Genesis study & commentary

Abraham's visitors.
Negotiating rightous in Sodom.

 

Genesis 18:1-5

Abraham was in the shade of his tent when he looked up and saw three men.  His initial response was probably hospitality, but worship was added as he approached them.  We know that this was the Lord that appeared to Abraham.  This is again a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus.  He had already appeared to Abraham twice before.  Abraham bowed low. 

 

The custom of the day was to offer the hospitality of your home to travelers.  Abraham asked these men to be his guests, to wash and eat and refresh their hearts.  The language of verse 3 indicates he is talking to just one of the three.  He addresses Him 'Adonai' which is used again in verse 27 when he declares he spoke to the Lord.

 

Genesis 18:6-8

This showed the importance of hospitality even for a hundred-year-old man like Abraham who hurried to serve his guests.  He asked Sarah to make some bread 'quick' while he ran out and selected a calve so a servant could hurry and butcher it. 

• Abraham hurried
• Sarah was Quick
• He ran
• The servant hurried

After this, he set the meal before them and stood near as they ate.  He had no concern for serving himself.  This seems out of place in our world.  Too many are focused on serving themselves before others.  Then considering this was the Lord, it elevates the service even more; love your neighbor, love the Lord. 

 

Genesis 18:9-15

Abraham had not told Sarah the prophecy of having a child in a year.  The statement in verse 11 seems parenthetical, to remind the reader that Sarah was physically past the age of childbearing.  This keeps us from saying, 'Well, things were different in that day.  People lived longer, so they must have had children at a later age."  The phrase literally means she had long since past the age of menstrual cycle.   

 

God said He would bless Sarah and she would have Abraham's son.  These are the words she had longed to hear.  They meant she wasn't cursed, she wasn't disgraced and God wasn't mad at her.  There may have been a moment of joy at hearing these words but she remembered her age and came to realize God was 70 years late.  God said she would be matriarch of nations and kings would come from her.  She must have wondered if God lost track of her age.  She laughed.

It's the laughter of incredulity (to wondrous to believe): 

• When this 99-year-old man told people his name had been changed to 'Father of a multitude'.
• When Sarah told people she would be the matriarch of kings.
• When others heard the promise of 90-year-old woman giving birth.
• When other couples their age spoke of their great, great, great grandchildren!
• I think we can learn two very important lessons from Sarah here.

 

The Lord asked Abraham why she laughed and thought it to amazing to comprehend.  He asked Abraham a very pointed, yet rhetorical question, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"   The word translated 'too hard' is also translated:

• Astounding, special wonderful, marvelous, miraculous, magnificent, things too wonderful for us to know, God displayed, that are too amazing to grasp, wonder upon wonder, unheard of!

The Lord doesn't wait for an answer; its an known answer, one that's been taught and spoken about, but one that each of us must arrive at on our own.

 

The source of Sarah's fear may have been the embarrassment of the Lord knowing exactly what she said (and felt).  In her fear, Sarah lied to cover he laughter.  The Lord knows our words and deeds.  Our lies are self-deception; a refusal to acknowledge that he already knows our words, deeds, thoughts and our heart.  A.W. Tozer summed it up nicely:

God knows instantly and effortlessly all matter and all matters, all mind and every mind, all spirit and all spirits, all being and every being, all creaturehood and all creatures, every plurality and all pluralities, all law and every law, all relations, all causes, all thoughts, all mysteries, all enigmas, all feelings, all desires, every unuttered secret, all thrones and dominions, all personalities, all things visible and invisible in heaven and in earth, motion, space, time, life, death, good, evil, heaven, and hell.

 

Two points to take with you before you leave this passage:

 

1. Don't laugh when the Lord tells you what He's going to do in your life. 

When you see God guiding your life and you laugh and say, "You're going to do what?!"  You're missing out on God's blessing and sharing in the joy.  Where there should be joy and fellowship with God, we insert incredulous laughter.  We are so encumbered with man's rules, man's science and man's tradition that we forget that nothing is too hard for God.  That's good news for people like me and you.  The trick is to remember that every day.  Sarah forgot momentarily.  Her common sense and reason said this isn't just unlikely, it's downright impossible.  But God makes it possible.  He takes ordinary men and women every day and guides them to do extraordinary and supernatural things.  Be careful putting limits on God – because in fact you can't limit Him.  What you can do is fall into the sin of unbelief.  You can fail to recognize when God is moving and explain it away as the work of your hand, luck or coincidence. 

