Salt and Ash
Genesis 18:20-21
Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”
For this story I didn’t want to focus on why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. To me, the main element in this story is Abraham’s conversation with God and how he handles the news that they are about to be destroyed. Though we may not know all the stories of what went on in these cities, Abraham sure did. He could see the cities from his own home so he must have heard stories of what went on there. So it seems strange that he would plead with God to spare them, except for the fact that Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family lived there. However, why not just ask God to spare his own family? Instead he begins to build a case with God. He asks, if there are a few righteous men, would He still destroy them? Would God treat the righteous and the wicked the same?
In this story, Abraham and God’s relationship grows to a level that we have not seen before. Abraham is boldly coming before the King of kings and questioning Him. He asks God, “What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will You still sweep them away?” To which God responds, “I will spare them if I find fifty righteous people.” Abraham continues to work down the number little by little.
Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to
the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the
righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five
people?”
-Genesis 19:27-28