The Abraham Story Part 15: Abraham Intercedes for Lot

Abraham Intercedes for Lot

Starting in Genesis 18

On the hilltop, with sacred trees, we're eating a meal, God and humans, by the tent. How Wonderful

We've got Avraham.  Yahweh voice of God is appearing as a human, we've got Avraham, we've got Yahweh, we've got Sarah in the tent. And it was this whole scene replaying Genesis 2 and 3.

Genesis 18:16–33 CSB

16 The men got up from there and looked out over Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to see them off. 17 Then the Lord said, “Should I hide what I am about to do from Abraham? 18 Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. This is how the Lord will fulfill to Abraham what he promised him.” 20 Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin is extremely serious. 21 I will go down to see if what they have done justifies the cry that has come up to me. If not, I will find out.” 22 The men turned from there and went toward Sodom while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. 23 Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away instead of sparing the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people who are in it? 25 You could not possibly do such a thing: to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that! Won’t the Judge of the whole earth do what is just?” 26 The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” 27 Then Abraham answered, “Since I have ventured to speak to my lord—even though I am dust and ashes—28 suppose the fifty righteous lack five. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 Then he spoke to him again, “Suppose forty are found there?” He answered, “I will not do it on account of forty.” 30 Then he said, “Let my lord not be angry, and I will speak further. Suppose thirty are found there?” He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” 31 Then he said, “Since I have ventured to speak to my lord, suppose twenty are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it on account of twenty.” 32 Then he said, “Let my lord not be angry, and I will speak one more time. Suppose ten are found there?” He answered, “I will not destroy it on account of ten.” 33 When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

So Genesis 18 verses 1-15 we were just tracking parallel with Genesis 2 and 3. I'm expecting a certain set of things to go down. And this creative twist on what you expect might happen is really pretty cool. 

"So the men arose from there," there being on the hilltop, under the tree, by the tent. And you know, they could look down. They're up in the hill country of what will later be called the hill country of Judea. And so there are some hills you gotta kinda get down, but if you're near even the ancient and the modern city of Hebron, you begin to get some hilltops, where you can see down to the valley, Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea. And so they looked down on the valley. 

You remember when Lot lifted his eyes and looked down there, he saw, well, his version of Eden down there. 

"So they looked down."  And there in that valley there is the city of Sodom.

"Now, Avram just happened to be walking with them. He went to go send them off." Any polite host would do that for his guests.

"And Yahweh said to himself," apparently out loud, 'cause Avraham hears all this, "'You know, should I hide from Avraham the thing that I am about to do?

You know, here's the thing about Avraham. He will certainly become a great nation and powerful. In fact, all of the nations of the land are gonna discover blessing through him.

And you know, I have come to know him, in terms of I've initiated a relationship with him. I've come to know him for a handful of reasons. One is so that he would command his sons and his house after him to keep the way of Yahweh by doing what is right and by doing justice, so that Yahweh will bring upon Avraham all that he's spoken about him.'"

What an interesting little speech.

So here's Yahweh and his chosen one on the high place. And he's saying, you know, "I think I should include Avraham in my plans for the nations. I mean, Avraham's gonna become a source of blessing to all of the nations.

In fact, the reason I chose him," and this is my paraphrase now, "is so that he would raise a family that knows how to live in the path." It's this metaphor of the way of the Lord. It's the first time the phrase is used in the Bible, "the way of the Lord." Here it is. 

So the way of the Lord, and what is the way of the Lord? What's the definition? What does that mean? It's by doing righteousness. It's that word from Genesis 15, so learning how to do right by people in the context of your relationship, and then by doing justice.

Doing right by your neighbor and right by God by dealing with justice. So that's one of the reasons. Actually, look at the structure of the sentence in verse 19. "I have come to know him so that he will shape a family that does things Yahweh's way, righteousness and justice." The assumption is there's a lot of families doing a lot of different ways to be human, and we're doing a new humanity thing here, which is doing right by God and neighbor and doing justice. "So that Yahweh will bring upon Avraham all that he's spoken." So that.

"So that Yahweh will bring upon him." Wait, I thought Yahweh was just gonna do this.

No. Nope. The only way this thing's gonna work is if Avraham is a real partner in this relationship, and Avraham's children, yes?

