The highest development of genuine philanthropy. Importunate intercession with Heaven on behalf of humanity.
2. The mysterious power of intercessory prayer.
3. The incalculable worth of good men, however few in number.
I. That good men in a community, however few, are HIGHLY ESTEEMED OF GOD.
1. Because of the tender relationship they sustain to Him. His children.
2. Because of the critical position in which they are placed in this life.
3. Because of the beneficent influences they are capable of exercising upon the race.
II. That good men in a community, however few, are of INEXPRESSIBLE SOCIAL WORTH.
1. Prize good men more than all others.
2. Seek to multiply good men.
(1) By endeavouring to convert bad men to goodness by the gospel of Christ.
(2) By indoctrinating the rising generation with the principles and spirit of Christ. (Homilist.)
God’s willingness to save
Those who censure this narrative, asserting that it represents God as wavering and undetermined, should observe that His resolution was not yet taken (Gen_18:21); and even if this had been the case, that it is indeed always open to the repentance and prayer of those whom it concerns; God has no delight in punishing and destroying; He tried the hard-heartedness of Pharaoh by ten successive plagues; He accepted the repentance of the wicked Ninevites; and He ordered a systematic ritual of sacrifices, solely intended to furnish to man the means of restoring his peace with Himself. If we banish this “vacillation” from the attributes of God, man may tremble before His will; but he can never love Him. But the truth, that the principles on which His government is based are eternal and unalterable, is expressed many times with singular emphasis: “God is no man that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should repent.” God is, indeed, said to have repented that He had created man, and that He had appointed Saul king over Israel; but these are strong expressions denoting how unworthy the former had proved to bear the
Divine image; and the latter, to be the representative of Divine sovereignty. (M. M.Kalisch, Ph. D.)