 

2. Don't lie to the Lord.

If the Lord asks you a question, keep in mind He already knows the answer.  I think even Sarah would agree at this point that this was just plain dumb.  She was afraid.  She laughed as a reaction to fear.  Maybe our reaction to fear should be a trust and faith in the Lord. 

 

"Why did you laugh?" 

 

"I was afraid, Lord!  Take away my fear.  Help me believe.  Help me to be brave and be faithful to your will."

 

Is this the response you have to the Lord?  Or do you respond more like Sarah?  Do you trust Him?  Are you afraid and laughing at what He is saying to you?

 

Genesis 18:16-21

Abraham walked with his guest, as a good host, to see them off when they resumed their journey.    The men 'looked toward Sodom' and Abraham noticed this.  The next time we are told Abraham looked on Sodom is in 19:28 when:

He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

 

As they moved toward Sodom the Lord asked the rhetorical question, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?"  This shows the closeness between Abraham and the Lord.  The Lord said he had chosen Abraham; this 'chosen' means God knew him.  The relationship between the Lord and Abraham came about from the Lord.  The Lord revealed Himself to Abraham through His commands, His covenant and His call on his life.  The 'way of the Lord' was to passed on to the next generations; and then from generation to generation.  We are blessed Abraham's faithfulness.

 

The Lord told Abraham that there is an outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah.  One commentator put it this way:

Sodom and Gomorrah were terrible little towns in which the inhabitants cared only for themselves while they brutalized and oppressed each other. Social violence was de jure. There were no human rights. The poor and needy and defenseless were especially brutalized. Tellingly, the great outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah came from the inhabitants of the cities themselves! Unpunished sin cried out to heaven for vengeance, like the blood of Abel (cf. 4:10). Ominously, the Lord described "the outcry" as "very grave" (vv. 20, 21). Terrifying little towns indeed^.

The outcry came against Sodom from within.  The word used describes an outcry in the face of oppression and injustice.  The wickedness of Sodom ran deeper than moral failings.  Very much like the tower of Babel, the Lord said he would 'go down'.   The investigation is to see if the conditions match the outcry; was it really that bad?  Of course, the Lord knew, the investigation testified to the omniscient and just God that nothing escaped.  The Lord acknowledged that their sin was very great.  He wasn't going to see if they were sinning, He already knew that.   It seems as though He was making the judgment as to whether they had come to the point of no return. 

 

Sin goes on every day; day in and day out.  It seems as though it will always be this way, going on forever.  However, the wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23).  Sin will bring man a long, drawn out, slow death of all that is important.   It will dry up your spirit, wring out your body, dumb down your mind and leave you empty, broken and abandoned.  We can imagine the people of Sodom drowning in the pool of blackness all around them and never realizing it. 

 

In the midst of this:

• Lot looked (Gen 13:10)
• Lot Chose (Gen 13:11)
• Lot Pitched his tents near Sodom (Gen 13:12)
• Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city (Gen 19:1)

 

Lot hadn't set out to live in this wicked city, yet, he also hadn't set out with his eyes on the things and the ways of the Lord.  Lot was worldly, chasing wealth, fame and fortune; power and authority.  Sodom had consumed him.  Maybe, more importantly, Lot had failed to protect his family and they were consumed by this evil.

 

How could Lot do this?  Peter called Lot 'righteous'.  How can this righteous man allow his life to fall to a place where he is forever linked to the standard of wickedness?  It was a little compromise here and a little there.   He looked, he chose, moved closer and stepped in.  Ten it became normal, one day of disobedience at a time.   Constant and continual abiding in sin will result in the death of your marriage, family, health, wealth and eventually your mortal soul.  Our sinful nature says, "It's okay, just this once, dip your little toe in the puddle of sin."  Then the next thing you know you are wallowing in it, convinced you love it and you can't live without it.  The things that used to find appalling, startling, gross and disgusting are now just a normal part of life.  At first those things were just something one saw, then they were nearby, then in the home and before long in your heard and heart. 