This is so fascinating. So "Abraham will become a great nation, and all the nations will discover a blessing through him." So that, when you just read that sentence, you're like, "Oh, God's gonna do it." And Avraham can be a bumbling idiot, we know that, but somehow, God's just gonna do it. So yes.

But also, Avraham must become a contributing partner so that the thing that God has promised will come about. And to us, that sounds on the surface like, can you, do those both make sense at the same time?

I thought either Yahweh's just gonna do it, but Abraham also has to do it. But we know that he doesn't do it very well, and so how is Yahweh gonna do it if Avraham? And that, you're just, welcome to the plot tension that is the Bible.

This is built into the plot tension. He's not gonna do it without humans, but humans are the problem in it all happening and, God's plan happening in the first place. So this, the biblical authors refuse to cut the knot, or give us the philosophical treatise on divine sovereignty and human free will. But they walk us to the precipice in story after story and just say, "Listen, you just gotta trust that this is a thing that Yahweh can bring about, and that it won't be without us, but it will also be despite us."

"Then Yahweh said,'You know, the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah, oh, it's huge. And their failure,'" that is, their sin, "'it is heavy, very much.

You know what I should do?

I should go down there.

I should go down there so that I can see if the outcry that has come up before me, if that outcry matches what they've actually completely done down there. And if not, if the outcry is somehow, you know, maybe a little over, over baked, a little out of proportion, well, then, I'll know that.'" So that's the second speech that Yahweh makes. So do you hear this right here? 

The outcry against Sodom. Who would be crying out against Sodom and Gomorrah? It's just assumed in the story here, but think through the melody that you know and where we are in the melody here. This is the blood of Abel.

This is the violence and bloodshed on the land that rises up to God in the flood. And here it is. It's exactly the same language.

When's the last time that humans started doing something and it was just so bad and intense that Yahweh said, "You know, I should, I should go down there"?

Do you know? This is great Bible trivia.

This will be now the second time that God has come down to see.

Genesis 11:5–6 CSB

5 Then the Lord came down to look over the city and the tower that the humans were building. 6 The Lord said, “If they have begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

The first time was in the building of the city of Babylon.

Yahweh came down to come check out the city and the tower.

And Yahweh does his thorough investigation and then comes to a conclusion: "Yeah, this is, this has to stop now." So this is a, this is a narrative depiction of Yahweh as the just and righteous judge.

He's heard a accusation against the city, and before he just, you know, delivers a sentence, he's gonna go, he's gonna send emissaries, so to speak, to go, to go check it out.

So these are the two speeches of Yahweh, and it just raised the question of what did these two speeches have to do with each other?

And the rest of the narrative is gonna unfold that implicit relationship here. I wonder if Avraham is going to play any role in the future of these cities and the outcry against them. Oh, yeah, it's like what's gonna happen next. 

When Yahweh enlists a covenant partner, he consistently chooses to self limit, to act in and through his covenant partners. - Tim Mackie The Bible Project

However, even that self limitation to act through them won't threaten God's ultimate purposes. And this is gonna come to fruition at the end of Genesis, with Joseph and Joseph's brothers, when he says, "Y'all planned this for evil, but Yahweh had a counterplan, and he's been planning it for good." And something similar is happening here. "Something is not good going down in Sodom, but you know, Avraham's my partner, and so he's the one who's, I've gotta work with." So Yahweh's just having this like self-talk here, and then look at this next line. "So the men turned from there and they went down to Sodom. But Avraham, he was just standing there the whole time."

So Avraham has just been invited to play a role in God's council, right? God's got a crew that he processes plans with. They appear later in the biblical story, and it just turns out that now there's a human standing there, in the middle of Yahweh's planning session, and he just overheard all of this. And so what is Avraham supposed to do?

Sodom, Cain, the Flood, and Babylon

So here's the phrase we just read: "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is huge. I should go down there, if the outcry that's come up before me is what they have done." These are little phrases taken from the story of Cain and Abel. He comes up saying to Cain, "What is this that you have done? The blood is crying out from the ground." This is from the introduction to the flood narrative, "The end of all flesh has come up before me." And then the story of Babylon, "Yahweh came down and said, 'This is what they've begun to do. Come, let us go down and confuse their language.'" So we're taking Cain's city that resulted in the bloodshed that defiles the land, the end of all flesh, and Babylon. 

