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The three visitors at the oaks of Mamre, Genesis 18:2

Place

Mamre

Gustave Doré, La Sainte Bible (Tours: Alfred Mame et fils, 1866). Public domain.

The three visitors at the oaks of Mamre, Genesis 18:2

Gustave Doré, La Sainte Bible (Tours: Alfred Mame et fils, 1866). Public domain.

Summary

The oaks where the LORD appeared to Abraham and the promise of Isaac and the plea for Sodom were spoken (Gen 18).

  • The LORD appeared to Abraham here with two others, and the text calls the pair "angels" once they arrive at Sodom.
  • Sarah laughed at the promise that she would have a son within the year, and the LORD asked her why.
  • Abraham pleaded for Sodom here, working the number of righteous people down from fifty to ten.
  • Abram had already built an altar at these oaks years before, and Jacob came home to Isaac at the same spot a generation later.
  • Sarah's burial field, bought at Machpelah, is described in Genesis itself as facing these same oaks.

On this page

In Scripture

Verses
10
Books
1
See it on Reference map of ancient Palestine→

Near Mamre

Straight-line distances, computed from the gazetteer coordinates.

Where it is

the country around it

Coordinates
31.5491° N, 35.0936° Efind it on the Atlas →
Region
Near Hebron

2 places the record names with Mamre, the farthest 3.2 km away

The Dead SeaThe JordanBethlehemBethlehemTekoaTekoaLachishLachishMamre20 km · 12 miN
  1. 1Abram settles by the Oaks of Mamre and builds an altarGenesis 13:18 · 1.5 kmSo Abram moved his tent and went to live near the Oaks of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.
  2. 2Sarah's burial field is described as facing MamreGenesis 23:17 · 3.2 kmSo Ephron’s field at Machpelah near Mamre, the cave that was in it, and all the trees within the boundaries of the field were deeded over
  • Located: the gazetteer fixes one site
  • Placed: the point stands for an area, or is rounded
  • A dashed line ends at a place the gazetteer does not fix

Not located: Canaan. The gazetteer records no location for it, so it is not marked.

Each line joins Mamre to a place one of its verses names, and carries that verse. No line is headed, because none of these verses says which way anyone went. The lines are straight between two coordinates and are not roads. A dashed line ends at a place the gazetteer does not fix. The Dead Sea and the Jordan are drawn from Natural Earth's public-domain outlines. Every mark sits at the coordinates the gazetteer records for it.
Reference map of ancient Palestine: the coast, the hill country, the Jordan rift and the Dead Sea, with the towns of the biblical narrative marked.
Reference map of ancient Palestine: the land from Dan to Beersheba: most of the historical books happen on this one sheet.Rand McNally reference map (1926), public domain.Open this plate full size in The Atlas →

Why Mamre matters

Mamre was a grove of oaks, or terebinths, near Hebron, and it was Abraham's home for years before anything recorded here happened. He had already moved his tent to these trees and built an altar to the LORD long before the visit this page is about. Three men came to him in the heat of the day. Abraham ran to meet them, washed their feet, and had a meal prepared while they ate under the tree. One of them, called the LORD, asked for Sarah by name and said he would return within the year to find her with a son. Sarah, listening at the tent, laughed to herself, and the LORD asked her directly why she had laughed, and put the whole scene's question plainly: is anything too difficult for the LORD? When the visit ended, two of the three turned and went on toward Sodom. Abraham stayed standing before the one who remained, and pleaded for the city, working the number of righteous people needed to spare it down from fifty to ten. The two who left arrive at Sodom in the next chapter, and there Scripture calls them angels. The same grove comes back later in Genesis. Sarah's burial field is described as facing these oaks, and Jacob comes home to his father Isaac at this same spot a generation after Abraham first pitched his tent here.

The three visitors, the promise, and the plea for Sodom

Genesis 18, in the order it happens

Read Genesis 18, in the order it happens
  1. The LORD appears at the oaksGenesis 18:1Then the LORD appeared to Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre in the heat of the day, while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent.
  2. Three men, and Abraham runs to meet themGenesis 18:2And Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
  3. The promise of a son within the yearGenesis 18:10Then the LORD said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” Now Sarah was behind him, listening at the entrance to the tent.
  4. Sarah laughs to herselfGenesis 18:12So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
  5. The question the whole scene turns onGenesis 18:14Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.”
  6. The two men turn toward Sodom; Abraham stays before the LORDGenesis 18:22And the two men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.
  7. The intercession beginsGenesis 18:23Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
  8. Down to tenGenesis 18:32Finally, Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak once more. Suppose ten are found there?” And He answered, “On account of the ten, I will not destroy it.”
  9. The pair are named angels, arriving at SodomGenesis 19:1Now the two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them, bowed facedown,

The text names its own distinction. Genesis 18:1 opens with the LORD appearing; 18:22 has "the two men" turn toward Sodom while Abraham remains standing before the LORD; Genesis 19:1 then calls the pair who arrive at Sodom "the two angels."

