Genesis 18

1. AND the LORD appeared unto him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the 2 heat of the day; and he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood over against 3 him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to 4 the earth, and said, My lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray 5 thee, from thy servant: let now a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest your 6 selves under the tree: and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your heart: after 7 that ye shall pass on: forasmuch as ye are come to your servant. And they said, So do, as 8 thou hast said. And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready 9 quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes. And Abraham ran unto the 10 herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto the servant; and he hastened to dress 11 it. And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; 12 and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. And they said unto him, Where is 13 Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto 14 thee when the season cometh round; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah 15 heard in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, and well 16 stricken in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. And Sarah 17 laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old 18 also? And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a 19 surety bear a child, which am old? Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the set time I 20 will return unto thee, when the season cometh round, and Sarah shall have a son. Then 21 Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst 22 laugh. 23 And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom; and Abraham went with 24 them to bring them on the way. And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that which I 25 do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations

19 of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; to the end that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned from thence, and went toward Sodom; but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou consume the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, I will not destroy it, if I find there forty and five. 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 the forty’s sake. And he said, 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. And he said, Behold now, 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 the twenty’s sake. 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 the ten’s sake. And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.

The principles of moral goodness were well-nigh extinguished in the human heart, and the practice of the moral virtues had almost disappeared from the earth. And intemperance, ferocity, lust, fraud, and violence might have brought a second deluge upon the race, had not the truth of God stood pledged against the repetition of so dire a calamity. E. C. W.—Wicked as all the nations of those lands were, the people of this one tract appear to have surpassed the rest in atrocity. “The Lord said, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and their sin is very grievous.” The insults to Heaven had, as it were, come up with a strength, and loudness, and outrage, greater than from other parts of the earth. It was time for the righteous Governor to manifest himself. And as the first circumstance, three persons came as on a friendly visit to Abraham. It is impossible not to be struck with the calmness and quietness of the proceeding. There were no terrible portents—no magnificent phenomena—no thundering menaces—nor formidable preparations—nor effulgence of Divine Majesty. The patriarch’s hospitality was accepted. The first thing unusual was a matter of complacent interest,—a renewed assurance of posterity to Abraham. But to think what this friendly converse was the introduction to! J. F.

1. And the Lord appeared unto him.** When we consider what our Saviour saith, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him;” we must be convinced that it was not God the Father who showed Himself in these appearances; but that it was He, the Logos or Word, who appeared to the Patriarchs; and neither God the Father nor His angels. Bp. Wilson.

2. Three men.** Such they were in outward appearance, but the Apostle (Heb. 13 : 1) calls them “angels,” whom Abraham entertained unawares, i.e. not knowing them to be such. To him they appeared to be three strangers on a journey, and as such he treated them. It is generally conceded that two of these were created angels. As to the third, it can scarcely be doubted that he was the same divine personage who, under the name of “Angel,” or “Angel of Jehovah,” so frequently appeared to the patriarchs in human form. Certain it is that this personage appears in the subsequent part of the narrative (v. 13-22), and yet there is not the least intimation of any other appearance than that of the three men whom Abraham entertained. The inference therefore is fair that the Son of God, anticipating his future manifestation in the flesh, constituted one of the company. Bush.—In v. 1 it is said, “The LORD appeared unto him;” in v. 22 it is said, “The men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom; but Abraham stood yet before the LORD;” in ch. 19:1 it is said, “There came two Angels to Sodom at even.” It appears from the comparison of these passages, and indeed from the whole narrative, that of the three men who appeared to Abraham, two were angels, and one was JENOVAN Himself. E. H. B.

3-8. All the marks of obeisance and respect are such as are still common in the East. Even the deference shown by him in standing by while his guests partook of his food, without presuming to take part with them, has been more than once witnessed by ourselves in eastern lands. We have noticed instances in which, when the host was a man of rank and consequence, he has brought in, with his own hands, some principal dish, and remained standing, or in attendance, during the whole meal, directing the operations of the servants in removing and in laying on. Kit.

Abraham’s dwelling was a tent, probably of dark-brown camel’s-hair cloth, like the tents of his dependants. Only in this was he distinguished from them, that a separate tent was pitched for the females of his family. His repast was spread for him before the tent door, beneath the shade of some friendly tree. The most usual articles of food were leben, or sour coagulated milk (which is still the chief dish of the Syrian Arab), and unleavened cakes baked upon the hot hearth. To these might be added on festive occasions, or when strangers were to be entertained, the roasted flesh of a kid or of a calf. Hospitality to the passing traveller ranked among the most sacred and imperative of all duties, as is usually the case wherever public places of rest or entertainment do not exist. Dykes.

