Genesis 18

(Gen 18:1-33): Three men by the terebinth trees of Mamre appeared to Abraham. One of the visitors was the LORD (Gen 18:1). Abraham had a meal prepared for them, and they ate (Gen 18:8)! Sarah overheard the LORD saying, I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son (Gen 18:10). She laughed within herself of how ludicrous this sounded (Gen 18:12). 

But this was already clarified (Gen 17:15-16) and confirmed with the circumcision as a sign of the agreement between God and Abraham. Abraham did not laugh this time (Gen 17:17), but Sarah remained skeptical because of her age and that of her husband. She became fearful upon realizing the LORD heard the inner voice of her heart (Gen 18:13, 15). Then the LORD said to Abraham,  

Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son (Gen 18:14).

Once this matter was settled another issue was pressing, that of Sodom and Gomorrah. So the LORD sent the two angels to Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 18:16, 22; 19:1) to confirm the gravity of their sin (Gen 18:20-21). He did not have to personally go down (Gen 18:21) to investigate the great outcry against it because He is all-knowing, but He did. And He doesn’t need angelic confirmation either. 

God stated this for Abraham’s benefit and ours. Of interest is the question of the source of this outcry: human, angelic, or figurative? This is similar to the blood of Abel crying out to Yahweh from the ground (cf. Gen 4:10). The outcry is accusative in nature, according to the outcry against it [emphasis mine] that has come to Me (Gen 18:21).

Rather than hiding this “fact-finding” mission to Sodom from Abraham, the LORD informs him what He was doing. Abraham will become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him (Gen 18:18). It is vital that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him (Gen 18:19, ESV), or they could be facing pending disaster as Sodom and Gomorrah. 

Abraham knew what the LORD would discover (cf. Gen 13:13; 14:22-23) and immediately began interceding for Lot and his family (Gen 18:23-32) – Then the men [angels, added] turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD (Gen 18:22).

Abraham asked the LORD, Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked (Gen 18:23)? Unbeknown to Abraham, an angelic rescue attempt was already in progress as the angels made their way to Sodom (Gen 19:1). Abraham was not protesting that the wicked should not be slain or that even the righteous should not be slain, but that the righteous should not perish along with the wicked – Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right (Gen 18:25)?
So the LORD went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; Abraham returned to his place (Gen 18:33). 

Father, You know my thoughts and my ways. My heart is like an open book to You. O that the thoughts of my heart and my walk would always be pleasing in Your sight. Like Sarah, I walk too much on the horizontal plane. Circumstances, rather than Your Word, have shaped my faith and molded my thoughts and path. Words of doubt have replaced words of confidence.

I forget Who You are and my place in the scheme of things – Is anything too hard for the LORD (Gen 18:14)? Though You are a God of love, You also are Judge of all the earth. Yahweh, You are just and righteous in your dealings with men. Unrighteousness will not go unpunished nor righteousness unblessed! May I seek to walk upright to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice. <><