• How Should We View People as Jehovah’s Day Approaches?
    The Watchtower—2003 | July 15

    • Abraham Had Jehovah’s View

      3. What was Jehovah’s view of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah?

      3 The first example involves the faithful patriarch Abraham and the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. When Jehovah heard “the cry of complaint about Sodom and Gomorrah,” he did not immediately destroy those cities and all their inhabitants. He first made an investigation. (Genesis 18:20, 21) Two angels were sent to Sodom, where they took up dwelling in the house of the righteous man Lot. On the night of the angels’ arrival, “the men of the city . . . surrounded the house, from boy to old man, all the people in one mob,” desiring to have homosexual intercourse with the angels. Clearly, the debased condition of the city’s inhabitants proved that it deserved to be destroyed. Yet, the angels told Lot: “Do you have anyone else here? Son-in-law and your sons and your daughters and all who are yours in the city, bring out of the place!” Jehovah opened the way to save some residents of that city, but in the end, only Lot and his two daughters escaped destruction.​—Genesis 19:4, 5, 12, 16, 23-26.

      4, 5. Why did Abraham plead for the inhabitants of Sodom, and was his view of people in harmony with that of Jehovah?

      4 Now, let us go back to the time when Jehovah revealed his intention to inspect the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was then that Abraham pleaded: “Suppose there are fifty righteous men in the midst of the city. Will you, then, sweep them away and not pardon the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are inside it? It is unthinkable of you that you are acting in this manner to put to death the righteous man with the wicked one so that it has to occur with the righteous man as it does with the wicked! It is unthinkable of you. Is the Judge of all the earth not going to do what is right?” Abraham used the expression “it is unthinkable of you” twice. From his experience, Abraham knew that Jehovah would not destroy the righteous together with the wicked. When Jehovah said that he would not destroy Sodom if there were “fifty righteous men in the midst of the city,” Abraham progressively reduced the number until it reached only ten.​—Genesis 18:22-33.

      5 Would Jehovah have listened to Abraham’s pleas if they were out of harmony with his own view? Obviously not. As “Jehovah’s friend,” Abraham apparently knew and shared His viewpoint. (James 2:23) When Jehovah turned his attention to Sodom and Gomorrah, he was willing to consider Abraham’s petitions. Why? Because our heavenly Father “does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance.”