Комментарий к Берешит 18:10

שוב אשוב I WILL CERTAINLY RETURN — The angel was not announcing that he would return to him, but he was speaking to him as God’s agent (meaning that God would return). Similar is, (16:10) “And the angel of the Lord said to her, I will greatly multiply thy seed, but he had no power to multiply, and was speaking only as God’s agent. So also here, he spoke thus as God’s agent. Elisha said to the Shunamite (2 Kings 4:16), “At this season when the time cometh round thou shalt embrace a son”, and she said, “Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thy handmaid; see, those angels who made the announcement to Sarah said “at the appointed time I will return”! Elisha in effect said to her, “Those angels who live and endure for ever could indeed promise “at the appointed time I will return”, but I am only flesh and blood (human), alive today and dead tomorrow — but whether I live or die, “at this season [thou shalt embrace a son]” (Genesis Rabbah 53:2).

I WILL CERTAINLY RETURN UNTO THEE WHEN THE SEASON COMETH AROUND. Rashi comments, “The angel was not announcing that he would return to him, but he was speaking to him as G-d’s agent, [meaning that G-d would return]. This is similar to the verse: And the angel of the Eternal said to her [Hagar], I will multiply thy seed exceedingly.⁸⁹Ibid., 16:10. But he [the angel] has no power to multiply, and he was therefore speaking as G-d’s agent. So also here, he spoke as G-d’s agent.”
Now the Rabbi⁹⁰Rashi. See Seder Bereshith, Note 139. found it necessary to say so because the Holy One, blessed be He, told Abraham here, At the set time I will return unto thee.⁹¹Verse 14 here. The words of the angel, in Verse 10 here, I will certainly return unto thee. However, whether it be a reference to the angel or to the Holy One, blessed be He, we do not find it recorded that at the set time He returned. Perhaps a reference to this return is included in the expression, And the Eternal remember-ed Sarah, as He had said, and the Eternal did unto Sarah as He had spoken.⁹²Further, 21:1.
Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that the verse beginning, And the Eternal said to Abraham,⁹³Verse 14 here. It ends with the promise: At the same time I will return unto thee. means that the angel said it in the name of Him Who sent him, and he did return at the set time which he had told him, even though it is not written in Scripture.
The correct interpretation appears to me to be that [the expression, shov ashuv (I will certainly return)], is akin to the phrase, liteshuvath hashanah (at the return of the year).⁹⁴II Samuel 11:1. The verse is thus stating: “I will surely bring back to thee a time as this time, that you will be alive and Sarah your wife will have a son.” This is similar to what was said to Abraham, At this set time in the next year.⁹⁵Above, 17:21. The word ashuv will then be like, ‘Veshav’ (And) the Eternal your G-d (will bring back) thy captivity and have compassion upon thee and will return and gather thee.⁹⁶Deuteronomy 30:3. Ramban’s intent is as follows: The word ve’shov there means “and He will bring back.” Here too the word ashuv means “I will bring back a time, like the present, in which you will be alive, and in which time, in addition to your being alive, Sarah will have a son.”

כעת חיה, she would give birth at the appropriate time. The word appears in this context in Michah 5,2 כעת יולדה בן,”until she who is to bear has given birth.” It is also found describing the state of Jewish mothers giving birth as being equivalent to that of midwives. (Exodus 1,19)

שוב אשוב אליך, on the anniversary of the circumcision.

ויאמר שוב אשוב אליך, He said: "I will certainly come back to you, etc." The angel used the singular, indicating that each one of them had his own task. In view of this why did all three angels ask about Sarah's whereabouts? Perhaps they simply wanted to enquire from her husband about Sarah's wellbeing. According to the rules of etiquette then, all three angels enquired.

ויאמר, the senior angel, the one whom Avraham had addressed in verse 3 with the words אם נא מצאתי חן בעיניך. שוב אשוב אליך, this was the one whose task it was to tell Sarah that she would bear a son. He spoke of his return visit a year from the present time. The other two were to destroy Sodom and to rescue Lot respectively. Three angels were required as no angel is charged with more than one mission at a time. (Bereshit Rabbah 50,2)

שוב אשוב אליך כעת חיה, “I will surely return to you, at the same time next year;” seeing that he was an angel he knew that he would still be alive at this time in the following year, he could afford to make such a confident-sounding statement. Elisha, though also a prophet, but a human being, did not know if he would be alive a year from a certain day. When he promised the woman in Shunem that she would embrace a son a year from the date he promised her this, did not include himself in his description of the event, and only said כעת חיה את חובקת בן, “at this time year you will embrace a son.” (Kings II 4,16). In spite of all this, there is no written record in the Torah that this angel visited Avraham and Sarah in the year following this conversation. Nachmanides suggests, that the words וה' פקד את שרה וגו', “G’d remembered Sarah as He had said,” in 21,1 includes what the angel had said here. Personally, I believe that the true explanation is that the angel was not referring to himself at all, when he said this, but was announcing that at the turn of the year, i.e. at Rosh Hashanah, Sarah would have a son. This would be exactly in line with what Avraham had been told למועד הזה בשנה האחרת “at this time of year next year” (17,21)

