Traduction Masquer
The City of God

Chapter 29.--Of the Three Men or Angels, in Whom the Lord is Related to Have Appeared to Abraham at the Oak of Mamre.

God appeared again to Abraham at the oak of Mamre in three men, who it is not to be doubted were angels, although some think that one of them was Christ, and assert that He was visible before He put on flesh. Now it belongs to the divine power, and invisible, incorporeal, and incommutable nature, without changing itself at all, to appear even to mortal men, not by what it is, but by what is subject to it. And what is not subject to it? Yet if they try to establish that one of these three was Christ by the fact that, although he saw three, he addressed the Lord in the singular, as it is written, "And, lo, three men stood by him: and, when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent-door, and worshipped toward the ground, and said, Lord, if I have found favor before thee," ¹ etc.; why do they not advert to this also, that when two of them came to destroy the Sodomites, while Abraham still spoke to one, calling him Lord, and interceding that he would not destroy the righteous along with the wicked in Sodom, Lot received these two in such a way that he too in his conversation with them addressed the Lord in the singular? For after saying to them in the plural, "Behold, my lords, turn aside into your servant's house," ² etc., yet it is afterwards said, "And the angels laid hold upon his hand, and the hand of his wife, and the hands of his two daughters, because the Lord was merciful unto him. And it came to pass, whenever they had led him forth abroad, that they said, Save thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all this region: save thyself in the mountain, lest thou be caught. And Lot said unto them, I pray thee, Lord, since thy servant hath found grace in thy sight," ³ etc. And then after these words the Lord also answered him in the singular, although He was in two angels, saying, "See, I have accepted thy face," ⁴ etc. This makes it much more credible that both Abraham in the three men and Lot in the two recognized the Lord, addressing Him in the singular number, even when they were addressing men; for they received them as they did for no other reason than that they might minister human refection to them as men who needed it. Yet there was about them something so excellent, that those who showed them hospitality as men could not doubt that God was in them as He was wont to be in the prophets, and therefore sometimes addressed them in the plural, and sometimes God in them in the singular. But that they were angels the Scripture testifies, not only in this book of Genesis, in which these transactions are related, but also in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where in praising hospitality it is said, "For thereby some have entertained angels unawares." ⁵ By these three men, then, when a son Isaac was again promised to Abraham by Sarah, such a divine oracle was also given that it was said, "Abraham shall become a great and numerous nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him." ⁶ And here these two things, are promised with the utmost brevity and fullness,--the nation of Israel according to the flesh, and all nations according to faith.

Edition Masquer
De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XXIX: De tribus uiris uel angelis, in quibus ad quercum Mambre apparuisse Abrahae dominus indicatur.

Item deus apparuit Abrahae ad quercum Mambre in tribus uiris, quos dubitandum non est angelos fuisse, quamuis quidam existiment unum in eis fuisse dominum Christum, adserentes eum etiam ante indumentum carnis fuisse uisibilem. est quidem diuinae potestatis et inuisibilis, incorporalis inmutabilis que naturae, sine ulla sui mutatione etiam mortalibus adspectibus apparere, non per id quod est, sed per aliquid quod sibi subditum est; quid autem illi subditum non est? uerumtamen si propterea confirmant horum trium aliquem fuisse Christum, quia, cum tres uidisset, ad dominum singulariter est locutus - sic enim scriptum est: et ecce tres uiri stabant super eum, et uidens procucurrit in obuiam illis ab ostio tabernaculi sui, et adorauit super terram et dixit: domine, si inueni gratiam ante te, et cetera - cur non et illud aduertunt, duo ex eis uenisse, ut Sodomitae delerentur, cum adhuc Abraham ad unum loqueretur, dominum appellans et intercedens, ne simul iustum cum inpio in Sodomis perderet? illos autem duos sic suscepit Loth, ut etiam ipse in conloquio cum illis suo singulariter dominum appellet. nam cum eis pluraliter dixisset: ecce, domini, declinate in domum pueri uestri, et cetera quae ibi dicuntur, postea tamen ita legitur: et tenuerunt angeli manum eius et manum uxoris eius et manus duarum filiarum eius, in eo quod parceret dominus ipsi. et factum est, mox ut eduxerunt illum foras, et dixerunt: saluam fac animam tuam, ne respexeris retro, nec steteris in tota regione; in monte saluum te fac, ne quando conprehendaris. dixit autem Loth ad illos: oro, domine, quia inuenit puer tuus misericordiam ante te, et quae sequuntur. deinde post haec uerba singulariter illi respondet et dominus, cum in duobus angelis esset, dicens: ecce miratus sum faciem tuam, et cetera. unde multo est credibilius, quod est Abraham in tribus et Loth in duobus uiris dominum agnoscebant, cui per singularem numerum loquebantur, etiam cum eos homines esse arbitrarentur; neque enim aliam ob causam sic eos susceperunt, ut tamquam mortalibus et humana refectione indigentibus ministrarent; sed erat profecto aliquid, quo ita excellebant, licet tamquam homines, ut in eis esse dominum, sicut esse adsolet in prophetis, hi, qui hospitalitatem illis exhibebant, dubitare non possent; atque ideo et ipsos aliquando pluraliter et in eis dominum aliquando singulariter appellabant. angelos autem fuisse scriptura testatur, non solum in hoc genesis libro, ubi haec gesta narrantur, uerum etiam in epistula ad Hebraeos, ubi, cum hospitalitas laudaretur: per hanc, inquit, etiam quidam nescientes hospitio receperunt angelos. per illos igitur tres uiros, cum rursus filius Isaac de Sarra promitteretur Abrahae, diuinum datum est etiam tale responsum, ut diceretur: Abraham erit in magnam gentem et multam, et benedicentur in eo omnes gentes terrae. et hic duo illa breuissime plenissimeque promissa sunt, gens Israel secundum carnem et omnes gentes secundum fidem.