A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

efore Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them” (Ps. 106:23). But
because intercessors are human, their prayers are often limited. It has often been noted Abraham
quit asking before God quit giving. Notice the six requests on Abraham’s prayer list for Sodom.
Abraham had a better understanding of Sodom than did Lot and was therefore more
qualified to intercede on behalf of the city. We have a better understanding of the world at a
distance in the presence of God. Abraham walked a separated life and understood Sodom better
than Lot who went down and experienced all that city had to offer. His greater insight
concerning the sin of Sodom is evidenced in the terms both he and Lot used to describe the city.
Abraham used the expression ‘im rasha’, translated “with the wicked” (Gen. 18:23), referring to
wickedness in the sense of the restless activity of a fallen nature. Lot also referred to the sin of
Sodom using the term tare’u, translated “do so wickedly” (19:7), referring to that which breaks
up all that is good or desirable. Lot saw the sin of Sodom as evil because of the effects of that
sin. Abraham understood the sin as evil because of its radical nature.
Abraham’s prayer for the city was not just for the preservation of what existed but for the
salvation of the people. Therefore he asked God to “spare” the city (18:24). The Hebrew verb in
the expression wel ‘thissa’ means to take away and bear the guilt. It is used often in the Old
Testament to describe the idea of forgiveness. Because the prayer of Abraham was conditional,
God responded in the same way. This is one of the few times God prefaces His remarks with the
word “if.”
PERSPECTIVE: PERSISTENCE IN PRAYER
Abraham quit praying for the city when God offered to spare it for the sake of ten
righteous in it. Several reasons have been suggested as to why he quit asking at this point. First,
if Lot had only reached his family and the spouses of his married children, there would have
been ten righteous in the city. Also, in a city the size of Sodom, Abraham may have simply
assumed there were at least ten righteous people living there. Third, it has been suggested
Abraham feared he was getting close to his “credit limit” with God and therefore quit while he
was ahead. A fourth suggestion offered is that Abraham believed if there were not ten righteous
in the city, the city didn’t deserve to exist. A final explanation assumes Abraham suddenly
realized at this point there were in fact not ten people in Sodom who could be called righteous
and that the shock of that realization caused him to quit praying. Based on the subsequent action
of the angels, who dragged Lot and his family out of the city before they could judge the city,
and preserved Zoar because they could not get Lot out, God would have spared the city for one
righteous man (cf. Ezek. 22:30).