WEDNESDAY 21 July 2021 “Are there ten?” Genesis 19

Click To Download and Print Document or PDF

Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,

In some parts of the world human slavery is still happening even in 2021. Have you ever imagined standing on the auction block watching people bid for your purchase, even if it was only a temporary ownership for a short while? Or what would it be like to be living in bondage and seeing an auction to purchase your freedom!? If you are living free, what is the value of your freedom today?

Yesterday in our “Walking with Jesus” reflections, we witnessed Abraham actually engaged with a similar negotiation! ‘The LORD’ had come to earth from heaven, in response to the frequent outcries which had come to heaven from Sodom & Gomorrah. ‘The LORD’ and Abraham stood on a hilltop looking over the Sodom & Gomorrah valley and Abraham had just begun negotiating with ‘the LORD’ on behalf of the people in both cities. Sadly business was going on as normal that day in those cities, and the people were totally oblivious to the negotiations which held their lives in the balance! Abraham had requested that God spare the cities from destruction if 50 ‘righteous people’ would be found there. God had agreed. But as he continued to reflect, Abraham began to doubt that 50 righteous people could be found, so he re-engaged the negotiations with ‘the LORD’. The record says: “Then Abraham spoke 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 because of 5 people?’ ‘If I find 45 there, I will not destroy it,’ the LORD said.” (Genesis 18:27,28)

Let’s just stand here on the hillside with Abraham and this traveler Abraham had only met a couple of hours before, but whom Abraham is now convinced is a powerful visitor from heaven who has the power and authority to destroy these two wicked towns if enough righteous people are not found there. As yet, there has not been any discussion between them of what standard will be used to evaluate the righteousness of those people perceived to possibly qualify as ‘righteous‘. Will the 10 Commandments be used as the righteous standard? Or maybe it will be the local laws of Sodom and Gomorrah? What about your town and mine, today my friends? What if God’s judgement on the sins in your town depended on the righteousness of the best 45 people in your city? Who would your city put forward in hopes their city would be spared? And what if God’s judgement of your city depended on YOUR track record of personal perfection and holiness?

We don’t know if Abraham had ever visited or spent much time IN Sodom, but we know his nephew Lot had been living in that city for sometime and the reputation of both Sodom and Gomorrah was profoundly immoral and wicked. (Gen. 18:20) In fact Genesis 19:1 discloses to us that Lot was ‘sitting in the gateway of Sodom.” That’s a very significant statement. In those days as any town reached a credible size, the people built a wall around their city to protect it from roaming bands of evil doers. Then as now violence was a wicked way of life for those determined to take what is not theirs. The gateway into a city was where the city leaders would sit, keeping close watch on the traffic to assure that unknown people were carefully screened before allowing them into their city. Thus if citizens of their city wanted to do legal transactions like buying & selling land, they knew where to find the city leaders… in the gateway to their city. If Lot was sitting in the gateway to Sodom this means he likely had become a recognized leader of that wicked city!

Perhaps Abraham knew this and as he looked down over the valley of Sodom & Gomorrah I think Abraham was fearful 45 righteous people was still not achievable, and so you’ll see the record shows Abraham returned to the negotiations with “the LORD”, and “the LORD” was willing to lower the required # of righteous to 40, and then even down to 30 people, and then down to 20, and finally down to 10. The LORD had said to Abraham, “For the sake of 10 righteous people, I will not destroy this city.” Look at Abraham. What is that look on his face? Is it self-satisfaction that he has negotiated for all the people of two entire cities, if only 10 righteous people can be found there? Do you see Abraham doing the math in his head? Would Lot be found righteous by God? And what about Lot’s wife, and their 2 daughters and their sons-in-law? And then do you see Abraham squirming as he wonders if even 10 people can be found in two whole cities, whom God might consider ‘righteous‘?

Is Abraham wondering what standard of ‘righteous’ “the LORD” would use to judge the people of Sodom and Gomorrah? We don’t know if they spoke any further about that. The record says: “When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, He left, and Abraham returned home.” (Gen. 18:33) We understand what that means for Abraham, as he returned to his tents, his wife and his responsibilities. Had he done enough? Would there be 10 righteous people found? Did you notice the record says “…the LORD left…” It does not indicate where He went, but chapter 19 opens with these words: “The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city.” These two angels are the other two of the three men who had eaten at Abraham’s house. Thus I conclude “the LORD” returned to heaven, awaiting the due diligence investigation of Sodom and Gomorrah to be accomplished by these two angels who had appeared with Him as three normal men.

As Abraham arrived back at his tents, I wonder how he answered Sarah’s questions about where he’d been and what he’d been doing since he had walked off into the distance with those three travelers whom they had fed? My friends, listen to these Scriptures which apply to this moment in history:

Psalm 14:1-3 “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside, they have all together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

Psalm 49:7,8 “No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him – the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough…”

Romans 3:19,23 “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to all those under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God…for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… and the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)

Romans 1:18-21 “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of humanity who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and His divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

The account of what those two angels experienced in Sodom is despicable, almost too graphic even for our day. They met Lot sitting in the gateway and he apparently was a tender hearted man who knew the wickedness of his city all too well and therefore Lot insisted that they come to stay in his home for the night, as Lot hoped to provide them safety there. But if you read Genesis 19 or listen to the dramatic audio Bible at the conclusion of our reflections today, you’ll see these men were not safe, even in Lot’s home. The homosexual appetite in that city was apparently almost beyond description. To protect themselves and Lot’s family these two angels struck the aggressive, immoral men with blindness. The angels then said to Lot: “Do you have anyone else here – sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone in this city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against the people of this place is so great that He has sent us to destroy it.“ (Genesis 19:12,13) Do you see the remarkable mercy of God in this moment, my friends? Lot tried, but the men pledged to be married to his daughters did not believe him, so Lot was left with only three people willing to consider that maybe, just maybe, the angel’s warning was legitimate.

I think we’ll stop right here today. Doom is hanging over Sodom and Gomorrah that night. Why? Because of profound, widespread wickedness, and I wonder if doom is hanging over your city and mine? Has God evaluated your city and mine and found them very similar to Sodom sand Gomorrah? Is God preparing, even right now, to pour out His righteous judgment? Tomorrow, as we continue in Genesis 19, we’ll see God’s judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah was burning sulfur falling from the sky which burned up both cities and everything around them. But perhaps in our day God might use a health pandemic which has no cure or volcanoes or hurricanes or tsunamis or…? How close might we be, you ask? Well, I invite you to read Romans 1:18-32 and give serious consideration to what we’ve seen in God’s evaluation of Sodom and Gomorrah! I suggest we spend some time reflecting on the reality of the condition of our world, your nation, your city… and I invite us all to spend some time praying!

Today’s Scripture is Genesis 18:22-33 and Genesis 19:1-13.

Choose below to read or listen.

Genesis 18:22-33

Genesis 19:1-13

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).

Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.