Jehovah appeared unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre; he was sitting at the door of his tent, and when he lifted up his eyes and saw, behold, three men stood by him, and as soon as he saw them, he ran to meet them from the door of the tent, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, O Lord, if I have found grace in Thine eyes, pass not away, I pray, from Thy servant (18:1-3, seq.). It was the Lord our Savior who appeared in His Divine Trinity, which the three angels represented; for the Lord said:

Abraham exulted that he should see My day, and he saw and rejoiced. Verily, verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am (John 8:56, 58). There is in the Lord the Divine Trinity; and the Divine Unity was represented in the Divine Trinity by the "three men," who were also called "angels" (Gen. 18:2; 19:1). But in His Divine Unity He was called "Lord" (18:3; 19:18); and also "Jehovah," very frequently (18:13, 14, 17, 19, 20, 22, 26, 33). The appearing of the Lord Jehovih before Moses is thus described in Exodus:

The Angel of Jehovah appeared to Moses at the mountain of Horeb, in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bramble. Therefore Moses said, I will turn aside and see this great vision, why the bramble is not burnt. And Jehovah saw that he went aside, therefore God called unto him out of the midst of the bramble, and said, Moses, Moses. And moreover Moses said to God, What is thy name? God said, I AM WHO I AM. Thus shalt thou say unto the sons of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you (Exod. 3:1, 2-4, 14 seq.). The appearing of the Lord Jehovih before the whole people is thus also described in Exodus:

Jehovah said to Moses, Say unto the sons of Israel, that they be ready against the third day; for on the third day Jehovih will come down in the eyes of all the people upon Mount Sinai. And it came to pass on the third day, that there were voices, and lightning, and thick clouds upon the mount, and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. All Mount Sinai smoked, because He descended upon it in fire, and promulgated the law before the people (Exod. 19:9-24 and 20:1-18). The Lord also appeared to Joshua as "Prince of the army of Jehovah," before whom Joshua fell on his face upon the earth, and called him his "Lord" (Josh. 5:13, 14). The calling of the sons of Israel to the land of Canaan, thus to the church, was also done three times; once to Abram, that he should go forth thence out of his fatherland, and afterwards the promise that his seed should inherit that land (Gen. 12:1-7). The call was also made through Moses (Exod. 3:16, 17); and again through Joshua (Josh. 1:3, seq., and 11).