EXPOSITION
And Abraham drew near. I.e. to Jehovah; not simply locally, but also spiritually. The religious use of יִגַּשּׁ as a performing religious services to God, or a pious turning of the mind to God, is found in Exodus 30:20; Isaiah 29:13; Jeremiah 30:21; and in a similar sense ἐγγίζω is employed in the New Testament (cf. Hebrews 4:16; Hebrews 10:22; James 4:8). The Jonathan Targum explains, "and Abraham prayed." And said. Commencing the sublimest act of human intercession of which Scripture preserves a record, being moved thereto, if not by an immediate regard for Lot (Lange), at least by a sense of compassion towards the inhabitants of Sodom, "communis erga quinque populos misericordia" (Calvin), which was heightened and intensified by his own previous experience of forgiving grace (Keil). Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? The question presupposes that God had, according to the resolution of Jeremiah 30:17, explained to the patriarch his intention to destroy the cities of the plain. The object the patriarch contemplated in his intercession was not simply the preservation of any godly remnant that might be found within the doomed towns, but the rescue of their entire populations from the impending judgment,—only he does not at first discover his complete design, perhaps regarding such an absolute reversal of the Divine purpose as exceeding the legitimate bounds of creature supplication; but with what might be characterized as holy adroitness he veils his ulterior aim, and commences his petition at a Point somewhat removed from that to which he hopes to come. Assuming it as settled that the fair Pentapolis is to be destroyed, he practically asks, with a strange mixture of humility and boldness, if Jehovah has considered that this will involve a sad commingling in one gigantic overthrow of both the righteous and the wicked.
Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city. A charitable supposition, as the event showed, though at first sight it might not appear so to Abraham; and the bare Possibility of Sodom's—not Sodom alone (Kalisch), but the Pentapolis—containing so many good men was enough to afford a basis for the argument which followed. Wilt thou also destroy and not spare—literally, take away (sc. the iniquity) i.e. remove the punishment from—the place (not the godly portion of the city merely, but the entire population; a complete discovery of Abraham's design) for the fifty righteous that are therein?
That be far from thee—literally to profane things (be it) to thee—nefas sit tibi == absit a te! an exclamation of abhorrence, too feebly rendered by μηδαμῶς (LXX.)—to do after this manner (literally, according to this word), to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked (literally, and that it should be—as the righteous, so the wicked), that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? The patriarch appeals not to Jehovah's covenant grace (Kurtz), but to his absolute judicial equity (Keil). It does not, however, follow that the Divine righteousness would have been compromised by consigning pious and wicked to the same temporal destruction. This must have been a spectacle not infrequently observed in Abraham's day as well as ours. Yet the mind of Abraham appears to have been perplexed, as men's minds often are still, by the magnitude of the proposed illustration of a common principle in Providence. Though prepared to admit the principle when its application is confined to solitary cases, or cases of no great amplitude, yet instinctively the human mind feels that there must be a limit to the commingling of the righteous and the wicked in calamity, though it should be only of a temporal description. That limit Abraham conceived, or perhaps feared that others might conceive, would be passed if good and bad in Sodom should be overwhelmed in a common ruin; and in this spirit the closing utterance of his first supplication may be regarded as giving expression to the hope that Jehovah would do nothing that would even seem to tarnish his Divine righteousness. Abraham of course regarded this as impossible, consequently he believed that Sodom might be spared.
And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city (thus accepting the test proposed by Abraham, but not necessarily thereby acquiescing in the absolute soundness of his logic), then I will spare (not as an act of justice, but as an exercise of mercy, and not because of any suspicions that might otherwise attach to my rectitude, but solely in vindication of my clemency) all the place (not the righteous merely, which was all that justice could have legitimately demanded) for their sakes, i.e. because of the claims upon my mercy which grace admits the righteous to prefer.
And Abraham answered and said (being emboldened by the success of his first petition), Behold now, I have taken upon me, literally, I have begun, though here perhaps used in a more emphatic sense: I have undertaken or ventured—to speak unto the Lord—Adonai (Genesis 15:2)—which am but dust and ashes. "Dust in his origin and ashes in his end" (Delitzsch; vide Genesis 3:19).
Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? Literally, on account of five, i.e. because they are wanting. A rare example of holy ingenuity in prayer. Abraham, instead of pleading for the city's safety on account of forty-five, deprecates its destruction on account of five. And its said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.
And he spoke unto him yet again—literally, and he added yet to speak to him (cf. Genesis 4:2; Genesis 8:10, Genesis 8:12; Genesis 25:1) and said (increasing in his boldness as God abounded in his grace), Peradventure there shall be forty found there. Does Abraham hesitate to add the query, "Wilt thou also?" &c; as if fearing he had at last touched the limit of the Divine condescension. If so, he must have been surprised by the continued gracious response which his supplication received. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake.
