The passage in question is, "...I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me.  If not I will know." (Gen 18:21).

The context is the impending judgment of Sodom & Gomorrah and the implied understanding of the passage is that God didn't know at the time whether or not what the people have done was as bad as the outcry against them.

(Note:  Please read through Genesis 18 and 19 to get the full initial picture)

The challenge is:  If we are to take Gen 18:21 literally, doesn't this mean that God didn't know the past deeds of these people, still less the present situation?

I hope to go beyond meeting this challenge, aiming to provide a deeper look at the heart of God regarding judgment and using the Open View issue as a launching pad.  I believe that the question, "What did God want to discover in Sodom & Gomorrah?" can bring us to a stronger understanding of, "How does a God of Love feel about judgment?".

I'll also note at the start that Genesis 18:20-21 has obviously left out certain details which we would be wise to ponder on before drawing hasty conclusions.  What was recorded could not have been all that was said between God and Abe, and I propose that a more meaningful picture of this episode requires thinking through and 'filling in' what the text felt best to leave to the reader's imagination.

[For e.g. one element obviously missing from the two verses is the intention to judge S&G in a particularly devastating way, given that Abe - in the verse immediately following - starts interceding on the cities' behalf.  Abe even leveraged on God as the 'Judge of all the earth who must do right' (18:25), implying a substantial level shock or dismay at what he was informed of, but obviously not written down, in vs.20-21 ]

The structure of my response will be as follows:

A.  Initial pointers and comments on the passage
B.  An interpretation of what happened and why, in view of my overall understanding of God
C.  A paraphrase of Gen 18:21
D.  Summary and closing reflections

Here goes...

1.  To interpret the verse as denying God's knowledge of present actions/events would be quite suspect as the verse immediately preceding it, 18:20, has God specifically saying that He knows S&G's sin to be grievous.  Gen 13:13 should also put to rest any suggestion that God doesn't know what S&G were doing.  Furthermore, in 18:15 God clearly demonstrates to Sarah that He isn't unaware of 'hidden' actions.

This suggests that we ought to be VERY CAUTIOUS in postulating that it was the existing/past sins of S&G which God was unaware of.  We'll need to look harder at the context to find out exactly what it was which S&G had done which God wanted to discover was 'as bad as the outcry against them', and that we cannot give too much initial weight to propositions that God 'does not know the present'.  (Go here for more on this theme)
 

2.  True to 'open theism exegesis' (smile), I believe the narrative does teach that God was on some kind of 'knowledge search'.  The nature of God's dialogue with Abraham and the two angels' visit to Sodom gives us clues as to what it was which God wanted to know:

• God clearly wanted to confirm the number of righteous people in Sodom (it seems very unlikely that God already knew that number given His dialogue with Abraham and His reflections in 18:17 on 'not hiding anything' from Abe - more on this later)
• The two angels initially wanted to spend the night 'in the square' (19:2) which implies that they did not know for sure that a incident like that which occured outside Lot's house (19:4-9) actually would (also implied by the probable suggestion that they had plans for the morning after, 19:2).  (Note: the fact that only two out of the original three angels - 18:2 - proceeded to Sodom strongly suggests, pending a better hypothesis, that the third angel made his way to Gomorrah with a similar assignment).
• The men's behaviour towards Lot and the angels (19:4-9) was the catalyst for the decision to destroy S&G which implies it is around that incident that the 'results' of the angels (and thus God's) investigation were finalised, giving the go-ahead for judgment.  What did the incident prove beyond doubt?  Certainly that Sodom's sin was:
• Widespread and 'communally accepted' ("...all the men from every part of Sodom - both young and old", 19:4, wanted to have sex with the two visitors)
• Characterized by extreme sexual/orgiastic perversion and violence ("Bring them out so we can have sex with them", 19:5; and 19:9, "We'll treat you [Lot] worse than them[the visitors]" which makes better sense if their intended treatment of the visitors is on a striking scale.  Notice also that "they kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door", vs.9)
• Absolute to the extent of eliminating all sense of guilt and justice ("...now he [Lot] wants to play the judge")
• Aimed even at men who were recognised as being sent by God (18:2, 19:2 - Abraham and Lot instantly recognised the angels as divinely commissioned messengers and worthy of being called 'Lord'; the fact that the men of Sodom were all-out to rape these messengers shows a perversion terribly beyond hope).

