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14 Doomsday came in the twenty-fourth year when Abraham, en- camped near Hebron, was ninety-nine years old. "And the Lord appeared unto him in the terebrinth grove of Mamre as he was sitting at the entrance of the tent, in the heat of the day. And he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold—three men were stationed upon him; and as he saw them he ran from the en- trance of the tent towards them, and bowed to the ground." Swiftly, from a typical Middle Eastern scene of a potentate rest- ing in the shade of his tent, the biblical narrator of Genesis 18 raised Abraham's eyes and thrust him—and the reader, too—into a sudden encounter with divine beings. Though Abraham was gazing out, he did not see the three approaching: they were sud- denly "stationed upon him." And though they were "men," he at once recognized their true identity and bowed to them, calling them "my lords" and asking them not to "pass over above thy ser- vant" until he had a chance to prepare for them a sumptuous meal. It was dusk when the divine visitors finished eating and resting. Asking about Sarah, their leader said to Abraham: "Return I shall unto thee at this time next year: by then Sarah thy wife will have a son." The promise of a Rightful Heir to Abraham and Sarah at their old age was not the sole reason for dropping down on Abraham. There was a more ominous purpose: And the men rose up from there to survey over upon Sodom. And Abraham had gone with them to see them off, and the Lord said: Recalling Abraham's past services and promised future, the Lord then disclosed to him the true purpose of the divine journey: to verify accusations against Sodom and Gomorrah. "The outcry regarding Sodom and Gomorrah being great, and the accusation 310 THE NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST "Can I conceal from Abraham that which I am about to do?"