And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
17. And the Lord said ] i.e. within Himself: cf. Gen 20:11, “I thought,” lit. “I said.”
Shall I hide from Abraham ] With the thought of this verse, cf. Amo 3:6-7, “shall evil befall a city, and the Lord hath not done it? Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Here Jehovah purposes to reveal His intention to Abraham on account of his position as one who was in covenant relation, and the recipient of the promise ( Gen 18:18).’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 17. Shall I hide from Abraham] That is, I will not hide. A common mode of speech in Scripture – a question asked when an affirmative is designed. Do men gather grapes of thorns? Men do not gather grapes of thorns, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
q.d. I will not, cannot hide it; it is against the laws of friendship to conceal my secrets from him. The interrogation here is in effect a negation, as elsewhere. Compare 2Sa 7:5, with 1Ch 17:4; and Mat 7:16, with Luk 6:43. See also Amo 3:7.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. the Lord said, Shall I hideThechief stranger, no other than the Lord, disclosed to Abraham theawful doom about to be inflicted on Sodom and the cities of the plainfor their enormous wickedness.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the Lord said,…. Either unto Abraham himself, so leading on to what he was about to make known to him; and without supposing this it will be difficult to account for Abraham’s intercession for Sodom upon this: or to the two angels with him; not as consulting them whether he should or no do what he next suggests, but to give to them Abraham’s just character, and the reasons of his using him in such a friendly manner: or it may be, to the other divine Persons, the Father and Spirit, one with the Son of God, and always present with him:
shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do? which he was about to do, namely, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: the Jewish writers a observe, that these cities were given in the grant of the whole land to Abraham, and therefore it was right to acquaint him with it first: but other and better reasons are given in the next words; Abraham was a friend of the Lord, and he had showed himself friendly to him, not only now, but heretofore, and therefore will treat him as his friend, by imparting his secrets to him.
a Targ. Jerus. & Jarchi in loc.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
17. Shall I hide from Abraham? Seeing that God here takes counsel, as if concerning a doubtful matter, he does it for the sake of men; for he had already determined what he would do. But he designed, in this manner, to render Abraham more intent upon the consideration of the causes of Sodom’s destruction. He adduces two reasons why He wished to manifest his design to Abraham, before he carried it into execution. The former is, that he had already granted him a singularly honorable privilege; the second, that it would be useful and fruitful in the instruction of posterity. Therefore, in this expression, the scope and use of revelation is briefly noted.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
17. Shall I hide which I do Here, again, Jehovah speaks in his own name and person, and the style of the narrative gives a lifelike reality to every circumstance . How like a bosom friend he speaks! The Septuagint reads: “By no means will I hide from Abraham, my child, what I do . ” From such companionship Abraham was truly called “the friend of God . ”
2Ch 20:7; Isa 41:8; Jas 2:23.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Yahweh said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what am doing? Seeing that Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. For I have known him to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice. To the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham what he has said concerning him.” ’
This is probably the time at which Abraham becomes aware that this is not just a messenger of Yahweh, but Yahweh Himself.
Nothing could more reveal the importance of Abraham in the purposes of God than this stated intention of Yahweh. Abraham is so involved in God’s plan for the future of the world that he is deserving of knowing what God will do. God has, as it were, taken Abraham into partnership, albeit as a very junior partner. God does not hide His secrets from His prophets (Amo 3:7), and as Genesis 15 has made clear, Abram is a prophet.
The particular covenant of Genesis 12, rather than the wider covenant of Genesis 17, is in mind here as befits the previous mention of the special heir. This is a codicil to Gen 18:14. It confirms that a great and mighty nation will arise from Abraham through Isaac, and that all the nations of the world will be blessed through Abraham, and his seed, through the chosen line. This latter promise is significantly only stated elsewhere in Gen 12:3, which is pre-Ishmael, Gen 22:18 where it is directly related to the incident with Isaac, and Gen 26:4 where it is promised to Isaac. It is thus never directly related to the wider covenant of Genesis 17.
The covenants are clearly distinguished. This particular blessing is to come through the seed of Isaac, not of Ishmael. Thus, while Ishmael is to be blessed as Abraham’s seed, God’s purpose for the world will be achieved through Isaac’s seed.
Incidentally this brings out how ancient the covenant in Genesis 17 is. Such promises would never have been conceded by later Israel.
“For I have known him —”. The word to ‘know’ means more than just intellectual knowledge. It is constantly used of personal relations between a man and a woman (Gen 4:1 and often) and here it signifies that Yahweh has entered into a special relationship with Abraham. He has chosen him and set him apart in His purposes.
