The Covenant of Circumcision, the Visit at Mamre and the Destruction of Sodom

"Walk before Me and be whole." At ninety-nine Abraham receives the commandment of circumcision — a covenant marked in the body and passed on through the generations. That same day he, thirteen-year-old Ishmael and every male of his household are circumcised, and the names change: Abram becomes Abraham, "father of many nations," and Sarai becomes Sarah. On the third day, at the hottest hour, Abraham sits at his tent door and runs to meet three travellers, forgetting his pain. The guests are angels: one to announce a son, one to heal him, one to overturn Sodom. Sarah laughs inwardly — she is ninety. "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" Then God discloses the verdict on the cities, and Abraham bargains: fifty righteous men, forty-five, ten — "shall the Judge of all the earth not do justice?" Ten are not found. Lot, who sheltered the angels, is led out with his daughters; his wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt.