely the joy of contemplation; of which also the Lord in the Gospel: “For their angels,” he says, “always see the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10); for they always see, that is, even when they come outside to us to minister something; it is credible, moreover, that the food which they ate, as soon as it touched their spiritual or ethereal body, was consumed like water thrown into a burning flame, and not like water poured into dry land to refresh their bodies, as happens to us when we eat.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. [Genesis 18:10-14] And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

(Verse 10) However, he said, 'Returning, I will come to you at this time and in this hour, and Sarah will have a son.' For 'hour,' we read 'life' in Hebrew, so that the order or sense is: I will return to you in the time of life, as if he were saying, if I live, if life accompanies me. This, however, is anthropopathically expressed, like other things.

Hebrew Questions on Genesis

They were both old and advanced in years, and it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. To highlight the growth of heavenly power, he says that both were old, and moreover that Sarah, having been barren, was now also deprived of her menstrual blood, because of which she could no longer conceive, even if she had not been barren. Further, if a woman is of such an advanced age that the usual flow of women still occurs to her, she can conceive from a young man, but not from an old man; although the old man can still beget from a young woman, as Abraham, after Sarah's death, was able to beget from Keturah, because he found her age to be vigorous; this therefore is what the Apostle clearly commends when he says: "He believed against hope in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to what was said to him: Thus shall your offspring be; and not weakening in faith, he did not consider his own body already dead, being about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; in the promise of God he did not doubt" (Romans 4:18). For this reason he says that Abraham's body was already dead, because he could still beget from any woman who still had some final period of time left for bearing children at that age: we must understand the body as dead for some purposes, not for all; for if for all, then it is not the old age of the living, but the corpse of the dead.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

(Verse 12.) But Sarah laughed within herself, saying: After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure? It is much differently read in Hebrew: And Sarah laughed within herself, saying: After I have withered, shall I have pleasure? Also note that where we have translated as pleasure, it is written as delight in Hebrew. Symmachus translated this passage as: After I have grown old, shall I have youth?

Hebrew Questions on Genesis

Who laughed secretly, saying: After I have grown old and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure? The Apostle Peter recalls this sentence when, admonishing women to obey their husbands, he added: "As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord." It seems, however, similar to this passage what is read about Abraham above, for when he heard about Sarah's childbirth, he fell on his face and laughed in his heart, saying: Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? And he added, speaking to God: Oh that Ishmael might live before you! But since the Apostle says that Abraham did not waver in unbelief, but Sarah did hesitate, the following word of the Lord clarifies, saying to Abraham:

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Why did Sarah laugh, saying: "Shall I indeed bear a child, old as I am?" It remains to be understood that when she heard that Sarah would bear a son, Abraham had previously laughed in wonder with joy, and Sarah herself subsequently doubted in joy; whose doubt, nevertheless, was immediately removed when the reason for divine power was given, as the angel said to him:

