Gen 18:22-23 | KingComments | STEP | These verses begin and end with a message about the departure of the two angels to Sodom. They “looked down toward Sodom” ( ) and they “went toward Sodom” ( ). In the verses in between we are made partakers of the deliberations of the LORD. He discusses with Himself whether He will make known to Abraham what He will do with Sodom and Gomorrah. He mentions the conditions Abraham meets to involve him in His plans. Everything in his house is ruled by God’s Word. If things are so, God can make His thoughts known. God cannot make such announcements to people like Lot. To convince us of His absolute righteousness, the LORD informs us that He will descend to get the confirmation of what has come to His attention. He knows everything that happens on earth. But also here He involves us in His way of working and describes this in a way that we can understand and imitate. He doesn’t judge without having examined the case thoroughly. When the time of departure has come, Abraham bids his guests farewell. He sends them on their way “in a manner worthy of God” ( ). He wants to enjoy their company for as long as possible. This gives the LORD the opportunity to share His thoughts with Abraham ( ).

‏ Genesis 18:22-23

Considerations of the LORD

These verses begin and end with a message about the departure of the two angels to Sodom. They “looked down toward Sodom” (Gen 18:16) and they “went toward Sodom” (Gen 18:22). In the verses in between we are made partakers of the deliberations of the LORD. He discusses with Himself whether He will make known to Abraham what He will do with Sodom and Gomorrah. He mentions the conditions Abraham meets to involve him in His plans. Everything in his house is ruled by God’s Word. If things are so, God can make His thoughts known. God cannot make such announcements to people like Lot.

To convince us of His absolute righteousness, the LORD informs us that He will descend to get the confirmation of what has come to His attention. He knows everything that happens on earth. But also here He involves us in His way of working and describes this in a way that we can understand and imitate. He doesn’t judge without having examined the case thoroughly.

When the time of departure has come, Abraham bids his guests farewell. He sends them on their way “in a manner worthy of God” (3Jn 1:6). He wants to enjoy their company for as long as possible. This gives the LORD the opportunity to share His thoughts with Abraham (Pro 3:32b).

Intercession of Abraham

God’s communications concerning Sodom and Gomorrah have an effect on Abraham which is worth to be imitated. Instead of retreating into complacency because judgment does not affect him, he becomes an intercessor for others. Before that he comes “near” (Gen 18:23), he comes close to the LORD. This must also be the effect for us in everything the Lord reveals to us about the judgment that comes over the world.

This prayer of Abraham is the first prayer we find in the Bible and it is a prayer to spare Sodom. Abraham has already acted in favor of the city before and has freed its inhabitants from the hand of its enemies for the sake of Lot (Gen 14:11-16). Now he intervenes for the city in a different way, as an intercessor, again for the sake of Lot.

Abraham undoubtedly abhorred the wickedness of Sodom. He never would have chosen to live there, like Lot did. Yet he prayed fervently and urgently for the city. We must hate sin, but feel sorry for sinners and pray for them. God takes “no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Eze 33:11).

God’s desire should also be our desire. That desire is expressed in the first place in our intercession (1Tim 2:1-4). Intercession does not require a spiritual gift, but a heart that shares in God’s feelings. Or should He also be astonished about us, because He finds no spirit of intercession in us (Isa 59:16a; Eze 22:30 ; Eze 13:5)?

Abraham’s faith grows with every answer to his prayers. Each time he gets what he asks for. We see in him “the holy persistence” of prayer (Lk 11:8) that bridges the infinite distance between creature and Creator. This is the kind of prayer that constantly insists on God and doesn’t indulge until He gives in. Each time the LORD confirms that He will spare the city for the sake of the righteous if they are found there. It is an encouragement to us that we must continue to ask, for God hears the prayer of the righteous.

Abraham prays with knowledge of God. He knows Him as “the Judge of all the earth” Who deals justly (Gen 18:25; Job 34:10-11). That is the starting point and the basis of his intercession. He knows that God will never sweep away the righteous with the wicked. He also approaches God in the deep awareness of his own smallness before Him in the recognition that he is dust and ashes (cf. 2Sam 7:18; Job 42:5-6). If we approach in that attitude, we may know that our prayer is pleasing to Him (Pro 15:8b).

As long as Abraham asks, the LORD gives. We have here abundant evidence of prayer answering. When the LORD has finished speaking because Abraham doesn’t ask further, He goes away. It seems as if Abraham eventually does not get what he asked for, but in the next chapter we see that his prayer has been answered (Gen 19:29).