ויאמר שוב אשוב אליך, He said: “I will most certainly return to you again, etc.” The angel who said this was the one who had revealed that Sarah would bear a son. He said this, meaning that his prophecy would come true in the following year. Nonetheless, we do not find a mention anywhere that the angel did in fact return to Avraham in the following year although he had said so twice. [the repetition of שוב אשוב plus verse 14. — Ed.] Perhaps the angel had not meant that he, personally, in his present manifestation, would return to visit Avraham but that the fulfillment of his prophecy would be equivalent to his return. After all, what would be the purpose of the angel returning in person when he did not have a specific message for Avraham?
Another approach to the problem: The word שוב אשוב was not used in the sense of returning, but in the sense of שובה ונחת, as in Isaiah 30,15 where the meaning is “you will be helped by means of quiet and stillness.” The word נחת refers to נחת רוח, “a serene state of mind, a state of mental satisfaction.” The angel meant to tell Avraham that his message would lead to his attaining such a mental state within a year seeing that a son would be born to him and Sarah. He indicated that seeing he was the angel in charge of conveying messages of mercy, he was in a position of promising this to Avraham.

This was on Pesach... You might ask: How does Rashi know it was Pesach? The answer is: Yitzchak was born [exactly] one year later. And it is written (Shemos 12:41): “It was at the end of the 430 years, and on that very day, all of Adonoy’s multitudes went out...” The 400 years began with the birth of Yitzchak, from which time Avraham had progeny [who sojourned in foreign lands]. The 400 years began and ended on the same date, and on the very day the 400 years ended, the Israelites left Egypt, as Rashi explains there. They left on the fifteenth of Nisan, the first day of Pesach. Therefore, the angel’s foretelling of Yitzchak’s birth — as well as the actual birth — were on Pesach. A further answer: Rashi learned it from what is written about Lot (19:3), “And he baked matzos,” indicating it was Pesach. And this was the same day that the angel foretold Yitzchok’s birth [to Avraham].

כעת חיה. Es gibt zwei Bezeichnungen für Zeit,pT und זמן. עת ist wohl die Zeit im allgemeinen, die Zeit in ihrer Dauer und ihrer Wirkung, daher von זמן: ivorbereiten, die einem jeden Dasein notwendig als Vorbereitung vorangehende Zeit; עֵת man möge es nun dem chald. analog von ענה ableiten, oder von der Wurzel עתת, verwandt mit אתת, wovon אתים, iSchneidewerkzeuge, und עטט, wovon עֵט, der Griffel, bezeichnet jedenfalls einen Zeitpunkt, einen Moment in der Zeit, entweder als den für einen Zweck entsprechenden, oder überhaupt als einen Teil, einen Ein- schnitt in der Zeit. לכל זמן ועת לכל חפץ: "Alles will seine Zeit haben", (alles kann nicht zu jeder Zeit kommen und sein, alles braucht eine Vergangenheit, eine Vorbereitung) "und es giebt einen bestimmten, entsprechenden Augenblick sür jedes Streben". —

שוב אשוב אליך, “I will definitely come back to you to visit);” the angel speaks about two separate occasions when he will return; one in Tishrey, the other in Nissan. [According to Rabbi Chavell’s annotation, these words need to be understood in conjunction with verse 12; the prediction of the angels was made in Nissan, and when by the time of the month of Tishrey, Sarah had not experienced signs of pregnancy she despaired. At that point G-d [when the angel returned the first time. Ed.] challenged her attitude asking Avraham why she made fun of the prediction. The prediction was repeated, confirmed, and by Nissan of the year Sarah had become a mother. כעת חיה, [usually translated as “at this time next year,” Ed.]. The expression is so unusual that we must revert to the fact that angels live forever. Were it not for that fact, how did they know that it was in their power to return again, maybe they would have died in the interval? This must be contrasted with a similar statement by the prophet Elisha who was a mortal human being and who promised only “at this time next year,” without mentioning that he would return to witness this fact. (Compare Kings II 4,17 and mentioned by Rashi there.)

כעת חיה means at this time next year — it was the Passover, and on the next Passover Isaac was born — since we do not read כְּעֵת (at “a” time) but כָּעֵת (at this time).

