to descend (literally · verb, qal infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
see
וְאֶרְאֶ֔הve.'er.'Eh
H7200
to see · conjunction + verb, qal, 1st person common singular
done
עָשׂ֣וּ'a.Su
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
altogether
כָּלָ֑הka.Lah
H3617
a completion · noun, common feminine singular absolute
cry
הַכְּצַעֲקָתָ֛הּha.ke.tza.'a.ka.Tah
H6818
a shriek · interrogative particle + preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
come
הַבָּ֥אָהha.Ba.'ah
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · definite article + verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
know
אֵדָֽעָה'e.Da.'ah
H3045
to know (properly · verb, qal infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 3:8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unt…
Genesis 11:5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
Joshua 22:22 The LORD God of gods, the LORD God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in transgression against the…
Genesis 11:7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
Exodus 33:5 For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a m…
Deuteronomy 8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee,…
Deuteronomy 13:3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love…
Psalms 139:1-24 O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 18:16-22
The messengers from heaven had now despatched one part of their business, which was an errand of grace to Abraham and Sarah, and which they delivered first; but now they have before them work of another nature. Sodom is to be destroyed, and they must do it, Gen 19:13. Note, As with the Lord there is mercy, so he is the God to whom vengeance belongs. Pursuant to their commission, we here find, 1. That they looked towards Sodom (Gen 18:16); they set their faces against it in wrath, as God is said to look unto the host of the Egyptians, Exo 14:24. Note, Though God has long seemed to connive at sinners, from which they have inferred that the Lord does not see, does not regard, yet, when the day…
I will go down . . . and see--language used after the manner of men. These cities were to be made examples to all future ages of God's severity; and therefore ample proof given that the judgment was neither rash nor excessive (Eze 18:23; Jer 18:7).
Adam Clarke on Genesis 18:21
I will go down now, etc. - A lesson to magistrates, teaching them not to judge according to report, but accurately to inquire into the facts themselves - Jarchi.
John Gill on Genesis 18:21
I will go down now,.... The Son of God in an human form now with Abraham, who proposes to go from the place where he was, which perhaps was on higher ground, to the plain in which Sodom and Gomorrah stood; and whither it seems certain he did go down, after he had done talking with Abraham, see Genesis 19:24,
and see whether they have done altogether; committed all the sins, and in such manner, and with such circumstances as reported; or, "have made a full end" (c), have tilled up the measure of their iniquities, and so are ripe for ruin:
according to the cry of it which is come unto me; this is spoken after the manner of men; for otherwise God saw all their wickedness, and knew full well t…
"I will go down," he says, "and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry which has come to me; and if not, I will know." Therefore, when the Lord said that he would go down to see whether the same outcry was true, he did not show his ignorance, who possesses the knowledge of all things, but instructs our rashness, lest we presume to blame the deeds of others before we learn perfectly; which He also teaches us in the construction of the tower, where it is written that the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of Adam had built; for what would He not see from heaven to earth, of whom it is written that "Hell is naked before Him, and there is no covering for perdition"?
What then after so great and such a banquet, which Abraham displayed to the Lord and to the angels under the tree of vision? The guests set out. "Abraham however was escorting" it says "them and was walking with them. But the Lord said: I will not hide from Abraham my servant what I am going to do. For Abraham shall become a great and numerous nation, and in him shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. For he knew that he would command his sons, and they will keep the ways of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may fulfill for Abraham the things which he indicated to him. And he said: the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is filled up, and their sins are exceedingly great. I have therefore come down, to see whether they are being consummated according to their cry which comes to me; but if not, that I may know." These are the words of the divine Scripture. Let us therefore now see what in these things is worthy to be understood. "I have come down," he says, "that I may see." When responses are conveyed to Abraham, God is not said to come down, but to stand over him, as we expounded above: "three men stood," it says, "over him." But now, because the cause of sinners is being dealt with, God is said to come down. See that you do not perceive an ascent and descent of place. For frequently this is found in the divine letters, as in the prophet Micah: "behold," he says, "the Lord has gone out from his holy place and has come down and will tread upon the high places of the earth." God therefore is said to come down, when he deigns to have care of human frailty. Which is to be understood more especially of our Lord and Savior, who "did not deem it robbery to be equal to God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant." He came down therefore. "For no one else has ascended into heaven, except him who came down from heaven, the Son of man, who is in heaven." For the Lord came down not only to care for, but also to bear, the things which are ours. "For he took the form of a servant," and although he himself is of invisible nature, as being equal to the Father, yet he took a visible appearance, "and was found in appearance as a man." But even when he came down, to some he is below, but to others he ascends and is above. For to the chosen Apostles he ascended "into a high mountain, and there he is transformed before them." To those therefore whom…
