Genesis 18 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Genesis 18:1-15

1 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

3 He said, ‘If I have found favour in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way – now that you have come to your servant.’

‘Very well,’ they answered, ‘do as you say.’

6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. ‘Quick,’ he said, ‘get three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.’

7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8 He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.

9 ‘Where is your wife Sarah?’ they asked him.

‘There, in the tent,’ he said.

10 Then one of them said, ‘I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.’

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, ‘After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?’

13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh and say, “Will I really have a child, now that I am old?” 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.’

15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, ‘I did not laugh.’

But he said, ‘Yes, you did laugh.’

A. Find Out:

1. In what form did the Lord come to Abram? v.2
2. What did Abram do? v.3-5
3. When did the Lord say they would have a son? v.10
4. How did Sarai respond when she heard this? v.12
5. Why? v.11
6. What did the Lord ask? v.14
7. What did she feel at the Lord’s response? v.15

B. Think:

1. Note (3?) things that you have learnt about the Lord in this passage.
2. What do we learn about Abraham from this passage?
3. What do we learn about Sarah?

C. Comment:

Here we find the Lord visiting Abraham and Sarah in human form accompanied by two angels (v.2). We see Abraham acting as the perfect host, welcoming them (without probably realizing who they were) and providing food for them, in every way his behavior being that of the perfect host (v.3-5). Having eaten, the Lord enquires of Sarah (v.9) and then promises that within a year she will have a son (v.10).

This is the most specific promise that Abraham has had from the Lord so far. This promise the Lord gives within Sarah’s hearing, almost as if He wants her to hear and to respond. Her response (v.12) is one of disbelief! She has presumably given up on the idea of having children and so the Lord challenges her with a most wonderful question, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (v.14) The obvious answer is NO.

It seems that perhaps the Lord’s visit was purely to confront Sarah with her unbelief and challenge her to believe again. We see here the Lord who KNOWS and SEES all things. Don’t let’s try and hide things from Him!

D. Application?

1. Am I a welcoming, hospitable person like Abraham? 
2. Am I trying to hide things from the Lord?
3. Declare in faith that NOTHING is too hard for the Lord and that when He has spoken He WILL do it.

Passage: Genesis 18:16-22

16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down towards Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. 17 Then the Lord said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.’

20 Then the Lord said, ‘The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.’ 22 The men turned away and went towards Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.

A. Find Out:

1. When the men left, what did Abraham do? v.16
2. What did the Lord wonder? v.17
3. What did the Lord remember of His purposes? v.18
4. Why did He say He had chosen Abraham? v.19
5. Why was the Lord going down to Sodom and Gomorrah? v.20,21
6. As two men went down to Sodom, what did Abraham do? v.22

B. Think:

1. How did Abraham come to be with the Lord when He started talking about Sodom & Gomorrah?
2. What do we learn here about those who fellowship with the Lord?
3. What further extension of revelation about God’s plans for Abraham are seen in this passage?

C. Comment:

Abraham walks a little way with the Lord, seeing Him on His way (v.16). A picture of a man who is hospitable and who, perhaps, is loath to let the Lord go. It is with such people that the Lord shares His heart. As they walk, the Lord communicates His thoughts about Abraham (v.18,19). Because Abraham is one of God’s chosen ones he can share something of the Lord’s heart. The Lord WILL share His heart with those who spend time with Him, who open their lives and their homes to Him.

We also see in the Lord’s musings His desire for Abraham which hasn’t been expressed openly before. He wants Abraham to learn and to teach his family to do what is right and just (v.19). The Lord doesn’t just call a person, He calls with a purpose, so that person will walk in the way God originally planned, to do good and treat others rightly as well. Here is the Lord’s desire for every man expressed, to bring change and blessing to us. What a lovely picture of the possible fellowship we may have with the Lord!

D. Application?

1. Do we long to have fellowship with the Lord as Abraham did?
2. Do we allow the Lord to share His heart with us?
3. Are we walking in goodness, treating all others in the way the Lord wants us to?

Passage: Genesis 18:22 – 19:1

22 The men turned away and went towards Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. 23 Then Abraham approached him and said: ‘Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?’

26 The Lord said, ‘If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.’

27 Then Abraham spoke up again: ‘Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?’

‘If I find forty-five there,’ he said, ‘I will not destroy it.’

29 Once again he spoke to him, ‘What if only forty are found there?’

He said, ‘For the sake of forty, I will not do it.’

30 Then he said, ‘May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?’

He answered, ‘I will not do it if I find thirty there.’

31 Abraham said, ‘Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?’

He said, ‘For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.’

32 Then he said, ‘May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?’

He answered, ‘For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.’

33 When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

1 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.

A. Find Out:

1. Put Abraham’s question to God in your own words. v.24
2. How many righteous did Abraham plead for in: v.24 … v.28 … v.29 … v.30 … v.31 … v.32?
3. How does Abraham refer to the Lord? v.25
4. Who is resident in the city? v.1
5. Where was he sitting? v.1

B. Think:

1. What of Abraham is shown in these verses as he “prays”?
2. Why do you think he pleads for the righteous in the city?
3. The gateway was the place where the leaders of the town met.
4. What do you think this says about Lot?

C. Comment:

In this unique episode in Scripture, we find Abraham interceding before God for Sodom. The Lord revealed His purpose to Abraham (v.20,21) and then seemed to stay with Him, almost as if He was waiting to see what Abraham’s response was going to be.

Revelation often brings with it responsibility. Abraham knows Lot and his family are at Sodom and so he asks the Lord to spare Sodom for the sake of righteous people there (v.23). He starts at fifty (v.24) and works his way down to ten (v.32), and there he stops. How sad that Lot was there, living in the midst of unrighteousness and apparently sitting and accepted with the town leaders who usually sat in the large gateway area of the city.

It is likely that as Abraham prayed he began to realize the true state of Sodom. He starts out with perhaps a random number, fifty, but actually wonders if there ARE fifty righteous there. As he prays on, he realizes how unlikely it was that there were many righteous there. He also realizes something more about the Lord, that He is judge of all the earth. The more we intercede, the more we start to understand further truths about the situation we are praying for.

D. Application?

1. Do we allow knowledge of unrighteousness to stir us into intercessor prayer?
2. Do we receive greater understanding AS we pray?