And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
And Abraham drew near. The traditional spot where this memorable intercession was made is called Caphar barucha, whence, through a ravine, a distant view of the Dead Sea and its environs is to be obtained (see further the note at Genesis 19:27). The scene described is full of interest and instruction-showing in an unmistakeable manner the efficacy of prayer and intercession. (See also Proverbs 15:8; James 5:16.) Abraham reasoned justly as to the rectitude of the divine procedure (Romans 3:5-6); and many guilty cities and nations have been spared on account of God's people (Matthew 5:13; Matthew 24:22). The continued and increased urgency of Abraham's pleading with God, which almost rises into [anaaideia (Luke 11:5-8)] shamelessness, assumes an entirely different character, from the consideration that he is not a suppliant for any benefit to himself, nor even to his nephew Lot, but an intercessor for the people of Sodom generally. 'His importunity was prompted by the love which springs from the consciousness that one's own preservation and rescue are due to compassionate grace alone; love, too, which cannot conceive of the guilt of others as too great for salvation to be possible. This sympathetic love, springing from the faith which was counted for righteousness, impelled him to the intercession which Luther thus describes: -`He prayed six times, and with so much ardour and depth of emotion that, in gradually lessening the numbers, in order to ensure the preservation of the wretched cities, he seems to speak almost foolishly. This seemingly commercial kind of entreaty is the essence of true prayer, which bridges over the infinite distance of the creature from the Creator, appeals with importunity to the heart of God, and ceases not until its point is gained' (Keil and Delitzsch).