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וסעדו לבכם AND SUSTAIN YOUR HEARTS — In the Torah, the Prophets and the Hagiographa we find that bread is the sustenance of the heart. In the Torah. “[And I will fetch a morsel of bread] and sustain your heart.” In the Prophets: “Stay thy heart with a morsel of bread” (Judges 19:5). In the Hagiographa: “And bread that sustaineth man’s heart” (Psalms 104:15). R. Hama said: Here is not written לבבכם but לבכם thus teaching that the evil inclination has no power over angels (Genesis Rabbah 48:11)

FORASMUCH AS YE PASSED BY. Since your path crossed near me, it is not proper that you should not rest a little with me.
So do, as thou hast said. This is an ethical expression indicating that a morsel of bread will be sufficient.⁸⁵Since it should have stated, “We will do as thou hast said,” and instead it says, “So thou do, as thou hast said,” Abraham ibn Ezra takes it to mean “So do, as thou hast spoken: And I will take a morsel of bread, and do not trouble thyself for more.” Thus the language of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra.
It may be that the verse is stating, “So shalt thou do to us, that we recline under the tree and pass immediately as we are messengers, and therefore do not detain us by making us come into the tent or lodge with you.”

כי על כן עברתם על עבדכם. We have a similar construction in Genesis 19,8. It is customary for Scripture to omit the word אשר in such instances, although the reader might have expected it.

כי על כן עברתם על עבדכם, "for this is why you have come by your servant." These words were intended to silence the argument that once Abraham had recognised that his visitors were angels he should not have offered to give them human food. Although we explained that Abraham alluded to the spiritual nourishment the angels were to enjoy, this did not mean that we are to ignore the plain meaning of the verse. Terrestrial food also contains spiritually valuable ingredients as we know from Proverbs 13,25: "the righteous man eats to satisfy his soul." Abraham said to the angels that the reason they appeared in the guise of human beings was in order for them to partake of his food seeing that the spiritual content of that food also assumed the forms of the terrestrial world. The angels responded saying כן, yes, that Abraham was quite correct. They added that he should proceed as he had intended, i.e. to let them enjoy the spiritual content of the food.

ואקחה פת לחם; from this we learn that the righteous say little but do a lot. (Baba Metzia 87) This is the appropriate manner of conducting oneself. The Torah wrote these details in order to teach us that this is part of good manners, דרך ארץ. Avraham spoke about a piece of bread, whereas in fact he served a sumptuous meal. He had even understated the amount of bread he would serve by not saying ואקח לחם, but ואקחה פת לחם, a reference to less than a whole loaf.

כן, תעשה כאשר דברת, ”O.K. you may do as you have suggested.” In other words, they agreed to accept just a piece of bread and to rest up under the tree’s shade. They meant that he should not bring them into his house. Some commentators understand the words כן תעשה כאשר דברת as an approval and warning to always practice hospitality in this fashion. Still another commentary sees in these words an allusion to the fact that they were in fact angels, and the word תעשה marks the difference between him and them, i.e. you may eat, we, being angels, do not eat.

ואקחה פת לחם, “and I will take a piece of bread, etc.” This is an example of what the sages said in Baba Metzia 87 that the righteous promise very little whereas they do a great deal, more than they promised. This is why the Torah reports in verse 7 that Avraham prepared a sumptuous meal for his guests including meat from his best calves.

Here it is not spelled לבבכם but לבכם. The word לבבכם (“your hearts”, plural form) is said about two people, as their minds are not the same. This is as the Gemara says (Sanhedrin 38a): “Man was originally created as one individual [in order to minimize divisiveness and strife, such as] that of the thieves and robbers.” In other words, the yetzer hara affects man, [making one think differently than the other]. But the angels have no yetzer hara, so they are of one mind, and about them it may be said לבכם (your heart, singular form). (Nachalas Yaakov)

