16 Then the men [who were God and two angels] set out from there, and they looked towards Sodom; and Abraham went with them to set them on their way. 17 The Lord said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 No, for I have chosen him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice; so that the Lord may bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.' 20 Then the Lord said, 'How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! 21 I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know.'
22 So the [angels] turned from there, and went towards Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. 23 Then Abraham came near and said, 'Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?' 26 And the Lord said, 'If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.' 27 Abraham answered, 'Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?' And he said, 'I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.' 29 Again he spoke to him, 'Suppose forty are found there.' He answered, 'For the sake of forty I will not do it.' 30 Then he said, 'Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there.' He answered, 'I will not do it, if I find thirty there.' 31 He said, 'Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.' He answered, 'For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.' 32 Then he said, 'Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there.' He answered, 'For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.' 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
THOUGHTS:
Let's set the context just a little bit. God and a couple angels just came and told Abraham and Sarah that they were going to have a son. Sarah laughed, God called her out on it, they banter a bit, etc.
After we have the passage above. God decides he trusts Abraham, and that this faithful servant deserves to know what is going to transpire. God is on the way to see if all the compaints going around about Sodom and Gomorrah are true. Abraham knows God is planning to wipe these cities off the map, and what is his response? He basically lays a guilt trip on God: "Oh God, don't be that kind of god! You are much better than to wipe out the innocent along with the guilty! Don't punish the righteous because of the wicked!" Abraham wants things to be fair.
We might think Abraham is out of line for implying God doesn't know how to act, but God says, "OK, you're daring me to prove I'm merciful? Let's try this: if I find 50 righteous people in the cities, then I'll forgive everyone who lives there." Do you notice that it still isn't fair. Now, instead of the good people suffering along with the evildoers, God offers to forgive the evildoers because of a small righteous minority. Yet, Abraham isn't initially satisfied, and he barters with God, wheeling and dealing until two cities will be forgiven if God finds just ten righteous people living there. The whole community appears to stand or fall together.
Would you ask God for this kind of radical forgiveness? Do you?
I love how this story shows that God takes the time to listen to people. God trusts Abraham enough to tell him the plan. God listens to Abrahams objections. God is persuaded by Abraham's arguments. Sure, God ends up destrying the cities in the end because they showed no hospitality to the strangers in their midst, but that doesn't diminish for me that God valued Abraham's opinion.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for your mercy, and for loving us before we even knew anything about you. Help us to be willing to share our desires with you even as we work to fulfill your desires with our lives. All this we pray in Jesus name, AMEN.
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