Genesis 18:27

27 Abraham answered and said, For I began once (For once I began), I shall speak to my Lord, since I am (but) 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 thee that thou do this thing, and slay the just with the wicked, and that a just man be made as a wicked man; this is not thine that deemest all [the] earth; thou shalt not make this doom. (Far be it from thee that thou do this thing, and kill the righteous along with the wicked, and that the righteous be made like the wicked; this is not thee who judgest all the earth; nay, thou shalt not make such a judgement.)

26 And the Lord said to him, If I shall find in Sodom fifty just men in the midst of the city, I shall forgive to all the place for them. (And the Lord said to him, If I shall find in Sodom fifty righteous people in the midst of the city, I shall forgive the whole place for their sake.)

27 Abraham answered and said, For I began once (For once I began), I shall speak to my Lord, since I am (but) dust and ashes;

28 what if less than fifty just men by five be, shalt thou do away all the city for five and forty? And the Lord said, I shall not do away, if I shall find five and forty there. (what if there be five less than fifty righteous people there, shalt thou do away all the city for forty-five? And the Lord said, I shall not do them all away, if I shall find forty-five righteous people there.)

29 And again Abraham said to him, But if forty be there, what shalt thou do? The Lord said, I shall not smite for forty (I shall not strike them all down, for the sake of forty righteous people).