והוא אחריו, the entrance to Sarah’s tent was behind the angel. This accounts for Sarah overhearing their conversation.

והוא אחריו, the door at which Sarah stood listening was behind the angel who was speaking.

כעת חיה, at about this time of year next year Sarah will be giving birth. We find the term חיה used to describe giving birth in Yuma 73. On the other hand, the word may also refer to a time frame, i.e. at this time next year, seeing that you will both be alive, Sarah will bear a son. G’d had spoken of למועד הזה בשנה האחרת (compare Genesis 17,21) whereas the angel expressed the same thought in the words כעת חיה. The angel did not spell out to Avraham precisely when this birth would take place, as had G’d in the previous chapter.

כעת חיה, “in a year’s time.” Although, normally, a pregnancy does not exceed nine months, there are exceptions. The angel alluded to the maximum period of time that could elapse between now and the fulfillment of the prophecy. We are told in Yevamot 80b that Ravah Tospha'ah once ruled that a baby which according to the mother’s testimony was born 12 months after her husband had left for overseas was indeed fathered by her absent husband. The angel simply may have told Avraham that by the following “Passover” his mind would be at rest as he would have a son by his wife Sarah.

Since it is not read כְעת but, rather, כָעת... It has a קמץ, not a שוא. For כְעת would connect it to חיה. [But since it says כָעת,] no time is specified later. Perforce, כָעת is like בָעת, meaning: “at this time.” [I.e., the word “this” is added.] And חיה stands separately, as Rashi goes on to explain: “When there will be life to you.” But R. Meir Stern writes: It seems to me that כָעת denotes a time that is hinted to, as it is here, since the angel scratched a mark on the wall [to mark the time for the next year, see Rashi on 21:2]. This is because כָעת is like writing כְהָעת. But כְעת does not indicate which time. (R. Meir Stern)

שוב אשוב. "I will certainly return." The reason the angel repeated the words שוב אשוב and added the word והנה, may be better understood on the basis of a tradition that when Isaac was born he suffered from a congenital defect; he was sterile. It was only after agreeing to be the sacrifice at the עקדה, that he was cured of that defect. The angel hinted that he would have to return twice כעת חיה, at a time when he would "give life," in order that Sarah's son would be a true son, able to procreate. The words והנה בן לשרה indicate that Sarah's son emanated from the left side of the emanations, the female, weaker side. The word והנה emphasises this origin of Isaac in Sarah's domain. Only when the angel would return once more would the male component, i.e. Abraham's input, become dominant within Isaac. This occurred in Genesis 22,11 where the Torah reports that an angel called out to Abraham not to harm Isaac. The angel therefore had two tasks to perform, 1) to announce that there would be an Isaac, 2) that he would possess a soul that could procreate. The reason that G'd had to do this was related to Abraham's prayer on behalf of Ishmael in 17,19. I have written about that subject at the time.

חיה rad. חיי. Es ist bereits (Kap.1, 8. 20) auf die innige Verwandtschaft der Wurzel חיי mit den Wurzeln חקק ,הכך ,חגג und deren Begriffen hingewiesen. In dieser Verwandtschaft liegt zugleich die Bedeutung: Kreisbildung, welche der Wurzel חגג und חיי gemein ist. So וחַיַת פלשתים חנה ,ויאספו פלשתים לַחיהָ (Sam. 11. 23. 11. 13). Vergl. ויבא המעגלה (Sam. I. 17. 20) שאול שכב ישן במעגל (daf 26.7). Der um einen Mittelpunkt sich sammelnde Kreis. Auch jeder Zeitmoment, ja nichts anderes, als die augenblickliche Stellung aller tellurischen und kosmischen Beziehungen der Erdwelt, ist חַי und חוֹגֵג ist ein, einen Kreislauf der Entwicklungen vollziehendes Lebendiges, und עת חיה dürfte demnach nichts anderes bedeuten, als: der im lebendigen Kreislauf wiederkehrende Zeitmoment. כעת חיה hieße demnach: wie der im lebendigen Kreislauf wiederkehrende gegenwärtige Moment kehre auch ich wieder zu dir zurück, d. h. präzies zu der Zeit, in welcher der gegenwärtige Tag im Kreislauf des Jahres wiederkehrt.

כעת חיה, according to Rashi, seeing that the letter in the word כעת, does not have the vowel sheva under it but the vowel kametz, the prediction does not refer to “at the same season.”

The words כעת חיה signify: at this time when there will be life to you — when you will all be healthy and alive.