The Arab tents are either round, resting in the middle on poles, eight or ten feet high; or oblong, resting on seven to nine poles, of which three are higher than the others—the middle one the highest. The covering is a thick black material, made of goat’s or camel’s-hair,—this, tightly stretched, will keep out any rain or dew. The tents have two or three divisions—for the cattle, the men, and the women; the outside compartment for the more tender of the cattle; the next for the men; and the third, inner one, Kubba—in Arabic Alkobba (alcove)—is for the women. The Emirs have separate tents for the cattle and for the women. The tents are frequently pitched under large trees for the shade. Thus lived Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the land of Canaan. Gerl.

The strangers were Heaven’s pilgrims, and while they tarried Mamre was holy ground.

And so with Bible truths. Have a heart hospitable to whatever comes from God, and no fear but glorious truths will come—truths whose arrival will blaze with light from heaven, and whose entrance into the homestead of your convictions will create a holiday: truths whose coming will make your life more happy, and your lot illustrious to yourself. The truths of God will come, and God himself will come; and if you entertain them, they will not, like Abraham’s angels, seek to pass away. The Bible abounds in stately and self-commending truths. The Sovereignty of God, the Substitution and Satisfaction of Immanuel, the Righteousness of Jehovah-Jesus, the Christ-revealing and soul-renewing work of the Holy Spirit, the Intercession of the Heavenly High Priest, the spirituality of Christ’s kingdom, the necessity of Holiness, present salvation, the prevalency of Prayer,—to many men these truths merely exist as dogmas, which they have stowed away in the dusty chamber of their formal creed. But happy is the man to whom they come in their angelic garb, imperial in faith’s purple, and radiant in emitted splendor, “trailing clouds of glory with them as they come.” And happy is the man who, blessed with such God-like visitors, detains them as perpetual residents; and bidding all his love and faith and veneration wait on them and serve them, finds his being exalted into the home of high conviction, the palace of God’s own truth. In such a man the Word of Christ dwells richly. Hamilton.

8. Did eat. All this happened as narrated. Man eats that he may live. An angel eats to be like a man. Gerl.—If the angels took upon themselves a human body, they could also eat. 9-11. The narrative distinctly and decisively proves that the renewal of the promise was meant for Sarah and not for Abraham. The first sentence which the strangers utter, is to inquire: “Where is Sarah thy wife?” and immediately afterward the messenger of Jehovah adds the prediction, which it was meant Sarah should hear, and which she actually heard. Then follows the colloquy between the heavenly guest and Sarah, in which Abraham takes no part. K.

10. Sarah thy wife shall have a son. It is repeated again (v. 14). Thus the promises of the Messiah were often repeated in the Old Testament, for the strengthening of the faith of God’s people. We are slow of heart to believe, and therefore have need of line upon line to the same purport. This is that word of promise which the apostle quotes (Rom. 9:9), as that by the virtue of which Isaac was born. H.

12. Abraham heard this news from the angel and laughed; Sarah heard it and laughed: they did not more agree in their desire than differ in their affection; Abraham laughed for joy; Sarah, for distrust; Abraham laughed because he believed it would be so; Sarah, because she believed it could not be so: the same act varies in the manner of doing and the intention of the doer. Yet Sarah laughed but within herself and is betrayed: how God can find us out in secret sins! How easily did she now think that he, which could know of her inward laughter, could know of her conception; and now she that laughed and believed not, believeth and feareth. Bp. II.

13. The Lord.** The chief speaker is denoted, first by the mere pronoun, which is often used when God is meant, and then by the name JEHOVAH. It appears from the sequel, that while the chief of the three (Jehovah himself) remained behind in converse with Abraham, and then “went his way” to execute judgment upon Sodom, the other two were sent forward to rescue Lot. P. S.

Wherefore did Sarah laugh? The prerogative of God extendeth as well to the reason as to the will of man; so that, as we are to obey his law, though we find a reluctance in our will, so we are to believe his Word, though we find a reluctance in our reason. For if we believe only that which is agreeable to our sense, we give consent to the matter, and not to the author; which is no more than we would do toward a suspected and discredited witness; but that faith which was accounted to Abraham for righteousness was of such a point as whereat Sarah laughed, who therein was an image of natural reason. Bacon.

