“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25 NKJV)

When two of the three “men” who visited with Abram left towards Sodom, the third one turned aside to reveal their destination and purpose. When Abram heard that they intended to see whether the “outcry” of Sodom’s sin was as great as it sounded, Abram began to appeal to God’s justice for the sake of the righteous. As the story unfolds, we see that the two men visiting Sodom are in fact, angels. And we see that the One remaining to speak to Abram is revealed to be the Lord. In Abram’s prayer we hear him appeal to God’s sense of justice. We are learning about God’s character here and also Abram’s. In a crazy kind of prayer/negotiation, God agrees not to destroy Sodom if there are but 10 righteous there. I think Abram must’ve known the wickedness of Sodom, but he didn’t want his nephew, Lot, to fall under judgment. We learn from Abram’s prayer how we should passionately and reverently pray for the salvation for our family, neighbors and friends. We also learn how God heard Abram’s prayer and preserved Lot, even though there were no righteous found in Sodom and it fell under God’s judgment.