Genesis 18:17

And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

The Lord said - the chief stranger. No other than the Lord disclosed to Abraham the awful doom about to be inflicted on Sodom and the cities of the plain for their enormous wickedness.

Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? [Septuagint, ou mee krupsoo egoo apo Abraam tou paidos mou] - I shall not conceal from Abraham my son (cf. Amos 3:7, where it is said, "Surely the Lord will do nothing but he revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets"). The similarity of this remark of Amos to the patriarchal instance before us is the more striking, as Hengstenberg has remarked, that the general sentiment expressed by that prophet stands also in special reference to a threatening judgment. But there is a more remarkable instance in point furnished in the New Testament-as God was here making known to Abraham, as to an intimate friend, an important purpose of His providence, so Christ said to His disciples, "I have called you friends; because all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you" (John 15:15).

Thus, God, having taken Abraham into a special covenant, admits him into a more intimate communion with Himself, as the man of His counsel (cf. Psalms 25:14; Proverbs 3:32). Of course, those who "walk with God," living by faith a life of habitual communion with Him, will acquire a larger measure of practical knowledge than others-a clearer insight into passing events, as well as a better foresight of what is future, so far as bears upon their conduct and happiness. And this was precisely the knowledge which was here given to Abraham-namely, of that principle of the divine government according to which, although God is long-suffering and patient, and "sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed" - for "judgment is His strange work" - yet "He is a God to whom vengeance belongeth."

Some Jewish writers, followed by Kurtz and others, think that the reason of this premonitory communication being made to Abraham was, that in consequence of the covenanted grant of Canaan having been made to Abraham and his posterity, God would not destroy cities which occupied an important part of that land without his knowledge and assent. This opinion they ground upon the first clause of Genesis 18:18, omitting entirely to take notice of the second; whereas a conjunct view of both shows, that not only were the Hebrew people destined to "become a great and mighty nation," preparatory to an ultimate good to be enjoyed by "all the nations of the earth," but that Abraham, their founder, was chosen by God as an instrument for preserving the principles of pure and undefiled religion-for transmitting through his descendants a knowledge of God's hatred of sin and love of righteousness in the world. His sincerity and earnest zeal in co-operating with God in this holy and gracious purpose had already been demonstrated by the course of his personal history; and it was in furtherance of the great scheme of grace commenced with him, that he was now made aware of the awful doom of the cities of the plain, whose judicial extermination, on account of their enormous wickedness, was to be held up, not to Israel only, but to all future ages of the Church, as "an ensample to those that after should live ungodly" (2 Peter 2:6).