What happened here, in order

in the order the canon tells it

  1. Abram settles by the Oaks of Mamre and builds an altarGenesis 13:18So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the Oaks of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.
  2. Mamre the Amorite, Abram's allyGenesis 14:13Then an escapee came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the Oaks of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshcol and Aner, all of whom were bound by treaty to Abram.
  3. The visitors ask for Sarah by nameGenesis 18:9“Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked. “There, in the tent,” he replied.
  4. The men look out toward Sodom as they prepare to leaveGenesis 18:16When the men got up to leave, they looked out over Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them off.
  5. The LORD states the outcry against SodomGenesis 18:20Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous,
  6. Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?Genesis 18:25Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”
  7. The LORD departs, and Abraham returns homeGenesis 18:33When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, He departed, and Abraham returned home.
  8. Sarah's burial field is described as facing MamreGenesis 23:17So Ephron’s field at Machpelah near Mamre, the cave that was in it, and all the trees within the boundaries of the field were deeded over
  9. Sarah buried near MamreGenesis 23:19After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
  10. Jacob comes home to Isaac at MamreGenesis 35:27Jacob returned to his father Isaac at Mamre, near Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.

The voices

each quoted from the work named

The appearance of God to Abraham seems to have had in it more of freedom and familiarity, and less of grandeur and majesty, than those we have hitherto read of; and therefore more resembles that great visit which, in the fullness of time, the Son of God was to make to the world, when the Word would be flesh, and appear as one of us.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710), on Genesis 18:1
And the Lord (Jehovah) said, etc. - So it appears that one of those three persons was Jehovah, and as this name is never given to any created being, consequently the ever-blessed God is intended; and as he was never seen in any bodily shape, consequently the great Angel of the covenant, Jesus Christ, must be meant. See note on Gen 16:7.
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible (1832), on Genesis 18:13
And the men turned their faces - That is, the two angels who accompanied Jehovah were now sent towards Sodom; while the third, who is called the Lord or Jehovah, remained with Abraham for the purpose of teaching him the great usefulness and importance of faith and prayer.
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible (1832), on Genesis 18:22

Mamre in Scripture

10 verses name it, in 1 book

Open a book to read its mentions here. Text: Berean Standard Bible.

First namedGenesis 13:18So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the Oaks of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.Last namedGenesis 50:13They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.

Old Testament1 book · 10 mentions

Genesis10 mentions

2 further mentions in Genesis, read them in the book.

All of Genesis→

The account

Read the account as one telling
The grove of oaks by Hebron where Abraham camps; here the LORD and two angels visit, Isaac's birth is promised, and Abraham intercedes for Sodom.

Common questions

Who were the three visitors, and who was "the LORD" among them?

Readers differ; the positions are named

The text draws its own line. Genesis 18:1 opens with the LORD appearing, and 18:22 has two of the three turn toward Sodom while Abraham remains standing before the one called the LORD; Genesis 19:1 then calls the pair who arrive at Sodom the two angels.

This site's tradition, following the same reading it gives other Old Testament appearances of the LORD in human form, holds that the figure who stays with Abraham is the pre-incarnate Son. Adam Clarke reads it exactly this way: "one of those three persons was Jehovah... consequently the great Angel of the covenant, Jesus Christ, must be meant," and again, "the third, who is called the Lord or Jehovah, remained with Abraham." Other readers hold the appearance was a created angel or angels acting and speaking in God's name and authority, without the Son being personally present. This page names the reading and does not force it on every visitor to the site.

Why did Sarah laugh, and was it sin?

She laughed to herself after long years of waiting, saying she was too old for the pleasure of a child. Scripture does not call the laugh a sin outright; it records that she was afraid and denied it, and that the LORD corrected her plainly rather than condemning her.

What was Abraham arguing for in his intercession, and how far did it go?

He pleaded for Sodom to be spared for the sake of the righteous inside it, working the number down in stages from fifty to forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty, and finally ten. The text does not record him asking for fewer than ten, and this page does not guess why he stopped there.

Were the oaks of Mamre a specific pair of trees?

The Hebrew word behind "oaks," elon, names an oak or another strong tree broadly rather than one specific pair. Scripture treats the grove as a known landmark near Hebron across several generations, from Abram's first tent there to Jacob's homecoming, without describing its size or extent.

Is the traditional site of Mamre known today?

A later tradition places an enclosure near Hebron on what it identifies as the site of Mamre. The German archaeologist Evaristus Mader excavated the enclosure, known as Ramat el-Khalil, in 1926 to 1928, and found layers going back before the fourth century, including an altar associated with pagan sacrifice. Around AD 325 the emperor Constantine had those pagan features removed and a basilica built over the site, enclosing the well and the tree the tradition already pointed to. This page names the tradition and its excavation history and carries no detail about the site's present-day condition or ownership.

Sources cited

Every source behind MannaFest →

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