HOPE AMONG RUINSLESSON EIGHT:

IN SEARCH OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN

Genesis 18:19“For I have chosen him, that he may command

his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised

him.”

Genesis 18:19“For I have chosen him, that he may command

his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised

him.”

Genesis 19:29“So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of

the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.”

Brueggemann(commentary on Genesis)

“It is easy enough to grow cynical and imagine that nothing matters anyway, for evil is too overwhelming. It is equally easy to grow selfish as if there is some private well-being available

to us. This text [Abram intercedes for

Sodom] refutes both…”

Brueggemann(commentary on Genesis)

“…First, there is no private escape, for there is solidarity among us and we are in it together. Second, the virtue and obedience of faithful persons are valued by God and have

redemptive potential.”(p. 175)

Brueggemann(commentary on Genesis)

“God is …more attentive to and more moved by those who obey than those who do not. Such an argument questions every caricature of God as the score-keeper and guardian of morality who is ready to pounce and judge and

punish...”

Brueggemann(commentary on Genesis)

“…No, God is more ready to celebrate, acknowledge, and credit for all the right-relatedness of a few.”

(p. 172)