ויקח חמאה וחלב ובן הבקר, "he took butter, milk, and a young calf, etc." No mention is made of Avraham serving the bread. Our sages
(Bava Metzia 87) use this to surmise that at that time Sarah became a menstruant, (although she had long ceased to be), and that since Avraham was in the habit of eating even ordinary food only if it could have been eaten by a priest in a state of ritual purity, he did not want to offer such food to his guests either.
Some people ask that seeing there was no halachic reason that Avraham should impose such restrictions on people other than himself, it seems unreasonable for him to not serve the very thing he had first said he would offer. These scholars suggest a different reason for Avraham not serving the bread. They claim it was the date on which Passover would occur in the future and that this was the reason he spoke of the bread in terms of עגות, cakes, i.e. unleavened cakes. Whereas in this instance the Torah spoke only of עגות, "cakes," the Torah completes the expression by adding the word מצות, "unleavened bread," when the same men arrive at Lot's home in Sodom the same evening (19,3) and the Torah reports that this is what Lot served these men. It is typical of the Torah to reveal hints of something here and there. Something not made clear in one part of the Torah can often be understood properly only when comparing two different sections of the Torah.
ויאכלו, "they ate." The plain meaning of the text is that the subject of the word are those who were in the habit of eating, i.e. Ishmael and the other members of Avraham's household. We encounter something similar in Isaiah 5,12 והיה כנור ונבל תף וחליל ויין משתיהם "and their banquets consisted of lyre and lute, timbrel and flute and wine;" it is obvious that people do not drink musical instruments such as the ones mentioned in that verse, but that these instruments provide only background music to the banquet whereas the wine is fit to drink.
A Midrashic approach: The word ויאכלו is not to be understood literally (
Bereshit Rabbah 48,
14); the angels appeared to eat seeing that the meat was the first thing to disappear. This was not unlike Judges 6,21 in an incident involving Gideon. We are told there: וישלח מלאך ה' את קצה המשענת אשר בידו ויגע בבשר ובמצות, ותעל האש מן הצור ותאכל את הבשר ואת המצות, "The angel of the Lord held out the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread with its tip. A fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread." The term אכילה, "eating, consuming," is applied to matters which disappear. A classic example of such use of the word is found in Deut. 32,42 וחרבי תאכל בשר, "my sword will consume flesh." Another such example is also found in Deut. 7,16 ואכלת את כל העמים, "you will consume all the nations, etc.."
There are conflicting views concerning the nature of this entire paragraph. Some (including Maimonides in his Moreh Nevuchim 2,42), hold that the entire story is merely a description of a prophetic vision which Avraham experienced. People who hold this view believe that human beings never see angels in the flesh but only experience visions of angels. According to the people who believe this, Sarah never baked any cakes for these angels, neither did Avraham prepare animals for slaughter and cook the meat. If we accept this view as a consistent approach, Lot never entertained any angels but instead attained the level of prophecy in order to see the kind of visions which resulted in his leaving Sodom at a crucial moment. We would even have to believe that the inhabitants of Sodom were given prophetic insights in spite of their wickedness and that they assailed Lot and his daughters. If all this were so, how is it possible that God refrained from communicating with Avraham as long as Lot was in his company because he did not qualify for such visions while voluntarily in the company of an evil person such as Lot? (compare 13,13 where the Torah emphasized that God spoke to Avraham "after Lot had separated from him?").
There is no doubt in my mind that in the main the whole paragraph has to be understood literally, i.e. according to the plain meaning of the text. All the experiences related as having happened to Avraham, to Sarah and to Lot, were not figments of their imaginations but actually happened.
If your heart chafes or your mind boggles at such happenings and you find it difficult to credit that mere mortals had such encounters with heavenly beings, you have a point; this is why we need to fall back on kabbalistic interpretations seeing that normal human beings are unable to cope with such encounters on a purely rational basis.
We will therefore consider that if our sages have given these angels "names" corresponding to human beings and have made them appear as if they were dressed as human beings, this did not mean that the garments perceived by Avraham were garments made of fabrics such as used by human beings. Rather, these celestial beings wrapped their essence within "robes," much as God Himself is perceived as having surrounded His essence with "light" which serves as something parallel to our garments. [After all, our garments are also designed to hide our essence. Ed.] Celestial beings known as אד'ם, a term reflecting three superior characteristics, are composed of these characteristics which serve as their מלבוש "garment." Ever since the Temple was destroyed, this kind of מלבוש has no longer become visible to people on earth; in other words, apparitions of celestial beings such as the angels who visited Avraham or even Lot, are no longer part of the human experience.
