Parashat Hashavuah Genesis 18:1-22:24 - NCCG.ORG Ning Network Archive 2008-10

Vayera - וירא : "And he appeared"
Torah : Genesis 18:1-22:24
Haftarah : II Kings 4:1-37
Gospel : Matthew 8-10

Hungry Angels
Thought for the Week
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:2)

Commentary

He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate. (Genesis 18:8)

Three angels came to visit Abraham. He served them milk and meat. Forget about whether or not milk and meat are a kosher combination or not. The bigger question is, "Do angels eat?" The sages of the Talmudic age taught that angels do not eat:

Six things are said of human beings. They have three things in common with the ministering angels, and three things in common with animals. The three things they have in common with angels are that they have understanding like the ministering angels, they walk erect like the ministering angels and they can talk in the holy tongue [i.e. Hebrew] like the ministering angels. The three things they have in common with animals are that they eat and drink like animals, they reproduce like animals and they relieve themselves like animals. (b.Chagigah 16b)
Like the sages, Yeshua taught that angels do not reproduce. One may safely assume that they also do not eat or relieve themselves. But if that is the case with angels, how is it that Abraham served them and they ate his food? The sages explained that the angels only pretended to eat. They "seemed to be eating and drinking, the courses disappearing in order of arrival."1 In other words, while Abraham stood by, they made the appropriate chewing motions and miraculously dematerialized the food. Rashi says, "They only appeared to eat. From this we learn that a person should keep the local custom [so as not to be offensive]."2

The concept that angels do not actually eat food explains a mysterious passage in the gospel of Luke. When the resurrected Yeshua appears to his bewildered disciples, they first assume that He must be a ghost or an angel. To prove that He is really a human being, He asks for some food to eat:

While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; and He took it and ate it before them. (Luke 24:41-43)
Endnotes
1. Leviticus Rabbah 34:8.
2. Rashi on Genesis 18:8. To learn more about Rashi, see the introduction.

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