"... The relationship between Yahweh and the messengers is also ambiguous in the story of Abraham and his visitors at Mamre ... There is nothing particularly interesting in this scene, yet, at the end of the visit, as the three “men” are ready to depart, the narrative takes a strange turn ... While the three visitors appear at the beginning as men, they depart as Yahweh and two messengers. The pair of messengers have in fact been sent by Yahweh with instructions to destroy Sodom (Genesis 19:13). A close relationship is maintained between the messengers and Yahweh; the messengers, whether speaking from burning bushes or demolishing wicked cities, are assumed to reflect Yahweh’s intentions. At no point, however, does the biblical material define the מַלְאָכִים, who function as messengers, as “gods.” ..."