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.
Genesis 18:19
In Chapter 17, God has promised Abram that his descendants will be numerous and form many nations (Genesis 17:4-8). He and Sarai even get a new name to indicate what will happen in the future which are Abraham and Sarah respectively.
In Chapter 18, Abraham and Sarah still don’t have a son, but God decides to come visit them. In His visit, He tells Abraham and Sarah that they will have a son around this time next year. Sarah laughs at the Lord, but believes Him anyways.
As the Lord goes to see what is going on in Sodom and Gomorrah, He ponders whether to tell Abraham what He is about to do. Abraham knows the Lord very well, but the Lord wanted Abraham to know Him even more.
The Lord desires that Abraham follow the way of the Lord and expects Abraham to raise his children to do the same. So God tells Abraham that He’s about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah due to their sin.
Abraham knows the Lord is righteous so he asks if the Lord will really destroy the cities if there are 50 righteous people there. The Lord says no. So Abraham keeps lowering the number till there’s 10 righteous people.
In the end, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed as there wasn’t even 10 righteous people. What does Abraham learn about God through this interaction?
- God does not treat the righteous and wicked the same
- God is merciful to the wicked sometimes because of the righteous (for example, Lot and his family Genesis 19:29)
- God can bring judgement whenever He wants
- God knows the heart of every man
When Abraham wakes up, he sees that the Lord has destroyed both cities as there weren’t even 10 righteous people there and understands why those cities were destroyed.
For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
Ecclesiastes 12:14