c I know him to be ſuch an one as1 am now deſcribing ; or I know this concerning him which now follows. Others, I love him, and therefore cannot conceal this from him. | Words of Knowledge being oft pur for Love, as Jer: 1: 5. and 24: 5: Ho: 13: 5, Ames. 3: 2+» d Or, Inſtru#, as the word is uſed, Leviticus 14: 5. Deut: 20: 18: and 27. 3, It will not be in vain that I tell him this, and give him occaſion to pray and to raſte my Goodneſs m anfwering Prayers, becauſe he will not ſmother thele things in his own Breaſt, but manifeſt them to otters, and teach them how goo God 1s, who ſo readily complies with the Defires and Prayers of Men, and -how terrible he is to incorrigible Sinners, and how evi] and bitter a thing it is to {in againſt God. And ſo I ſhall ger the end I aim at in all my Works, which is, that they may be known for rhe good of others ; that they may learn by fuch Ex. ample. e Who will live when he is dead. He will fo diligently imprint theſe things in their Minds, that they ſha!l never forget them. f ( 5. e. ) Obſerve and walk in the way of Gods Precepts : 7. 4. He thall nor loſe his Deſign or Labour ; tor what he teacherh they ſhall learn and Praftiſe. See Pſal: 51: 15, &c._ g (5. e.) To do all things thar are good, and right, and juſt, both to God and Men. Compare Pſal:1 19. f>1. þ (3, e. ) That Abraham and his Poſte- rity, keeping the Condition: of the Covenant required on their parr, God may without any blemiſh to his honour or Juſtice give all thoſe | good things which he hath promiſed to them. | |
20 And the LORD ſaid, Becauſe * the cry i of So- * Chap.z/ dom and Gomorrah & is great, and becauſs their ſin is 19. and | very grievous ; Sb
Z Sins are faid to cry when they are groſs, and manifeſt, and im- Jam: 5.4. * pudent, and ſuch as highly provoke God ro Anger. k He names C oly rheſe two, as being the moſt eminenr in State, and exemplary in Wickedneſs ; but under them he includes the reft, as appears by the Story. | ; f
21 * L will go down now, and ſee / whether they * Chap, | have T done altogether m2 accordir.g to the cry of ir, 11. s. | which is come unto me z and if nor. I wiil know. T Hed.
/ (7. e.) Enquire into the truth of the thing. God here ſpeaks made a afrer the manner of Men, and for the Example and In{truftion of 2: Judges to ſearch into Cauſcs ere rhey paſs Sentence. m | Heb: Whee *her they harye made a conſuinmation or accompl:ſhment, i. e. whether they have filled up the meaſure of their Sins. Compare Gen: 15: 16, Marth: 23: 32. James 1+ 15.
22. And the men » turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom : bur Abraham ſtood yer be-
fore the LORD o. _
n (i:e.) Two of them - for the third ſtayed with Abraham, as it nere follows. o The third of theſe perſons, whom now he percei- ved to be the Lord himſelf, who had aſſumed an humane ſhape.
23 1 And Abraham drew ncar p, avd iaid, Wilt
thou alſo deſtroy the righteous with the wicked ? p. (7.e. ) Apptoached unto God ro enquire of him, and to pray :n*o him ; for ſo the phraſe of @rawing near to God is uſed, 1 Sam: I4: 36. Pſal: 73. 28. IJa: 29; 13: Heb: 10: 22. « : 24 * Peradventure there be fifty righteous within * Jer. 5: $37 the city q: wilt chou alſo deſtroy, and not ſpare the
place for rhe fifty righteous that are therein ? 7
q ( #. e.) In the cities concerned. as appears by verſe 20. and 19, 25. The fingulac number for the plural, as is frequent, | as Gen: 3., 2. 1 Chron; 10: 1: compired with 1 Sam: 31: 1. and oft elſewhere, Or the City Sodom alone is men.ioned, but the reſt are compre- hended under it, either becauſe of it's eminency, or becauſe they were ſubje&t or tubordinar to it, as may ſeem probable |from the Hiſtory, Gen: 14. | |
'25 Thar be far from thee to do after this manner, to ſlay the righreous with the wicked : and that the righ- reous ſhajl be as. the wicked, that be far from thee: * ſhail nor the judge” of all the earth r do right 5? * Job 8.4: _ - 7 Now he clearly perceiveth that this perſon. was no lefs than and 34:17 the Creator, Governour and Judge of the World, even the ſecond Rom ith | perſon in the Bleſfed Trinity, ro whom that Title and Work is aſcribed, as John 5: 22, 27« Afts 10. 42. and 17: 31. s He {peaks nor rhis, as 1f it were __ unjuſt for God to inyolve the - Righteous 1" the ſame temporal Deſtruction with the Wicked ; for hz knew very well and by his own experience, that there was not a juſt man 1on earth that d:d good and famed not, Ecclef, 7: 20. and therefore no fuch juſt man who dit nor for his own Sin deſerve that Death and Deft:-uftion, which is the proper wages of. ir, Rom: 6.: laſt. Bur he ſpeaks not here of ſtrick and rigorous Juſtice, but of that moderat and equitable way which God 1s pleaſed to uſe with the Sons of Men, and of rhar r:1ght to temporal Deliverances which by vertue of God's gracious Covenant and Promiſe, did accrue to pious and vertuous Perſons, eſpecially in the times of the old Teſta- ment, when temporal Promiſes were more expreſly and particu- larly made ro good Men..
26 And the LORD ſaid, If I find in Sodom fifcy righteous within the city, then I will ſpare all the place
for their ſakes. __ | |
275 And Abraham anſwered and ſaid, Behold, now T have taken upon-me to ſpeak unto the LORD, which am but duſt and aſhes:. | |
t In regard of the compoſition of my Body,which was taken out
b { 9. 4. ) Seing T have don | hf im. an (9 ) yy S oxef} Things For Bi, Ie Rk : 195 Eccl: 12: 7. 1 Cor: 15: 47, 48.
of the Duſt, and ſhall return into it again. See Ger: 3: 19: Job 4;
28 Petadventure there ſball lack five of che fifty righ=
| teous, Wilt thou deſtroy all the city ſor lack of five «? | E 2 Arg
* 922m % _ clas _ % VAL . GS 2% . I | ha | Pp o -
| 2. * Chap:
| 24.28.
XX.
. adventure there ſhall be forty found there.
{ * Heb:13:
And he ſaid, IFT fied there forty and five, I will not deſtroy t. : | ;
« Heb. For five, or becauſe of five, to wit, which are lacking or wanting. The ſame Supplement we have alſo, Pſalm reg. 24.
Lam: 4: 9. | : : : 8 .29 And he ſpake unto him yet again, and faid, Per- And he
ſaid, T will nor do zt for forties ſake. 3o And he ſaid »»te him, O, let not rhe LORD be
' angry, and I will ſpeak : Peradventure there ſhall thirty
be found there. And he ſaid, 1 will not do it, if I find thirty there.