Chapter 18:16 – Chapter 23
From Chapter 18:16, Abraham reasons with the Lord about Sodom – the Lord says he will not destroy Sodom if there are 50, 45, 40, 30, 20 or 10 righteous people found within it.
In Chapter 19, two angels met Lot in Sodom, and are invited in as his guests. The inhabitants demand to ‘know’ the guests. Lot offers them his two virgin daughters instead, but the people of Sodom are persistent, so the angel strike them with blindness. Lot and family leave Sodom, hurried out by the angels. The angels tell him to escape to the mountains, but Lot asks to escape to the city of Zoar instead. Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed; Lot’s wide is turned to a pillar of salt. Lot’s daughters get Lot drunk, then sleep with him to preserve his lineage. The sons of this incestuous union are Ammon and Moab.
In Chapter 20, Abraham moves to Gerar, saying to Abimelech (king of Gerar) that Sarah is his sister. God tells Abimelech to restore Sarah to Abraham. Abimelech protests his innocence, and the Lord says it is because of his integrity of heart that he did not let Abimelech touch her. Abimelech rebukes Abraham, but then gives gifts and land to Abraham. The womb of Abimelech’s wife is reopened – it had closed during the incident with Sarah.
In Chapter 21, Isaac is born. Sarah wants Abraham to cast out Hagar and Ishmael. Abraham does so under God’s instruction. Ishmael and Hagar preserved in the desert by a well. Ishmael grows up to be a archer. Abraham makes covenant with Abimelech at Beersheba. Abimelech clears up a dispute about an important well, which his servants had seized.
In Chapter 22, God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Isaac asks where the lamb is to be sacrificed before he is himself bound. God prevents the human sacrifice, and a ram caught in a thicket by the horns is sacrificed instead. God reconfirms covenant – through Abraham’s seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. A list of the descendants of Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
In Chapter 23, Sarah dies at the age of 127. Abraham purchases field of Ephron to use the cave as a burying place for Sarah. Sarah is buried.