14,15. It seems to have been a signal mercy to her, thus to have had her secret sin detected and reproved. From this time we hear no more of her unbelief; on the contrary, the rebuke administered to her was effectual for the confirming and establishing her faith. In the account given of the most eminent saints who were distinguished for their faith, Sarah herself is mentioned; and her faith is said to have been instrumental to the accomplishment of that very promise, which in the first instance she had disbelieved. And how many have found similar reason to bless God for the fidelity of their friends, or for the inward rebuke of their own consciences! Bush.—A question had been asked that made Sarah serious: “Is anything too hard for JEHOVAH?” When Sarah heard that question she wished to disown her laughter and to fall in the hands of the LORD. J. P.

At length, in the faith of both his parents, there was present the prerequisite condition for Isaac’s supernatural conception. His birth was announced to take place at the recurrence of the same season next year. But before it took place, this divine visitation in mercy was to be set in contrast with a divine visitation in judgment. The calm of the patriarchal home was speedily to be invaded with tidings of horror, and the bright hopes which had dawned upon the race of Abraham crossed by a lurid glare, when He who had descended in favor upon Mamre descended in vengeance upon Sodom. Dykes.

16. Rose up.** Consider the progress of the history from this point. The three men rise up and turn their steps toward Sodom. On the way they stand still; and He who already had spoken as the Lord Jehovah, announces to Abraham His purpose to inquire into the cry which had come up to Him from Sodom. The two angels then turn toward Sodom (19:1); while the third, the Lord, remains and listens to Abraham’s entreaty for the city. The two angels arrive at Lot’s house, pass the night there, and declare that the Lord had sent them to destroy the city: in the morning, they lead him out. Here the third, the Lord Himself, comes to them (19:17). Lot, who did not yet know them, appeals to the whole three for a particular mercy (ver. 18), but only one out of the three answers him, and speaks now in His own name; and thereupon, as Jehovah, he rains down fire and brimstone out of heaven from the Lord (Jehovah), ver. 21-25. Gerd.

17. Shall I hide from Abraham.** All the principles of the divine Providence in its relations to the sins of men appear here: his forbearance and patience, his constant notice, the deciding test, and the strictness and righteousness of the judgment; and hence Abraham is told here, that these same principles might operate upon the minds of the people of God in all ages. Gosman.

18, 19. Three points are contained in the promises given to Abraham. 1. The land in which he himself continues all his life a stranger, and where he must even buy a place for his grave, is to be given for an eternal possession to his descendants. 2. He who remains childless till his old age shall have an innumerable posterity, which is guaranteed by the changing of his name into Abraham [father of a multitude]; and not Ishmael, the son of Hagar, who was born after the counsel of man, but Isaac, born contrary to the ways of nature, according to God’s counsel, is to be the bearer and inheritor of the promise. 3. The seed of Abraham shall be made a blessing for all races and all nations of the earth. Still the electing grace of the covenant God, who calls himself E-Shaddai (the Almighty God), as a witness of his controlling power in the natural world, is met on Abraham’s side by faith, which does not look at the course of nature, but holds fast to God’s word of promise, and endures victoriously the severest test in his willingness to offer the son of the promise. In this faith, which is reckoned to him for righteousness, Abraham the friend of God is the prophet, to whom is granted insight into the divine counsel (“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?”) when Sodom reels onward to judgment, and who has the privilege of free access to God in prayer. Nay, he becomes the father of all believers, and his name stands at the head of the three monotheistic religions of the world (Jewish, Mohammedan, and Christian), even when looked at in a purely historical way. But this knowledge of the divine way is to be accompanied by a walking therein (Gen. 17:1). Moreover, according to verse 19, Jehovah “acknowledged,” that is, chose, Abraham, “that he might command his sons after him to keep Jehovah’s ways, doing justice and right, that Jehovah might bring upon Abraham all that He has said of him.” O.—Blessings are secured to him only if he and his seed after him walk in the ways of Jehovah, in obedience to the covenant. He is therefore to instruct his household and his children in these ways, and to see to it that they remain faithful to the covenant. If they forsake the ways of Jehovah and choose to walk in those of the heathen, the same judgment which had been executed on the Gentiles would also overtake them. Thus the communication of Jehovah’s purpose in reference to Sodom is at the same time a solemn and telling warning addressed to Abraham and to his posterity. K.

