Genesis 18:27

27 Then Abraham answered and said, "Look, please, I was bold to speak to my Lord, but I [am] dust and ashes.

Genesis 18:27 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 18:27

And Abraham answered and said
In a very humble and modest manner, encouraged by the answer given him: behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord;
suggesting that it was bold and daring in him, and was what he was unfit for and unworthy of; or, "I have begun to speak" ^F5; and since he had, he intimates, it would be a favour, and what he was undeserving of, might he be permitted to proceed; or, "I am desirous to speak" ^F6; it is a pleasure to me, as well as an honour done me, to be permitted to speak unto the Lord, though I deserve it not, which [am but] dust and ashes;
whose original was out of the dust, and to which he would return, and was now a frail, feeble, mortal creature, mean and despicable, unworthy to speak to God; the disproportion between the speaker and the person spoken to was infinite; wherefore the most profound humility and self-abasement are necessary in a creature's approach to the divine Being.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 (rbdl ytlawh) "coepi, loquar", V. L. "loqui", Pagninus, Montanus; so Targum Jon.
F6 "Gestio, volo, eupio", Vatablus; "cuperem alloqui", Junius & Tremellius; so Jarchi and Aben Ezra, and Ben Gersom.

Genesis 18:27 In-Context

25 Far be it from you to do such a thing as this, to kill [the] righteous with [the] wicked, that the righteous would be as the wicked! Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do justice?"

26 And Yahweh said, "If I find fifty righteous in Sodom, in the midst of the city, then I will forgive the whole place for their sake."

27 Then Abraham answered and said, "Look, please, I was bold to speak to my Lord, but I [am] dust and ashes.

28 Perhaps the fifty righteous are lacking five--will you destroy the whole city on account of the five?" And he answered, "I will not destroy [it] if I find forty-five there."

29 And {once again he spoke} to him and said, "What if forty are found there?" And he answered, "I will not do [it] on account of the forty."