Plea for Sodom
Genesis 18:16-33
Having paid Abraham a visit, God and the two angels with him are about to head to Sodom and Gomorrah with the intention to destroy the two cities because of the utter wickedness of their inhabitants. Abraham is about to make a great plea for Sodom, for his nephew Lot just happens to live there.
I'm going to post here the part of the passage where Abraham pleads to God, just because it makes for some relatively great storytelling.
In a previous post, I said something about how Abraham had a privileged sort of relationship with God, and this passage clearly illustrates this as Abraham boldly questions God a number of times, and yet not a word of rebuke is uttered by God. In fact, God welcomes Abraham's repeating questions, showing a seemingly uncharacteristic level of divine patience.
That said, Abraham doesn't seem to get the kind of answer he is after, and he is left hoping for the best at the end. Nevertheless, it's quite a dramatic passage. Abraham must have felt anxiety and hesitation everytime he coerced himself to ask God a question. And each answer given by God (except perhaps for the last one) just made Abraham more in want of a satisfactory answer. I can imagine that Abraham stopped asking at the end simply because he didn't want to trouble God any further, not because he was satisfied with the final answer.
Genesis 18:16-33
Having paid Abraham a visit, God and the two angels with him are about to head to Sodom and Gomorrah with the intention to destroy the two cities because of the utter wickedness of their inhabitants. Abraham is about to make a great plea for Sodom, for his nephew Lot just happens to live there.
I'm going to post here the part of the passage where Abraham pleads to God, just because it makes for some relatively great storytelling.
Quote:Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”
The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”
“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”
Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”
He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”
Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”
He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”
He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”
Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”
He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.
In a previous post, I said something about how Abraham had a privileged sort of relationship with God, and this passage clearly illustrates this as Abraham boldly questions God a number of times, and yet not a word of rebuke is uttered by God. In fact, God welcomes Abraham's repeating questions, showing a seemingly uncharacteristic level of divine patience.
That said, Abraham doesn't seem to get the kind of answer he is after, and he is left hoping for the best at the end. Nevertheless, it's quite a dramatic passage. Abraham must have felt anxiety and hesitation everytime he coerced himself to ask God a question. And each answer given by God (except perhaps for the last one) just made Abraham more in want of a satisfactory answer. I can imagine that Abraham stopped asking at the end simply because he didn't want to trouble God any further, not because he was satisfied with the final answer.
