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85 ship with Abraham in particular. The story begins in Chapter 18 of Genesis when Abraham, now ninety-nine years old, sitting at the entrance to his tent on a hot midday, “lifted his eyes” and all of a sudden saw “three men standing above him.” Though they are described as Anashim, “men,” there was something different or unusual about them, for he rushed out of his tent and bowed to the ground, and—treferring to himself as their servant—washed their feet and offered them food. As it turned out, the three were divine beings. As they leave, their leader—now identified as the Lord God—decides to reveal to Abraham the trio’s mission: to de- termine whether Sodom and Gomorrah are indeed sinning cities whose upheavaling is justified. While two of the three continue toward Sodom, Abraham approaches and reproaches (!) God with words that are identical to those in the Mesopota- mian text: Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the unrigh- teous? (Genesis 18: 23). What followed was an incredible bargaining session be- tween Man and God. “Perchance there are fifty righteous within the city—Wilt thou destroy, and not spare the city on account of the fifty righteous within it?” Abraham asked God. When told that, well, the city would be spared if fifty righteous men reside there, Abraham said, what about just forty? What about only thirty? And so it went, down to ten... “And Yahweh went away as soon as he had finished speaking, and Abraham returned to his place.” The other two divine beings—the tale’s continuation in Chapter 19 calls them Mal’achim, literally “emissaries” but commonly translated “Angels”—arrived in Sodom in the evening. The happenings there confirmed its people’s wick- edness, and at daybreak the two urged Abraham’s nephew Lot to escape with his family, for “Yahweh is about to de- stroy the city.” The lingering family asked for more time, and one of the “angels” agreed to have the upheaval delayed long enough for Lot and his family to reach the safer moun- tain. “And Abraham got up early in the morning .. . and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain, and beheld, and lo—vapor went up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace.” Gone with the Wind