His purpose in setting Abraham apart is also stated. It is that he might so teach and order his family and family tribe to keep the way of Yahweh that they ‘do righteousness and justice’. It is this that will bring about the final blessing. Thus morality and ethics is set at the heart of the covenant with Abraham. But it is a morality set in what Yahweh Himself is, for it is ‘the way of Yahweh’. It is their personal response to Him and what He is that will bring the blessing to the whole world.
To ‘do righteousness’ is to follow the covenant completely, to ‘do justice’ is to deal with all failures to observe the covenant requirements. But the context of God’s judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah brings out that these requirements are ethical and are demanded of all not just those in the covenant. The covenant stipulations are merely a mirror of what God requires from the world.
Now Yahweh reveals His full purpose to Abraham.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 18:17 And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
Ver. 17. Shall I hide from Abraham? ] My bosom friend. He shall be both of God’s court, and his council. His “secret is with them that fear him”. Psa 25:14 The kings of Israel had some one courtier, called the king’s friend by a specialty, to whom they imparted arcana imperii , state secrets. Such an office had Abraham about God, who calls him “Abraham my friend.” See what our Saviour saith to all his, Joh 15:15 . “This honour have all his saints.”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Shall I hide? Figure of speech Erotesis. Compare Amo 3:7.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Gen 18:17-19. And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
Abraham is called the friend of God. It was not merely that God was his Friend; that was blessedly true, and it was a great wonder of grace; but he was honoured to be called the friend of God-one with whom God could hold sweet converse, a man after his own heart, in whom he trusted to whom he revealed his secrets. I am afraid there are not many men of Abrahams sort in the world even now; but, wherever there is such a man, with whom God is familiar, he will be sure to be one who orders his household aright. If the Lord is my Friend, and if I am indeed his friend, I shall wish him to be respected by my children, and I shall endeavor to dedicate my children to his service. I fear that the decline of family godliness, which is so sadly remarkable in these days, is the source of a great many of the crying sins of the age; the Church of God at large would have been more separate from the world if the little church in each mans house had been more carefully trained for God. If you want the Lord to confide in you, and to trust you with his secrets, you must see that he is able to say of you what he said of Abraham, he will command his children and his household after him.
Gen 18:20-22. And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.
He was in no hurry to close that blessed interview; when he had once come into the Lords immediate presence, he lingered there. Those who are friends of God like to be much in their Lords company.
Gen 18:23. And Abraham drew near,
There is nothing like coming very close to God in prayer: Abraham drew near. He was about to use his influence with his great Friend; not for himself, but for these men of Sodom, who were going to be destroyed. Happy are those who, when they are near to God, use the opportunity in pleading for others, ay, even for the most wicked and abandoned of men.
Gen 18:23-25. And said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
Abraham bases his argument upon the justice of God; and when a man dares to do that, it is mighty pleading, for, depend upon it, God will never do an unjust thing. If thou darest to plead his righteousness, his infallible justice, thou pleadest most powerfully.
Gen 18:26-30. And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for fortys sake. And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
This time the patriarch has advanced by ten; before, it was by fives. Pleading men grow bolder and braver in their requests. A man who is very familiar with God will, by-and-by, venture to say that which, at the first, he would not have dared to utter.
Gen 18:31-32. And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twentys sake. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for tens sake.
He went no farther than to plead that Sodom might be spared if ten righteous persons could be found in it. I have heard some say that it was a pity Abraham did not go on pleading with God; but I would not dare to say so. He knew better when to begin and when to leave off than you and I do; there are certain restraints in prayer which a man of God cannot explain to others, but which he, nevertheless, himself feels. God moves his servants to pray in a certain case, and they do pray with great liberty and manifest power. Another case may seem to be precisely like it: yet the mouth of the former suppliant is shut, and in his heart he does not feel that he can pray as he did before. Do I blame the men of God? Assuredly not; the Lord dealeth wisely with his servants, and he tells them, by gentle hints, which they quickly understand, when and where to stop in their supplications.
Gen 18:33. And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
We know that the angels went down to Sodom, where they were received by Lot, and despitefully used by the Sodomites. We will continue our reading at the twelfth verse of the next chapter.
This exposition consisted of readings from Gen 18:17-33; Gen 19:12-28.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
2Ki 4:27, 2Ch 20:7, Psa 25:14, Amo 3:7, Joh 15:15, Jam 2:23
Reciprocal: Gen 31:11 – the angel Job 24:1 – not see Eze 10:1 – as the Dan 2:23 – and hast Mat 20:17 – took
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The Prayer of Abraham for Lot
Gen 18:17-33
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
1. The Lord appeared unto Abraham. As we approach this remarkable 18th chapter of Genesis we do not find the first time that the Lord ever appeared unto Abraham. The norm of Abraham’s life was “walking with God.” This constant fellowship with the Lord, made possible the special occasions where God came down and talked to Abraham as one talketh face to face.
