Die Ambiguität der Identität Gottes in Genesis 18–19

Genesis 18–19 presents an ambiguous image of God, as the deity is portrayed in the narrative both as YHWH and as a human being. This article examines this ambiguity in the representation of the God of Israel with a focus on the literary development of the narrative. It is argued that traces of an ancient Yahweh religion, which did not exclude the appearance of the deity in an ambiguous form (simultaneously God and human, one figure and multiple figures), are found throughout the narrative complex, suggesting that such a representation of the deity was integral to the concept of God in ancient Israel.