Ch 18 Cont: And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against S | ✞ Dr C 17 ✞

Ch 18 Cont:

And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.” (Abraham gently reminded God of His own nature and promises and thought he could convince God, to be the righteous Judge he promised and not punish the ALL; the innocent the same as the evil/wicked.) (This seems like a test of Abraham’s nature NOT God’s and God agrees)

Abraham continues the questioning to spare the innocent and all of Sodom should God find 45, then 40, then 30, then 20, then 10, then 5? And God agrees every single time to spare ALL if he finds even 5 righteous there in Sodom.

Abraham shows what kind of Man he is and what kind of heart he has for God’s people that he would want God to spare ALL there for the sake of a mere few righteous by working hard to convince God to do so. This is the sign of a TRUE leader and one MIGHTY NATIONS WOULD NEED AS THEIR LEADER. God knew this and thus I believe was the purpose of the whole conversation- to see what Abraham would say.

Nonetheless, we will find out soon that there are only 4 righteous in the city (Lot, his wife (questionable too), and two kids). I wonder if God would have spared the city if Abraham had asked “what if 4 righteous people were in the city, would He spare the whole….