Did God sit under the tree and eat?
Question
I want to ask about Genesis 18 . When Abraham Spoke to God. Was he Soeaking to God in the Flesh as the sat under the shade of a tree and eat.
Answer
The Torah recounts that when communicating with Abraham, it was not God Himself but angels who appeared.
An angel has the ability to manifest in human form. Despite being a spiritual entity, the angel can create the illusion of sitting and eating. Clearly, the angel does not actually consume food, as a spiritual being has no such requirement. But he creates such an illusion.
The Talmud ( Bava Metzia 86b) discusses this episode:
‘Rabbi Tanchum bar Chanilai says: A person should never deviate from the local custom, since Moshe ascended on high and did not eat bread, whereas the ministering angels descended to this world and ate bread. Could you imagine that they really ate it? Say instead that they appeared as though they were eating and drinking’.
In other words, the angels that visited Abraham gave the appearance of eating and drinking in order to behave in a typically human manner.
Source
Bereshit
18:8;
Bava Metzia
86b