Two of the men, later identified as angels, left and went to Sodom, leaving the Lord and Abraham. Abraham now approaches the Lord. There is a mixture of freedom and reverence in his approach to God. He feels able to speak with the Lord and to discuss the coming events, but there is also a recognition that God is God and must be treated with reverence and awe.
There follows a series of exchanges where Abraham asks if God will destroy the city if a few righteous people are found, the numbers gradually going down from 50 to 10. Abraham argues that it would be wrong for God to destroy everyone if there even a few righteous people in the city. Each time the Lord agrees with Abraham, and Abraham calls off the exchange at 10.
Now what was Abraham doing here? Was he seeking to ensure that God did the right thing? Was God in danger of not doing the right thing? From other incidents in the Bible (eg Moses and God, Jesus and the Syro-Phonecian woman) there are times when God certainly appears to respond to the intervention of men and women. We should certainly not have a fatalistic view of life (sometimes a danger with some views of predestination), for it is clear that God wants people to do the right thing, and responds when we do so (look at Ninevah in Jonah).
However, in this case something else may well be at work. The key feature of Sodom and Gomorrah as far as Abraham was concerned was that Lot and his family lived there, and Abraham had a deep affection for his nephew. If we look ahead to Genesis 19:27-29 we see that Abraham was looking at the now destroyed city, and it says thatr God had remembered Abraham and brought Lot out safely. Maybe this whole prayer incident is a matter of Abraham really wanting to ensure God saved Lot, but being afraid to ask Him directly. Yet God knew what was really on Abraham's heart and answered the real prayer anyway. God is more aware of our concerns than we realise, and is more ready to answer than we think.
There follows a series of exchanges where Abraham asks if God will destroy the city if a few righteous people are found, the numbers gradually going down from 50 to 10. Abraham argues that it would be wrong for God to destroy everyone if there even a few righteous people in the city. Each time the Lord agrees with Abraham, and Abraham calls off the exchange at 10.
Now what was Abraham doing here? Was he seeking to ensure that God did the right thing? Was God in danger of not doing the right thing? From other incidents in the Bible (eg Moses and God, Jesus and the Syro-Phonecian woman) there are times when God certainly appears to respond to the intervention of men and women. We should certainly not have a fatalistic view of life (sometimes a danger with some views of predestination), for it is clear that God wants people to do the right thing, and responds when we do so (look at Ninevah in Jonah).
However, in this case something else may well be at work. The key feature of Sodom and Gomorrah as far as Abraham was concerned was that Lot and his family lived there, and Abraham had a deep affection for his nephew. If we look ahead to Genesis 19:27-29 we see that Abraham was looking at the now destroyed city, and it says thatr God had remembered Abraham and brought Lot out safely. Maybe this whole prayer incident is a matter of Abraham really wanting to ensure God saved Lot, but being afraid to ask Him directly. Yet God knew what was really on Abraham's heart and answered the real prayer anyway. God is more aware of our concerns than we realise, and is more ready to answer than we think.
No comments:
Post a Comment