What we have here is divine judgment of striking proportions upon an extremely evil population and yet a divine reluctance to execute wrath WITHOUT 1) a full confirmation of its necessity and 2) an attempt to find and save the righteous.

The theophany - YHWH represented by three angels yet clearly distinct from them - spoken of in chapters 18 and 19 was God's way of obtaining first-hand experience of the evil of S&G.  It was also the mode of divine investigation into the extent of evil in the cities, as manifested in the people's actions towards clearly recognizable messengers of God (see above).  I suspect that God wanted to test the hearts of the people of S&G for any possibility (however remote) of repentance and remaining righteousness.

Remember that God DOES NOT ENJOY judgment and it's simply NOT His 'favourite thing'(!):

• Judgment is always performed ON BEHALF of the oppressed and the poor (Deut 16:19, Deut 24:17, Psa 9:8, Isa 1:15, Jer 21:12, Mal 3:5 and tons more) - the emphasis is always on the 'care of the victims' and not on the 'punishment of the culprits'!
• Judgment is truly an 'alien' task and something 'strange' for God (Isa 28:21)
• Judgment beings personal grief to God (Eze 18:32, 2Sam 24:16, Jer 42:10)
• Judgment is something God always prefers to postpone and if possible relent from doing (Jonah 4:2, 1Chr 21:15, 1Kings 21:29, 2Chr 12:5-8, Hos 11:8-9 and many many more!).

(See, too, Glenn Miller's list of 'divine vengeance' passages, showing what God considers 'worthy' of vengeance and how this phenomena links strongly with deliverance of His people).

At this point, I wish to state that Calvin's maxim of us being 'sinners in the hands of an angry God' is not only a severe theological abberation on the divine nature which has blinded many from the picture of the Loving Father-Heart of God, but also runs contrary to the overall Biblical picture.  This has led to many theologians focusing on God as Judge, rather than the dear and waiting Lover of our souls.

(Back to Sodom and Gomorrah...pardon me there, *smile*)

No doubt God knew the sins the people have been committing, but it is not unreasonable to suggest - using a parallel of Abraham's test of faith in Gen 22 - that even evil requires the manifestation of certain actions and behaviours to be declared 'ultimate' (and thus beyond the reach of goodness).

Great evil and unbelief - not unlike great faith - is ultimately proven by her actions and 'perseverance' (if we can allow this word for the moment) in the face of a struggle in, or suggestions to, the opposite direction.  Just as Abraham's obedient go-ahead with sacrificing Isaac 'solidified' his faith in God's eyes and even earned him compounded/additional blessing from God (Gen 22:16-18!), so God was similarly testing the evil in S&G, seeking to know whether or not corruption was truly complete in the people.

In this sense, God's attitude towards S&G would represent a 'reverse' of the testing of Abe and that meted out in Deut 8:2, 13:1-3, etc. when God sought to know Israel's love for Him through the desert experience, and her fidelity in the face of false prophets.

God desired to know if S&G remained 'faithful to evil' even when confronted with His holy visitors.

So, Fretheim in his landmark book, "Suffering of God":

"The divine if ('im) relates not to God's actual knowledge of the situation in Sodom, but to whether its inhabitants' behaviour is commensurate with 'the outcry against' and what it no doubt called for - namely, destruction." (emphasis mine)

And - responding to critics like Bruce Ware - Gregory Boyd writes:

"Opponents of the open view often argue that God tests people not for his sake but for theirs.  This interpretation would be possible except that each of the verses examined (Gen 22:12; Deut 8:2, 13:3; Judg 3:4; 2Chr 32:31, etc.) explicitly tells us that the testing was for God, not the people being tested.  An interpretation that reverses what a text explicitly says is not a viable interpretation.

"Others argue that if we took these verses literally we would have to deny that God possesses exhaustive present knowledge, for the passages say God wanted to know 'their hearts'.  Since Scripture informs us that God knows all things while nevertheless teaching us that God tests people to know their heart, the understanding of 'heart' which this objection presupposes cannot be correct.  The two teachings are easily rendered compatible by recognizing that the heart is the seat of a person's will. To discover a person's 'heart' is to discover what their decision will be." (emphasis mine) (Satan & the Problem of Evil, p.107)

Sadly, the scenario outside Lot's house confirmed the totality of evil in S&G : everybody were so steeped in perversion and sin, and all sense of goodness disregarded to the extent that they were willing to perform sexual violence on even holy men.  Homosexuality, rape and the persecution of prophets were bad enough by themselves - the ENTIRE COMMUNITY of Sodom & Gomorrah combined all three in a single night!

