Read and reflected on this story today (
Gen 18). Some observations and commentary I thought I'd share.
You have this predicament, told through the life of Abram. It's a strange passage. God and Abram are almost in a marketplace haggling over melons. This is really a prayer of Abram (first extended, recorded prayer recorded in the Bible). We have this situation where Abram seems to be exploring his own theology and giving us a picture of priestly duties...
Abram is invited to be representative of the city before God. God invites him (pretty interesting all by itself).
God hears the cries of the oppressed, (Ezekiel says of Sodom: the arrogant, over-fed, unconcerned, did not help the poor and the needy, etc). Great evil in Sodom.
1) Interesting that Abram did not please for the salvation of his family but of the entire city (that's a crazy kind of love for Canaanite people who didn't believe in God).
2) Those who don't believe in a judging God, then they don't have a merciful God. Simplistically, they pit God's mercy and judgment against each other. But Sodom is a picture of God hearing the cries of the oppressed, the story tells us. A God who never judges cannot be seen as a God who has mercy.
3) Abram flirts with an idea: "God, because you are a righteous-loving God, and because you love righteousness so much, will you spare this city for the righteousness of a few?"
I wondered why Abram stopped at 10. Did he realize there were none righteous? Did he become afraid of how far he felt he pushed the issue with God? Did he think of Lot and know, though a believer, he wasn't "righteous enough?" Is God's answer an indication of his desire to seek ways to save us rather than condemn us?
In this story I see Jesus, the great High Priest. He asked again Abram's question: for the righteousness of one, will you spare your judgment for all? We know that God accepted that offer.
This idea of representative mercy and judgment isn't foreign to the East. A few chapters later, the story of Achan shows us what happens to a man and his entire family for being a imperialistic, greedy, disobedient mercenary... they are all judged immediately. This concept doesn't shock eastern audiences as much as western. In the West we are HUGE on individual responsibility. I don't think the East disbelieves in individual responsibility, but they also have a great emphasis on corporate responsibility. There is more significance and justice to them around this concept of corporate representation. The West abhors this. But outside of my ethnocentric view, it helps me to better understand what this story meant for those several thousands of years ago. The story of Achan would not have shocked them like it does us.
This representative salvation is an interesting topic. The role of the High Priest and the God who will accept the righteousness of one in order to spare the world is intriguing.
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