Five-minute study · Day 333 · Genesis 18
Genesis 18:14
A word worth stopping on: too hard / wonderful פָּלָא pala
'Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.' The Hebrew word translated 'too hard' is yippale, from the root pala. It means to be beyond capacity, to be extraordinary, to exceed what is naturally possible. The same root appears in Isaiah 9:6, where the Messiah's name is called 'Wonderful,' pele, the same word, the same astonishment. God asks this question to Abraham after Sarah laughed in the tent. She was ninety years old. Her body had long since passed the age of childbearing. God heard the laugh. He did not rebuke it. He asked a question: is anything pala for me? The question has been hanging in the air for four thousand years. It still expects an answer.
Word study: too hard / wonderful
- Hebrew
- פָּלָא
- Pronounced
- pala
- Strong's
- H6381
- Definition
- To be surpassing, to be extraordinary, to be beyond one's capacity or power. In the Niphal stem: to be too difficult, too wonderful. The word carries the idea of something that exceeds normal limits, something that astonishes because it surpasses expectation.
Pala appears 71 times in the Hebrew Bible. BDB defines it as 'to be surpassing, extraordinary,' and notes the Niphal participle niphlaot (wonderful things, wonders), which is used throughout the Psalms for God's acts of power. The word family includes pele (wonder, miracle), used in Isaiah 9:6 for the name 'Wonderful Counselor,' and niphlaot (wonders), used in Exodus 15:11 for the wonders at the Red Sea.
Wenham's commentary on Genesis 16-50 (WBC) examines the question of 18:14 within its narrative context. Three visitors have come to Abraham at Mamre. Abraham offers lavish hospitality (18:1-8). The visitors promise that Sarah will have a son 'according to the time of life,' meaning within the normal period of pregnancy. Sarah, listening at the tent door, laughs to herself: 'After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?' (18:12). The LORD responds with the question: 'Is any thing too pala for the LORD?'
Wenham notes that the question is rhetorical, but it also functions as an invitation. God does not simply declare his power. He asks Abraham to consider it. The form of the question, hayippale, uses the Niphal imperfect with the interrogative particle, and it expects the answer 'no.' Wenham connects this to Jeremiah 32:17, where Jeremiah prays, 'there is nothing too hard (pala) for thee,' and to Jeremiah 32:27, where God echoes the Genesis question almost verbatim: 'Is there any thing too hard for me?'
The connection to Isaiah 9:6 is significant. The Messiah's name, pele yoetz (Wonderful Counselor), uses the same root. The child born to the virgin in Isaiah's prophecy carries in his name the same word that God used to describe what he does to human impossibility. The pala of Genesis 18 becomes the pele of Isaiah 9. What was a question becomes a name.
Historical context · c. 2000 BCE (patriarchal period)
The Theophany at Mamre and Ancient Near Eastern Hospitality
Genesis 18 describes one of the most detailed theophanies in the Hebrew Bible. Three men appear to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre during the heat of the day. Abraham runs to meet them, bows to the ground, and offers water, bread, and rest. He then prepares a meal far exceeding his initial offer: a tender calf, curds, milk, and cakes made from fine flour. The hospitality is excessive by design. In the ancient Near East, the quality and speed of a host's provision signaled the honor accorded to the guest.
Wenham identifies the passage as a gradual revelation. Abraham addresses the visitors as 'my lord' (adonai). The narrative shifts between 'the men' and 'the LORD' (YHWH) without clear demarcation. By verse 13, 'the LORD said unto Abraham,' the identity of at least one visitor is explicit. The question of verse 14 comes directly from YHWH. Two of the three visitors later depart for Sodom (18:22, 19:1); Abraham remains standing 'before the LORD.'
The site of Mamre has been identified with Ramat el-Khalil, approximately 3 kilometers north of Hebron. Archaeological excavations at the site have uncovered a large enclosure wall from the Herodian period (1st century BCE), built around a sacred tree or grove that was venerated as the place of Abraham's theophany. Josephus (Jewish War 4.9.7) mentions the oak of Abraham at Mamre as still standing in his day. The site was a pilgrimage destination for Jews, Christians, and pagans into the Byzantine period.
Sarah's laughter is a physical response to biological impossibility. She was past menopause. The text is explicit: 'it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women' (18:11). Her laugh was the body's honest reaction to an impossible promise. God's question, 'Is any thing too pala for the LORD?' does not deny the impossibility. It absorbs it. The word pala includes the extraordinary, the thing that exceeds natural limits. God does not say the birth will be natural. He says the supernatural is within his capacity.
For reflection
Sarah laughed because her body told her the truth: this is impossible. God did not correct the biology. He asked a question about his own capacity. What impossible thing have you stopped praying for because the evidence says it cannot happen? Read Genesis 18:14 aloud, slowly. Let the question sit with you before you answer it.
Pala means beyond capacity. Sarah's capacity had ended. God's had not. The question is always about whose capacity you are measuring.
Sources: BDB; Wenham, "Genesis 16-50" (WBC)