Three Measures of Meal
by
Philip du Nard
In Genesis 18, three men, who, judging from the events that follow, must have been angels appearing as men, visit with Abraham and Sarah, promise the birth of Isaac within a year and then head toward Sodom and Abraham understands from the Lord that the fate of Sodom is at stake. This is the familiar story of Abraham interceding for wicked Sodom and Gomorrah because he is concerned for the welfare of his nephew Lot who is living in Sodom.
But the focus of our study is not on that but on what occurred before. The Lord could have sent one or two "men" or angels to deliver a message to Abraham and Sarah but he sent three. This made it necessary for Sarah to prepare meals for three guests.
Verse 6 reads, And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead [it], and make cakes upon the hearth.
When we turn to the New Scriptures, we find the Lord speaking in parables and these parables are said to set forth the "mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" Matt. 13:11. In Matt. 13:33, in one of the Lord's parables, He says, "Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."This is very similar to what took place in Genesis 18. The woman in the Lord's parable may be a veiled reference to Sarah who was to be the mother of many nations and the fact that the Lord said His parables pertained to the kingdom of God, it would seem that what took place in Genesis 18 contains some symbolism relative to the kingdom.
As the visitors were leaving to go toward Sodom and Abraham was seeing them off, we have the following text in verses 17-19: And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
Once again, we have reference made to a nation that was to come from Abraham. It would be a great and mighty nation that would be a blessing to other nations. And in what manner would this nation be a blessing to other nations aside from occasional military intervention such as we saw in Genesis 14? The Lord foresees that Abraham will command his children after him and they will, among other things, do justice and judgment. This may seem strange in light of the record of Israel's disobedience but God sees the whole picture. Justice and judgment are, primarily, civil terms and they pertain to government and not so much to the personal or individual side of things. It would seem that one thing that was to ultimately characterize the great and mighty nation that would be a blessing would be justice and judgment in government relative to some of the other nations on earth. In other words, unlike some of the other great powers that would exist throughout the ages, there would be some official effort in that nation to see that things are done according to the rule of law and not the rule of man with justice and judgment being the objective. Until the Lord returns to rule, this will never be to the extent that we would think it should be but there is already a great and mighty nation in the earth that has exhibited more of this tendency than was evident under the Babylonians or the Romans or the Communiists, etc. where iron-fisted cruelty and brutality was often resorted to.
Returning to the Lord's parable, when we realize that the kingdom was to be "given to a nation" Matt. 21:43and the Lord said the kingdom was hidden in three measures of meal, it would seem that this great and mighty kingdom nation that would do justice and judgment would have three branches of government as a Constitutional hallmark of its existence.
The fact that the kingdom was "hidden" indicates that people would not recognize at first the significance of this development but as the Lord said, "For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad"it is time that we begin to see that the marvel of our American heritage is not a random event in history but it has its roots in Genesis and is the result of the determinate counsel of God and He is not through with us yet.
Next: The Son of Promise
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