Sodom
G. Gilfillan. Genesis 18:20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I. SODOM'S SINFULNESS. Her sins were committed amidst an unbounded flush of prosperity; they were committed amidst scenes of much natural loveliness, Nature being outraged before the eye of her most beautiful forms: and they were committed not only in opposition to Nature's silent, but to God's spoken, warnings. II. SODOM'S WARNINGS. One was given by the entrance of Lot within its gates; another was given by the advent of Chedorlaomer and the invaders from the east. Abraham and Melchizedek cast their sublime and awful shadows from the King's Dale southward upon Gomorrah's walls; but the sinners within felt not the hallowing sense of their presence, trembled not at the steps of their majesty. III. SODOM'S INTERCESSOR. Abraham's prayer shows — 1. The confidence that existed between himself and God. 2. It shows God's personal knowledge of evil. 3. It shows God's reluctance to punish. 4. It gives proof of the tremendous guilt of Sodom. IV. This terrible catastrophe lies in A BYE-PATH OF THE DIVINE PROCEDURE; it did not relate immediately to the general course of the patriarchal dispensation; and yet what an awful "aside" did the fall of these cities utter. It must have struck Abraham with a new sense of the evil of sin and of the holiness and justice of God. (G. Gilfillan.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; WEB: Yahweh said, "Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous,