Musar su Genesi 24:42
וָאָבֹ֥א הַיּ֖וֹם אֶל־הָעָ֑יִן וָאֹמַ֗ר יְהוָה֙ אֱלֹהֵי֙ אֲדֹנִ֣י אַבְרָהָ֔ם אִם־יֶשְׁךָ־נָּא֙ מַצְלִ֣יחַ דַּרְכִּ֔י אֲשֶׁ֥ר אָנֹכִ֖י הֹלֵ֥ךְ עָלֶֽיהָ׃
Arrivato oggi alla fonte, dissi: Signore, Iddio del mio padrone Abramo, se pur sei disposto a prosperare la bisogna, per la quale io m’adopero...
Shenei Luchot HaBerit
There are several difficulties in 18,2: "He raised his eyes and saw three men standing by him; he saw and ran to meet them from the entrance of the tent. He bowed down to the ground." Why does the Torah repeat that Abraham "saw?" If the men stood beside him, why did he have to run towards them? We are familiar with what the Talmud says and Rashi quoting it, but we will ignore that for the moment. According to our approach, the repetition of the word "he saw," is justified; Abraham's intellectual vision told him that these men were angels, whereas his physical vision led him to believe that they were human beings. Abraham's doubts were reinforced by the fact that he had seen angels frequently, but they had not appeared to him in the guise of human beings. The words "he raised his eyes" (heavenwards) indicate that he wondered if they were angels. The words נצבים עליו, are appropriate when one speaks of angels as we know from Daniel 7,16: "I approached one of the standing ones and asked him, etc." We also know from Zachariah 3,7 that human beings are described as מהלכים, progressing, whereas angels are described there as בין העומדים האלה, "between these stationary ones." According to Yerushalmi Berachot 1,1 המלאכים אין להם קפיצה, angels do not experience miraculous transposition from one area to another [as happened to Eliezer on his journey to Aram Naharayim for instance in Genesis 24,42, see Rashi Ed.]. Abraham afterwards saw that the appearance of these men was that of human beings. He thought that they might be Arabs, and since humans walk, move, even if they might stand still briefly, he ran towards them. When he came close to them everything that he said to them could be interpreted as appropriate both to angels and to humans. If they were angels, they would interpret what he said to them in a certain manner, whereas if they were men, they would also interpret his words as appropriate.
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