כי על כן, eine schwer zu erklärende Konjunktionsform. Es scheint, dass sie elliptisch zu verstehen sei: denn darum (tue ich dies, wünsche ich dies etc.) weil usw. Es scheint überall ein von dem vorauszusetzenden verschiedenes Motiv einer Bitte, einer Tätigkeit usw. einzuleiten. So כי על כן ידעת חנותנו במדבר (Raw Hirsch on Genesis 18: B. M. 10,31), nicht etwa um deinetwillen, denn darum (bitte ich dich, bei uns zu bleiben), du kennst jeden Ort in der Wüste, an welchem Gott uns zu lagern gebietet. כי על כן לא נתתיה לשלה בני Sie ist gerechter als ich, sie war nur durch reine Motive .(B. M. 38, 26 .1) geleitet, denn darum (hatte sie es getan), weil ich sie nicht meinem Sohne gegeben hatte. כי על כן ראיתי פניך כראות פני אלקי׳ Denn (nicht weil du es .(B. M. 33, 10 .1) etwa nötig hättest, sondern) darum, weil ich dir meine Anerkennung ausdrücken möchte. So auch hier: Nicht weil ihr etwa bedürftig seid, sondern darum: ihr seid einmal an meinem Zelte vorbeigekommen, und mein Zelt möchte sich gegen jeden Vorübergehenden gastfrei erweisen. —

כי על כן עברתם על עבדכם, “for surely that is the reason that you passed by your servant;” Avraham indicated that it was not the habit of travelers to skip the main meal which is normally consumed at noon. He indicated that he realised that they were modest and bashful, and had not asked for any food or drink.

אחר תעבורו means after that, you may go away.

וסעדו לבחם, an imperative mode of a transitive verb, i.e. “refresh your hearts with a little bread.” We know that eating bread is a form of refreshment from Psalms 104,15 ולחם לבב אנוש יסעד, “but bread sustains man’s life.”

After that you may leave. Rashi is answering the question: Does not וסעדו לבכם אחר תעברו imply that after they leave, they will eat? Thus Rashi explains: “After that” — after eating, “you will pass” — you may leave.

כן תעשה כאשר דברת, “yes, you may do as you have proposed to do.” They agreed to accept the absolute minimum as suggested by Avraham. Nonetheless, he did not deny himself the opportunity to prepare a sumptuous meal for these guests. It was the custom for guests of distinction to invite their host to share the meal with them. An alternate interpretation of the words: כן תעשה. The expression is a wish that the party addressed may continue to conduct himself in the manner just demonstrated; in other words: “may you have frequent opportunities to play host to guests.”

כי על כן עברתם FORASMUCH AS YE HAVE PASSED —For (כי) I ask you this thing because that (על כן) you have honoured me by calling at my place. כי] על כן] has the same meaning as על אשר “because that”. So, too, is the meaning wherever כי על כן occurs in Scripture, e. g., (Genesis 19:9) “For (כי) I ask you this because that (על כן) they have come under the shadow of my roof”; (Genesis 33:10)

כי על כן עברתם, seeing that you have already happened to pass my house, it is not possible that you should not at least accept some refreshment. The formulation על כן is found again when Lot justifies his hosting the angels when the Sodomites remonstrate with him. (Genesis 19,8) We also find this formulation על כן when Yehudah acknowledges his embarrassment with Tamar as a punishment for not giving his third son to Tamar for her to become his wife. (Genesis 38,26)

For this thing I ask of you... Rashi is saying that על כן [if taken literally] implies that [from the very beginning] they had intended to eat. And this contradicts what it is written above, “If I have found favor... please do not pass by,” implying they came to eat only because Avraham implored them. Thus Rashi explains, “This thing I ask of you...” Accordingly, על כן is like על אשר.

“For (כי) you ought to do this because that (על כן) I have seen thy face”; (Genesis 38:26) “for (כי) she has done right because that (על כן) I gave her not”; (Numbers 10:31) “for (כי) thou ought to accompany us because that (על כן) thou knowest how we are to encamp”.

כאשר דברת, only a piece of bread, do not exert yourself beyond this.