Setting: Genesis 18:23-33
Extra-biblical Sources: Bereishit Rabbah 49:8,9
I feared greatly for Lot and Adith, Maleb and Qetanah, and I drew near to Adonai, so that I might entreat him earnestly on this matter. I spoke boldly, yes, but I do not think I spoke rashly, for I knew that El Elyon is a righteous God, and that he does not destroy the righteous with the wicked. I did not waste time searching for the perfect words of eloquence. I simply said exactly this:“Would you destroy the righteous with the wicked? Is Your anger like a she-bear ravaging its prey, which, finding no other beast to destroy, destroys her own young? Is your anger a scythe which cuts down thorns, but finding no more cuts down roses?”
He looked at me without saying a word and I judged that now was not the time to grow timid but rather to step out in faith.
“If You desire the world to endure,” I reasoned, “there cannot be an absolutely strict judgment, for if you desire absolutely strict judgment, the world cannot endure. Would You, blessed Lord, hold the cord by both ends, desiring both the world and absolute judgment? Unless you forbear a little, the world cannot endure.”
Still he gave no answer.
“Suppose,” I said, “there be fifty righteous within the city: would you destroy, and not spare the place, for the fifty righteous therein? That is far from You, to act in this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked. And that the righteous should be as the wicked, that is far from you. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
You will call me overbold. But have I not said already, that I know he does not destroy the righteous with the wicked? I was certain that my nephew and his family must be righteous, so how could Adonai destroy them?
Adonai said to me, “if I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sakes.”
I did not feel the fear within me lessen. Rather, I felt with sudden panic that there must not be fifty righteous in the city, for I confess that the news of that place was always of great wickedness.
“Behold now,”, said I, “I have taken upon me to speak to the Lord, who am dust and ashes. Suppose there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: would You destroy all the city for lacking five?”
And he said to me “if I find there forty and five, I will not destroy.”
I was no more certain that there were forty and five righteous in the city than that there were fifty. I hoped to talk my God down little by little till He should spare the city even for the sake of Lot alone. So I spoke to him yet again, and said, “Suppose there shall be forty found there.”
And He said, “I will not do it for forty's sake.”
I thought I heard impatience in his immeasurably powerful voice. I swallowed hard to hold down my fear. My heart raced in my chest. I said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: suppose there shall thirty be found there.”
He said, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.”
What good was my life to me if I could not declare the goodness of Adonai to Adonai Himself? What faith did I have if I could not ask for what was good from the God who is good?
“Behold now,” I continued, and I heard something like confidence returning to my voice. For I knew, I truly knew, that He is good. “I have taken upon me to speak to Adonai. Suppose there shall be twenty found there.”
And he said, “I will not destroy it for twenty's sake.”
Even though my voice sounded confident, I knew that I must quickly draw this negotiation to my intended result, lest he become angry with me. For surely a handful of lives are a petty thing in the eyes of an eternal God, are they not?
I knew what I must do and I said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once. Suppose ten shall be found there.” I felt some sort of belief as soon as the words were out, for surely between Lot and his daughters and their wives, and a few of their best friends, there were ten there who feared Adonai and did what was right.
Adonai confirmed for me, “I will not destroy it for ten's sake.”
I did not detect in his voice the kind, reassuring tone that I expected. But something seemed to tell me still that Lot and his family were safe.
Then he did smile on me, and his smile seemed to day, “You have loved righteousness, and you have loved to justify My creatures, and hated wickedness, and refused to condemn them. Therefore Adonai, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.”
Adonai went his way. I realized in his sudden absence how wonderful it had been, even in such dire circumstances, to commune with Adonai. I returned to my place.