Cato's Hebrew Bible Deconstruction, Day 29 (Genesis 18, cont.)

Two bizarre stories of LORD, appearing to Abraham in the form of three mystery men, and haggling with Abraham over whether or not to destroy the city of Sodom, create questions about his true nature.

This chapter opens with a very strange story.

We are given a confusing account of LORD appearing to Abraham, seemingly in the form of three men. It is unclear why LORD appears first; then three random men appear; then, it seems that LORD is communicating through the men.

Now it must be remembered at this time, that “LORD” is not the word used in the Bible; this is a translation. The two words commonly translated to “LORD” are YWHW (or Yahweh), the ostensible name of the Hebrew god (though he won’t give that name until well into Exodus); and another word, Adonai, which also means “lord” but in the form of a royal title.

To make things even more confusing, LORD is used both in the all uppercase we’ve generally seen, and also in all lowercase (“lord”) forms, with little distinction or explanation given between the two. The Christian reader is denied the knowledge of the original names used to identify God, or when and why they switch. In the OJB, however, he is variously called Adonai or Hashem.