ושרה שומעת פתח האהל, she had been inside her tent; when she heard the voices of the angel and Avraham. She went to the entrance of her tent to overhear what was being said. Neither the angel nor Avraham saw her at the time. seeing both their backs were turned towards the entrance. This is the meaning of the words והוא אחריו, i.e. Sarah’s tent was behind the angel who was doing the talking.

והוא אחריו, “and he was behind it.” This verse tells us that Sarah was sitting inside the tent as it says: והנה באהל (verse 9); she had meanwhile risen from her chair in order to listen to what was being said at the entrance of the tent. The angel who relayed the message stood on the other side of the entrance to the tent.

He was speaking to him as God’s agent... You might ask: How does Rashi know this? This does not seem to be a question at all, as it means as follows: The angel never said that he will return to Avraham. Rather, he was speaking as Hashem’s agent, saying that Hashem will return. This is as it says later (v. 14): “At the appointed time, I [Adonoy] will return to you.” Although the angel said, “I will return,” as if speaking about himself, it is the way of an agent to speak in the name of the party he represents, as in (Shemos 18:6): “I, your father-in-law, Yisro...” (This example is according to the view that Yisro sent an agent; see Rashi there.) And Rashi inferred this to be so, [that it is Hashem who will return,] because otherwise, why would the angel take the credit for himself [and say,] “I will surely return”? We see later that the angels were punished for doing such a thing, when they said (19:13): “We are going to destroy.” [See Rashi on 19:22.] Perforce, the angel was speaking as Hashem’s agent. (R. Meir Stern) A further answer: [The angel would not promise to return, as] Hashem might send him on another mission. He will then not be free to return with Hashem, and thus will have spoken falsely. Perforce, he spoke as Hashem’s agent. This explains why Rashi explains כעת before שוב אשוב, which does not follow the order of the verse: [for כעת denotes a set time, thus the angel must have said שוב אשוב as Hashem’s agent.]

Another meaning of the words ולשרה בן, that Sarah would by then have a son, is to tell us that a son i.e. male issue, is dependent on the female element being predominant whereas daughters are the result of a preponderant male element during marital union. We know this from Nidah 31 based on Leviticus 12,2. The angel prophesied that the physical union of Abraham and Sarah which would result in her impregnation would correspond to the rules laid down, or hinted at, in Leviticus 12,2. [compare Midrash Hagadol in the name of Rabbi Yitzchak that the sex of the embryo is determined in accordance with whose orgasm occurs first. If the male completes his orgasm first, the result is a daughter, if the female is first, the result is a son. Ed.] Scripture alludes to who was first by the way the birth is described. Chronicles I 4 18, states: "and his wife, the Jewess, gave birth to Yered, etc." [Every other issue mentioned in that chapter is described in terms of the husband fathering instead of as the wife giving birth. Ed.] In Genesis 22,24 the repetition of "and his concubine whose name was Re-umah, etc.," is another example of the principle we described. The words "whose name was" were quite unnecessary otherwise. Accordingly, the angels attributed the forthcoming son to the predominance of the female, i.e. Sarah's input.

ושרה שומעת, sie hörte nicht nur zufällig dieses, sondern überhaupt: sie hörte zu; wenn sie auch nicht mit am Tische saß, so nahm sie doch still Teil, und es lohnt sich wohl der Mühe zuzuhören, wenn ein Abraham seine Gäste unterhält. — Der Eingang war hinter dem Sprechenden. Ihm gegenüber hätte es Sara nicht anständig gefunden, gegenwärtig Teil zu nehmen.

והוא אחריו, according to the Jerusalem Targum this means that Ishmael was standing (unseen) behind the angel and overheard all this. Another explanation - the angel was standing there to ensure that Sarah would not be alone with what she presumed were male strangers.

והוא אחריו AND IT (literally, HE) WAS BEHIND HIM — The door was behind the angel.

The entrance was behind the angel. You might ask: How does Rashi know this? Perhaps it means the opposite: [the angel was behind the entrance]. The answer is: If so, [that והוא refers to the angel], the verse would have to say: “He was in front of it.” Then it would convey that the angel was not inside the tent but in front of its entrance, where in fact he was, as Avraham was sitting at the entrance when the angel spoke with him. For if אחריו referred to the entrance, it would come out that הוא — the angel — was behind the entrance, inside the tent. (R. Meir Stern)

ושרה שומעת, and Sarah was listening. On the one hand the verse indicates that what Sarah heard was a message intended for her by a heavenly messenger, the messenger himself standing behind her. Nonetheless I have seen a Midrash according to which the angel was disciplined for not addressing Sarah directly with the message, preferring to deliver it to Abraham. Angels are punished for inadvertently committed disobedience or minor deviations from the instructions they receive.