Eighth Sunday of Pentecost

Abraham Prays for Sodom and Its People

Genesis 18: 20 - 32

After God made his covenant with Abraham, promising him as many descendants as there were stars in the sky, God and Abraham continued to speak to one another.

Abraham's nephew, Lot, had made his home among the strangers of Sodom. Lot was Abraham's only family in the city.

This story takes place before the birth of Isaac, so Abraham and Sarah did not yet have the family of their own that God had promised them.

Yet Abraham prayed to God for the safety and well-being of the people of Sodom, even though they were neither friends nor relatives.

This conversation between God and Abraham took place long before Moses returned with the Israelites to the Promised Land from Egypt. But the failure of the people of Sodom to live in accordance with the spoken will of God may have led to the giving of the written law, the Ten Commandments.

The men in the story are the visitors Abraham and Sarah entertained at their tent at Mamre.

1. What did Abraham ask the Lord?

[Abraham asked, "Lord, when you destroy the evil people, are you also going to destroy the good?"]

2. What did the Lord answer?

[The Lord answered, "If I find fifty good people in Sodom, I will save the city to keep them from being killed."]

3. As Abraham asked for lower and lower numbers of good people in the city, how few good people would save the city?

[Abraham went from fifty good people to forty-five to forty to thirty to twenty and at last to ten good people.]

Calendar | HomePage | References and Resources | Pentecost 8 Lesson | Pentecost Cover