2. The Lord appeared unto Abraham as he sat in his tent door. Had Abraham been a city dweller, as was Lot, it had been, perhaps, an impossible thing for the Lord to thus have come to His servant. As we become entangled with many things we become too much engrossed for speaking to the Lord.
3. The Lord appeared unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre. Mamre, means “fatness.” It is always a fat place where the Lord appears to us. The old song says, “A sweet perfume upon the breeze, Is borne from ever vernal trees.” That is always so-it is a place of fatness and of fragrance when the Lord walks with us. Our winter is turned into summer and our thorns into roses when He is there.
4. The Lord appeared unto Abraham as a welcomed Guest. In all eagerness Abraham ran to meet his Heavenly Visitors, for two Angels accompanied the Lord. Abraham bowed himself to the ground and said, “Pass not away, * * from Thy servant: let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash, * * and rest, * * and I will fetch a morsel of bread.”
Are we always glad to entertain the Lord? Many saints never seem to know that He is near. The Holy Spirit is our Holy Guest (Guest is the old thought in the word “Ghost”). If He is our Guest, is He a recognized, honored, acceptable Guest; or is He left forsaken and alone among the cobwebs of the basement or garret of our lives neglected and alone?
5. The Lord appeared unto Abraham and renewed His covenant with him. The Lord told Abraham that Sarah should soon have a son. Sarah, who was in the tent, laughed. Her laugh was unlike the laugh of Abraham who in our last study laughed with joy and anticipation over the anticipated birth of Isaac. Sarah’s laugh was the laugh of doubt. Therefore, the Lord said, “Wherefore did Sarah laugh?”
Beloved, we may smile at Sarah’s incredulity, but we assure you that our “laughter” in no way pleases the Lord. When God speaks we should be willing to accept His Word as true, without any skeptical doubtings. Unbelief is black with the frown of God. Faith is His pleasure. God honors faith and welcomes those who trust Him.
I. TO WHOM GOD SHOWS HIS SECRETS (Gen 18:17)
1. God tells His plans to those who are His servants. There is a verse in Rev 1:1, which reads: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass.”
God shows to His servants. The word, is “bondslaves.” If we then would know God’s will and way we must be His recognized and obedient followers. Why should God tell the world what He has told us? In Matthew, chapter 13, Christ said, “It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but unto them it is not given.”
2. God tells His plans to those who obey His voice. Here it is, “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.” What good is there in telling your will to one who will reject to follow? That would be no more than casting pearls before swine.
The call of the Lord is, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Then with the body and its members presented, ready to do God’s will, what will happen? Here it is: “That ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
3. God tells His plan to those who seek His face. Abraham welcomed his Lord. He walked with Him. He delighted in the most intimate fellowship with Him. Abraham was a friend of God. To him, therefore, God told what He was about to do. If we expect God to tell us His things we must walk in His presence.
II. GOD’S STATEMENT OF ABRAHAM’S COMING GREATNESS (Gen 18:18)
1. God foresaw Abraham’s national prowess. God said, “Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation.” The future lay before God in just as clear a profile as the past could ever lie before us. God sees that which shall be as though it were.
The great architect plans every detail of some uplifting skyscraper that will catch the admiring gaze of thousands of human eyes. I, for instance, could not see that tremendous building all completed before the first spade has started to remove the dirt for its foundation. However, the architect could and does see it as it will stand completed before the plans for the building are ever turned over to the contractor.
Cannot God, with far more accuracy than a human builder, see His masterful purposes and plans as though they were already a historical fact, millenniums before they are actually realized? Certainly He can.
2. God foresaw Abraham a world-wide blessing through Christ, his Seed according to the flesh. God knew that out of the loins of Abraham Christ should come, so far as His human genealogy was concerned. God knew that Abraham, in Christ, and by Christ would be a blessing to every nation tinder the Heavens. He knew that all nations would be subservient to that one nation, of which Christ should be its last and lasting King.
Now we understand greater depths to God’s statement, “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” God seemed to be saying,-“Why not tell Abraham inasmuch as he is so closely related to those great and matchless purposes of Mine which shall eventually bring the Eternal Son down to earth?”
Beloved, let us stop and wonder! We mere worms of the dust are yet twined and intertwined into the eternal purposes of God for all ages. Let us reverently bow the head and worship.
III. GOD’S STATEMENT OF ABRAHAM’S IMMEDIATE FAMILY LIFE (Gen 18:19)
1. God knew Abraham’s parental integrity. God did not alone take cognizance of Abraham’s far-flung future greatness, and of Abraham as he was related to the human lineage of Christ, as Son of Mary. God also knew the personal fidelity of Abraham to his immediate relationship as father to the family from whom those future blessings would flow. God even entered into Abraham’s personal family life, and said, “I know him, that he will command his children * * after him.”
Does God not likewise enter into our own individual heart life, and home life? Does He not observe us on our knees as we plead for our sons and our daughters at the throne of grace? Does He not see us as we talk to them and seek to direct them in the ways of God Almighty? Yes, God not only observes these human relationships, but He is tremendously interested in them. God does not see us hall so much as we are at church and under the eye of the public as He sees its in the inner life of our own domiciles.
2. God knew Abraham’s faithful dealings with his children would make it possible to bring upon him all those things which He had spoken to him. Here is a new sidelight to God’s promises to Abraham. Much was dependent upon Abraham himself and upon the behaviour of Abraham’s children. Sons and daughters may, by their erring ways, hinder God’s blessings toward their parents. God proposes, yet, in many things, man interposes.
Man. may hinder God’s workings. Where? In those places where God makes Himself dependent upon our faithfulness. There are many things which God would do for us, which He cannot do because we hinder Him by our perfidy. Listen to this Scripture: “And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” Who could not do works? Christ. Why could He not do works? Because of their unbelief. He could not, because they did not believe.
IV. THE INSIDE VIEW OF AN ANCIENT FAMILY (Pro 4:3-4)
1. The ruling passion of the home should be love. With what depth of meaning do the words sound forth, “I was my father’s son.” Every son is, of course, the son of his father. There is here, however, a throbbing touch on Solomon’s heartstrings, as he wrote: “I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.”
Let us go into Abraham’s home. He loved Ishmael. On one occasion Abraham cried to God, “O that Ishmael might live before Thee!” As for Isaac, the son of Abraham’s old age, he was the love of his heart. Nor was that all. Isaac loved Jacob, and Jacob loved his sons. God give us love in our homes. A love that holds our household to God.
2. The father should be the teacher in the home. Solomon said of David, “He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words.”
God said of Abraham, “He will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.”
In the volume of the Book it is written concerning God’s Precepts: “Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou riseth up.” When parents take this command seriously and forcefully execute its instruction they will have no trouble in the future of their children.
We need family Christianity. Perhaps the greatest calamity that could have befallen our beloved country is the utter collapse of the old time Family Altar.
V. GOD’S REVELATION TO ABRAHAM (Gen 18:20-21)
1. God’s revelation of coming judgment. It was this of which God had said, “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” God proposed to let His servant know what He was about to do upon Sodom and Gomorrah.
I ask you to pass for a moment with me down through the centuries from that day to ours. If the cry of Sodom had come up before the Lord, has not the cry of our day likewise come up to Him? Christ said, “As it was in the days of Lot * * thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” That our day equals the days of Lot in its wickedness and negation of God, we are satisfied. Indeed, in some parts of the country we fear that we have by far surpassed the sins of that day.
Here is what we want to ask,-“If God did not hide from Abraham the coming destruction of Sodom, will He hide from us the coming destruction of this present cosmos?” We wist not.
In speaking of the coming destruction which the Day of the Lord will bring upon the ungodly, God says it will be when they say, peace and safety. God, however, also says, “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” At this very hour multiplied thousands of God’s choicest saints are momentarily looking for their deliverance as the day of God’s wrath upon a godless age hastens on.
2. God adjusts Himself to man’s way of thinking. He said, “I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether,” etc. God seemed to be saying to Abraham, that His decision to destroy Sodom was not hasty, nor premature. He seemed to express that He had given Sodom every opportunity to repent.
Moreover there seemed to be, to Abraham, a possibility of a reversal of judgment, providing a sufficient ground for merit might be found. This was, no doubt, the basis of Abraham’s prayer which followed.
VI. TURNING THEIR FACES TOWARD SODOM (Gen 18:22)
There were five definite looks toward Sodom.
1. There was the look of Lot. Lot’s look was the look of self-advantage. He saw that the plains were well-watered toward Sodom. He saw that he had a splendid financial future by commerce with Sodom.
The result of Lot’s look was that he pitched his tent toward Sodom. Where our treasure is, there will our heart be also; and soon, if we can work it out that way, our footsteps will lead us in that direction.