 

¹² Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. ¹³ Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord. (Genesis 13:12-13)

 

It may be that Lot convinced himself he was being a witness for the Lord in this dark place.  If that was the case, he didn't do so well at it.  There were no other righteous found there.  Sodom & Gomorrah had thrived in their sin for a long time.  The citizens there seemed to only be focused on their flesh, the here and now of their desires.  The Lord doesn't want any to perish, but He won't wait forever.  The time of judgment had come for Sodom and Gomorrah.  This judgment is just a small glimpse of the wrath of God poured out in judgment.  It is a glimpse of a coming time when the world will be judged.  The age of grace is nearly over.  Sodom had turned their backs on the Lord to swim in their sin; as we look around, we see the same things today.

 

Sodom & Gomorrah became the epitome of decadence, moral failing and wickedness:

• Isaiah 1:10 likens the listeners to Sodom & Gomorrah when they saw themselves as very religious people of God because they offered sacrifices, ate at the feasts; in general, went through all the religious motions.

¹⁰ Hear the word of the Lord,

you rulers of Sodom;

listen to the instruction of our God,

you people of Gomorrah! 

• Jeremiah spoke in a similar way, using Sodom & Gomorrah as the standard of wickedness by which all other wickedness would be measured.

¹⁴ And among the prophets of Jerusalem

I have seen something horrible:

They commit adultery and live a lie.

They strengthen the hands of evildoers,

so that not one of them turns from their wickedness.

They are all like Sodom to me;

the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah." 

 

• Jesus had this to say in relation to Sodom and Gomorrah:

⁹ "Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts—¹⁰ no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. ¹¹ Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. ¹² As you enter the home, give it your greeting. ¹³ If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. ¹⁴ If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. (Matthew 10:9-15)

If Sodom & Gomorrah are the standard of wickedness by which all other would be measured, what Jesus is describing is off the charts wicked.  This is a rejection of God's ministers, a refusal to hear his word and failure to be hospitable to His servants.  It's an outright rejection of Him. 

 

 

Genesis 18:22-33

The two angels left and went toward Sodom leaving Abraham and the Lord.  It seems Abrahm stands between the Lord and Sodom, not to keep the Lord from His will but to plead for the righteous.  It is intercession.  Abraham negotiates with the Lord to find out how many righteous it would take to spare the city.  It might have been a surprise and a bit of a sinking feeling that Lot hadn't been a very good witness.  There weren't many followers of the Lord.

 

Abraham was concerned that the Lord would sweep away the righteous with the wicked.  It is a picture of him loving his neighbor.  He had rescued Lot previously from the wicked kings.  The Lord had told Abraham then that He was his shield and great reward.  Was Lot also shielded by the Lord?  Did Abraham imagine there were fifty righteous?  Did he wonder if Lot and his family were among the fifty? 

 

'Far be it from you' is Abraham's way of recognizing the Lord as the Judge and His ability to judge righteously.  If there were fifty, the Lord wouldn't destroy it.  What if there were only forty-five?  The Lord surely wouldn't destroy the city if they were just a few short of fifty, would He?  Abraham had to ask.  In doing so, he was fully aware he was seeking that which was the Lord's sovereign business.  Abraham acknowledges his humility by likening himself to dust and ashes, of no value in the Lord's presence.  Sodom would be kept safe by the forty.  Abraham worked his way down to 30, 20 and then 10.  Why did Abraham stop at 10? 

 

For a time, the unrighteous are spared for the sake of the righteous.  However, justice cannot overlook the wickedness.  The thought shouldn't be toward the ration of wicked to righteous, but an allowed time, an opportunity for repentance.  God allowed the righteous to have a reforming influence on the wicked.  I believe it was clear to Abraham that the Lord and the angels were about to destroy Sodom?  In the questioning, Abraham found out there were less than ten righteous in the city.   The conversation ended abruptly.  The Lord left; Abraham went home.  The matter was complete.  Abraham didn't ask for more time, for a delay.  He came to understand the time was up.

 

We can look at this and see just how patient the Lord is.  He's not willing to trade the life of any righteous (or those seeking after it) for the destruction of the evil city. 

• The wheat and tares were allowed to grow together until the harvest.  The servants asked, "Do you want us to go and pull them up?" ²⁹ " 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. (Matthew 13:28-29)
• ⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

 

The people of Sodom had turned their back on righteousness.  While the judgment of Sodom was local, it stands as a model of the Lord's patient mercy; but also as a remind of His perfect justice.  Abraham walked away, quite possibly in deep thought of the lessons he learned from the conversation with the Lord.  We can see the judgment of God is:

1. Just, but not without mercy
   1. Fully investigated and found to be wanting; yet the Lord was intent on saving His people from the judgment.  This is good news for us.
2. Merciful, but not without an end to patience
   1. There was opportunity for salvation.  When it became clear none would be found righteous, the wicked were destroyed without mercy.
3. Patient – but still timely
   1. God's patience was for the called to come to righteousness, not for the righteous to play in the world as long as possible.  The wickedness was having its affect on God's people.
4. Timely – a fixed time, the day and hour we can't know.   
   1. Romans 11:25 says the Lord will come to His people when 'the full number of Gentiles has come in'.  This 'full number' also speaks of full ship ready to sail.  It's as if everything were done and the ready for the next step.
   2. The Lord promised Abram "your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure" (Gen 15:16).  We see a similar 'fullness' in sin leading to judgment, opening the way for those coming to the promise.

 

The people of our time, country and world are doing the same every day.  Do you feel like Lot, living on the edge of the city of Sodom?  Are we making an impact?  If the Lord is looking down to see any righteous, will He recognize you as His?  Will He see the impact you have had on your family, neighbors, co-workers and world? 

 

Historian David Wells has found the situation today to be comparable and has written:

There is violence on the earth. The liberated search only for power. Industry despoils the earth. The powerful ride roughshod over the weak. The poor are left to die on street grates. The unborn are killed before they can ever see the rich and beautiful world that God has made. The elderly are encouraged to get on with the business of dying so that we might take their places. The many forms that violence takes in our world provide stunning reminders of how false have been the illusions about freedom with which we have, for two centuries, been enticed in the West.

 

As Lot was free to choose, his nature led him to Sodom and on the verge of judgment that day.  The freedoms of this nation hasn't been used to foster the growth in the things and ways of the Lord.  It's been used to go where our eyes lead us, follow our deceitful hearts and pursue the ways of man to the detriment and destruction of the things of God°. For now.  We know there is a day coming for this world.  It will make Sodom and Gomorrah pale in comparison.  As we know that day is coming, we know this world will look very much like Sodom and Gomorrah.  Do you see that today?

 

We often hear the first part of this passage without the second part:

²⁶ "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. ²⁷ People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

 

²⁸ "It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. ²⁹ But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:26-29)

 

 

Read Isaiah 5:18-25; the days of judgment on Judah were coming.  'Woe' was declared to them who didn't just turn from the Lord, but despised the things of the Lord.

 

In Revelation 18:4-8 Babylon the Great had fallen.

⁴ Then I heard another voice from heaven say:

" 'Come out of her, my people,' ^w

so that you will not share in her sins,

so that you will not receive any of her plagues;

⁵ for her sins are piled up to heaven,

and God has remembered her crimes.

⁶ Give back to her as she has given;

pay her back double for what she has done.

Pour her a double portion from her own cup.

⁷ Give her as much torment and grief

as the glory and luxury she gave herself.

In her heart she boasts,

'I sit enthroned as queen.

I am not a widow;

I will never mourn.'

⁸ Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her:

death, mourning and famine.

She will be consumed by fire,

for mighty is the Lord God who judges her. 

 

Isaiah preached a warning to the people of his day.  Restoration and resurrection is coming, but the judgment of sins must come first.

¹⁹ But your dead will live, Lord;

their bodies will rise—

let those who dwell in the dust

wake up and shout for joy—

your dew is like the dew of the morning;

the earth will give birth to her dead.

²⁰ Go, my people, enter your rooms

and shut the doors behind you;

hide yourselves for a little while

until his wrath has passed by.

²¹ See, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling

to punish the people of the earth for their sins.

The earth will disclose the blood shed on it;

the earth will conceal its slain no longer. (Isaiah 26:19:-21)

 

As the Lord walked away from Abraham, He knew He would come much later and make a way for all mankind to find salvation from judgment.  He would come as a baby in a manger and grow up to die on a Roman Cross.  He was, is and will always be the only righteous one; He will trade this righteous for all the sin in the world.  He took on our sin, so we could take His righteousness.  Everyone can be spared from Judgment if they choose.  This is a kind offer, a kindness that should lead us to repentance.

 

©2019 Doug Ford