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

"Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son." With this statement heard, all doubt was so removed, and her faith so confirmed, that the Apostle rightly says of her: "By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive." But when he says "I will return to you," and added "with life as a companion," he speaks in a human manner, as if he were to say: "If life is a companion." But it should be understood more deeply that the angels always converse with life as a companion either in heaven or descend to earth, certainly with that life that says: "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself;" by whose vision and enlightenment the angels and holy men are perpetually blessed. Indeed, this place seems comparable by contrast with the deeds of the first man; for after his transgression, he did not see the Lord God but is said to have heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden; here, the future blessing's faith, hope, and love inflamed he saw the Lord standing, because surely with this he was to remain, the contemplation of divine clarity having departed from him. Hearing the voice of the Lord God, trembling he hid himself because he truly blushed at his error. Here, having seen the Lord, he immediately joyfully ran, believing that by the merit of obedience he had pleased Him. He on the cool of the day, this one at the very heat of the day; because this one burned with the fire of divine love, the other by sinning had driven away the light of divine protection and love from himself. This one receives and entertains the Lord as a guest, to show with the carnal feast provided that he would foster Him with spiritual feasts in his heart by living devoutly, according to what the Lord Himself promised about His lovers: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20). The other, that is, the first man, who ate what was forbidden, lost those delights which he could have had perpetually in the presence of the Lord and His angels, also being visibly excluded from the tree of life so that it might be openly shown that he had lost the incorruptible fruit of wisdom, which he used to enjoy invisibly. And because the blessed Abraham by the merit of pious devotion had already tasted the fruit of wisdom and life, which is Christ, rightly he is said to have seen and received the Lord standing under a tree. There Eve, having abandoned the fear of God, having neglected her husband's counsel, rashly approached the serpent, in which the devil was speaking, by whom she was deceived into eating what was forbidden, and also made her husband complicit in her transgression; for which reason, receiving the sentence of just condemnation with her husband, she heard among other things: "In pain you shall bring forth children" (Genesis 3:16); and first she bore Cain, the cursed son and fratricide. Here Sarah, submitted to the fear of God, following likewise the religious faith and deeds of her husband, awaited at home the Lord's appearance until her husband came and learned what should be done; but also with the dishes prepared for the Lord's reception, she nevertheless modestly remained at home and rejoiced in having her husband go ahead with them to the Lord and offer the gifts of her devotion and his own. Therefore both received the reward of their kindness with a promised offspring; and not just any offspring, but indeed the one in whom all nations would be blessed. And rightly so, for there the guilt of transgression was punished with due retribution in the first Adam; here the time of redemption through the second Adam was both foreshadowed and prepared. It follows:

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

After the three men promised Sarah fruit, “they arose, and they looked toward Sodom.” It was not revealed to Sarah that they were going to Sodom lest, on the same day that they had given her joy in the promise that a son was to be hers, she be grieving over her brother on account of that sentence of wrath decreed on Sodom and the nearby villages. They hid this from Sarah lest she never cease weeping, but they revealed it to Abraham so that he not cease praying and so that it be announced to the world that nowhere in Sodom was there found a single just man for whose sake it might be saved.

Commentary on Genesis 16:1

When the men got up from there, they directed their eyes toward Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to see them on their way. When it is said that the men got up from there, it is shown that while they were sitting, Abraham was standing and ministering to them, although he had initially seen them standing. They directed their eyes toward Sodom so that just as they rewarded the faith of blessed Abraham with joyful promises, they would destroy the faithlessness of the impious city with avenging flames, according to what the Psalmist said, who after proclaiming the Lord's mercy toward the holy: "The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their cries" (Psalm 34:16), immediately added His severity in the punishment of the wicked: "But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth" (v. 17). But that Abraham walked with the angels to see them on their way, he is believed to have done from the custom of devoted hospitality; but blessed were those steps by which a man was deemed worthy to walk with angels on earth, and to lead them who had come to visit him back to heaven; now blessed are those lives that follow the angelic way of life on earth, by living soberly, righteously, piously, and chastely, and by always, as much as mortal is possible, devoting themselves to divine praises. Truly, blessed Abraham, because he so joyfully received the Lord coming, that he cared to see them off as if they were household members, deserved to know higher secrets of divine works; who, understanding himself the strictness of the forthcoming divine retribution on the world, as he had previously shown himself devoted to God in receiving guests, so afterward he showed himself solicitous for his neighbors by interceding for them.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

20–21

It was not that God, who had just said, “their sins were very grave,” did not know that they had sinned. This was an example to judges not to prejudge a case, even based on very reliable hearsay. For if he who knows all set aside his knowledge lest he exact vengeance without full knowledge before the trial, how much more should they set aside their ignorance and not effect judgment before the case is heard.

Commentary on Genesis 16:1

20–21

Then, to teach the whole human race that even if their sins are exceedingly great and confessed to be such, he does not pronounce sentence before proof is manifest, he says, “I am going down to see if their deeds correspond to the outcry reaching me, so as to know if it is true or not.” What is meant by the deliberation of the expression? “I am going down to see if their deeds correspond to the outcry reaching me, so as to know if it is true or not.” What is meant by the considerateness of the expression? “I am going down to see.” I mean, does the God of all move from place to place? No indeed! It doesn’t mean this; instead, as I have often remarked, he wants to teach us by the concreteness of the expression that there is need to apply precision and that sinners are not condemned on hearsay nor is sentence pronounced without proof.

