Presence

Adderabbi posts about the Rashbam's interpretation of the beginning of parshas Vayera. My son and I were learning this a few weeks back, as he is learning Vayera in school, and picked up on the ambiguity of the psukim, and came up with this explanation on his own (despite the fact that he had been taught the medrash's explanation as pshat in school). As Adderabbi points out, the beginning of the parsha could really go either way, and is probably more in line with the Rashbam's explanation. The ending (Gen. 18:22), however, fits better with the midrashic explanation: "And the men turned from thence, and went toward Sodom; but Abraham stood yet before the LORD." I do see how this fits even according to Rashbam; the fact that God says "I will go down" and then the two "men" go would seem to indicate that the two men are representative of "God" in this case. But, if you had to read it straight, the beginning of the perek works best according to the Rashbam, while the end works best according to the midrashic explanation.

I find this often to be the case where a midrashic explanation deviates from the pshat; that there is compelling evidence on both sides of the equation. As a rule, we seem to favor the midrashic explanation over pshat, mostly, I think, because of Rashi's prominence and because it allows more doctrinal flexibility.

A commentor over on Adderabbi's blog brings up the concept of header verses; verses that act as a description, or header, of what is to come. There are many examples of these in pshat, that are glossed over via midrash. A good example is Genesis 1:1; according to the pshat, this is a header describing what takes place over the next few days. We have come to interpret it differently due to a combination of reasons, some midrashic, some epistemological.