Q&A: Will the Judge of all the earth not do justice?
Will the Judge of all the earth not do justice?
Question
Abraham pleads for 50 to save Sodom and the surrounding area.
45.
40.
30.
20.
10.
It doesn’t work. Abraham falls silent, God goes, and the decree is set to be carried out.
But the claim, “so that the righteous and the wicked would be alike, to put the righteous to death with the wicked,” was never resolved.
If there are 2 righteous people in Sodom, or 1, why should they die?
In the Bible it perhaps seemingly implies that if there are fewer than 10 righteous people, then it’s okay for them to die?
Answer
This has already been discussed a lot. Woe to the wicked and woe to his neighbor. Some explained that the righteous are at fault because they did not stop the wicked, or because they continued living there. There are also those who say that when permission is given to the destroyer, he does not distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, but that is very implausible when it comes to an act of the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself.
The righteous person who was there—Lot son of Haran—was saved. All the people of Sodom besides him, from youth to old age, as emphasized in the Torah, surrounded the house.