Occasions will arise when parental authority must accompany parental prayers and precepts, if we would walk in the steps of faithful Abraham. In particular, everything that dishonors God, no less than that which is injurious to society, must be opposed with determined vigor. The economy of the household should be so ordered as to carry the conviction to their minds that the knowledge, the love, and the service of God is the great business of life, to which everything else is to be subservient. Bush.—Parental fidelity and authority; the early culture and training of his household; consecration, the prayer and the faith which are legitimately begotten of this covenant and naturally correlated to it;—these are obviously the fitting conditions upon which the fulfilment of this covenant on God’s part must depend. But, oh, the wealth of blessings garnered up within its bosom for those who walk in the steps of Abraham with like precious faith and like godly nurture! How wonderfully does piety become self-perpetuating in the family line from generation to generation of those who take this covenant to their inmost heart and find God in it ever faithful and ever true and evermore “mighty to save,” as he hath said! H. C.—God having made the covenant with him and his seed, and his household being circumcised, pursuant to that, he was to teach and rule them well. Those that expect family-blessings must make conscience of family-duty. If our children be the Lord’s, they must be nursed for him; if they wear his livery, they must be trained up in his work. Abraham not only took care of his children, but of his household. The poorest servants have precious souls that must be looked after. Abraham made it his care and business to promote practical religion in his family. H.—God’s plan includes Abraham’s fidelity to the covenant; and as it is a household covenant, embracing his seed after him, so it binds him to be a faithful father and householder. This is the process by which God will accomplish his plan of grace, and the means are secured as well as the end. Family religion is God’s method for propagating his church. He therefore makes the covenant and its seals of a household nature; and thus the church has always been extended by means of a pious posterity. Jacobus.

It was the simple, massive, serene character of Abraham which kept him so steady to his ideas, and which gave him his peculiar power to keep others steady also. We seem to see one of such rectitude and majesty of will that he himself moved, and moved all around him, easily, in the line which the finger of God had marked. Of all models for the prosperous men of this century Abraham is the finest,—laying hold on life with so powerful a grasp, yet confessing that he was “a stranger and a pilgrim.” Mercer.

Under the Patriarchal dispensation each head of a single family was at once prince and priest of his own people; offering sacrifices in their behalf and leading their simple worship, privileged to receive personal communications from God and to expect special guidance of his providence and grace. These intimate personal relations with God proved to these early saints a means of spiritual training of marvellous power. The Patriarchal dispensation was appointed to lay deep and broad the foundations of the Church for all coming time. The Church of God rests on two corner-stones: piety in the individual man, and family religion by which the piety of the fathers is perpetuated in their children. The office of the Patriarchal Dispensation was to develop and establish forever these two foundations of the future Church, personal holiness and family religion. Of both these principles, Abraham was the most perfect example under this early dispensation. . . . So under the Christian dispensation, the father is prince and priest of his household. He must minister at the family altar, bearing upon his own soul to the mercy-seat the burden of their sins and sorrows and needs. He must command his children that they keep the way of the Lord. And with him also if faithful, as with faithful Abraham, will God enter into an unfailing covenant, which shall bring blessings untold to his children of generations yet unborn. E. L. Clark.

As soon as prophecy found a receptacle in the chosen race it grew strong, it became an architect and builder, it raised institutions, it enacted ordinances. In Abraham it founded a family, in Moses it framed a law, in David it erected a kingdom. The Jewish people from the first gave prophecy a fixed home, and the nation became the depository for the sacred gift. The Jewish Church maintained and kept up the inspired expectation, protecting it, and surrounding it with institutions and schools; so that, preserved as a directing influence among them, it prepared a practical reception for the Messiah; and founded that body of thought in the nation which welcomed him who fulfilled the promise when he came, and in that welcome founded the Christian Church. Prophecy thus proved itself an instrument of real efficiency and power. In Abraham himself we see the foundation of that strong external structure,—that law, that system, and that discipline,—which was to act as the depository of the prophetic promise; we see it in the fact that he founded a family, and bound that family by precepts and regulations which enabled it to preserve and hand down the true faith. Scripture gives him a character somewhat akin to that of an ancient law-giver, representing him as laying down rules and imparting a particular mould and type to his family, providing for its future instruction and worship, and treating it not merely as a family but as an institution. It hardly appears too bold to say that this text (vs. 17-19) is a description of more than the head of a family, that it represents the founder of a religious community, whose future adherence to the true faith he was anxious to secure by proper regulations. Mosley.