Sodom and Gomorrah is like a combination of all the ra cities that came before it. It's Cain's city, it's the generation of the flood, it's Babylon. It's like the mega, the megacity of man. And there's a reason why Sodom and Gomorrah will become icons of divine judgment on human evil throughout the rest of the Bible.

Sodom and Gomorrah gets brought up a lot. So as we get to this, we're coming to the crescendo, you can see the storm clouds brewing. And there's a reason why Sodom and Gomorrah is so significant, 'cause it's the culmination of all of the bad cities leading up to the ultimate bad city. And so these little hyperlinks are, kind of help, leading us in that direction.

For example in Ezekiel 16:48-50

Ezekiel 16:48–50 CSB

48 “ ‘As I live—the declaration of the Lord God—your sister Sodom and her daughters have not behaved as you and your daughters have. 49 Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had pride, plenty of food, and comfortable security, but didn’t support the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did detestable acts before me, so I removed them when I saw this.

Ezekiel’s portrait of Sodom seems to be based on this entire network of analogies, not just the story in Genesis 19.

The result of these analogies is that Sodom and Gomorrah become an amalgamation of Cain’s city of blood, the generation of the flood, and the hubris of Babylon. It’s an icon of the human city of idolatry and violence, where the innocent suffer and cry out to God.

Avraham’s Justice and Righteousness

So the whole question is how is Avraham, what role is he going to play in Yahweh's purposes?

What role is he going to play in this investigation about Sodom? And what will it look like for Avraham to do the way of the Lord and do righteousness and justice?

"So Avraham, he drew near to Yahweh and he said, 'Are you really about to sweep away the righteous along with the wicked?

Let's just say, I'm just saying here, what if there's 50 righteous people in the middle of that city down there? Would you really sweep it away? I mean, let's just, let's just stop. Wouldn't you forgive the place on account of those 50 righteous that are in it? I mean, far be it from you to do such a thing, to put to death the righteous along with the wicked. That would be making the righteous and the wicked, treating them like they're the same. Far be it from you, but wouldn't you, the justice bringer of all the land, do justice?'" So this is interesting. Avraham thinks he's gonna teach Yahweh about justice.

That's interesting. And then on the surface of it, you're like, "Yeah, he brings up a good point."

In the flood story, the narrative was very clear, like, humanity was just a lost cause and you had one righteous remnant in the midst there. But Avraham's like, "Listen, like, I, my nephew's down there, but there could be a lot more. I don't know. Do you know, Yahweh?" So what, what, what an amazing scene. This is bold. He's gonna, he's gonna teach Yahweh about justice. 

So let's start, he starts with 50.

"And Yahweh said, 'If I find 50 righteous ones in the middle of the city, yeah, I'll forgive the whole place on account of those 50.'" The righteousness of a minority can cover over the sins of the many. That's a principle that Yahweh will work with and adopt.

"Abraham answered and said, 'Well, look. Please, you know, I've already attempted to speak to my master, and I'm just dust and ashes, but let's just say that 50 group righteous, let's just say there's five missing that day.'" Maybe they went on a trip or something. "Would you cause the ruin?" This is right out of the flood narrative. "Would you cause the ruin of the whole city just 'cause there's five missing?"

Notice his language. He doesn't say, "What if there's 45?" He makes it about just a smaller number. Like, "What if there's just five missing?" "And he said, 'No, no, I, I wouldn't cause the ruin if I found 45 there.' And he further spoke to him and said, 'Ah, maybe 40?' 'No, I wouldn't do it on account of 40.'

'Please don't get angry. Don't burn with hot anger about what I'm about to say. Let's say there's 30.' And Yahweh said, 'Oh no, I wouldn't do it if there were 30.'

'Look, please, I've already overstepped my bounds here. Well, what about 20?' 'No, no, I wouldn't cause the ruin about 20.' And he said, 'Please, please don't, don't get angry. Just one more time.

10? What if there's 10?' 'No, I wouldn't cause the ruin on account of 10.' And then Yahweh went away when he finished speaking to Avraham, and Avraham returned to his place."

This is one of the best stories in the Old Testament. This is so awesome!

I remember reading and thinking, that Avraham is haggling with God here. And it made sense to me, although it was strange, that Avraham is sort of like sticking up for the, you know, the puny little humans. And you know, when God pulls these flood stunts, how can God be assured that the right people are gonna receive judgment and that the wrong people will be

That the right people will be spared and that the right people will receive what they ought to. And so in the generation of the flood, okay, I guess Noah was the only one, but let's think about later terrible acts, like when Babylon comes to town. You've got a Daniel in there, and he didn't, what did he do wrong? Nothing. He was like a stand-up guy. 

