The intercession of Abraham for Sodom

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III





The intercession of Abraham for Sodom. God could have punished Sodom without letting Abraham know about the matter. Abraham did not intervene on his own accord, but the Lord revealed the matter to him, involved him in it, gave him an opportunity to plead for the people of Sodom and accepted his intercession. God willed that this event be recorded to exalt Abraham in the eyes of all people and to show us how He venerates His saints. The Holy Bible says: "And the Lord said,
'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing' " (Gen.18: 17). Then the Lord presented to Abraham the subject of Sodom, gave him the opportunity to intercede for its people in the hope that there existed in the Country fifty or forty or thirty or twenty or ten righteous persons for whose sake the Lord would not destroy the whole Country