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Were Abraham's and Lot's guests the same?
Genesis 18 describes "אנשים [=men]" who came to visit Abraham. Chapter 19 starts "And the two מלאכים [=messengers, or angels] arrived at Sodom…" and proceeds to call them, too, "אנשים".
Rashi and many other commentaries to 19:1 take for granted that these were the same men as in chapter 18, which indeed seems the obvious reference of the definite article "the two מלאכים".
I wonder whether any classical commentaries differ and how they explain the definite article. Or, on the contrary, I wonder whether there's any support from the text itself, besides that definite article, for the claim that the chapter-19 people (or beings) were the same as the chapter-18 ones.
1 answer
From Berieshis 18:22 it seems pretty clear that they were the same people, as Avraham's guests headed to Sodom when they left.
וַיִּפְנ֤וּ מִשָּׁם֙ הָֽאֲנָשִׁ֔ים וַיֵּלְכ֖וּ סְדֹ֑מָה וְאַ֨בְרָהָ֔ם עוֹדֶ֥נּוּ עֹמֵ֖ד לִפְנֵ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃
The men went on from there to Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the LORD.
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