Gen 18:16-33 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, the three visitors at the tent door at Mamre said, “I will certainly return to you at about this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son” (Gen 18:10).
In this lesson, the visitors get up to leave, and Abraham goes with them to see them on their way. At this time Lot was living in Sodom (Gen 14:12).
16The men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way.
17The LORD said, “Will I hide from Abraham what I do,
18since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him?
19For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that the LORD may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him.”
20The LORD said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous,
21I will go down now, and see whether their deeds are as bad as the reports which have come to me. If not, I will know.”
22The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.
23Abraham came near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked?
24What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it?
25May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”
26The LORD said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
27Abraham answered, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes.
28What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?” He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
29He spoke to him yet again, and said, “What if there are forty found there?” He said, “I will not do it for the forty’s sake.”
30He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?” He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
31He said, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake.”
32He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.”
33The LORD went his way as soon as he had finished communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
Will I hide from Abraham? The visitors “looked toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way” (v. 16). The LORD said, “Will I hide from Abraham what I do” (v. 17). The passage gives the reason: Abraham will become a great nation, and “all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him” (v. 18); “For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice” (v. 19).
I will go down now. The LORD said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous” (v. 20), “I will go down now, and see” (v. 21). “The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before the LORD” (v. 22).
He came near. “Abraham came near, and said, ‘Will you consume the righteous with the wicked?’” (v. 23). He asked, “What if there are fifty righteous within the city?” (v. 24).
The Judge of all the earth. He went on: “May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked … Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?” (v. 25). He asks on the basis of who the LORD is. The LORD answers, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake” (v. 26).
Dust and ashes. Abraham says again, “I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes” (v. 27). He asks from fifty to forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty (vv. 28–31), and twice says, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry” (vv. 30, 32). The last time, he says, “I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” (v. 32). The LORD answers every time: “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake” (v. 32).
Finished. “The LORD went his way as soon as he had finished communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place” (v. 33). The passage does not say why he stopped at ten. In the next chapter, Sodom is destroyed; the passage says, “When God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow” (Gen 19:29).
Many years later, the LORD spoke through the prophet Jeremiah about Jerusalem: “Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does justly, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her” (Jer 5:1).
Readers can see this: Abraham’s question, “Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?” (v. 25), was one the people of Israel still faced later — for the sake of the righteous in a city, the LORD was willing to pardon it.
Perhaps there is a place you cannot put out of your mind: your city, your extended family, your company or school — a place where there is a ‘Lot’ you know.
This lesson does not teach you a method for making God give way. What it shows you is this: the LORD told Abraham what he was about to do; Abraham stood before the LORD and, because the LORD is “the Judge of all the earth” (v. 25), asked again and again; and the LORD answered every time. The New Testament also urges: “I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and givings of thanks be made for all men” (1 Tim 2:1).
This week: Choose one place or group of people that is on your heart, and pray to God for them once each day this week.
Scripture: World English Bible.