Genesis 18

20–26 As Abraham and his three visitors were parting, the Lord announced that He was going down to investigate the sins of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, cities located on the plain below. God is just; He renders careful judgment according to men’s sins.

Two of the three visitors went down to Sodom to carry out the Lord’s investigation. The third—possibly the angel of the Lord⁷⁹—stayed behind with Abraham. Abraham sensed that the Lord was going to destroy Sodom. Abraham thought of his nephew Lot: though Lot was worldly, he was not wicked like the Sodomites. Surely there were other righteous people in the city. How could it be right for the righteous Judge of all the earth to destroy the righteous along with the wicked? (verse 25).

Haven’t all of us questioned the Lord like this at some time or other? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do the wicked prosper? Sometimes God seems to us “unjust.”

But God judges in the time frame of eternity. Earthquakes and floods kill the guilty and innocent alike, but there will be a final reckoning when any temporary earthly “injustice” will be evened out. From the perspective of eternity, God is always right, always just.

However, even in an earthly time frame, God is concerned with justice. He was willing to listen to the pleas of Abraham. For the sake of fifty righteous people He would spare the entire city of Sodom (verse 26).

27–33 In these verses we see Abraham humbly trying to better understand God’s ways. Abraham wasn’t haggling with God. Undoubtedly he was thinking of Lot and his family as he progressively lowered the number of righteous people that might be necessary to save the city. We don’t know why Abraham stopped at ten (verse 32); perhaps he calculated that Lot’s extended family now included ten persons. But Abraham had learned enough; he had learned that God is as concerned with the few as He is with the many, that He desires to save rather than to punish, and that He is so involved with His creation that He even knows when a sparrow falls to the ground (Matthew 10:29).

In fact, there turned out to be only one “righteous” person in Sodom—Lot; and God delivered him, as we shall see in the next chapter. God had greater concern and compassion for the righteous than Abraham did. Abraham stopped at ten; God was not willing that even one should perish (see Matthew 18:12–14). Since this is true, let us not tire of interceding on behalf of even one soul; God will not tire of hearing us.