Lot realized the longings of his look toward Sodom. He achieved his desires and soon sat in the gate of Sodom as some great one.
2. There was the Lord’s look. The Lord said I will see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it. God’s look was the look of judgment, linked to mercy and opportunity.
We must remember that the cry of Nineveh also came up before the Lord. Then Jonah was sent down there to proclaim coming judgment. But that judgment was delayed when the Ninevites repented.
We have every reason to believe that if Sodom had repented upon the visit of the two Angels there had also been given to Sodom, at least a deference of judgment. When Abraham prayed for Sodom God proclaimed His willingness to spare the city if there were so many as ten righteous. However, there were not ten righteous. And, when the citizens of Sodom tried to drag God’s Angels out to wreak upon them their villainy, full proof that the sin of Sodom was fully ripe was demonstrated.
3. There was the look of the angels. We read, “And the Men rose up * * and looked toward Sodom.” As they went Abraham went with them to bring them on their way. The patriarch did not know the objective of that visit of the angels. Perhaps he thought it was a visit to his nephew, Lot.
However, we know that the look of the Angels was a look of judgment to be immediately executed. However, not altogether of judgment, but also of deliverance. Of judgment to Sodom, and of deliverance to Lot.
Here is a tremendous message. God does not destroy the righteous with the wicked. As we pen these words we are reminded of the “As it was in the days of Lot, thus shall it be.” Truly, if God in Lot’s day spared Lot, a righteous man, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked, will He not also spare saints at His Coming? The fact is, God hath not appointed us unto wrath.
There are some who think that the Church will enter the Tribulation. If that be so, they cannot pass through it, for the simple reason that when God pours out the vial of His wrath we are not and cannot be subjects to wrath.
Saints may feel the terrific onslaught of the wrath of men. In the world they do have tribulation. Nevertheless, when God judges the world and casts down His fire from Heaven, He will not suffer the world-hated and world-persecuted believer to feel the keen edge of His sword.
4. There was the look of Lot’s wife. More of this will be developed in another study. Just now we wish to say one thing. Let us never allow ourselves to become so entangled in the affairs of this life that we will loath to leave it.
5. There was the look of Abraham. Here was the remorseful look of accepted conflagration and despoliation.
As Abraham looked toward Sodom, “Lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.” What feeling of pain must have filled his soul as Abraham saw everything that was Lot’s swept from him. He loved Lot, and no doubt he had feared all along this very thing. Lot had been saved, to be sure, but he had been saved through the fire. He was saved, but all the work of a lifetime had gone up in the flames.
We need to remember that accompanied with the pouring out of those terrific judgments that will accompany the pouring out of the vials of wrath at the Lord’s Coming, will be the judgment of the believer’s works. The wicked will be overwhelmed by judgment. And, alas, how many of the saved out of the judgment will suffer the great loss of all that their life might have meant in spiritual acquisition and rewards, as they see themselves saved “so as by fire.”
AN ILLUSTRATION
“‘A father cannot forget how many children he hath. He that leadeth us by the hand wherever we go knoweth where and how we go.’ This is a very simple statement, but exceedingly full of consolation. We, being evil, do not forget our children; we know our own, and do not omit even the last little one from our tender memory; how much more shall our Heavenly Father think upon all His own, and have them under His watchful eye! It is a pleasure to us to think of our children, for they are parts of ourselves. We could almost as soon cease to be as cease to remember them. Our Father above is all a Father can be and more: we are poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon us.
It were well if the converse of all this were true. We, alas! as children, too often forget our Father, and bear ourselves towards Him otherwise than is meet. If we treated our God as good children do a loving father, our conduct towards Him would lead us to a holy, happy life. We should long to be with Him, and to be happy in His company; we should be jealous for the honor of His Name, and feel pleased when we hear others extol Him. He would be our rest, confidence, pattern, love, and delight. Miss Havergal, in her own sweet way, has worked out the ideal treatment of a father, and we can readily spiritualize it.”
‘How do you love your Father?
Oh, in a thousand ways!
I think there’s no one like Him
So worthy of my praise.
I tell Him all my troubles,
And ask Him what to do;
I know that He will give to me
His counsel kind and true.'”
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Gen 18:17. Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do Thus doth God in his counsels express himself after the manner of men, with deliberation. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. Those that by faith live a life of communion with God, cannot but know more of his mind than other people. They have a better insight into what is present, and a better foresight of what is to come.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
18:17 And the {h} LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
(h) Jehovah the Hebrew word we call Lord, shows that this angel was Christ: for this word is only applied to God.