Here in Genesis 18:3 the word translated favor is the Hebrew word khane, 2580 in Strong’s Concordance and can be subjective (kindness, favor) or objective (beauty).
However, in the New English Translation, you will find the same sentence translated as, “But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.” Because they rightly noted that in a marginal reference that the phrase “find favor [in the eyes of]” is the Hebrew idiom meaning “to be the object of another’s favorable disposition or action; to be a recipient of another’s favor, kindness, mercy.” The marginal reference goes on to say in citing Bible references, the favor/kindness is often earned (that is right!), coming in response to an action or condition.
But what we should see in Genesis 18 is not just earned favor, but the kind of godly favor a lifetime of growth in our relationship with God produces.
The first is that someone who has grown in a relationship with God to the point Abraham was in Genesis 18 looks for favor from God, but with the very mind of God! If we look carefully, we will see that the favor that Abraham requested there in verse 3 was for the opportunity to serve.
I think he recognized immediately who it was.
This meal might have been the very first fast food meal in the history of the world, but fast food by our standards it was not. It is also unusual that Abraham did not even eat with them.
One of the things of course that we can learn from this and add to our fund of knowledge of the way food and eating is used in the Bible is that it is the focal point of Abraham and Sarah—the father and the mother of our faith—as their means of hospitality. It is not unimportant.
