Genesis 18:16-18

DESTRUCTION OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH

"And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?"

"Rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom ..." This indicated the direction that they intended to go; and the mention of Sodom shows that they were engaged on a mission to that place as well as to Abraham at Mamre (Hebron) where, at the moment, they had just eaten with Abraham. There is a possibility that they might have been able to see Sodom from this place.

If they could see Sodom from the road, then they must have walked about three miles east of the terebinths of Mamre at Hebron, where the hills of Hebron overlook the Dead Sea and the adjoining region.[18]

The rationale behind God's action in revealing before it happened the fate of the doomed cities is here visible. It was important that the human race should understand the ultimate penalty and punishment to be executed upon vile and presumptuous wickedness. The terrible destruction that came to Sodom and Gomorrah would, in time, be deserved by the Chosen Nation, of which Abraham was the patriarch; and it was extremely important that the Jews should understand the basic connection between rebellious wickedness and divine punishment, a lesson which, sadly, they never heeded; but the recurrence of just such a judgment occurred again, and again, in their history. First, Samaria fell, then Jerusalem, with captivity following for each of the sinful kingdoms; and then once more, when, after the final rejection and murder of the Messiah himself, God wiped Jerusalem off the face of the earth. Now that judgmental destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by the Roman armies was pinpointed by Jesus Christ himself as a type of the end of the world and the final judgment (Matthew 24, etc.), and since the destruction of these wicked Dead Sea cities was doubtless a type of the final overthrow of Jerusalem, we are justified in beholding in all such judgments, recurring again, and again throughout history, types in miniature, for the final Assize and overthrow of wickedness at the end of human probation. The teaching of the Minor Prophets confirms and strengthens this view. Therefore, God's revelation to Abraham recorded here was designed to serve as a warning of the ultimate fate that shall befall all unrighteousness.