(14) Is anything too hard for the Lord?--Heb., Is anything too wonderful for Jehovah? At last it is made evident that the travellers are messengers from God; but until this declaration, there could have been, at most, only a dim feeling that the visitation was more than human. Though the angel does not claim for himself divinity, yet the narrator prefixes to his words, And Jehovah said. In some ineffable way there was an identity between Jehovah and the angel.
Verse 14. - Is any thing too hard for the Lord? Literally, Is any word too wonderful, i.e. impossible, for Jehovah μὴ ἀδυνατήσειπαρὰ τῷ θεῷ ῤῆμα (LXX.), with which may be compared Luke 1:37. At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life (vide supra, Ver. 10), and Sarah shall have a son.
18:9-15 Where is Sarah thy wife? was asked. Note the answer, In the tent. Just at hand, in her proper place, occupied in her household concerns. There is nothing got by gadding. Those are most likely to receive comfort from God and his promises, who are in their proper place, and in the way of their duty, Lu 2:8. We are slow of heart to believe, and need line upon line to the same purport. The blessings others have from common providence, believers have from the Divine promise, which makes them very sweet, and very sure. The spiritual seed of Abraham owe their life, and joy, and hope, and all, to the promise. Sarah thinks this too good news to be true; she laughed, and therefore cannot as yet find in her heart to believe it. Sarah laughed. We might not have thought there was a difference between Sarah's laughter and Abraham's, ch. 17:17; but He who searches the heart, saw that the one sprung from unbelief, and the other from faith. She denied that she had laughed. One sin commonly brings in another, and it is not likely we shall strictly keep to truth, when we question the Divine truth. But whom the Lord loves he will rebuke, convict, silence, and bring to repentance, and if they sin before him.
Is anything too hard for the Lord?.... Whose power is infinite; or "too wonderful" (x), so wonderful and beyond all belief, that it can never be thought it will be done by him; and why then should it be thought incredible or impossible that Sarah should have a child, though she is old? Or, is "anything hidden from the Lord" (y)? Nothing can be, not Sarah's laughter.
At the time appointed will I return to thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son; which words are repeated not merely for the confirmation of Abraham's faith, which staggered not, but to remove Sarah's unbelief, and to encourage her faith in the divine promise.
(x) "nunquid mirabile vel mirificabitur", Munster, Piscator, Schmidt. (y) "Nunquid abscondetur", Pagninus, Cartwright; "an potest occultari", Junius & Tremellius, Fagius; so the Targum of Jonathan and Aben Ezra.
At the time appointed will I return to thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son; which words are repeated not merely for the confirmation of Abraham's faith, which staggered not, but to remove Sarah's unbelief, and to encourage her faith in the divine promise.
(x) "nunquid mirabile vel mirificabitur", Munster, Piscator, Schmidt. (y) "Nunquid abscondetur", Pagninus, Cartwright; "an potest occultari", Junius & Tremellius, Fagius; so the Targum of Jonathan and Aben Ezra.