“My L-rd, if I find favor in your eyes, please do not turn away from Your servant” (Bereishit 18:3)
Avraham was asking Hakadosh Baruch Hu to wait for him while he would run and usher in the visitors (Rashi).
Quoting the above pasuk, Rabbi Yehudah said in the name of Rav: It is greater to welcome guests than to greet the Shechinah (Shabbat 127a).
The Malbim writes (Bereishit 18) that the angels came to Avraham in the merit of gemilut chassadim, which he did all his life. Each mitzvah created an angel, the Divine emissary to bestow kindliness, just as he had done. These angels caused Sarah to conceive, Avraham to receive a Divine revelation, and the deliverance of Lot. But the people of Sodom, who were corrupt, were sent an angel to overturn their city. The food which Avraham served his guests was their sustenance. It was the bread of the mighty ones, which nourished them.
“The Altar was of wood, three cubits tall, and it was two cubits long, including its corners; its surface and its sides were made of wood. He said to me: This is the Table that is before Hashem”
(Yechezkel 41:22)
This pasuk starts by describing the Altar and ends with a description of the Table. This teaches us that when the Beit Hamikdash was standing, the Altar atoned for sins. Now that the Beit Hamikdash is no longer, a man’s table, referring to the hospitality that he does at his table, atones for his sins (Beit Habechirah LaMeiri, Chagigah 27a).
Rabbi Yochanan said: Welcoming guests is compared to arriving early at the Beit Hamidrash. Rav Dimi of Nehardaya said it is even greater (Shabbat 126b).
Why didn’t he say that welcoming guests is as great as learning in the Beit Hamidrash? The first one to arrive at the Beit Hamidrash, before the Shechinah is there, is considered to be welcoming a guest, for he is ushering the Shechinah into the Beit Hamidrash. Chazal state (Berachot 7) that when Hashem arrives at the Beit Hakeneset and does not find a minyan waiting, He is disappointed. Therefore, welcoming guests is as great as coming early to the Beit Hamidrash, for one who comes early to the Beit Hamidrash welcomes the Shechinah into its midst (Rabbi Yitzchak Aharon Rappaport, Einei Yitzchak, Aggadot HaShas).
One should constantly try to welcome guests, for there is no mitzvah as great as this (Beit Habechirah LaMeiri, Shabbat 127a).
See the greatness of the mitzvah of escorting guests! The one who escorts his guest, as well as the guest being escorted, are protected from harm the entire day (Smak, Yom Sheini 46).