Dictionary and topics
Abraham — Father of a multitude, son of Terah, named (Gen. 11:27) before his older brothers Nahor and Haran, because he was the heir of the promises. Till the age of seventy, Abram sojourned among his kindred…
Angel — A word signifying, both in the Hebrew and Greek, a “messenger,” and hence employed to denote any agent God sends forth to execute his purposes. It is used of an ordinary messenger (Job 1:14: 1 Sam.…
Communion — Fellowship with God (Gen. 18:17-33; Ex. 33:9-11; Num. 12:7, 8), between Christ and his people (John 14:23), by the Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 2:1), of believers with one another (Eph. 4:1-6). The…
Condescension Of God · Enters into covenant with Abraham — Enters into covenant with Abraham
God · .To Abraham — .To Abraham
Sodom · Abraham’ s intercession for — Abraham’ s intercession for
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Genesis 18:21
I will go down now. Since this was a signal example of the wrath of God, which He intends to be celebrated through all ages, and to which he frequently refers in the Scripture; therefore Moses diligently records those things which are especially to be considered in divine judgments; just as, in this place, he commends the moderation of God, who does not immediately fulminate against the ungodly and pour out his vengeance upon them; but who, when affairs were utterly desperate, at length executes the punishment which had been long held suspended over them. And the Lord does not testify in vain, that he proceeds to inflict punishment in a suitable and rightly attempered order; because, wheneve…
God was about to go down, and convince Himself whether they had done entirely according to the cry which had reached Him, or not. כלה עשׂה, lit., to make completeness, here referring to the extremity of iniquity, generally to the extremity of punishment (Nah 1:8-9; Jer 4:27; Jer 5:10): כּלה is a noun, as Isa 10:23 shows, not an adverb, as in Exo 11:1. After this explanation, the men (according to Gen 19:1, the two angels) turned from thence to go to Sodom (Gen 18:22); but Abraham continued standing before Jehovah, who had been talking with him, and approached Him with earnestness and boldness of faith to intercede for Sodom. He was urged to this, not by any special interest in Lot, for in th…
The omniscient God was cautious in his judgment: He knew the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, but this close scrutiny communicated God’s justice in human terms—he would not destroy the people of the plain unless he was absolutely sure they were wicked.
18:20 a great outcry: See Ezek 16:49-50.
Rashi on Genesis 18:11
חדל להיות means [that] it had ceased from her.
אורח כנשים means the way of menstruation.
"I have come down therefore," he says, "that I may see whether they are being consummated according to their cry which comes to me. But if not, that I may know." From this saying the heretics are accustomed to assail my God, saying: behold, the God of the law did not know what was being done in Sodom, unless he had come down to see, and had sent those who might find out. But let us, who are commanded to fight the battles of the Lord, sharpen against them "the sword of the word of God" and meet them for battle. Let us stand in the battle line "girded in our loins with truth," and at the same time "bearing before us the shield of faith," let us receive their venomous darts of disputations and, aiming them back more carefully, hurl them against those very men. For such are the battles of the Lord which David and the rest of the patriarchs fought. Let us stand against them on behalf of our brothers. "For it is better for me to die" than that they should snatch and plunder any of my brothers and, by the clever theft of words, lead away captive "the little ones" and those still nursing in Christ. But with the perfect they will be able neither to join hand nor will they dare to come into the contest. We therefore, first entreating the Lord and aided by your prayers, will undertake against them the battle of the word. We say therefore with confidence that according to the Scriptures God does not know all. God does not know sin, and God does not know sinners; those estranged from himself he does not recognize. Hear the Scripture saying: "The Lord has known those who are his, and: let everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord depart from iniquity." The Lord knows his own, but the wicked and the impious he does not know. Hear the Savior saying: "Depart from me all you workers of iniquity, I have not known you." And again Paul says: "If anyone among you is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things I write are the Lord's. But he who is ignorant, is ignored." But we say these things not perceiving anything blasphemous about God, as you do, nor ascribing ignorance to him, but we understand it thus, that those whose deed is unworthy of God are also deemed unworthy of the knowledge of God. For God does not deign to know him who is turned away from him and is ignorant of him. And therefore the Apostle says that "he who is ignorant, is ignored." Under such…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
