Genesis 18:19

19 I have chosen him in order that he may command his sons and his descendants to obey me and to do what is right and just. If they do, I will do everything for him that I have promised."

Genesis 18:19 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 18:19

For I know him
Not only by his omniscience, but with a special knowledge, such as is accompanied with peculiar love and affection; and so Jarchi says, it is expressive of love. God loved Abraham, he was a peculiar favourite of his, and therefore he would reveal his secrets to him, see ( Amos 3:2 Amos 3:7 ) ; and he knew not only who he was, but what he was, a holy good man, made so by his own grace, and what he would do by the assistance of that grace, and particularly what follows: that he will command his children, and his household after him;
to serve and worship the Lord: not his own children only, but his servants also, all in his family; lay his injunctions on them, use his authority with them, give them all needful instructions, and take such methods with them as would tend to propagate and preserve the true religion after his death: and they shall keep the way of the Lord;
which he has prescribed to men, and directed them to walk in, even everything respecting instituted worship then revealed, and particularly, to do justice and judgment;
to attend to all the laws, statutes, and judgments of God; to do that which is just and right between man and man; not as a justifying righteousness, by which Abraham himself was not justified before God; but to show their regard to the will of God, in gratitude for favours received from him, and to glorify him, as well as for the good of their fellow creatures: that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him:
not only on Abraham personally, but upon his posterity, they walking in the ways of the Lord, according to his command and direction: the word "that" here rather signifies, as Vatablus rightly observes, the consequence than the cause, what would follow upon these things, rather than as procured by them; these being the way in which God designed to bestow them, though not for them.

Genesis 18:19 In-Context

17 And the Lord said to himself, "I will not hide from Abraham what I am going to do.
18 His descendants will become a great and mighty nation, and through him I will bless all the nations.
19 I have chosen him in order that he may command his sons and his descendants to obey me and to do what is right and just. If they do, I will do everything for him that I have promised."
20 Then the Lord said to Abraham, "There are terrible accusations against Sodom and Gomorrah, and their sin is very great.
21 I must go down to find out whether or not the accusations which I have heard are true."
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.