Homilies on Genesis 42.12

20–21

The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is multiplied, he said. Well did he say that sins can cry out. Great surely is the cry of sinners as it mounts from earth to heaven. But why does he say that the sins of people cry out? It is because God says his ears are assaulted by the cries of our sins that the punishment of sinners be not delayed. Truly is it a cry, and the cry is great when the love of God is overpowered by the cries of sins to the extent that he is forced to punish the sinners. The Lord shows how unwilling he is to punish even the gravest sinners when he said that the cry of Sodom ascended to him. This means: My mercy urges me to spare them, but the cry of their sins compels me to punish them.

The Governance of God 1.8

20–21

Now let us see what he means by saying, “I descended to see whether they have done all that the outcry which has come to me indicates; if not, I will know.” Because of this, pagans, and especially the exceedingly foul Manichaeans, are wont to assail us by saying, “Behold, the God of the law did not know what was being done in Sodom.” Now we reply with sound understanding and say that God knows the just in one way and sinners in another. What is said concerning the just? “The Lord knows who are his.” What is said about sinners? “Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; I do not know you.” Moreover, the apostle Paul says, “If anyone is the Lord’s, he knows what I am saying; if anyone ignores this, he shall be ignored.” What does it mean, then, “I do not know you”? “I do not recognize you in my pattern; I do not recognize my image in you. My justice knows something to punish in you, but my mercy does not find anything to crown.” For this reason if one’s actions are unworthy of God, one is said to be unworthy of his knowledge also. “I descended to see”; not in order to know what they are doing but to make them worthy of my knowledge if I find any of them just, repentant, or such as I should know.

Sermon 83.6-7

The Lord therefore said: "The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah has been multiplied, and their sin has become very grave." He calls the outcry of Sodom the reputation or rather the infamy of their crimes, from which the Apostle, admonishing us, says: "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and blasphemy, be put away from you, with all malice" (Ephesians 4:31). To this clamor indeed is opposed the clamor of the elect, who confidently supplicating their Creator, individually say: "Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you" (Psalm 102:2). Indeed, great is their clamor, a sublime merit and the intention of faith seeking heavenly things alone, where Christ sits at the right hand of God; since they do not desire earthly riches, nor vain and perishable glory, nor the fleeting joys of the flesh, but only heavenly goods, everything they do is surely lofty and, as it were, resonates with a clamor. But with the multiplied outcry of sins, that is, their enormous crime, let us see what follows.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

These are the words of the divine Scripture. Let us see, therefore, now what is fitting to be understood in them. "I have descended," the text says, "to see." When responses are delivered to Abraham, God is not said to descend but to stand before him, as we explained above: "Three men," the text says, "stood before him." But now, because sinners are involved, God is said to descend. Beware lest you think of ascending and descending spatially. For this is frequently found in the sacred literature, as in the prophet Micah: "Behold," Scripture says, "the Lord departed from his holy place and came down and will tread upon the high places of the earth." Therefore God is said to descend when he deigns to have concern for human frailty. This should be discerned especially of our Lord and Savior, who "thought it not robbery to be equal with God but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant." Therefore he descended. For "no other has ascended into heaven, but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven." For the Lord descended not only to care for us but also to bear these things that are ours. "For he took the form of a servant," and although he himself is invisible in nature, inasmuch as he is equal to the Father, nevertheless he took a visible appearance "and was found in appearance as a man." But also when he descends he is below with some, but he ascends with others and is above. For he goes up with the chosen apostles "into a high mountain and there is transfigured before them." Therefore he is above with those whom he teaches about the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But he is below with the crowds and Pharisees, whose sins he reproaches, and he is there with them.… He could not, however, be transfigured below, but he ascended above with those who could follow him, and there he is transfigured.

