WORD STUDY – BESIDE
Genesis 18:8: “And he took butter and milk and the calf he dressed, and set before them and he stood by them under the tree and they did eat.”
Beside: Hebrew – Alihem: exaltation, rising above, upon, (in rare cases) beside.
This is a very interesting passage of Scripture. Three angelic beings, one of whom is later identified as God Jehovah, appear before Abraham. Abraham invites them to dinner and serves them a non-kosher meal (milk and meat together) and does something very strange, he does not eat with them. In that culture it would be considered very rude to not eat with your guest.
What really catches my interest when reading this in my Hebrew Bible is the word, “’alihem,” which is rendered as Abraham standing “beside” them. This is not the most common word to use to say “beside.” ‘Etsel, ‘al, zuwlah, bad, ‘arm, iummal, im, yad, min are all common words for “beside.” I rarely run across “’alihem” as a word rendered as beside. This is where translators engage in some paraphrasing. There is enough ambiguity in this word to correctly render it as “beside” but I have to ask myself: “Why use such an ambiguous word for “beside” when there are other words more clearly rendered as beside, if indeed beside was the intended meaning of the word? “Alihem” is really a word to express the idea of exaltation, rising above or the most common usage is “upon.” Abraham was standing “upon” the three men, and learning one is deity, he was standing “upon Jehovah.”
In searching through Jewish literature I found that the sages taught that the use of alihem was to indicate a place of service. Abraham was standing above the three men indicating that he could do what they could not do; he could rise to a different level in his service to God. Angels are fixed at only one level in their service to God and, of course, if one of the individuals was Jehovah Himself, Jehovah could not move any higher than he already was. Yet, Abraham could move to another level in His service to God by standing “upon” God (in a figurative sense).
Here is another level of our relationship with God. We first walk “before” God, then we walk “with” God, and now we see where we walk “upon” God. So what is the difference? Walking before God is like a child learning to walk. Walking “with” God is like a child now holding his father’s hand and walking with him and running about doing little errands for his father. For instance, in walking through a market place the father may prepare to give an alm to a beggar but will choose to let his son drop the coin in the cup. Walking “upon” God is now assuming the role carrying out the Father’s business, becoming a full partner with his father in the family business.
Note the reaction of Abraham and Sarah when God said she would have a child. Sarah laughed in disbelief, Abraham had no problem believing. Could it have been the physical proximity of each when the announcement was made? Abraham was standing “’alihem” to God where Sarah was at the doorway. The word “alihem” is spelled Ayin, Lamed, and Hei. The “Ayin shows spiritual insight and discernment, Lamed teaches us – learning, and the Hei indicates God’s presence.” The word alihem speaks of spiritual instruction while in the presence of God. Perhaps the writer used this word “’alihem” to indicate that Abraham was getting deep spiritual insight while in the presence or close proximity of God Himself. In this case alihem is sort of like our modern term for “downloading.”
In looking at this word “alihem” I think it is very possible something much deeper was going on while Abraham watched them eat. As indicated earlier it is very strange in this culture that Abraham did not eat with his guest. But Abraham was eating, he was eating spiritually. God had come to his level to raise him to a higher spiritual level and in this process was downloading deep spiritual insight such that he could believe a 90 year Sarah would have a child where Sarah not standing in “’alihem” found it hard to believe.
Was this a one time event? Not really, Jesus did this very same thing a couple thousand years later with His disciples. If fact I am of the mind that this was Jesus Himself with Abraham downloading information as he did with his disciples and “gasp!” perhaps he is doing it with us today.
Anyways, many of us have learned to walk “before” God, as a little child watching and learning about God. Some of us have been walking “with” God, running little errands for Him. Maybe you have matured enough to walk “upon” God that is to enter the family business. To sit in God’s board room and let him open up His books to you and download you with all the secrets of running His business.
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