с 22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. c ch. 19. 1. d ver. 1. 23 And Abraham • drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? e Heb. 10. 22. f Numb. 16. 22. 2 Sam. 24. 17. It was so to the angels, who sunk into end;' i. e. whether they have filled the measure of their iniquities, whether they have carried their sins to the utmost height of enormity, so that they can be spared no longer; for 'sin where it is finished bringeth forth death.' The language shows, at any rate, the determination of the divine mind to institute the most rigid scrutiny into the facts of the case and to act only upon clear and indubitable evidence. T And if not, I will know, Chal. 'But if they repent, I will not take vengeance.' The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah. The sense given to this phraseology by some commentators, making the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah merely equivalent to the fame or report of their wickedness, is certainly altogether too frigid to answer to the emphatic nature of the expression. It is the very metaphor used by God in addressing Cain, the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me.' But the language is by no means exclusively appropriated to the horrid crime of mur-meaning, and render 'have made a full der. It is applicable to every sin as expressive of the moral demand which it makes for punishment, for every sin has a voice of erimination against the sinner, and its crying intimates the fixed, necessary, and righteous connection, Gen. 4. 10, which is established between transgression and punishment. Thus, James, 5. 4, "The hire of the labourers kept of you back by fraud crieth, and the cry of the reapers entereth into the ears of the Lord God of Sabbaoth.' Sins however are more especially said to cry when they are peculiarly heinous, flagrant, aggravated, 22. The men turned their faces from and calculated to provoke the wrath of thence. That is, the two before spoken God; and such were now the sins of of. A more accurate rendering would Sodom and Gomorrah, which two had turned,' and instead of 'went' cities are doubtless mentioned for their in the next clause, 'had gone.' Abrapre-eminence in crime, though it is clear ham after going with them some disfrom Deut. 29. 22-24, that several tance, returned into the presence of the other cities in the immediate vicinity Lord, where the ensuing interview took were involved in the same destruction. place. Stood yet before the Lord. -¶ Their sin is very grievous. Heb. Gr. Er ην εστηκως was yct standing. 'Such as Chal. 'Stood in prayer before the the very ground groans under; the axie-tree of the earth is ready to break under it. Sin is a burden to God, Am. 2. 13. It was so to Christ; he fell to the ground when he was in his agony, .very heary כבדח מאד be Lord.' 23. Abraham drew near, and said, &c. Targ. Jon. 'And Abraham prayed and said,' as if his 'drawing near' was not merely in a way of local approxi 24 & Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt g Jer. 5. 1. thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein ? mation, but also of holy fervency and and yet, as no reservation or exempimportunity in prayer. In Heb. 10. 22, tion was spoken of in the announceJames 4. 8, the corresponding Gr. term ment itself, there might have been a (y) has the same meaning. And momentary inward misgiving which here commences the most remarkable was sufficient to prompt the humble instance of human intercession to be and reverentia' inquiry of the text. As met with in the whole compass of rev- a general principle, we certainly run no elation, one in which the tender and hazard in maintaining that in the dissympathizing benevolence of Abraham tribution of rewards and punishments, on the one hand, and the astonishing the Judge of all the earth will do right. clemency and forbearance of Jehovah | At the same time it cannot be questionon the other, are portrayed in colours ed, that in those judgments which besuch as the pencil of inspiration alone could present. The mind of the patriarch would naturally be deeply impressed with the annunciation given above. He would feel for his reckless and ungodly neighbours, over whom such a tremendous doom was impending; but especially for Lot and other righteous men whom he might hope would be found among them. In these circumstances it might indeed be expected that he would stand in the gap, and do all that in him lay to avert the evil coming upon them. But that God should have been so condescending to This prayers, and yielded one concession after another till the number was reduced from fifty to five, could not have been anticipated by human reason. But the depths of the divine mercies are not to be fathomed by the scanty line of our feeble faculties, and we can only stand on the shore of this great ocean and wonder and adore. Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? The question here proposed is not to be understood as implying any settled doubt in the mind of Abraham whether the righteous might not be in danger of being destroyed with the wicked. His previous knowledge of the true attributes of Jehovah, we may well suppose, would have precluded any serious apprehension on this score, fall communities in the ordinary course 25 That be far from thee to do | find in Sodom fifty righteous after this manner, to slay the within the city, then I will spare righteous with the wicked; and all the place for their sakes. h that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: i Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? 26 And the LORD said, If I h Joh. 8. 20. Isai. 3. 10, 11. i Jb. 8. 3. & 34. 17. Ps. 58. 11. & 94. 2. Rom. 3 6. k Jer. 5. 1. Ezek. 22. 30. 27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am m but dust and ashes: 1 Luke 18. 1. m cl. 3. 19. J .4 19. Eccles. 12. 7. Cr. 15. 47, 48. 2 Cor. 5. 1. sakes. But pondering farther upon the subject, his benevolent feelings, togeth casion an exemption was granted to all such as would avail themselves of it, v. 26, for command was given byer with his conviction of the divine Moses to the congregation, saying, 'Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.' Comp. 2 Sam. 24. 17. Ps. 11. 4-7. clemency, seem to have prompted him to widen the scope of his intercession, and to sue for the sparing of the guilty for the sake of the innocent part of the population. For their own sakes he would not venture to offer the petition. In this we see the working of a pious heart, which is continually prone to enlarge its desires, and like the horseleech's daughter to cry, 'Give, give.' Like the four things that are never satisfied-the grave, the barren womb, the thirsty earth, and the fire-'it saith not, it is enough.' 25. That be for from thee to do. Heb. 33 halilah; a term expressing detestation of a thing as profane, abominable, shocking, and consequent 24. Peradventure there be fifty rightcous. Abraham charitably hopes the best with respect to the number of the righteous even in Sodom. At this the outset of his intercession, he certainly considered it as at least a possible case, that there might be found in that wicked place fifty righteous, and though in this instance he was sadly mistaken, yet his example teaches us the propriety of entertaining the most charitable hopes, even in the midst of the worst appearances. From facts elsewhere recorded in the sacred vol-ly that which was forbidden to be done. ume, we learn that God still had a remnant to serve him in times of general apostacy, even though they were unknown to his own servants; and we are perhaps warranted to believe that although in regard to particular places the number of the righteous may be less than we suppose, yet in the world at large it is much greater.Wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place? From the question proposed by Abraham in the preceding verse, it would appear that he contemplated the preservation of the righteous only, without presuming to hope for the deliverance of the wicked for their It is rendered in the Sept. by μn yεvolto and 28. Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous, &c. If it be asked why Abraham continued thus to press his suit abating the number by five till at length he had reduced it down to ten, the answer perhaps may be, that being in the outset uncertain as to the number of righteous in Sodom, the readiness and facility of Jehovah in yielding to his first petition, inspired a 28 Peradventure there shall 31 And he said, Behold now, lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. 29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. 30 And he said unto him, Oh, let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. 32 And he said, "Oh, let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. 33 And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place. n Judg. 6. 39. o James 5. 16. and the iniquities of a people may arrive at such a pitch that if Noah, Dan doubt whether the specified fifty could be found. This doubt would naturally be increased by every successive coniel, and Job were in it, those holy men cession, each one of which paved the should not prevail except to deliver way for the following, till at length he their own souls by their righteousness, probably deemed it both hopeless and Ezek. 14. 14. It is not to be forgotten presumptuous to proceed any farther. therefore that notwithstanding the Yet who can affirm that one step far- amazing condescension of God manither in the reduction might not have fested on this and other occasions to secured the salvation of Sodom? The the prayers of his saints, there is a liminquiry is not perhaps profitable or decit beyond which their intercessions will orous, but certain it is that on a sub- not avail. sequent occasion, when God was about to send the Jews into captivity, Jer. 5. 1, he told them that if they could find one righteous man in Jerusalem, he would spare them all; and after he had inflicted his judgments upon them, he assigned as his reason for it, Ezek. 22: 30, 31, that not one had been found to stand in the gap, and intercede for them. But on the other hand, it must be admitted that God holds the prerogative of pardoning in a sovereign manner, and will not allow himself to be bound by his own precedent. The clemency which would have spared Sodom for the sake of ten could not be moved on any account to avert the threatened wrath from the city which had rejected the Saviour, Matt. 11. 24, 33. And the Lord went his way, &c. Rather, Heb. 7 went away; which implies that he was one of the three persons who had come to Abraham. Chal. The glory of the Lord was lifted up.'- - Unto his place; i. e. to the grove of Mamre, where he was now residing. REMARKS.-The above narrative of Abraham's intercession teaches us, (1.) How highly God esteems the righteous, and what blessings they are to the places in which they live. They are well termed the 'light of the world' and the 'salt of the earth,' for without them the world would be immersed in total darkness, and speedily become one mass of corruption. Little do the world think how much they are indebted to God's case ten righteous men had been found in it. Our glorious Intercessor has availed to save ten thousand times ten thousand of the guilty progeny of Adam, though not ene righteous man has been found throughout all their gener-, people. If only ten persons of this (2.) The humility which ought to 26 3. The astonishing efficacy of intercessory prayer, and the duty which rests upon us of offering it. It appears from the present narrative that Abraham leftTM off asking before God left off granting; and though the particular object of his. petitions was not accorded to him, yet the avowed conditions on which it would have been granted show that no limits, but such as a concern for his own honour induced God to fix, can be assigned to the exercise of his grace in answer to his people's prayers. It was in fact a virtual obtaining of the object of his suit. How diligently then should the pious improve their interest in behalf of others! We can scarcely conceive a person so obdurate, but that if, by speaking to another, he could obtain health for the sick or relief for the indigent, he would avail himself of such an opportunity to benefit his fellow-creatures. Yet, alas! what backwardness among Christians to the work of intercession! How silent, how cold, how indifferent, while an awful mass of ignorance, wretchedness, and impiety, surrounds them on every side' Shall Abraham be thus fervent, thus anxious in behalf of a guilty city by whose destruction he could in no way have been injured, while we sit unconcerned in the midst of perishing parents, children, brethren, and friends? Let us stir ourselves up to this good work. Let us consider how much we ourselves need the prayers of others, and from this let us judge of the claims of others upon us. Let us consider also that to neglect to pray for others is to sin against God, 1 Sam. 12. 23; and that if we have no heart to sigh and cry for the abominations or miseries of others, |