Homilies on Genesis 4.5

So also now, therefore, it is said of these who live in Sodom, that if indeed, on his examination, "their deeds are completed as the cry" that has ascended to God, they would be considered unworthy. But if there is any conversion among them, if even ten just men might be found among them, so, at last, God would know them. And for this reason the text said, "But if not, that I might know." It did not say that I might know what they are doing but that I might know them and make them worthy of knowledge of me, if I should find some among them just, if I should find some repentant, if some such as I ought to know.

Homilies on Genesis 4.6

"I will go down," he says, "and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry which has come to me; and if not, I will know." Therefore, when the Lord said that he would go down to see whether the same outcry was true, he did not show his ignorance, who possesses the knowledge of all things, but instructs our rashness, lest we presume to blame the deeds of others before we learn perfectly; which He also teaches us in the construction of the tower, where it is written that the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of Adam had built; for what would He not see from heaven to earth, of whom it is written that "Hell is naked before Him, and there is no covering for perdition"?

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

And they turned themselves from there and went towards Sodom; but Abraham still stood before the Lord, and approaching he said: Will you indeed destroy the righteous with the wicked? If fifty righteous are in the city, will they perish along with the rest, until he said: If ten are found there; and the Lord said: I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten. It is read further that two angels came to Sodom and were received by Lot; hence it seems likely that at this place two angels departed from Abraham, and he spoke with the one who remained with him, interceding for the perishing city. In which intercession, the humility of the blessed Abraham is especially to be considered, who, although he was esteemed so highly by God that he received Him as a familiar guest and interceded with Him as if with a friend of one mind for others, nevertheless in his own estimation he remained vile and despicable; hence in his second prayer he says to Him:

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

And in this manner, through a series of questions and answers, even if he finds ten righteous people in the city, he promises impunity to the entire people on account of the righteousness of a few. Where do we learn how great a wall is for our country, a virtuous man, how we should not envy holy men, nor disrespect them lightly. For their faith saves us, their justice defends us from destruction. Even Sodom, if it had ten righteous men, could have not perished.

On Abraham

Let us be imitators also of those who in goat-skins and sheep-skins [Hebrews 11:37] went about proclaiming the coming of Christ; I mean Elijah, Elisha, and Ezekiel among the prophets, with those others to whom a like testimony is borne [in Scripture]. Abraham was specially honoured, and was called the friend of God; yet he, earnestly regarding the glory of God, humbly declared, "I am but dust and ashes." [Genesis 18:27] Moreover, it is thus written of Job, "Job was a righteous man, and blameless, truthful, God-fearing, and one that kept himself from all evil." [Job 1:1] But bringing an accusation against himself, he said, "No man is free from defilement, even if his life be but of one day." [Job 14:4-5] Moses was called faithful in all God's house; and through his instrumentality, God punished Egypt with plagues and tortures. Yet he, though thus greatly honoured, did not adopt lofty language, but said, when the divine oracle came to him out of the bush, "Who am I, that You send me? I am a man of a feeble voice and a slow tongue." [Exodus 4:10] And again he said, "I am but as the smoke of a pot."

Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 17

[Daniel 8:27] "And I, Daniel, languished and was sick for some days. And when I rose from my bed, I performed the king's tasks." This is the same thing as we read in Genesis about Abraham, for after he had heard the Lord speaking to him, he averred that he was but dust and ashes (Genesis 18:27). And so Daniel states that he languished as a reaction to the horror of the vision, and suffered illness. And after he had risen from his sick-bed, he says he performed the tasks assigned to him by the king, rendering to all men all that was due them and bearing in mind the gospel principle: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (Luke 20:25).

"And I was amazed at the vision, and there was no one who could interpret it." If there was no one who could interpret it, how was it that the angel interpreted it in the previous passage? What he means is that he had heard mention of kings and did not know what their names were; he learned of things to come, but he was tossed about with uncertainty as to what time they would come to pass. And so he did the only thing he could do: he marveled at the vision, and resigned everything to God's omniscience.