18. All nations blessed. Even here, when God affords the greatest proof of His friendship for Abraham, the reason why He so distinguishes him is this—because through him shall all the people of the earth be blessed. In order to show him how blessed a thing it is to serve the true and living God, and to stand in the relation of childlike intercourse with Him (a blessing which is granted to all those who are blessed through Abraham), God makes known His purpose to him as to an intimate friend. Gerl.—Hence we find, in subsequent revelations, that Abraham is spoken of as peculiarly the “friend of God.” So in Jehoshaphat’s prayer (2 Chron. 20:17): “Thou gavest this land to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever.” So by the prophet Isaiah (12:8) Jehovah declares: “Thou Israel art my servant, the seed of Abraham my friend.” And the apostle James, speaking of the offering of Isaac, remarks: “And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God.” S. L.

Abraham speaks to God, and God to Abraham, as a man speaks to his friend; and it seems almost as if the innocent time were brought back when God walked “in the garden in the cool of the day.” It was this peculiar nearness and confidence which gave Abraham the name of “the Friend of God,”—“El Khalil,” the Friend, as the common Arab calls him to-day. Mercer.—Men have sometimes communed with gods, genii, and departed heroes, but not with God, the one God of heaven and earth, in a way so calm and trusting. The stranger has no other friend than He who had brought him into this remoteness; but Him he possesses as the Friend of friends. What tender passages are there in the intercourse of God with him; how he comforts, directs, cheers him with future hopes; gives him, now, the pledge of a covenant, now, the sign of friendship, now, a new name, now, symbols to impress his heart, and demands now this, now that, return of love to Himself. Herder.

20,21. Abraham is destined to be a great nation and a blessing to all nations; for I have known, i.e., acknowledged him (chosen him in anticipative love, as in Amos 3:2; Hos. 13:4), that he may command his whole posterity to keep the way of Jehovah, to practise justice and righteousness, that all the promises may be fulfilled in them. God then disclosed to Abraham what he was about to do to Sodom and

Gomorrah, because Jehovah had chosen him to be the father of the people of God, in order that, by instructing his descendants in the fear of God, he might lead them in the paths of righteousness, so that they might become partskens of the promised salvation, and not be overtaken by judgment. The destruction of Sodom and the surrounding cities was to be a permanent memorial, to keep the fate of the ungodly constantly before the mind of Israel. To this end Jehovah explained to Abraham the cause of their destruction in the clearest manner possible, that he might not only be convinced of the justice of the divine government, but might learn, that, when the measure of iniquity was full, no intercession could avert the judgment,—a lesson and a warning to his descendants also. Keil.

20. The cry of Sodom.** The cry of sins for punishment. It is applicable to every sin as expressive of the moral demand which it makes for punishment; for every sin has a voice of crimination against the sinner, and its crying intimates the fixed, necessary, and righteous connection (Gen. 4:10), which is established between transgression and punishment. Bush.

21. Will know.** The perfect justice of God, the exact weighing of all which men have done, is in a most striking manner represented in this expression. God places the Sodomites on their trial. The trial was not needful for His information; but it is needful that every sin should be brought to light, to be either blotted out or punished. Gert.—In this passage God speaks after the manner of men; using the language of a good judge, who never passes sentence, much less executes it, till he hath examined the cause. Kidder.—Jehovah could not be uncertain whether the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah contained the truth; but it was still a question whether Sodom, by its conduct against the last deciding visitation of God, would show that its corruption placed it beyond any help or salvation. It must become evident through its last trial, whether it has reached the limit of the long-suffering patience of God. Lange.—Whether they have done altogether. Heb., whether they have made completeness,—made a finish (of their sins), filled the measure. Jacobus.

23-33. Abraham intercedes for Sodom. He puts forward the plea of justice to the righteous in behalf of the city. He ventures to repeat his intervention six times, every time diminishing the number of the righteous whom he supposes to be in it. The patience of the Lord is no less remarkable than the perseverance of Abraham. In every case he grants his petition. M.

—Six times he intercedes, with such earnestness and heartfelt yearning, that in his great anguish and desire he utters almost foolish words. But it is a most precious prayer, if you judge of it by the attitude of his heart; for it was a very violent emotion and profound importunity. There was more in the holy man’s heart than that heart could understand and feel. I am sure tears ran down his face, and his words passed into unspeakable sighs. Luther.

