A Strong Negotiating Position - Genesis 18:16-33

Bible Study Lesson for September 23

Introduction: In the book of Jonah, there is an interesting interaction between God and the prophet Jonah. As the book is winding up, the prophet is outside the city of Nineveh, the capital of the hated empire of Assyria, and he is waiting for God to rain down destruction on the city. Earlier in the story, Jonah had walked across the city proclaiming the destruction of Nineveh in forty days. But forty days pass, and there has been no destruction, because the king of Nineveh has led the people in repenting over their sins, going so far as dressing the cattle in mourning clothes.

Jonah is angry with God. He says, “This is why I didn’t want to come here: I knew that you are slow to anger and quick to forgive, and I was afraid that the people of this city would seek forgiveness and you would easily give it to them.” God’s answer is, “Of course I forgave them; I made them! I love them in a way you can’t understand because you aren’t their Creator!” In passages like that we have a foretaste of the gospel. If we are being honest, it may frustrate us sometimes, but God is a forgiving God.

I love stories in the Bible of surprising ways that people interact with God. How many of us would dare talk to God like Jonah does? How many of us would call God a “big softy” in a direct conversation?! But because Jonah raises this objection, God responds with a lesson about who God is. In God’s relationship with Moses, we see a lot more give and take than we might expect, with Moses persuading God to make accommodations for Moses’s insecurities, and then with God and Moses taking turns talking each other into being more merciful with the people when they fail. We find in these relationships a lot more of a personal relationship with God than we might think possible if we just came to belief in God with a philosophical view of a God who is all-knowing, all-powerful, and non-emotional. The story of God and Abraham in Genesis 18:16-33 provides an early picture of this relational, vulnerable God.

Genesis 18:16-21 How much do we let the kids know?

The story picks up where we left off last week; the three men are leaving the dinner with Abraham and Sarah, and here we find that they are on a mission beyond announcing Isaac’s birth. They turn towards Sodom, a great city we have encountered before. Already in Genesis 13:10, we have been told that God will destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, and that will happen in Genesis 19.

We have in verses 17-19 God reflecting on the nature of God’s relationship with Abraham and the role God has selected for Abraham in world history. Abraham is God’s chosen, but it is important to note what Abraham is chosen for: to become a great nation (privilege), which will bless all the nations of the earth (obligation), to teach his descendants to follow God’s commands concerning righteousness and justice (obligation), so that God can fulfill the promises to Abraham (privilege). God’s election places people at the intersection of privilege and obligation. God decides that part of Abraham’s privilege is that he gets an inside perspective on God’s plans. The question we should be asking at this point is, what is Abraham going to do with this inside perspective?

God’s plan is to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah,because of the “outcry” against them, and because their sin is grave (v. 20). We will examine the sins of Sodom next week, but for now lets just consider the word “outcry.” Elsewhere in the Old Testament, this word is used predominantly to describe the outrage of people who have been exploited or are victims of injustice. The sins of Sodom are to be understood as primarily the type of sins that hurt vulnerable people. There is apparently no concern in the city for the poor or victims in their society. But God is concerned. God is going to look into the allegations and see if things are really that bad. Again, the nature of the test will be explored in the next chapter, but for now lets just say that the reception of the angels in Sodom will contrast greatly with Abraham’s reception of them in the first half of chapter 18.

18:22-33 Up for Discussion

Injustice and unrighteousness have consequences. This is the overwhelming message of the discussions of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18:22-19:29. In 18:22 God sends the two men (angels) to go to Sodom, and continues to talk with Abraham. Thus God not only divulges the divine plan to Abraham, but also allows Abraham the opportunity to respond and ask questions. Abraham assumes the role of either a rabbinic teacher or a lawyer arguing on behalf of a defendant. He asks if, in the city of Sodom, there might be fifty righteous, would God still destroy everything. In a genius stroke of negotiation, with every concession by God Abraham works the number down all the way to ten. God allows, finally, that if ten righteous people are found, the city will be saved.

Abraham’s negotiation with God reveals a few things. First, because we know that Sodom is going to be destroyed, it implies that there are not ten righteous to be found in the city. Indeed, it seems that only four people escape the destruction, and that is the family of Lot. So this story is a story about exceptional wickedness.

Digging a little deeper, and moving toward application, God’s concessions to Abraham reveal the effect of righteous people in a society. There seems to be an ability of those who practice righteousness and justice to shield a group from judgment, at least for a time. The calamity that will strike Sodom and Gomorrah is “biblical” in proportion, and while we shouldn’t rush to point to every disaster as being evidence of God’s judgment (see Luke 13:2), this one clearly is. 

Digging even deeper, Abraham here serves as an example of how faithful people should intercede for their neighbors. Too often we see media portrayals of people professing to be Christians celebrating or at least obsessed with prophecies about the destruction of the wicked. If we take Abraham as our model, we should rather be praying that God have mercy on them.

Conclusion

This brings us back to our discussion of Jonah. To understand Jonah, we have to remember the animosity the people of Israel and Judah would have felt toward their Assyrian oppressors. Assyria was a nation that, when they decided to take over a country, would empty it of its inhabitants and put people from other countries in their place, as a way of disrupting national identity. The prophets characterize them as a proud and oppressive people, who misinterpret God’s using them as instruments of divine judgment and instead think of themselves as better than everyone. We can understand Jonah’s hatred of these enemies of Israel. But God wants to teach the prophet that no one is beyond repentance.

Abraham, in contrast with Jonah, prays for the deliverance of Sodom. He doesn’t get what he prays for, but we see that his prayer is effective in revealing the mercy of God. When we see people bound for destruction, do we look forward to our vindication or do we mourn the fate that we believe waits for the wicked? Are we willing to ask God to have mercy on our enemies? Abraham reminds us that prayer—talking to God— is a powerful resource for believers. What do we pray for that benefits others and not ourselves?

Finally, this passage reminds me of the cross. Among the last words of Jesus was a petition for mercy for those who crucified him: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34). It is tempting to want to see others get what’s coming to them, but the witness of scripture from Abraham to Jesus encourages us to pray for those who are on a bad path. We should pray for those who hurt us, who cheat us, who abuse us. This is part of it means to be Christlike, to be Godlike: “Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezek. 33:11).