St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER EIGHT

Since I have begun, I will speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes. By this word he clearly rebukes our pride, we who are far distant from the height of his merits, far removed from divine conversation due to our slowness and inertia, nevertheless inflated with the pride of arrogance, do not recall that we are destined to be dust and ashes; for blessed Abraham, the closer he approached the purity of the divine vision, the more certainly he dispersed and cast away the weaknesses of his own frailty. But we, who are excluded from the gaze of inner clarity by the cloud of our own depravity, the less we lament the darkness of misery inherent in us, the more we are accustomed to see nothing but these.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Who could worthily praise the God of all for his marvelous long suffering and considerateness or congratulate the good man for enjoying such great confidence? “He continued to speak,” the text goes on. “ ‘But what if only forty can be found there?’ He replied, ‘For the sake of the forty I will not destroy it.’ ” Then at that point the good man, while respecting God’s ineffable long suffering and being afraid of ever seeming to go too far and surpass the limit in his entreaty, said, “Pardon me, Lord, if I continue to speak: if only thirty can be found there?” Since he saw God was disposed to kindness, he still did not proceed gradually with his compromise. He sought to rescue not merely five good people but ten in pursuing his request thus, “If only thirty can be found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find thirty there.” Consider the degree of the good man’s persistence. As though he personally were due to be liable for sentence, he takes great pains to snatch the people of Sodom from the impending punishment. “He said, ‘Since I am able to speak to the Lord, what if there are only twenty there?’ He replied, ‘For the sake of the twenty I will not destroy it.’ ” O, the goodness of the Lord beyond all telling and all imagining! I mean, which of us living in the middle of countless evils could ever choose to exercise such wonderful considerateness and loving kindness in executing a sentence against our peers?

Homilies on Genesis 42.19

Finally, because no one besides Lot is found who would repent, no one would be converted. He alone is known; he alone is delivered from the conflagration. Neither his children, having been admonished, nor his neighbors nor his next of kin followed him. No one wished to know the mercy of God; no one wished to take refuge in his compassion. Consequently also no one is known.These things indeed have been said against those who “speak iniquity on high.” But let us give attention to make our acts such, our manner of life such, that we may be held worthy of knowledge of God; that he may see fit to know us; that we may be held worthy of knowledge of his Son Jesus Christ and knowledge of the Holy Spirit; that we, known by the Trinity, might also deserve to know the mystery of the Trinity fully, completely and perfectly, the Lord Jesus Christ revealing it to us. “His is the glory and sovereignty forever and ever. Amen.”

Homilies on Genesis 4.6

For proof that such persons’ good standing is a means of winning long suffering for us, take heed in that very story to what he says to the patriarch: “If I find ten good people, I will not destroy the city.” Why do I say ten good people? No one was found there free from lawlessness, except alone the good man Lot and his two daughters. His wife, you remember, perhaps on his account escaped punishment in the city but paid later the penalty for her own indifference. Now, however, since through God’s ineffable love the growth of religion was taking place, there were many people unobtrusively in the heart of the cities capable of appealing to God, others in hills and caves, and the virtue of these few succeeded in canceling out the wickedness of the majority.The Lord’s goodness is immense, and frequently he finds his way to grant the salvation of the majority on account of a few just people. Why do I say on account of a few just people? Frequently, when a just person cannot be found in the present life, he takes pity on the living on account of the virtue of the departed and cries aloud in the words, “I will protect this city for my own sake and the sake of my servant David.” Even if they do not deserve to be saved, he is saving. And [they] have no claim on salvation; yet, since showing love is habitual with me and I am prompt to have pity and rescue them from disaster, for my own sake and the sake of my servant David I will act as a shield; he who passed on from this life many years before will prove the salvation of those who have fallen victim to their own indifference.

Homilies on Genesis 42.23-24

(Verse 32) And he said, 'Is it, Lord, if I speak?' Which is written in Greek, μήτι, Κύριε, ἐὰν λαλήσω. Secondly, Abraham spoke to the Lord, which does not seem to clearly indicate what he is saying. Therefore, in Hebrew it is written more explicitly: 'Please do not be angry, Lord, if I have spoken.' For since he seemed to be questioning, he qualifies what he seeks by beginning with a plea.

Hebrew Questions on Genesis