Is God really bargaining with Abraham?
[God] “There are terrible accusations against Sodom and Gomorrah, and their sin is very great.”
[Abraham] …Are you really going to destroy the innocent with the guilty? If there are fifty innocent people in the city, will you destroy the whole city? Won’t you spare it in order to save the fifty? Surely you won’t kill the innocent with the guilty…
[God] If I find fifty innocent people in Sodom, I will spare the whole city for their sake.
[Abraham] …perhaps there will be only forty-five innocent people instead of fifty. …Perhaps there will be only forty. …thirty? …twenty…? …ten…?
[God] I will not destroy it if there are ten.”
(Genesis 18:20-33)
What is happening here? Is God really bargaining with Abraham? Is he essentially saying, “You’ve brought up some really good points, Abraham. I guess I haven’t really thought this thing through.” (I have to write that biting my lip to keep from laughing!)
I am convinced I never would have seen what is happening here had I not been living among Arabs. Transactions in the West – at least how I remember them – look for a win-win where both parties come out ahead. In my experience in Arab countries, transactions are more viewed like a sporting event: if there’s a winner, there has to be a loser (said with no judgement, of course – that’s just according to my observations). In that context, if you know what I want, you can manipulate me. So each party keeps their cards close to the chest: each trying to figure out what the other is all about (referred to as “hiding your game”). And since you won’t tell me what you’re looking for if I ask you directly, I’ll ask a seemingly unrelated question over there, and how you respond to that will tell me what I want to know here. Make sense?
Alright, back to the text at hand. I had read this passage countless times before. But I was preparing for a study with others on this and I wanted to appear somewhat intelligent in our group discussions (informed anyway). So I tried putting myself in Abraham’s shoes… In so doing, the first thing that came to mind was, “Why do I care?” If the fifty were to die or the forty or however many or few get killed, what is that to me? Sure, it would be a shame for the handful of righteous to die in the process – but hey, “stuff” happens…
So I’m looking at the passage, and looking, and looking… until the horror sets in. Absolute. Unabated. Horror. I suddenly realized that Abraham was not pleading for the lives of the righteous people at all – he was pleading for the lives of those horrid, vile, perverse people of Sodom and Gomorrah! “…will you not spare the city?” *gasp* That made no sense. They were his enemies! He should have been adding the amen to their destruction! “They had it coming! About time, Lord! Why wait until tomorrow?! In fact, while you’re at it, and between us, I have a few more names here to add to your list…”
And then it hit me: God isn’t bargaining with Abraham at all! God is exposing his heart! He’s exposing his heart for all to see: for you, for me – and, above all, for the celestial beings. Do you see it? The God paradigm had been birthed in Abraham: it’s all about OTHERS. You see for Abraham, once judgement fell, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah would be lost forever. One day of reprieve more, however, might be the day they repent, turn to God and be saved.
The Creator paradigm in one word: OTHERS.