I Will Not Destroy It for Ten’s Sake

2025-07-16

And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake. (Genesis 18:32)

Abraham was hesitant to keep asking the LORD to spare Sodom, but the patriarch had compassion for Lot and his family with perhaps others he knew there. In this we see Abraham’s compassion for the righteous. We also see the LORD’s compassion as well, as He would spare the whole city if there were 10 righteous people found in the city.

What do we see though? The LORD does not spare the city. Lot alone with his family were spared. When righteousness in a society gets so scarce, He chooses to save the small remnant out of the wickedness and destroy the wicked. This was the case with Noah. Joshua and Caleb alone of their generation entered the Promised Land. And when the Day of Christ comes, “shall he find faith on the earth?”