The Judge of All the Earth, the God who does right

The Judge of all the earth is a name for God that Abraham spoke in Genesis 18:25, in the middle of a conversation that still surprises readers. God had said He would look into the sins of Sodom, and Abraham, worried about his nephew Lot, asked Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? The name means that God is the final, fair judge over every nation and every person, and that He can be trusted to do what is right.

Three visitors and a hard piece of news

The chapter opens on a hot afternoon. Abraham was sitting at the door of his tent in the plains of Mamre when three men appeared. He ran to meet them, bowed, and hurried to serve them cakes of bread, a tender calf, butter and milk. As they ate, one of the visitors, the LORD Himself, repeated the promise that Sarah would have a son within a year.

When the men got up to leave, they looked toward Sodom, and Abraham walked with them to see them off. Then God did something remarkable. He decided to tell Abraham His plans.

And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

Genesis 18:17

The plan concerned two cities in the valley below. Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous (Genesis 18:20), God said He would go down and see for Himself. In the Bible, a "cry" like this is often the sound of people who are being hurt. Grievous means heavy and terrible.

Abraham knew exactly who lived in Sodom. His nephew Lot had moved there years before. So while the other two visitors walked on, Abraham stayed standing before the LORD.

Abraham's bold bargain

Abraham came closer and asked a direct question: Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Righteous here means people who live rightly before God. Then he named a number. What if there were fifty good people in the city?

That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Genesis 18:25

God agreed at once. If there were fifty, He would spare the whole place. Abraham, aware of how bold he sounded, called himself but dust and ashes, and then kept going: forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty. Every time, God said yes. Finally Abraham asked one last time, about ten.

And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.

Genesis 18:32

Peradventure is an old word for "perhaps." Ten righteous people were not found, and the cities were destroyed. But the story does not end there. When it was over, the Bible says God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow (Genesis 19:29). Abraham's prayer did not save the city, but it reached the person he had been praying about.

Look closely at how Abraham argued. He never asked whether God had the power to judge. He took that for granted. He appealed to God's character. His whole prayer rested on the belief that God is fair, and God honored that belief.

Shaphat and mishpat: what "Judge" means in Hebrew

The Hebrew behind the title is usually written ha-shophet kol ha-arets. Kol means all or every, and ha-arets means the earth. Shophet, judge, comes from the verb shaphat.

In English, "judge" makes most people think of a courtroom and a sentence handed down. The Hebrew word covers more ground than that. Lexicons give its meanings as to judge, to decide a case, to govern, and also to vindicate, which means to clear someone's name and stand up for them. The King James sometimes translates it "defend," as in Defend the poor and fatherless (Psalm 82:3). A Hebrew judge sets wrong things right, and that includes rescuing people who have been wronged.

That is why the book of Judges uses the same word for leaders like Othniel and Deborah, each of whom judged Israel. Most of them were not court officials. They were rescuers.

Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.

Judges 2:16

To be "spoiled" here means to be robbed and plundered. For people being robbed, a judge was good news.

There is one more detail worth noticing. When Abraham asks whether the Judge will "do right," the Hebrew word for "right" is mishpat, meaning justice. It comes from the same root as shophet. The title and the action are built from one word. In a sense Abraham was asking, "Won't the One whose very name is Judge do justice?"

More King James verses about God as Judge

And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.

Psalm 9:8

God's judging is described here with two words for fairness, righteousness and uprightness. It is not moody or random.

Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

Psalm 96:13

This verse is part of a song of joy. The whole psalm calls on the fields and trees to celebrate that God is coming to judge. People who have been treated unfairly do not dread that day. They long for it.

For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.

Isaiah 33:22

Isaiah puts judging and saving side by side. The same God who judges is the God who rescues.

When life is not fair

Almost everyone has a story of being treated unfairly. Someone lied about you. A teacher or boss blamed you for something you did not do. A friend spread a rumor and nobody believed your side. Sometimes there is no way to fix it, and that can eat away at you for years.

This name says the case is not closed. There is a Judge who sees everything, who cannot be fooled or bribed, and who will make every wrong right in the end. That means you do not have to be the one who gets even. Paul later wrote, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath (Romans 12:19). Handing the case to God is not weakness. It is trusting the right court.

The story also teaches something about prayer. Abraham stood in front of God for a whole city of strangers, and for one relative who had made some poor choices. He did not pray politely and leave. He kept asking.

• Think of one unfair thing that still bothers you, and tell God plainly that you are handing the case to Him.
• Pick one person or place to pray for the way Abraham prayed for Sodom: by name, and more than once.
• When you are tempted to judge someone harshly, remember that the final verdict belongs to God, not you.

This is name 10 in the book. The one before it is El Olam, the Everlasting God. Next comes one of the strangest names in Genesis, spoken by Abraham's grandson on a tense mountain: the Fear of Isaac. All seventy are listed on the names of God in the Bible page.