To whom did the three angels appear in the Bible?

Answer 1

A:

Two closely related incidents in Genesis are almost universally seen as evidence of visitations by angels. In Genesis 19, two anthropomorphic elohim came to Sodom and visited Abraham's nephew, Lot. Consistent with strict monotheism, the English translation is given as 'angels', but as the passage progresses it does not maintain this meaning very easily. The men were not mere messengers, but exercised more power than 'angels' in any other passage in The Bible, and in addition, Lot deferred to them as if to deities.

Three men appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre (Genesis 18) and we are left in no doubt that the Lord was present, with no attempt made to assert that the men were angels, although they are almost universally regarded now as angels. Abraham negotiated with one of the men, the Lord, to spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if good men could be found to live there. Here, the Lord was the God of the Israelites, but what of the other two?

The term 'elohim means 'gods' in the Hebrew language, so when this passage was first written down, the three visitors were gods, not angels. In later, monotheistic times, this became an embarrassment, and they began to be seen as angels, not gods. Bruce Feiler (Abraham) takes a different approach, consistent with the proper reading of the text but also providing for modern monotheism. He tries to rationalise the presence of three Lords by saying that God appeared at once as three men.

Answer 2

There were more than just 3. Consider Adam & Eve; Enoch; Abraham to name a few.