So Yahweh said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now and see whether they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”
Legacy Standard Bible – Genesis 18:20-21
A rationale is “a set of reasons or a logical basis for a course of action or a particular belief” (Oxford Languages Dictionary). God is actually determined to look at the sins of these cities and, on His way, He consults with Abraham.
Many years later, the children of Israel would reflect with King Jehoshaphat on their father Abraham in the face of Moabites and Ammonites who were coming against them. Just like Abraham, they were in the land of promise with neighbors who did not honor God. And they appealed to God with these words while facing their own imminent afflictions:
Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?
English Standard Version – 2 Chronicles 20:7
These passages both refer to God who is witness to the corruption of other inhabitants that are to be dispatched by divine intervention. But 2 Chronicles 20 also testifies to the friendship Abraham had with God, as this too is their basis for God’s intervention then as well. They also bring out two essential facts that are imminent in regards to the passage in Genesis 18 and to us (though not in the same sense) as well:
1.) Abraham and we are friends of God
Moses likewise spoke with God face to face, but the process of negotiation with the Lord is nowhere else seen in the scriptures. Abraham had a unique privilege and calling as someone that God called out of Ur of the Chaldees (Genesis 12:1; Genesis 15:7). He was called out of a pagan land to be the one through whom God would bless the world (Genesis 12:1-3).
This is to say that God can call out an enemy (Abraham was from Ur of the Chaldees in Modern Iraq) and turn him into a friend, and that is the very thing He does with us as well (Romans 5:6-11).
All throughout Genesis 1-11, Moses, as it’s author, is tracing the Toledot, or the generations of the promised seed (Genesis 3:14-15) as opposed to the generations of the seed of the serpent, or Satan. In Genesis 12, there is a calling out of the one who will be the progenitor of the nation through whom God would bless the world, i.e. Abraham and subsequent Israel.
All of this is reflective of the fact that God is turning evil into good not just on the grand scale but in individual lives as well. So from God’s calling of Abraham in chapter 12:1 to leave his father’s land, to God’s calling of Abraham again in chapter 22:1 to sacrifice the child of promise, these “callings” form an inclusio of the testing that God has for Abraham who is his friend. God is uniquely qualifying Abraham to be the head of his chosen nation. And if that is true of God, then it shows us living today that God is capable of likewise changing us from enemies into friends if we are surrendered to whatever process He might have for us.
Jesus said,
You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
John 15:14-15 NIV
Christ transforms us into friends of God as well. This is the process of the work of sanctification at the point of regeneration but it is also on-going as we live and work.
2.) The nations and the world work in opposition to God.
Throughout our walk in life we encounter many persons who shun God and His work in our world and His sovereignty over it. They sacrifice for the stuff that doesn’t deliver as promised. They are preoccupied with “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life” (1 John 2:16). Isaiah writes:
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
Isaiah 55:2 – English Standard Version
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
God’s call to those who work for what doesn’t satisfy involved pointing out the futility of their efforts. And today, Christians work and live in an environment that is hostile to the work of the cross and also to our surrender to Jesus as Lord of all. His Kingdom is sure, but Jesus promised persecution for us in the meantime (John 15:18-21; Luke 6:22).
And this is seen in the long history of the Old Testament and the New. It is a history of the seed of the promise and those under Him as opposed to the world. The world fights against Christ because the world is given over to that which defiles and denigrates the truth.
So, all that to say that the rationale for God’s conversation with Abraham, who was His friend, was in fact predicated on these things. Sodom and Gomorrah would soon prove their vile nature in the following account of Genesis 19. Keep in mind that our world is not unlike that of these twin cities in Genesis 19, and neither is there exemption in any case from God’s ultimate fury, which would rain down on Sodom and Gomorrah. Being called out in the midst of such a civilization is a cause for which we should take the most sobriety. But God always works judgement for the wicked with deliverance for His chosen ones. We should walk with God as closely and consistently in both our doctrine and personal holiness as possible because sooner or later, judgment comes.
But it all comes back to God’s faithfulness in calling us out. We aren’t here to win political battles or have uncommon success as Americans or as whatever nationality we claim. Our goal is to be faithful and trust God with the outcome in politics or our career goals and ambitions. So rather than putting these up as our top priorities, take the most heed to your doctrine and personal holiness!
But Abraham, as God’s friend, likewise had a series of failures and poor decisions. He interceded somewhat desperately and out of futility for Sodom and Gomorrah mostly due to his concern for Lot, but God answered his unspecified desire while fulfilling His own divine prerogatives on these sister cities.
Keep in mind that God’s will never ceases to take our deepest needs into account even if they don’t work out as expected. We voice our prayers in ways we don’t fully know are actually right, but God knows everything and cares perfectly. Be content and be faithful. We have to be surrendered to the process of conformity with His standards, just like the saints in the Old Testament and the New Testament saints as well could testify.
For my sermon on Genesis 18, click here.
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