So Avraham actually has a point. When God does these de-creation things, how can we be sure that the principle of justice is being observed? That's a solid point.

But what's interesting is that Avraham assumes that this is his concern and that it's not also Yahweh's concern, and so he feels like he needs to Question Yahweh 

And so then you've got this number, this number game.

When you haggle, the person who's trying to buy something, you start low, assuming that the seller's gonna go higher.

So "Fifty, what if there's 50 righteous?" And that's strategically aimed, 'cause what you really want to get to is 75. And so they're gonna come back, "Well, 100." "Well, okay. What about 57?" "Nah, 93." Right? And you go down and you meet in the middle. That's haggling. 

So the fact that, if this is a form of haggling, Yahweh is a really bad haggler.

There are problems with this interpretation. Avraham sets up the conversation as a bartering exchange, but Yahweh’s responses subvert Avraham’s assumptions.

Avraham presents himself as “the buyer,” starting at a low number, expecting that God would raise the numbers, so they can meet in the middle, say, 105.

God unhesitatingly responds “yes” to every number Avraham proposes. This is not how you barter!

Avraham is the one who stops at 10 people, and he’s the one who stops the conversation. Genesis 18:33 does say that “Yahweh finished speaking to Avraham,” but this is God’s response to Avraham saying “one last time” (םעפה ךא), before asking for 10. God follows Avraham’s lead here.

It's rather that Avraham, from a right motive, but really big assumptions, assumes that he is gonna teach Yahweh about justice. And so he steps into this thinking that this is gonna be a haggling situation. And what Yahweh does is allow the limits of Avraham's understanding to determine the situation. 

And Yahweh's just like, "Yeah, I'm the kind of God who would forgive a city on behalf of the righteous. I think we've actually worked through that principle a couple of times already, but if you need another lesson on it, yes." But notice, he lets Avraham lead.

He lets Avraham lead. Like, he doesn't respond and just say, "Fifty? Yeah. I'd do it for one." He lets Avraham's assumption drive it. And then who's the one who ends the conversation? Abraham is the one who says, "Just one more time. Ten." And it leaves you wondering, like, well, could he have gone farther? What if he had asked for more? Is there any indication that Yahweh would've said, "No. Like, eight. Done with eight."

“To the question, then, of whether there is haggling in Genesis 18, one might, perhaps, say yes, but haggling seems to be the intention of only one of the participants. ... It is [Avraham’s] language that is extravagant; he is the one who requires Yhwh’s justice to be quantifiable … On the other hand, Yhwh refuses to participate in this game. Yhwh uses simple language and acquiesces in a straightforward manner. To every bid that Abraham makes there is only a divine yes and never a no. ... [So then] it might be better to speak of Yhwh’s subversion of the pattern of haggling. Yhwh’s opening speech (18:17-19), in which he emphasizes that he will not hide from Abraham his intent toward Sodom and Gomorrah … Abraham, however, acts as though this significant move has not been taken. He continues to work within parameters that are obsolete, and it is perhaps this confusion that leads him to conclude at the perplexing figure of ten. If one were to search for a parallel other than haggling, comparison might be made to a child persistently testing parental boundaries, whether real or imagined.” MacDonald, Nathan (2004). “Listening to Abraham, Listening to Yhwh: Divine Justice and Mercy in Genesis 18:16-33.” Catholic Biblical Quarterly (vol. 66). 40-41.

On a second, more careful reading, God invites Avraham into the divine council to begin teaching him “the way of Yahweh,” which means “doing justice and righteousness.” Avraham is unacquainted with Yahweh’s way and so assumes he has to haggle mercy out of Yahweh. Then, Yahweh subverts Avraham’s assumption in an attempt to teach him how to be a faithful partner, and Avraham only partially succeeds, stopping with the number 10.

Righteousness, Justice, and the Way of the Lord

There is an important contrast between what Yahweh says about his calling of Avraham, and what Avraham assumes about Yahweh’s character.

This is what Yahweh says about his “way

Genesis 18:19 LEB

19 For I have chosen him, that he will command his children and his household after him that they will keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice, so that Yahweh may bring upon Abraham that which he said to him.”

