Fear No Fear

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

“He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.” Yahweh went his way as soon as he had finished communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.”
(Genesis 18:32-33)

Abraham wants to know God’s heart. He felt God was a little bit merciful (spare fifty), but now Abraham tries for what he feels is a tiny number (10). And he finds God merciful. Also, I think he honestly believed that all of Lot’s house were righteous and there were at least 10 of them. I think Abraham believed he had succeeded.

Abraham stopped at ten. But there is nothing in the Word to say that he couldn’t have gone lower. Five, maybe. Or maybe even one. Peter does say that Lot was a righteous man (2 Peter 2:7). Perhaps for the sake of just Lot, God may have spared them all. I am grateful that in Jesus, we have a MUCH better deal. Jesus paid the price for Sin, so God will never release His wrath on Sin on the world – He’s released His wrath. That’s not to say there won’t be consequences and upheaval (just read Revelation). But it won’t be a judgment on Sin. Rather, it will be a cleansing as part of the renewal of all things.

Once God knew that Abraham had reached his bottom number and would not seek for less, God returned to Heaven. God respects our choices. That’s what free will means. He doesn’t force us to continue where we want to stop. However, that also means we won’t get the benefits of continuing. It’s important to ask God what His will is. He won’t lie. If He wants more, He’ll tell you. Always be guided by Holy Spirit and you’ll never stop short. Won’t be easy, but it will be clear.

The sage Or HaChaim writes: ‘אל נא יחר…אך הפעם. “Do not become angry if I speak only this one more time.” Here Abraham again introduces his own merit as adequate to complement the quorum of twenty people (2 towns); this is why he worries about angering G’d. In this instance he was presumptuous enough to equate the protective power of his own merit with that of his Master. This is reflected in his avoidance of the words: “to my Lord;” he merely said: “I will speak,” meaning a plea relying on his own merit. He added the word אך to indicate that he would not plead again if by chance the tenth one should be missing even in the remaining town. וילך ה׳ כאשר כלה לדבר. When G’d completed speaking with Abraham He left. The Torah reports that G’d did not even give Abraham a chance to plead further on behalf of a lesser number of righteous people. After all, Abraham said that he had used his final plea. Although the Zohar 1,82 suggests that the righteous is the foundation of the earth, i.e. that a single righteous person could save the rest of the world, this may apply only to an outstanding צדיק. Perhaps if Abraham had lived in Sodom, his presence could have sufficed to save the town.’

The sage Rav Hirsch writes: ‘V. 32.—33. Finally, this dialogue — so to call it — between Abraham and the Judge of the World, in which a creature of dust dares to step before the Presence of God with his feelings of justice and finds agreement and approval is a guarantee of the godliness of that voice within [illegible]] which pleads for the right and for the duty of fidelity of a king.’

The sage Siftei Chakhamim writes: ‘Once the Judge leaves, the defender leaves… I.e., the verse comes to teach us that Hashem seeks out the defender’s words because He does not desire death for the wicked. But when the defender fell silent, He left. Otherwise, why does it say here, “He departed,” unlike all other prophecies where this is not mentioned?’