And Jehovah said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grievous,
God has just renewed His promise of a son to Abraham. Now He speaks about the cities on the plain below, and His words raise two questions: how does sin reach God's ears, and why does a God who knows everything say He will go down and see?
The verse does not say God noticed Sodom's sin. It says a cry came up from it. One writer finds the same cry before Sodom and long after it:
It is a solemn truth, reader, that sin has a voice which cries to heaven for God's righteous retribution. The word of God, in both the Old Testament and the New, confirms it. God says to Cain, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground." God then pronounces judgment on Cain. … Further, in the New Testament: "Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts" (James 5:4).
Sodom sat in rich farmland. Scripture names that wealth as the root of its ruin.
With such a rich hinterland, Sodom no doubt became prosperous, and its prosperity was the cause of its downfall. The Lord makes this clear through the prophet Ezekiel. He says to Israel, "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy" (Ezekiel 16:49). God in His goodness had given them prosperity to relieve those in need. Instead, they used their wealth to gratify themselves in gross wickedness.
Genesis had already described the men of Sodom. What is new is that their sin now calls for a verdict — and even then God is in no hurry:
Already we have learned that "the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD" (Genesis 13:13). Now we learn that their sin cried out to the Lord for judgment, for it was "very grave." God waits and bears long with the wickedness of men, but He is not indifferent to sin. It cries out to Him until at last it is ripe for judgment. But even so, the Lord is slow to judge. First we read that the two angels rose up and looked toward Sodom (v. 16). Then they "went toward Sodom" (v. 22). At last we read, "the two angels came to Sodom in the evening" (Genesis 19:1).
God does not need to investigate anything. So why does He talk this way?
He is speaking here just as men speak. The Lord adopts the familiar language of everyday life, and stoops to fit Himself to what anyone could understand in a man. How God knows all things at once, without inquiry or investigation, is far beyond us. He condescends to speak this way so that Abraham might be fully at ease in His presence.
The same writer draws a lesson for us from God's unhurried manner:
God would give us the serious lesson of never being hasty in judging evil; He knows well how quick we often are. Even God Himself will go down and see. Appearances deceive men at least, and God would teach us how to guard against mistakes. He loves patience in judgment.
God did not owe Abraham this news. See what it produced in the man who received it:
When a soul is confident before God, He shares His thoughts, as here He treats Abraham as a friend, telling him even what concerns the world. With a friend we do not speak of mere business, but of what we have on our heart. Intercession is the fruit of divine revelation and fellowship. Abraham, separate from the world and with the Lord on the mountain, talks over the judgment that was about to fall on the world below.
Abraham's first reaction was not detached interest. He had family down there:
In a moment Abraham had the sense — that is a doomed place. I must get my nephew Lot out of it. He had relatives there. If you have Christian relatives, dear unsaved sinner, do not be amazed when they press you hard about the salvation of your soul. Why? Abraham knew in his day that Sodom was doomed. He knew the judgment of the Lord was about to fall on that godless place. In the same way, we Christians know that the very next thing for the world is judgment.
- The cry. Sin is not silent. A brother's blood, Sodom's outcry, wages held back from workers — each sends up a voice that reaches God.
- The cause. Sodom's outcry grew out of plenty — prosperity, ease and pride spent on self instead of on the poor and needy.
- The patience. God is neither indifferent nor hasty. He bears long, and moves toward judgment step by step, only when evil is ripe.
- The manner. "I will go down and see" is God speaking in human terms. He stoops so Abraham can be at ease with Him, and teaches us never to be quick in judging evil.
- The friendship. God tells a friend what is on His heart, even what is about to fall on the world. The friend's answer is intercession — and urgency for those still inside the doomed city.
I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come to me; and if not, I will know [it].
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.