Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Uzi Silber <uzisilber AT gmail.com>]

My 8 year old son is studying Breisheet (Genesis) 18 in school, the
story of Abraham and the three visitors. In it Abraham addresses them
as 'adonay' (plural of adonee -- 'gentlemen' essentially). but then he
suddenly changes to singular, as if he's addressing a single person.
He then reverts back to plural.

Now Im suspect that the devout would say that this means he realized
that the malakhim were angels and that they were essentially god's
reps, and thats why he addresses them in singular.

But how would nondevout biblical scholars explain this
plural-singular-plural switch? scribal mistake?

Uzi Silber



On Thu, Nov 3, 2011 at 10:02 PM, K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com> wrote:
> Firouz:
>
> Yes, in this verse, אחד refers to God.
>
> Karl W. Randolph.
>
> On Thu, Nov 3, 2011 at 12:23 AM, Andronic Khandjani
> <andronicusmy AT gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Karl,
>>
>> Thank you for your answer.I would be interested to have your translation
>> if  אחד   refers to God.
>>
>> Firouz Khandjani
>>
>>
>>
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