Read with Me
Genesis 18:23-33 (HCSB)
Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are 50 righteous people in the city? Will You really sweep it away instead of sparing the place for the sake of the 50 righteous people who are in it? You could not possibly do such a thing: to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that! Won’t the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”
The LORD said, “If I find 50 righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
Then Abraham answered, “Since I have ventured to speak to the Lord—even though I am dust and ashes—suppose the 50 righteous lack five. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?”
He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find 45 there.”
Then he spoke to Him again, “Suppose 40 are found there?”
He answered, “I will not do it on account of 40.”
Then he said, “Let the Lord not be angry, and I will speak further. Suppose 30 are found there?”
He answered, “I will not do it if I find 30 there.”
Then he said, “Since I have ventured to speak to the Lord, suppose 20 are found there?”
He replied, “I will not destroy it on account of 20.”
Then he said, “Let the Lord not be angry, and I will speak one more time. Suppose 10 are found there?”
He answered, “I will not destroy it on account of 10.” When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, He departed, and Abraham returned to his place.
Listen with Me
Even though God never specifically said that He was going to destroy Sodom and the other cities of the plain, Abraham picked up on His intentions. He knew as well as anyone that the people who lived there were desperately wicked and were actually deserving of God’s judgment.
But he also knew that Lot and his family lived there, and that Lot was not wicked, but was in fact a righteous man who was distressed by the wickedness of the society in which he found himself (2 Peter 2:7-8). He surmised that if there was one righteous person living in the city, it was possible, even likely, that there would be more. And the thought of those righteous people being swept away in God’s judgment against the unrighteous did not sit well with him.
Abraham was still learning about God, who He is and all that He can do. But over the nearly twenty-five years he had been in relationship with God, he had learned something of His character. He knew that God had created everything, and that He held all things in His hand, so if He wanted to completely wipe out a city, or even a collection of cities, nothing could stand in His way. But he also knew that He was in His very essence good, and fair, and righteous. It was that knowledge that prompted him to speak up.
His first question was if fifty righteous people were living among the few thousands in Sodom, was it fair to wipe them out with the rest? Surely, they deserve to be protected, taken out of the way of God’s judgment and preserved. After all, what was gained by the execution of fifty righteous people? It seemed like a sloppy way to do things, not to mention seeming to go completely against God’s character.
Abraham was shocked by God’s answer. Not only would he not wipe away the fifty righteous with the rest, He would spare the whole city for their sake. If there were still fifty righteous people in the city, there was hope for that light to transform the dark places.
That was comforting to Abraham. Not only was his opinion of God’s mercy and grace valid, was actually too small! But Abraham doubted that they were truly fifty righteous people in the city. What if only forty-five righteous people could be found. Would God’s judgment fall on them because they fell under the fifty-person threshold? But again, God responded that the whole city would be spared for the sake of forty-five righteous people.
That piqued Abraham’s curiosity. How many righteous people would be needed to spare the city from destruction? Forty? Thirty? Twenty? Ten? Each time, God indicated that the whole city would be spared.
There was no mathematics involved in Abraham stopping at ten people. At that point, he had seen God’s character, that He was not going to wipe out a whole city if there was a chance that the people in it could be saved. It also helped him to understand why God would not give him the Promise Land yet. He had revealed to him that it would be four hundred years before the people’s sin reached its full measure so that all hope of their repenting was gone (Genesis 15:16). Only then would God release His destruction on them and give the land to Abraham’s descendants.
So, confident that God truly would do the right thing, Abraham left the situation in His hands and headed back to his campsite.
Pray with Me
Father, Abraham really had learned much of Your character in the preceding quarter century. Above all, he knew that You are holy, righteous, and fair. To him that meant that You could never treat the righteous as if they were unholy. At the same time, You would not allow the unrighteous to escape Your judgment. Truly, You are the judge of all the earth, and truly You can be trusted to do what is right at every juncture. Lord, help me to live in confidence in Your character as much as Abraham did, so that I don’t have to worry about what You will do and so that I can intercede faithfully and confidently whenever I have any trace of doubt. Amen.
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