Avraham's Role During the Destruction of Sodom

 Parshat Vayera

by Rabbi Avi Billet

When one reads through the text of chapters 18 and 19, part of the text focuses on Avraham’s experience, while the remainder of the narrative looks at Lot and his family. Once the angels depart from Avraham, God tells Avraham about what He’s going to do to Sodom, and their conversation over the numbers of righteous people in Sodom ensues. When that dialogue ends at the end of chapter 18, we are told that “God left, and Avraham returned to his place.” 

 The next chapter focuses on Lot’s experience all the way through his wife turning around (and “being a stand of salt”), and then there is an interlude of 3 verses about Avraham before it returns to Lot’s escape from the destruction of his home town.

 (כז) וַיַּשְׁכֵּ֥ם אַבְרָהָ֖ם בַּבֹּ֑קֶר אֶל־הַ֨מָּק֔וֹם אֲשֶׁר־עָ֥מַד שָׁ֖ם אֶת־פְּנֵ֥י יְקֹוָֽק:

 (כח) וַיַּשְׁקֵ֗ף עַל־פְּנֵ֤י סְדֹם֙ וַעֲמֹרָ֔ה וְעַֽל־כָּל־פְּנֵ֖י אֶ֣רֶץ הַכִּכָּ֑ר וַיַּ֗רְא וְהִנֵּ֤ה עָלָה֙ קִיטֹ֣ר הָאָ֔רֶץ כְּקִיטֹ֖ר הַכִּבְשָֽׁן:

 (כט) וַיְהִ֗י בְּשַׁחֵ֤ת אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־עָרֵ֣י הַכִּכָּ֔ר וַיִּזְכֹּ֥ר אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶת־אַבְרָהָ֑ם וַיְשַׁלַּ֤ח אֶת־לוֹט֙ מִתּ֣וֹךְ הַהֲפֵכָ֔ה בַּהֲפֹךְ֙ אֶת־הֶ֣עָרִ֔ים אֲשֶׁר־יָשַׁ֥ב בָּהֵ֖ן לֽוֹט: 

“Avraham got up early in the morning, [returning] to the place where he had received the presence of God (י-ק-ו-ק). And he looked upon Sodom and the enter plain, and he saw that behold the fire of the land appeared like the fire of a furnace. And so it was when God (א-לקים) was destroying the cities of the plain, and God (א-לקים) remembered Avraham and sent Lot out of the overturning of the cities.” (19:27-29) 

Then the narrative returns to Lot’s disturbing experience with his daughters in a cave, bringing the chapter to its conclusion. This is followed by “And Avraham traveled from there to the Negev, to settle between Kadesh and Shur, in the land of Gerar.” 

“From there?” … from where? [Radak (and others) says Eloni Mamre, Netziv, Ibn Ezra (and others) say Hebron] At the end of chapter 18, he returned to his place. In 19:27-29, Avraham was remembered and thus Lot was saved. And now he is traveling “From there.” Is this narrative about Avraham? Or about Lot? Malbim says it’s not about Lot. It is all about Avraham. Which suggests that all of the narrative following Lot is meant to teach us how much of a role Avraham’s merit influenced the proceedings, and how much was far removed from Avraham’s experience. 

 Seforno says that all of these events with Avraham took place at the same specific place – where he parted ways from the angels. This suggests that a place where a person has a divine experience can become holy for that individual and that it could be a personal space for that individual to once again feel a direct connection to the Almighty. So the geographical location doesn’t matter, as much as the significance of the space is what took place there, what Avraham did there. 

 Perhaps most significant in the narrative, however, is the name of God which appears, and how it changes. In the narrative in Sodom itself, Lot references God’s name of י-ק-ו-ק (Hashem) to say Who will be destroying the city. And the narrative tells us that when Lot’s family left, Hashem had mercy on them through remembering Avraham. The name א-לקים (God) appears in the context (as noted above) of “as the city was being destroyed.” This imagery demonstrates the judgment that God meted out to the city itself (or to the cities in question), while mercy was being saved for Avraham and for his nephew. 

It is interesting that the Torah pits one narrative inside the other, rather than having one follow the other in a different style of story telling. This is similar to a film technique called “Split screen” – almost as if we are watching the same narrative in real time at two different locations. Inevitably, a split screen makes both images significant in that they inform the events of the other scene. 

 More importantly, it shows how God operates in the real world, appropriately apportioning judgment and mercy, all in the same act, to those who are worthy of having the outcomes coming upon them based on their individual efforts, and just deserts. 

 There’s a Jewish joke in which one person is explaining to his friend how the same thing can be a totally different experience for two people even if it is described the same way. “If I punch you in the belly, you have a fist in a belly, and I have a fist in the belly. It’s the same thing, but it is totally different.” 

The same certainly holds true for the destruction of Sodom. 

For Avraham, watching the Sodomites, who he had saved in the war of the 4 kings and 5 kings, be beyond salvation must have been a most devastating loss. At the same time, what happened to them did not happen to him – his affinity for their humanity did not sweep him up in their fate. Lot surely had a harrowing experience escaping from Sodom. And while his escape-run, the loss of his wife, and his disturbing tale of incest were all difficult elements of a sordid tale, Avraham did not experience any of this. At the same time, Lot himself did survive! 

Lot experienced mercy, even if to him it felt like judgment. Avraham experienced mercy, even though all he may have seen was judgment. One could even argue that the Sodomites experienced mercy (sometimes death is the ultimate act of mercy, for one who has destroyed a personal tzelem Elokim (divine image within a human) and the ability to contribute positively to the human condition) even though they may have seen whatever happened to them as judgment. 

 Avraham’s role, therefore, split up into the narrative of what happened to the cities of Sodom and to Lot’s family, is meant to show us that whatever mercy unfolded in this story was in Avraham’s merit. 

 Many point to Avraham’s rise in the morning, and his return to the spot he had earlier communed with God as Avraham praying at Shacharis time (Vasikin) and Mincha time. Ultimately, Avraham’s experiencing God’s mercy – most notably through Tefillah – shines through. 

 At the same time, God’s judgment is brought down into the world on account of the choices of either individuals’ decisions or the actions of the collective. 

 Those who conduct themselves, as Avraham did, to be deserving of God’s mercy can merit to have that mercy be shown upon their family and loved ones. And even those he had advocated for in the past, though they may have been undeserving now, may have been recipients of God’s mercy in Avraham’s merit, even as Divine Judgment still had a hand in their outcome. 

May our efforts always be worthy of Divine Mercy for ourselves, our loved ones, and the greater community of Klal Yisrael. And may Divine Judgment be meted out upon those deserving of it, particularly if they conduct themselves in a manner that removes them from living with and honoring their tzelem Elokim.