Just about everybody who is familiar with the Bible knows about the story of Sodom and Gommorah in Genesis 18. I find it to be a very rich story, and every time I read it, I get something new out of it. I just recently read it, I noticed verse 19 for the first time. Verse 19 is part of a three verse passage where God talks about his decision to discuss with Abraham the situation concerning Sodom and Gommorah:
Before we continue, there are a couple of key words in this verse that we need to define—righteousness and justice. Righteousness means basically treating other people right or fairly. Justice means putting things right. When people come to a person in authority—like a king or a judge--with a complaint about someone not treating them right, they want the person in authority to perform justice, or in other words, to put things right, whatever that entails.
So, what is being taught in this story about “doing righteousness and justice”? In this story God, who is the person in authority, reveals that, “the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great.” (vs. 20) In other words, God has heard a ton of complaints about Sodom and Gomorrah not treating people right. So, God decides he needs to get involved. There are two notable things that God does before he makes a judgment. First, he talks over the case with a fair and honest third party—Abraham—to get another perspective, and secondly he goes and visits Sodom.
Abraham is quite familiar with Sodom and Gomorrah, since he lives not too far away and his nephew Lot lives in Sodom. He has heard about how they treat people, but he has also shown compassion towards them. When the kings of the north raided Sodom and carried off all of its people, Abraham went and rescued the captives. (Gen 14:8-24) So Abraham is a good third party not only to discuss the case with, but also someone who can advocate on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Abraham does not dispute the charges against Sodom and Gomorrah, but shows great concern for the good people living among the wicked, and asks God, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” (vs. 23) After asking that question, he and God negotiate and agree that God would not destroy a city even if there were only ten righteous men in it.
After this discussion, two angels representing God enter Sodom to see if there is a basis for the complaints God has heard, and also to identify ten or more righteous men. To find out these things, the angels simply walk into the city, and see how people treat them. In this investigation, God is not looking to see if the people obey His laws, but to see if they live up to their own standards. In this part of the world hospitality is one of the highest values, if not the highest value. It was so in Abraham’s time and continues to be in the rural areas of the Mideast today. A righteous man takes excellent care of visitors, even total strangers. In Gen. 18.1-8, Abraham demonstrated this important custom of hospitality by taking care of that three strangers who arrived. To make it easy for the people of Sodom, the angels were not dressed as tramps or refugees, but dressed well enough that Lot assumed they were VIPs and called them “Lords”.
The angels walk into town, and in a few short hours all the men of Sodom clearly demonstrate their nature. Lot immediately invites these strangers to stay at his house and feeds them. All the other men want to gang rape the strangers. There is only one righteous man, so the angels get ready to execute God’s judgment by destroying the town. But heeding Abraham’s concern about not sweeping away the righteous along with the wicked, the angels first lead Lot and his family out of town to a safe place.
In summary, God invites Abraham to participate with Him in administering justice, so that Abraham can teach his children, grandchildren, and others under his authority about “doing righteousness” (treating people right), and “doing justice” (putting things right). While doing justice, God wants to treat people fairly. He gets input from a third party who both knows the defendants and is ready to be an advocate for them. He also checks out the situation Himself, and does not rely just on the words of those demanding justice. In this case, putting things right involves not only punishing the wicked, but also protecting the innocent.
17 The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”A part of the reason that God decided to talk to Abraham about what He was thinking and planning concerning Sodom and Gomorrah was so that Abraham could “command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice.” So, I interpret this as God is giving Abraham an experience that he could use to teach his children (and his descendants in general) and his household (those under his authority) about “doing righteousness and justice”. And those of us who claim a share in Abraham’s spiritual heritage can also learn from this experience.
Before we continue, there are a couple of key words in this verse that we need to define—righteousness and justice. Righteousness means basically treating other people right or fairly. Justice means putting things right. When people come to a person in authority—like a king or a judge--with a complaint about someone not treating them right, they want the person in authority to perform justice, or in other words, to put things right, whatever that entails.
So, what is being taught in this story about “doing righteousness and justice”? In this story God, who is the person in authority, reveals that, “the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great.” (vs. 20) In other words, God has heard a ton of complaints about Sodom and Gomorrah not treating people right. So, God decides he needs to get involved. There are two notable things that God does before he makes a judgment. First, he talks over the case with a fair and honest third party—Abraham—to get another perspective, and secondly he goes and visits Sodom.
Abraham is quite familiar with Sodom and Gomorrah, since he lives not too far away and his nephew Lot lives in Sodom. He has heard about how they treat people, but he has also shown compassion towards them. When the kings of the north raided Sodom and carried off all of its people, Abraham went and rescued the captives. (Gen 14:8-24) So Abraham is a good third party not only to discuss the case with, but also someone who can advocate on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Abraham does not dispute the charges against Sodom and Gomorrah, but shows great concern for the good people living among the wicked, and asks God, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” (vs. 23) After asking that question, he and God negotiate and agree that God would not destroy a city even if there were only ten righteous men in it.
After this discussion, two angels representing God enter Sodom to see if there is a basis for the complaints God has heard, and also to identify ten or more righteous men. To find out these things, the angels simply walk into the city, and see how people treat them. In this investigation, God is not looking to see if the people obey His laws, but to see if they live up to their own standards. In this part of the world hospitality is one of the highest values, if not the highest value. It was so in Abraham’s time and continues to be in the rural areas of the Mideast today. A righteous man takes excellent care of visitors, even total strangers. In Gen. 18.1-8, Abraham demonstrated this important custom of hospitality by taking care of that three strangers who arrived. To make it easy for the people of Sodom, the angels were not dressed as tramps or refugees, but dressed well enough that Lot assumed they were VIPs and called them “Lords”.
The angels walk into town, and in a few short hours all the men of Sodom clearly demonstrate their nature. Lot immediately invites these strangers to stay at his house and feeds them. All the other men want to gang rape the strangers. There is only one righteous man, so the angels get ready to execute God’s judgment by destroying the town. But heeding Abraham’s concern about not sweeping away the righteous along with the wicked, the angels first lead Lot and his family out of town to a safe place.
In summary, God invites Abraham to participate with Him in administering justice, so that Abraham can teach his children, grandchildren, and others under his authority about “doing righteousness” (treating people right), and “doing justice” (putting things right). While doing justice, God wants to treat people fairly. He gets input from a third party who both knows the defendants and is ready to be an advocate for them. He also checks out the situation Himself, and does not rely just on the words of those demanding justice. In this case, putting things right involves not only punishing the wicked, but also protecting the innocent.
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