In Genesis 18:21 is the [Angel of] the LORD performing a test?

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Ruminator
Posts: 52
Joined: Mon Dec 25, 2017 10:09 am

In Genesis 18:21 is the [Angel of] the LORD performing a test?

Post by Ruminator »

Disclaimer: I don't know a Qal from a Quail.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?s ... LT;ISV;WLC

I'm not so much concerned about the fact that this passage might be embarrassingly anthropomorphic, though Genesis does seem to be surprisingly so. IE: I'm not looking to resolve a theological difficulty by looking at this passage a little differently than do most.

I'm struck with the possibility that the [Angel of] the LORD is not going down on a fact finding mission to interview the alleged victims who are crying out for divine interventions in their victimization. My thought is that perhaps he is intending to see if they do to him what they have allegedly been doing to others.

IE: I'm inclined to see a parallel with this:

[Luk 20:12-16 CSB] (12) "And he sent yet a third, but they wounded this one too and threw him out. (13) "Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What should I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him.' (14) "But when the tenant farmers saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, 'This is the heir. Let's kill him, so that the inheritance will be ours.' (15) "So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. "What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? (16) "He will come and kill those farmers and give the vineyard to others." But when they heard this they said, "That must never happen! "

[Mat 23:34 NKJV] (34) "Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,

And of course the opposite of this:

[Heb 13:2 ESV] (2) Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Does the Hebrew accommodate a reading something like this?:

"I am going down to see if they do [to me] as wickedly as I have heard so I can have first hand knowledge.”

Abraham was tested in the matter of the offering of Isaac after which he said "Now I know that you fear God":

[Gen 22:12 ESV] (12) He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."

Many thanks in advance for any assistance in this inquiry.

FYI: This is sort of a double post of my question here:

https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/ ... -see-if-th

ALTERNATIVELY

Is the point of the investigation possibly to see if *every* man in the city is as wicked as he has heard, or are there exceptions? Is his inquiry not about the veracity of the reports he has heard but rather about how many righteous, per his conversation with Abraham? I notice that EHebrew text includes the word "completely" (כָּלָ֑ה). Can that mean "every one of them"?
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William Ross
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