"And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And He said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. And he spake unto Him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And He said, I will not do it for forty's sake. And he said unto Him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, 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 to speak unto the Lord: 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 and I will speak yet but this once: 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, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And He said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. And the LORD went his way, as soon as He had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place." (Genesis 18:16-33)
I have always been so blessed by this particular passage. The reason is that before the Lord decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, He went down Himself to check out how much evil was being done there. He had apparently "heard" a cry coming from the vicinity of Sodom and Gomorrah, that caused Him to delve deeper into the situation.
Now, I really hate to give too much away, but I have to tell you that in the end, which we will soon see, there are only four people removed from the cities. And these four were removed only because of the righteousness of one. Because one was righteous, and because the Lord had mercy on him and removed his family as well, four people were removed from the cities before the destruction hit. They were given a way of escape. (Although one of them soon died even so because she would not heed the instructions of the Lord; she did not believe Him, she did not have faith.)
Therefore, the "cry" that went up to the Lord about the evil being done in the two cities, had to have come from that one righteous person. Who else besides a righteous one would "cry" out to the Lord? None else!
And what was that cry? It is otherwise known as "prayer." It is a calling upon God, it is a communication with the Lord, it is a heart-felt plea….it is a cry. Prayer is what happens when those who know the goodness of God find themselves witnessing horrible evil being done around them, maybe to them, maybe to others, and their hearts are grieved, dreadfully grieved at the evil and cry out to God to please make it cease! And I believe that the fact that this person (or persons) was crying out to God is evidence of his righteousness before God; in fact, without that crying out, I don't think he would have been considered righteous. He KNEW that God was able to help. And he KNEW God would hear his cry. And God did.
It was this person's cry that brought God to visit the terrible situation at hand. But it was the prayerful plea of another righteous man, as well, that delivered these four persons out of imminent danger and destruction. That particular righteous man was Abraham. It was his communication with God also that sealed the fate of those four people; that brought them out of the cities safely. And that particular prayer is called "intercession." To pray a prayer of intercession, means to "intercede" on the behalf of another. In this case, Abraham was interceding on behalf of any righteous inhabitants of the cities; but most assuredly he was also interceding specifically for his nephew Lot who Abraham knew lived in Sodom.
But for now, what is important to me is that God cared: He cared about the cry that was reaching His ears, He cared about the cities and their inhabitants that He might have to destroy if the evil was as bad as He had heard, He cared enough to verify the facts, and then, and only then, did He destroy as He determined was necessary for so great was the evil that was happening in these places.
Ours is not a capricious God, who one day loves and protects, and the next day hates and destroys. Those whose God is capricious do not know the Almighty God. This passage is evidence of who the Almighty God is; of what His character is. And I find great comfort in knowing that He is not capricious, but loving, and just, and constant.
I also find comfort in the fact that a mere mortal such as Abraham, although one confirmed by the Lord Himself to be righteous and obedient to God, was able, perhaps because of His obedience, to converse in such a manner with God Himself, without fear. THAT is evidence of the relationship that they had together. THAT is evidence that Abraham knew He could trust GOD, even though GOD is GOD. This did not make God someone who could be wrapped around Abraham's finger. Not at all. It just shows us that God loved Abraham, and Abraham knew it and felt safe in that knowledge; safe enough to even risk making the Lord a little angry with his persistent questions. How blessed to have such a relationship with GOD Himself!
How blessed are we to have the offer of just such a relationship, if we would but receive God's promises, still today!
2 comments:
You assign the cry to “one righteous person.” I assume this to be Abraham (maybe he had heard of the wickedness in Sodom from travelers or even Lot himself.) Reading from the bible I have access to at this moment, it says, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave…”
This makes me think it could be a multitude of pleas to God. Could it be the innocent (children) prior to becoming corrupt and violated/abused by the adults in town, could it be travelers who inadvertently stop for food and shelter and are violated (much like the men of the town wished to do the Angels they thought were mere men) or maybe even God’s creation, crying out as it witnesses the despicable acts of Man?
In Psalm 148, the writer says we are to “praise the Lord.” And then continues by telling the sun, moon and stars should praise God; the heavens of heavens and waters above the heavens and then proceeds to mention mountains, hills, trees, beasts, cattle, creeping things and flying fowl.
I don’t disagree that it might have been one righteous man, but having seen the word “outcry” makes me think it would be a great, emotional cry of many.
In your research, did you see anything that might reference this to be a possibility? GW
Excellent thoughts! See blog titled "The Cry of Sodom and Gomorrah" for my response.
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