Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Shoshanna Walker <rosewalk AT concentric.net>]

They were:

"In this case the three angels were Michael, who informed Abraham 
that Sarah would have a son; Gabriel, who overturned Sodom; and 
Raphael, who healed Abraham and saved Lot  (The last two tasks, 
healing Abraham and saving Lot, constituted a single mission because 
they were for the sake of rescue)."

Shoshanna



I doubt that the text means that one of the "men" was YHWH, accompanied by
two angels. I'm sure that you know the midrash, that explains that since
each angel is sent for a single mission at a time (Shoshanna referred to
this at one point), the angel that was sent to tell Abraham that Sarah would
have a child had done his bit and went back to heaven. The other two
continued to Sodom, one to destroy the city and the other to save Lot.

Of course, this interpretation also makes a lot of assumptions that are not
in the text.

Yigal