And Abram fell on his face
At the sight of so glorious a Person that appeared to him, and in
reverence of his majesty, and as sensible of his unworthiness of
such a visit, and of having such favours bestowed upon him; and
not because he was not as yet circumcised, as the Targum of
Jonathan expresses it; and so other Jewish F6 writers
observe, that before he was circumcised he fell, when God spoke
to him, but afterwards he sat and stood, ( Genesis 18:1
) ; but it may be observed, that not only uncircumcised persons,
as Balaam, ( Numbers
22:31 ) , in whom Jarchi instances, but circumcised ones, as
Ezekiel, ( Ezekiel 1:28
) , Joshua, ( Joshua 5:14 ) , and
others, have fallen on their faces at a divine appearance:
and God talked with him;
after he was raised up, and was strengthened and encouraged to
stand up before God, and hear what he had to say to him; for
after this we read of his falling on his face again, ( Genesis
17:17 ) ; which shows that he had been erect, after he first
fell on his face: saying; as follows.
F6 Jarchi in loc. Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c. 29.)