Such an atrocity even God did not wish to believe the people's hearts were capable of, but proved beyond much doubt that truly evil had reached an absolute dimension in S&G.

Therefore God - with a broken heart, I'm sure - proceeded to rain down wrath of a uniquely devastating kind (the destruction was sudden and total and even the vegetation was destroyed, 19:25, something unheard of except in the Flood).  Such a judgment was fittingalso  not least because the scope of their sins was 'international' (derived from the fact that since all the people of S&G were evil - Gen 18:32, 19:4, etc. - the outcry against them must've obviously come from the surrounding nations).
 

18:21a - I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me...
"I need to investigate first-hand the situation in S&G as I want to be absolutely sure that the hearts of the people are truly as evil as the outcry from its victims.  I know their sins are terrible, but are their hearts completely dedicated to evil, such that there is no hope of turning back?  Are there not still glimmers of righteousness within the people?

I am reluctant - though prepared - to judge them with total destruction, for I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked and I yearn to give them every opportunity to choose life.

18:21b - If not I will know...
"Perhaps if I send my angelic messengers to them, they will listen and turn from their ways.  If there is yet any righteous people within the cities, in spite of the sins they have been committing, maybe they will respond to my messengers.  This will show that they did not truly commit themselves irreversibly to sin.  Either way, I will know for sure the condition of their hearts."
 

It should also be noted that the passage also contains strong evidence for the open theist's view of God's relationship with us (as exempliflied in divine repentance):

• God so values His relationship with Abraham that He allows Abe to influence His intentions (18:23-32) - it is very unlikely that God would've known the number of righteous people in Sodom and YET kept this from Abe given His self-reflection cum declarations 18:18!
• God also aborts judgment on Zoar upon the request of Lot (19:20-21) and even holds back His wrath until Lot was safe (19:22).  Read without philosophical prejudice, it's clear that God binds Himself to situations with His beloved creatures and to that extent chooses Self-limitation over complete domination.

Yet let's not be so quick to caricature this view of God as groping around blindly through the tunnel of time or as a God - like that of process theology's - who is necessarily limited/powerless within the world:

• God knew Sarah's 'hidden' actions (18:15)
• God's angels don't take any crap from persistent evil-doers (19:10-11!)
• God doesn't negotiate all the time with humans who disobey Him (as in the case of Lot's wife, 19:26)
• God's judgment, though not central in the divine nature, still can be swift, 'miraculous' and devastatingly thorough (19:24) - personally, I see great overtones of mercy even in the judgment of S&G as there was no chance of any of the inhabitants going through prolonged suffering in the desert with burns all over.  God is no torture fan.

Genesis 18 and 19 shows us the loving nature of God even in judgment.  God, never the judgment-happy punisher, wanted to investigate and confirm the situation in Sodom and Gomorrah 'first-hand' before inflicting wrath; He was seeking in vain for more than merely a handful of righteous people there, and wanted to give them one final opportunity to repent and prove (to God) that burning sulfur-rain was NOT necessary.

It was the final true condition of the people's hearts - eventually revealed to be demented to a point of no return - which God wanted to find out, over and against that which their victims were crying out.  The angelic emissary was S&G's last opportunity to repent, one which they not only rejected but met with even more evil.  The resultant judgment was God's reluctant answer to a God-hating community and His sad mode of ensuring justice for the victims, a commitment which God truly wished did not have to be met that way.

Nevertheless, God continually shows His tender-heartedness in giving in to the requests of His loved-ones (Gen 18:23-32), and for their sake relent from intended judgment (Gen 19:21).

This is the God of Love Who yearns to give even the wicked 'second chances'.  As His children this is a source of great comfort and reflection: God will stay His hand until He's given us every opportunity to turn from sin.  His eyes well up with tears each time we scorn His 'corrective measures' and proceed to sin even more; even then He will not give upon us, He does NOT wish to see us judged with pain and suffering.

He will hold out all the way until we prove decisively to Him - through active and persistent rebellion against His Word, His Love, His People - that we no longer want Him in our lives.  May this never never be, and may we always always forever say, "O God, You are my God...my soul thirsts...for Your love is better than life...and I will praise You as long as I live" (Psalms 63:1-4)
 
 

In His Name,
AL, Dec 2000