When God saw that there was no righteous man among the inhabitants of
the sinful cities, and there would be none among their descendants, for
the sake of whose merits the rest might be treated with lenient
consideration, He resolved to annihilate them one and all.[158] But
before judgment was executed, the Lord made known unto Abraham what He
would do to Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other cities of the plain, for
they formed a part of Canaan, the land promised unto Abraham, and
therefore did God say, "I will not destroy them without the consent of
Abraham."[159]
Like a compassionate father, Abraham importuned the grace of God in
behalf of the sinners. He spoke to God, and said: "Thou didst take an
oath that no more should all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood.
Is it meet that Thou shouldst evade Thy oath and destroy cities by
fire? Shall the Judge of all the earth not do right Himself? Verily, if
Thou desirest to maintain the world, Thou must give up the strict line
of justice. If Thou insistest upon the right alone, there can be no
world." Whereupon God said to Abraham: "Thou takest delight in
defending My creatures, and thou wouldst not call them guilty.
Therefore I spoke with none but thee during the ten generations since
Noah."[160] Abraham ventured to use still stronger words in order to
secure the safety of the godless. "That be far from Thee," he said, "to
slay the righteous with the wicked, that the dwellers on the earth say
not, 'It is His trade to destroy the generations of men in a cruel
manner; for He destroyed the generation of Enosh, then the generation
of the flood, and then He sent the confusion of tongues. He sticks ever
to His trade.'"
God made reply: "I will let all the generations I have destroyed pass
before thee, that thou mayest see they have not suffered the extreme
punishment they deserved. But if thou thinkest that I did not act
justly, then instruct thou Me in what I must do, and I will endeavor to
act in accordance with thy words." And Abraham had to admit that God
had not diminished in aught the justice due to every creature in this
world or the other world.[161] Nevertheless he continued to speak, and
he said: "Wilt Thou consume the cities, if there be ten righteous men
in each?" And God said, "No, if I find fifty righteous therein, I will
not destroy the cities."[162]
Abraham: "I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, I who would have
been turned long since into dust of the ground by Amraphel and into
ashes by Nimrod, had it not been for Thy grace.[163] Peradventure there
shall lack five of the fifty righteous for Zoar, the smallest of the
five cities. Wilt Thou destroy all the city for lack of five?"