Genesis 18:20–33 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 toward 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 because 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.

If you have ever hosted a garage or yard sale, you are familiar with haggling. Lots of folks purposely put a high price on things so that they have some room to come down and still get a fair price for their items. It is how the game is played. And now it happens online. When you try to sell something online, people immediately ask you to sell it for a lower price before they have even seen the item. That’s a pretty bold move, and one I’m not fond of.

I’ve always been amazed at the boldness of Abraham bargaining with God in the passage above. I remember in my earlier days thinking, “I would never do that!” But then I realized that we all try to do that at times, don’t we? “Lord, if you just let _____ happen, I promise I will try to do better in my life.”

In Abraham’s situation, he wasn’t promising to do anything. He was just trying to see how how far He could push the Almighty. It seems as though He was trying to determine just how merciful and gracious God would be.

Something I didn’t fully understand until I became more mature in the faith is what made people “righteous.” Abraham was asking about “righteous people” that might be in Sodom. If there were righteous ones there, it was not because of what they did or their good behavior. The thing that makes people righteous, whether it was back in Abraham’s day or in our present time, is trusting God and believing His promises.

Genesis 15:6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Abram (Abraham) believed God’s promise of a Savior, and that made Him righteous in God’s sight. People today believe that God kept that promise in sending Jesus. He was the one who did everything necessary for us to be forgiven. His perfect life, sacrificed on the cross, was the payment for the sins of the entire world. Our faith in Him makes us righteous.

Something striking about the conversation between Abraham and the Lord is that the destruction of those who don’t trust God and believe His promises is avoidable.  It is more serious than our death from this life. Those who die without faith are separated from God and punished eternally. And God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, which is everyone. That is why He sent Jesus. Faith in Him makes us righteous in God’s sight. We are spared for Jesus sake. No haggling necessary. Jesus already paid the price for us.