He trembles as he plants each footstep in advance, yet, love-impelled, he cannot but proceed. He fears to offend, yet he fears still more to let a last chance be lost of averting the awful judgment. Earnestly, tremblingly, on and on he goes, reducing first by fives and then by tens the number, till at last he stops, overwhelmed with the impression that the Divine grace has triumphed over the human importunity, and satisfied that the Judge of all the earth will certainly do right. Wonderful specimen this of an intercession coming from a heart filled to overflow with the desire to see God’s character vindicated and the happiness of his creatures, even the worst of them, secured! Can we doubt that it was this singular union of pure compassion for human suffering with a supreme regard for righteousness, a care for the Divine honor with resignation to the Divine will, that won for it the audience of that ear which heard in it from afar a faint echo of that most wonderful intercession that ever came from human lips—‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do’? W. H.

How fervently does this righteous man pray, this friend of God and friend of man, when he has once taken on him to speak unto the Lord as a man speaketh unto his friend! Of his prayer, a clear knowledge of the will and being of God is the basis: in his God he beholds the Judge of the whole earth, who cannot possibly do aught but justice. Humility is the key-note to this prayer. It evinces unshaken confidence in a wisdom, a holiness, a love and power, whose ways were different, but yet infinitely higher and better, than the ways and thoughts of men. It is characterized by a perseverance which from every renewed promise borrows higher courage for a new and bolder demand; but at the same time by a thorough submission to the will of God, when the utmost limit has been reached which the long-suffering One can assign to His sentence. No marvel, truly, that this prayer, looking at the result, availled much. It did not, indeed, save Sodom and Gomorrah from destruction; there were not found therein even ten righteous men. But not the less it guided Lot and his household out of Sodom to Zoar: for the sake of Abraham the family was preserved, of which he had not even mentioned the name. And, above all, through this prayer Abraham was himself bound in closer union to Jehovah; God’s good pleasure in His servant was heightened; and after centuries it still speaks to us and countless others of our most glorious privilege and our most sacred duty. Van O.

25. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?** This very question is itself a tribute to the righteousness of God. And the course which God took in answering it shows that he has ever held it of the first consequence to secure the moral approbation of his creatures. In many things he has transcended their reason; in nearly all things he has baffled and even confounded and mocked their speculations; but in all instances he has been most careful not to excite controversy against himself in the human conscience. If it could once enter the mind of man that God has done wrong, that is to say has acted unjustly, man would be in a position to vindicate the most strenuous rebellion against his government. It is true, indeed, that we may come upon many things, even in moral government, which we can neither understand nor explain; but if where we can enter into God’s purpose, and the method of its execution, we are enabled to see that righteousness is the habitation of God’s throne, we are entitled to give our conscience rest in cases which are to our reason inscrutable. J. P.—It is a wonderful confirmation of man’s right to reason from the most certain intuitions of his own moral being to the character and ways of Him Who made man, that Jehovah neither resented nor disappointed the appeal of His servant. To each successive question He returned a calm assent: “I will not do it for the sake of so many.” As far as the courage or the justice of the man made bold to go, God’s higher and more merciful justice went along with him. Dykes.

32. I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.** A wonderful representation of the tender mercy of the Most High; who condescended to grant a reprieve to the whole country for the sake of a few righteous, could they have been found in it. And His mercy was still greater, even beyond Abraham’s desire; for He spared one of the five cities, for the sake of three or four persons: as we read (chap. 19 : 20, 21). Abraham makes no express mention of Lot in any of the foregoing petitions but it is plain from chap. 19 : 29 that he was in his thoughts, which God knew: and he is comprehended in those words at the 23d verse of this chapter, “Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” Patrick.—Every corrupt man is not only an enemy to himself, but an enemy to his family and to his country, by contributing to swell the tide of national guilt, which will not fail to end in national calamity, whenever the measure of the iniquity of the individuals that compose the community shall come to the full. Hales.

How cautiously, yet how hopefully, Abraham’s prayer enlarged itself! From fifty to forty-five, to forty, to thirty, to twenty, to ten! A whole city would have been spared for the sake of ten righteous men. Here we see a great principle in the government of God. We are sparing others, or are being spared for their sakes. J. P.

