Abraham Was A Brilliant Priest, And a Good Father

I’ve been listening to Tim Keller’s message called, “Real Friendship and the Pleading Priest” (here’s a link to the podcast feed). He discusses the first documented priestly interaction with God wherein Abraham pleads for the lives of those in Sodom if God can find 50 righteous people in Sodom. No no no no… wait wait wait… How about 45, no, 40? 30? 20? No, how about just 10 righteous people in Sodom?

Dr. Keller wondered aloud, “Why’d Abraham stop at 10? Why not get down to just one?” Dr. Keller posits two theories, one of which I’d like to expand on.

His two theories:

1 - Abraham just realized he was haggling with God and, doggon’ it, he’d better not push his luck! (Dr. Keller’s preferred answer.) 2 - Lot was in Sodom. If he got down to just one, all he’d have is Lot, and Lot was just semi-righteous.

I’d like to expand on that second theory.

Lot was in Sodom. If Abraham haggled all the way down to just one righteous person, and God destroyed Sodom, then Abraham would have his worst fears come true: Lot was confirmed to be an unrighteous person.

But if Abraham stopped at ten, then Lot’s righteousness would not be called into question if God destroyed the city anyway. You see, God could find as many as nine other righteous people and would still destroy the city. Lot may or may not have been one of the nine, and it would be impossible to tell. Abraham could assume Lot was among them.

(Abraham could have gone to only two, but I think I agree with Dr. Keller… that’s just pushing it!)

So you see, I think Abraham was brilliant in his role as priest here. He got