Genesis18-19: Sovereignty, intercession and justice - navigating difficult questions
Genesis 18:16-19:29
In Genesis 18-19 we have the complex and mind-boggling tale of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is not their destruction itself that is so mind-boggling (although it flies in the face of most peoples' idea of what God should be like), but the events surrounding it. Why did God tell Abraham, and what difference did Abraham's feelings on the matter make? Where does Lot come into all of this - are we supposed to think him better than the other inhabitants of Sodom because he offered his daughters up for rape rather than the men who were visiting? Why was he saved from the destruction of Sodom - was it just on account of Abraham? If that's the case, can we really rely on God's justice if he shows arbitrary favouritism to friends of friends?
First, God's judgement itself. We learn that: “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.” Given that we know elsewhere from the Bible that God is all-knowing, then we have to assume that this sentence does not contradict that. It may be God's way of demonstrating his actions in a way that Abraham and us too can understand. It may be that God is all-knowing and this is the vessel through which he demonstrates that to us. Regardless, the main point I want to draw our attention to here is that there has been an outcry against those cities - i.e. individuals have been suffering as a result of their sin and this outcry has reached God (See also, Genesis 19:13). Maybe some have consciously prayed to the creator of the world; maybe others have prayed to their own deities, but God will still have heard. This is not a matter of people breaking an arbitrary rule that somehow offends a fussy god. And when we see the reaction of the men of Sodom to the presence of the angelic visitors, it is hardly surprising: rather than welcoming the travellers in, they demand a gang-rape. We can well imagine that the 'outcry' that reached the metaphorical ears of God may have come from both men and women who had been violated, their dignity stripped, or children who bore the impact in their lives. God's judgement is called for - this is not a God who stands idly by in the face of suffering.
Secondly, there is the question of the righteous who may get swept up in the judgement. This is Abraham's concern, and it marks him out to be a man of integrity and justice. I can just imagine the reactions of many if we were faced with such a predicament today. There would be those who opposed the lifestyle associated with Sodom and Gomorrah on an ideological basis, but one can imagine them being quick to judge anymore remotely associated with the towns. You can imagine people saying 'good riddance' rather than, 'what about the righteous?'. God's judgement is just is the overall message - as Peter concludes when looking at this event and others: the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment (2 Peter 2:9).
However, within this overall framework of eventual justice (we know that God delays justice so that many can come to him, e.g. 1 Peter 3:9), there is a curious way in which the relational side of God plays out, as: ...when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived (Genesis 19:29). God spares Lot and his family, it seems, on account of Abraham, and very probably Abraham's intercession to God the previous day. This throws up far more questions than the previous points - many of which I pointed out in the opening paragraph.
First we have Abraham's prayer in Chapter 18. Within the text itself of 18:26-33, we don't see any evidence of God changing his mind in this passage as a result of Abraham's pleas. In effect, looks like a theoretical discussion which tells us about God's just character. Nonetheless, we have the fact that it is very probable that Lot was on Abraham's mind when he was speaking to God, the fact that although God did not refrain his judgement on Sodom for the sake of Lot, he did rescue him and refrained judgement on Zoar (Genesis 18:21), and the summary quoted above, where God remembered Abraham. and he brought Lot of out the catastrophe (Genesis 19:29).
Furthermore, we have the implication here coupled with the later writing of Peter that Lot was a 'righteous man'. This does not seem to square with anything we see of Lot: granted, he shows hospitality to strangers, but at the potential cost to his own daughters. And yet Peter describes Lot as a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) (2 Peter 2:7-8). In terms of Lot's moral integrity, we have to conclude that he must have been a man who tried to do what was right and was distressed by the sin of those surrounding him, but also one that was marred by it so much that his own moral compass was warped. But this is not righteousness: in terms of our own actions, there is no one righteous. Righteousness is something bestowed on us by God - we cannot earn it. Lot no doubt took much of the moral compass he still managed to possess from his association and journeying with Abraham, hence his distress at sin, and in that instance, was saved from the wrath of God because of his association with Abraham and the latter's pleading for him. Because of Abraham's faith, Lot was marked as righteous.
Is this justice if we are to assume that Lot, as an individual, was neither doing 'right' in God's eyes, nor trusting in him for salvation? Well, before we go any further, we have to remember that the judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah was not the final judgement. We don't know where Lot will stand on that final day, but we know God's judgement will be just.
What we do see here, is a relational God showing himself to his people. Within the context of an all-powerful, just creator who exists outside of time, we see God coming into our world, interacting with his people and listening and engaging with their concerns.
There is one image that springs to mind for me, and that is of an adult caring for a baby or very young toddler. It is by no means a perfect analogy, but maybe it speaks of something. When my first child was born there was a certain child psychology expert who received lots of ridicule for suggesting that we should obtain a baby's consent before changing their nappy. Now I'm not sure whether this was just a case of someone being naïve, but I've always assumed that this was actually a media misconstrual of what is actually a really important point: acknowledging the child as a person and modelling respect for their body even before they are able to give consent. On a similar theme, we talk to babies, ask them questions, give toddlers choices over things like what to wear ("would you like the elephant socks or the giraffe socks?") Just as an adult does not need to actually talk to a baby, or even ask its opinion, in order to meet its physical needs, God does not either - he know exactly what we need without us having to ask him. And just as babies and toddlers are powerless to make the really big decisions about their own lives (and we would be irresponsible adults if we let them), God is sovereign over all the earth, and would be an unjust and irresponsible God in whom we certainly couldn't put our trust if we left it all to us. Nonetheless, God does not just treat us a playthings, but as individuals with desires and concerns that he listens to and acknowledges.
And so, God saved Lot for Abraham's sake, and through that also created whole nations - the Moabites and Ammonites (Genesis 19:37-38), and so they too were blessed by God's promise to Abraham, that many nations would be blessed through him.
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