33. Abraham left 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 honor induced God to fix, can be assigned to the exercise of his grace in answer to his people’s prayers. Bush.—God granted Abraham’s prayer so far as he ventured to extend it. We know not what would have been the answer, had he gone further. But we have here the highest encouragement for intercessory prayer, — to plead with God for wicked men, for communities and nations that are far gone in sin. Abraham received no denial. So far as we can see, it was he who left off, and not God. Yet we are to rest humbly and trustfully upon God’s good pleasure, after all our prayer. Jacobus.—The importunity which believers use in their addresses to God, is such, that if they were dealing with a man like themselves, they could not but fear that he would be angry with them. But he with whom we have to do is God and not man; and however he may seem, is not really angry with the prayers of the upright (Ps. 80 : 4), for they are his delight (Prov. 15 : 8), and he is pleased when he is wrestled with.

Abraham returned unto his place, not puffed up with the honor done him, nor by these extraordinary interviews taken off from the ordinary course of duty; he returned to his place, to observe what the event would be; and it proved that his prayer was heard, and yet Sodom not spared, because there were not ten righteous in it. We cannot expect too little from man, nor too much from God. H.—“Abraham returned to his place,” and it was now the afternoon. The people of Sodom little knew what a conversation they had been the subject of. The vain and wicked little know, or think, or care, what fear the devout and righteous may be entertaining for them, or what intercessory supplications they may be making—and if they did know, many of them would but scorn such fears and prayers. There was to be in Sodom something that was to be saved in the hour of vengeance, to mark in a signal manner the contrast; to show how infallibly the righteous Governor distinguishes;—and what value he sets on the fidelity that will not conform to the surrounding wickedness. J. F.

The Patriarchal Dispensation. The Greek word Patriarch (the father-ruler) gives a fuller etymological expression to the idea which was at first essential to the simpler Hebrew word, at the time when the father was, by the right of nature, the ruler of the whole community formed by his living descendants. In sacred history the term is commonly applied to the descendants of Adam, through the line of Abraham, down to the time of Moses. The whole plan of God’s moral government and revelation of himself before the giving of the Mosaic Law constitutes the Patriarchal Dispensation, which Paul expressly distinguishes by the phrase “until the law,” and defines as “from Adam to Moses.” Its peculiar characteristics were the direct and intimate communion of God with his people, and their government by a moral system, the great principles of which were well understood, though not yet reduced to a code of laws. It was an experiment of moral government in the simple and beautiful form of family harmony. Its ideal is expressed in the words—“I have known Abraham, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Jehovah, to do justice and judgment.”

The patriarchal dispensation may be divided into three stages. (1.) When our first parents had fallen from their primitive state of innocence, they were placed, by the promise of a deliverer, in a condition still to trust in the mercy of God, and to choose between a life of humble obedience to him, and self-willed opposition against him; and the observance of sacrifices of blood seems to have been an outward sign distinguishing the followers of these two courses. The distinction was seen in the personal characters of Cain and Abel, and in the family characters of the Cainites and the Sethites; but before long the latter also were corrupted by their union with the former—the sons of God intermarrying with the daughters of men—and the general result was an almost universal experiment on God’s forbearance. (2.) This state of things was ended by the Deluge, after which the experiment of godly obedience and patriarchal order was renewed under the fresh conditions laid down by the covenant with Noah, insuring the divine forbearance till the end of time. But when the prospect of judgment was thus removed far off, sin assumed new courage; the Babel-builders made the daring attempt to render themselves independent of Jehovah: nations were founded on those godless principles which have ever since prevailed in the “kingdoms of this world.” This was the very consummation of rebellion against the patriarchal dispensation; while the authority with which it invested the father of the family was claimed, as it has been to our own day, for the despot and usurper. Idolatry was established in all these kingdoms; and the pure worship of Jehovah was alone preserved, or perhaps we should rather say, retaught to man, in connection with the true model of patriarchal government, in the one family, which was chosen to wander about as nomads, living under tents, amid the nations with whom as yet they shared no earthly inheritance. (3.) It is in this third stage that we see the general form and spirit of the patriarchal life. Of the social life of the Antediluvian Patriarchs, and even of the Postdiluvian Patriarchs before Abraham, we know next to nothing; but when we turn to the pictures of Abraham dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promises; of the other branch of the family at Haran; of the conflicts between Sarah and Hagar on behalf of Ishmael and Isaac, and between Esau and Jacob themselves for the right of inheritance; of Isaac and Jacob blessing their children before they died; and of the varied relations between the sons of Israel and their families—in these and many other scenes we see the working of the patriarchal system with sufficient distinctness to trace its leading principles. P. S.