Showing Hospitality
The Bible lays much stress upon the practice of hospitality. Not
only does it enjoin hospitality as a duty, but it presents many beautiful
pictures of the exercise of this grace and the blessings which it brings.
Foremost among these is the experience of Abraham.
In the records of Genesis we see the patriarch at the hot summer
noontide resting in his tent door under the shadow of the oaks of
Mamre. Three travelers are passing near. They make no appeal for
hospitality, solicit no favor; but Abraham does not permit them to go
on their way unrefreshed. He is a man full of years, a man of dignity
and wealth, one highly honored, and accustomed to command; yet
on seeing these strangers he “ran to meet them from the tent door,
and bowed himself toward the ground.” Addressing the leader he said:
“My Lord, if now I have found favor in Thy sight, pass not away, I
pray Thee, from Thy servant.”
Genesis 18:2, 3
. With his own hands
he brought water that they might wash the dust of travel from their
feet. He himself selected their food; while they were at rest under
the cooling shade, Sarah his wife made ready for their entertainment,
and Abraham stood respectfully beside them while they partook of
his hospitality. This kindness he showed them simply as wayfarers,
passing strangers, who might never come his way again. But, the
entertainment over, his guests stood revealed. He had ministered not
only to heavenly angels, but to their glorious Commander, his Creator,
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Redeemer, and King. And to Abraham the counsels of heaven were
opened, and he was called “the friend of God.”
Lot, Abraham’s nephew, though he had made his home in Sodom,
was imbued with the patriarch’s spirit of kindness and hospitality.
Seeing at nightfall two strangers at the city gate, and knowing the
dangers sure to beset them in that wicked city, Lot insisted on bringing
them to his home. To the peril that might result to himself and his
household he gave no thought. It was a part of his lifework to protect
the imperiled and to care for the homeless, and the deed performed in
kindness to two unknown travelers brought angels to his home. Those
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