Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“He spoke to him yet again, and said, “What if there are forty found there?” He said, “I will not do it for the forty’s sake.” He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?” He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” He said, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake.””
(Genesis 18:29-31)

Abraham has such a heart to help people and bless people that he cannot let this go. He is fearful that the numbers he keeps speaking aren’t enough. He keeps pushing, trying to find the number that will let God show His mercy and goodness. Abraham won’t let go even as he asks for God’s pardon in asking – he KNEW he was asking for a lot. Abraham KNEW that if he asked for something God didn’t want, God wouldn’t be pleased. Conversely, Abraham must have had a sense God was looking for mercy or he wouldn’t have kept asking. He wasn’t BEGGING God. He was seeking to know God’s heart in this circumstance.

Abraham is slowly learning God’s heart of mercy (2 Peter 3:9). He is at less than half the number he started with. God is much more merciful than Abraham has as his default.

The sage Or HaChaim writes: ‘ויוסף עוד לדבר אליו. Abraham continued to speak to Him (G’d). This is a continuation of the prayer that G’d Himself should act as the one making up the requisite quorum. The expression ויוסף…אליו means that Abraham continued in the same vein adding that G’d’s making up the quorum would apply even if not all the towns would could be saved by that method.’

The sage Sforno writes: ‘לא אשחית בעבור העשרים…בעבור העשרה. By destroying 3 out of the five cities the other two will not escape the retribution completely, seeing that the satellite towns are by definition largely dependent on the major urban center. Its destruction will cast its shadow on the satellite towns, as we know from Berachot 58, i.e. נתקללה בבל נתקללה בנותיה, when Babylon is cursed so are its satellite towns. (according to Rashi there: אוי לרשע אוי לשכניו, when the wicked experiences woes, so do his neighbours.”)’

The sage Or HaChaim writes: ‘ויאמר הנה נא הואלתי לדבר. He said: “Here I have already dared to speak.” Abraham pleads here that G’d’s merit should protect twenty of the thirty righteous men whereas his own merit should suffice to protect the people in a third location by complementing the quorum of ten. Seeing that Abraham did not introduce a new element this time, he did not worry about G’d becoming angry at his being presumptuous. The emphasis on אל ה was to underline that he did not try to expand what he considered his own merit.’