Indeed, I have known him, so that he would command his sons and his house after him, that they should keep the way of Yahweh, by doing righteousness and justiceso that Yahweh will bring upon Avraham what he has spoken about him.

This is what Avraham amassumes about Yahweh’s “way.”

Genesis 18:25 NASB95

25 “Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?”

Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put to death the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and wicked become alike! Far be it from you! Shouldn’t the justice-bringer of all the land do justice

The phrase “do righteousness and justice” is an idiom used to describe the actions of a leader done on behalf of his people to confront the forces of injustice and inequity, to deliver the poor and vulnerable in order to improve their quality of life. It is often synonymous with “mercy.”

2 Samuel 8:15 CSB

15 So David reigned over all Israel, administering justice and righteousness for all his people.

Isaiah 9:6–7 NASB95

6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

Jeremiah 22:3 CSB

3 This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from his oppressor. Don’t exploit or brutalize the resident alien, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.

Ezekiel 18:5–8 LEB

5 And if a man is righteous and does justice and righteousness, 6 and on the mountains he does not eat and he does not lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and the wife of his neighbor he does not defile and he does not approach a woman of menstruation, 7 and he oppresses no one and he returns a pledge for his loan and he commits no robbery and he gives his bread to the hungry and he covers a naked person with a garment, 8 and he does not charge interest and he takes no usury, and he holds back his hand from injustice and he executes a judgment of fairness between persons,

If the above is what it means for humans to do justice and righteousness, what does it means to say that righteousness and justice characterize “the way of Yahweh” (Genesis 18:19)?

Psalm 103:6–12 NIV

6 The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: 8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

The “ways of Yahweh” here are linked to not only righteousness and justice for the vulnerable but also to compassion, mercy, and patience that are displayed in forgiving people and not treating them as their sins deserve.

Psalm 103 is packed with hyperlinks to the golden calf narrative, where Moses ascends Mount Sinai to intercede for Israel in much the same way that Avraham does for Sodom. But Moses does not barter; he is much more bold as he asks for Yahweh’s mercy. In contrast, Avraham asks Yahweh a different question

The phrase “to judge” and “justice” (טפשמ/טפש) can also be combined into "to judge with justice,” an idiom that primarily refers to judicial procedure and reward or punishment

“The dialogue begins with Yhwh’s indication that he is about to go down to discover the truth about Sodom’s deeds. Punishment is by no means certain, but it is a distinct possibility. Abraham is given the opportunity to intercede for the city; he is treated as Yhwh’s partner and told of Yhwh’s plans, and he is then allowed to make his own con tribution. Unlike Moses, Amos, and the other prophets, however, Abraham does not appeal to the mercy of God and ask for full forgiveness; instead, presuming Yhwh to be a harsh judge, he prepares to barter with him. His strategy is undone by Yhwh’s persistent acceptance of Abraham’s offer; Yhwh turns out to be far more merciful than Abraham imagines. Drawing the line at ten indicates not only the depth of Sodom’s sin but also that Abraham has not plumbed the depths of Yhwh’s grace … Yhwh has become Abraham’s teacher, and the dialogue at Mamre is an important moment in the moral education of Abraham. It is the moment when Yhwh seeks to instruct Abraham about ‘his way,’ and the dialogue is an interactive lesson in which Abraham learns the extent of Yhwh’s mercy toward his creation, so that Abraham and his descendants may follow in that same way.”MacDonald, Nathan (2004). “Listening to Abraham, Listening to Yhwh: Divine Justice and Mercy in Genesis 18:16-33.” Catholic Biblical Quarterly (vol. 66). 40-41.

“It is a consistent aspect of the biblical portrayal of the relationship between God and human beings that human response is crucial. Genesis 19:29 affirms that Abraham has genuinely been made party to Yhwh’s decisions and may have a role in shaping them. The tragedy is that, in comparison with the intercessions of other biblical prophets, Abraham’s for Sodom and Gomorrah might have saved the cities had he asked for mercy. The irony is that Abraham gains what he requests: the righteous are not treated as the wicked.” MacDonald, Nathan (2004). “Listening to Abraham, Listening to Yhwh: Divine Justice and Mercy in Genesis 18:16-33.” Catholic Biblical Quarterly (vol. 66). 41.

Lot Delivered from Destruction

Bibliography

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