In this context we must not forget that our own bodies are nothing but the מלבוש, the "garments" of our soul. In fact, we have a verse which testifies to the truth of this perception (
Job 10,
11) עור ובשר תלבישני, "You have clothed me in skin and flesh." The verse means that the body is merely the garment and the soul uses it to dress itself in it.
The meaning of the word אנשים when applied to these phenomena in our verse as well as in other similar occurrences of angels not only being "seen" by humans but interacting with them, means that during those appearances these angels were "dressed" in such "garments." To show us that this is the case, the authors of the respective Books of the Bible called such celestial phenomena אנשים, "men." To indicate that the term אנשים should not be misunderstood by us to mean that these angels assumed real human-like form, the Torah uses the term מלאכים, "angels" for them such as in 19,1. The word מלאכים means that in spite of appearances to the contrary, these phenomena were true celestial beings. On the other hand, they were also called אנשים, to reflect the fact that they were wearing these "garments." If you reflect on a statement in Chagigah 3 עשה אזנך כאפרכסת, "make your ear like that of a grasshopper,"
[According to Rashi this means that we must carefully study all the opinions offered on a problem and then decide which of the approaches to the problem is most acceptable before ruling how to act in practice. Ed.] you will realize how carefully our eyes and ears must be tuned to notice all these nuances in the text.
It is interesting that when these angels appeared to Avraham the Torah refers to them as אנשים, whereas when they appeared to Lot they are referred to as מלאכים. Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 50,2 explain the reason for this as follows: As long as the benevolent Presence of God (שכינה) was accompanying them they are called אנשים; when the benevolent Presence of God was no longer accompanying them they had to "dress up" as מלאכים, as "angels," in order to be perceived as of celestial origin. A minor detail in the text, demonstrating the deep insight of our sages is verse 33 where it says: "God went (away) from Avraham." Remember that we had never even been told that "God came to Avraham" in the first place. We had only been told about אנשים, "men" visiting him. In connection with Lot we find that initially the angels are called מלאכים (19,1) whereas in the ensuing verses we also find them referred to as אנשים (19,10; 19,12), whereas in 19,15 when Lot is being urged to finally leave Sodom before it is too late the same אנשים suddenly again appear as מלאכים.
If the Torah had referred to these "men" when they were in Sodom as מלאכים exclusively, the reason provided by the Midrash we have quoted would be adequate. The constant change of appellation that the Torah uses in the narrative describing both the destruction of Sodom and the saving of Lot forces us to look for further enlightenment on the subject. What this appears to show is that these phenomena, i.e. the angels/men operated on two "wavelengths" simultaneously. Whatever these "men" did they did as "agents" of the angels.
Let us now explain these verses as truly corresponding to the text as the Torah presents them to us (what we are in the habit of calling פשט). The visible aspect of what happened, i.e. the appearance of "men" is true; however the term מלאכים whenever it appears in the text is literally true also. This is a classic example of both the "hidden" and the "revealed" aspect of Torah being equally true," i.e. relevant. The intelligent reader will understand what I have said. Our sages in Baba Metzia 85 have told us that an appearance by the prophet Elijah was something with which the students in the academy of Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi were quite familiar. One day, it was New Moon, Elijah did not arrive at the usual hour and when he arrived considerably late Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi asked him why he had been late on that occasion. Elijah explained that he had to awaken Avraham, wash him, wait while the latter said his prayers, and then put him to bed again. He then had to repeat the same procedure with Yitzchak, and again with Yaakov. Thereupon Rabbi Yehudah Hanasssi asked why he could not have awakened all three patriarchs at the same time? (after all, they are all buried in the same cave). Elijah replied that if he did this they would all pray simultaneously and as a result the Messiah would arrive prematurely. Rabbi Yehudah then asked if there were any great men alive in his own time whose combined prayers could have such an immediate and powerful effect. Elijah replied that Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi's nephew Rabbi Chiyah and his sons were such individuals. Thereupon Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi ordered a general fast and he appointed Rabbi Chiyah accompanied by his sons to act as the ones to lead the others in prayer. As soon as Rabbi Chiyah intoned the word מוריד הגשם, "Who causes rain to fall," rain started falling. When he mentioned the words מחיה מתים "Who revives the dead," a terrible storm started shaking the world. At that moment the celestial beings in heaven asked: "who has revealed this secret?" The answer was that Elijah had revealed it. Thereupon they punished Elijah by disciplining him with 60 fiery brands. At that point Elijah descended to earth and appeared in the guise of a bear (on the attack). As a result, the assembled worshipers fled for their lives and Rabbi Chiyah never got as far as completing the benediction with the words "the One who revives the dead," I am sure you will understand the point of this story.