And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord he angry,—literally, let there not be burning with anger to the Lord (Adonai)—and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me (vide Genesis 18:27) to speak unto the Lord (Adonai): Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake.
And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry (vide supra), and I will speak but this once (literally, only this time more, as in Exodus 10:17): Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.
And the Lord (Jehovah) went his way,—i.e. vanished (Keil); not to avoid further entreaties on the part of Abraham (Delitzsch), but for the reason specified in the next words—as soon as he had left communing with Abraham (because Abraham's supplications were ended): and Abraham returned unto his place (viz; Mature near Hebron).
HOMILETICS
Abraham's intercession.
I. THE OBJECT OF HIS INTERCESSION. Not simply the rescue of Lot from the doomed cities, but the salvation of the cities themselves, with their miserable inhabitants. A request evincing—
1. Tender sympathy. Though doubtless the righteous character of the impending retribution had been explained to him, its appalling severity was such as to thrill his feeling heart with anguish, which would certainly not be lessened, but intensified, if he allowed his thoughts to dwell upon the future into which that overwhelming calamity would forthwith launch its unhappy victims.
2. Unselfish charity. Not blindly shutting his eyes to the miseries of the Sodomites, as many would have done, on the plea that they were richly merited, or that they were no concern of his, or that it was little he could do to avert them, he actively bestirs himself, if possible, to prevent them. Nor does he say that, having delivered them once from the devouring sword of war, without their having profited by either the judgment or the mercy that had then been measured out to them, he will now leave them to be engulfed by the approaching storm of Almighty wrath; but, on the contrary, he rather seeks a second time to effect their rescue.
3. Amazing catholicity. Not content with asking Lot's deliverance, or the rescue of the righteous, he aims at nothing short of the complete preservation of the cities. He solicits not a few of their inhabitants only, but their entire population. One wonders whether to admire most the greatness of the love or the grandeur of the faith herein displayed.
II. THE SPIRIT OF HIS INTERCESSION.
1. Holy boldness. Abraham "drew near." The expression intimates confidential familiarity, earnestness of entreaty, unrestrained freedom of discourse, almost venturesome audacity in prayer; all of which characteristics should be found in a believer's prayers, especially when interceding in behalf of others (Hebrews 10:22).
2. Reverent humility. Three times he deprecates Jehovah's anger, and acknowledges personal unworthiness; and that this self-abasement was not affected, but real, is apparent from the circumstance that the more his supplication prospers, the deeper does he sink in self-prostration. Gracious souls are ever humble under a sense of God's mercies: Jacob (Genesis 32:10), David (2 Samuel 7:18; cf. Luke 7:6).
3. Fervent importunity. With a sanctified dexterity he, as it were, endeavors to shut up the heart of God to grant the deliverance he solicits. Nor does he rest contented with the first response to his entreaty, but with greater vehemence returns to the charge, increasing his demands as God enlarges his concessions (cf. Matthew 15:22).
III. THE LOGIC OF HIS INTERCESSION.
1. The argument. The principle on which the patriarch stands is not the grace of the covenant, but the righteousness of the Judge. His meaning is that in moral goodness there is a certain dynamic force which operates towards the preservation of the wicked, and which the Divine righteousness itself is bound to take into its calculations. Where this force reaches a certain limit in intensity, a regard to judicial equity seems to require that it shall be allowed to exercise its legitimate sway—a principle which God admitted to the patriarch when he said that the Amorites were spared because their iniquity was not full (Genesis 15:16), and which he here endorses by consenting to spare Sodom if even ten righteous men can be found within its gates.
2. The application. The patriarch conducts his case with singular directness, going straight to the logical issues of the principle with which he starts; with marvelous ingenuity pitching the hypothetical number of pious Sodomites so high as to insure a favorable response, and gradually diminishing as grace enlarges, and with unwearied assiduity refusing to discontinue his holy argument so long as a chance remains of saving Sodom.
IV. THE SUCCESS OF HIS INTERCESSION.
1. He got all he asked. He did not crave the unconditional sparing of the city, but only its preservation on certain suggested conditions. Those conditions too were of his own framing; and yet against them not so much as one single caveat-was entered by God.
2. He ceased asking before God stopped giving, It may be rash to speculate as to what would have happened had Abraham continued to reduce the number on which he periled the salvation of Sodom; but for God's glory it is only just to observe that it was not he who discontinued answering the patriarch's petitions, so much as the patriarch himself, who felt that he had reached the limit of that liberty which God accords to believing suppliants at his throne.
Lessons:—
1. The liberty which saints have to approach God in prayer.
2. The Divinely-taught art of wrestling with God in prayer.
3. The great encouragement which saints have to pray without ceasing.
4. The profound interest which saints should ever take in the welfare of their fellow-men.