Philadelphia, Brotherly Love Meets Angels

William Penn

In 1681, King Charles II of England gave English entrepreneur and early Quaker William Penn a large piece of his newly acquired American land to repay a debt owed to Admiral Sir William Penn, Penn's father. This land included present-day Pennsylvania and Delaware, though the claim as written would create a bloody conflict with Maryland (dubbed Cresap's War) over the land grant already owned by Lord Baltimore.

Penn put together a colonial expedition and fleet, which set out for America in the middle of the following summer. Penn, sailing in the vanguard, first set foot on American soil at the colony at New Castle, Delaware.[2] An orderly change of government ensued. As was normal in an age used to the privileges and prerogatives of aristocracy and which antedated nationalism: the colonists pledged allegiance to Penn as their new Proprietor. The first general assembly was soon held in the colony.

Afterwards, Penn journeyed up the river and founded Philadelphia with a core group of accompanying Quakers and others seeking religious freedom on lands he purchased from the local chieftains of the Lenape or Delaware nation.[3] This began a long period of peaceful co-operation between the colony and the Delaware, in contrast to the frictions between the tribe and the Swedish and Dutch colonists.[4]

The Iriquois Indians called Philadephia Tganadaęˀgo:wah "Big town lying there." Penn chose the name from the Biblical Greek because it means brotherly love. Though a high and noble ideal, Penn's Quaker beliefs did not guarantee that brotherly love would continue. As outlined in the wikipedia history quoted above, there were many frictions between the peace-loving colonists and Indian tribes to the west. 

We've been walking with the writer of the letter to the Hebrews over these past several months. We are now in the final chapter of this very important link between the Old and New Testaments. The chapter begins by urging love between brothers and sisters and then says, 

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." - Hebrews 13:2 ESV

That sentence has intrigued many. It points, of course, to the two angels who accompanied Jesus (Angel of the LORD) who visited Abraham and Sarah, promising that they were about to become parents even in their old age (Gen. 18:1-10). The two angels went on to rescue Lot and his family from the doomed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. We also hear of our LORD's visit to Manoah, a man of the tribe of Dan and his wife. They also were childless (Judges 13:1-25).  They became the parents of the powerful, but flawed judge Samson. 

What are we to conclude about these examples of angelic visitation? I wouldn't take this too far. It is enough to remember that God's love includes all men, even strangers. That love motivates us to reach out to all regardless. Yet it is interesting to note that angels do accompany us on our journey and that these wonderful beings are able to assume human form. Now don't ask me what that means. How that is possible the Scriptures do not say, only that they can and do. 

Kinda fun, though, to imagine that the stranger you're entertaining could be an angel. Of course, the word angel can mean simply "messenger" and so the writer may be telling us that by entertaining strangers we may be welcoming ordinary people with an extraordinary message just for us. The big point is that we continue the ancient practice of welcoming into our midst those in need of food and shelter even though they are strangers to us. Many churches make a practice of doing this quite regularly. And they are to be commended indeed.