וירא ה' אליו באלוני ממרא, in the location where Avraham dwelled, as we know from Genesis 14,13 והוא שוכן באלוני ממרא האמורי, “he dwelled by the groves of Mamre the Emorite. The reason why Avraham had not moved away from there was that his allies also lived in that proximity. Solomon advised already in Proverbs 27,10:טוב שכן קרוב מאח רחוק, “better a good neighbour who lives close by than a brother who lives far away.” G’d appeared to him there after he kept the commandment to circumcise himself, in order to apprise him of what he had in store for Sodom, a city in which his nephew had made his home. Avraham was the outstanding human being in that generation. Seeing that G’d was bent to exact partial retribution for the worst outrages committed by mankind at that time, He did not want to do so before informing Avraham of His intention. It was G’d’s intention to demonstrate that He does keep track of what individuals in the “lower” part of His universe are up to, and that He even will not exact collective punishment unless He can demonstrate that the parties affected are all guilty. There was no need for G’d to “descend” to investigate what He already knew, but the Torah describes this in terms that we can understand. He wanted to enable Avraham when the latter would instruct and teach his descendants to walk in the ways of G’d, to show that His ways were truly not only just but that He made allowances for human weaknesses. It is possible, -if this was indeed G’d’s purpose- to explain the entire paragraph as a prophetic vision up until verse 23 where the Torah writes that Avraham returned to his station, i.e. that this line terminated the prophetic vision יושב פתח האהל, as explained immediately following,

seeing that it was כחם היום, the hottest part of the day. Possibly, due to the heat of the sun Avraham had fallen asleep, a fact which facilitated his receiving this vision. Before G’d started speaking to him about what He intended to do to Sodom, He showed him three angels, the biggest one of whom told him the news about Sarah‘s going to give birth to a son in the following year, confirming what G’d had told him when He commanded him to circumcise himself, etc. When Avraham would hear this by a special messenger from G’d, his faith in the realisation of this promise would be further reinforced. Perhaps, more to the point, G’d wanted Sarah to overhear what the angel told Avraham, as apparently, Avraham had not told her of the previous promise, nor of his praying on behalf of Ishmael. [I do not understand how Sarah could hear what Avraham only saw in dream. Perhaps we must assume that the author continues with the original approach of all of what is written in this chapter having occurred while Avraham was fully awake. Ed.] Even (assuming) that this whole paragraph describes a vision, sometimes people close to the recipient of such a vision would hear a voice, a sound, as we have been told by Daniel who wrote: “the men with me did not see this great spectacle, but they were gripped by a great tremor so that they fell on their faces and took refuge in places to hide.” (Daniel 10,7) It seems clear from that verse that these men heard the content of the vision Daniel experienced without seeing any of it. The vision the Torah speaks about here occurred at the entrance of Avraham’s tent, so that Sarah could hear what transpired. Our sages’ comment that Avraham sat in front of his tent recuperating from the wounds inflicted by his circumcision is familiar to all of us, as is the surmise that he applied bandages to his wound (Baba Metzia 86). They add that the words וירא allude to G’d Himself visiting Avraham as one visits the sick.

וישא את עיניו, the first thing Avraham saw after he had gone to sleep were three men standing next to him, נצבים עליו, apparently ready to be of service to him. The meaning of the expression נצבים עליו is similar to Samuel I 22,7 ויאמר שאול לעבדיו הנצבים עליו, “Saul said to the people standing next to him (in attendance) etc.” The same expression is also used in this context in Ruth 2,6 הנצב על הקוצרים, “who was standing next to the reapers;” we also find this expression in Kings I 5,30 "משרי הנצבים, and in numerous other places in Scripture. These three men beheld by Avraham were standing at his disposal. They did not move, but indicated that they were expecting instructions from him. When he realised this he ran toward them. This explains why the word וירא, “he saw” appears twice in this verse in close succession.

מפתח האהל, where he had been sitting. He saw himself running towards these men in his vision.

וישתחו ארצה, they appeared to him to be men of great stature. He then addressed them with the words reported in the Torah. Our sages (Bereshit Rabbah 50,2) say that Avraham was so familiar with the sight of angels that their sudden appearance did not cause him to become disoriented, frightened and he perceived them essentially as אנשים, men. On the other hand, Lot, whose spiritual powers were quite minor, perceived the men as being angels, מלאכים, seeing that he had had little experience with such phenomena. (compare 19,1) Manoach’s wife had already told her husband that the face of the man who had told her that she would have a son was like that of an angel of G’d. (Judges 13,6)

ויאמר אדוני, our sages (Shevuot 35) are of two minds as to the meaning of the word A-donay in this verse. Some say it is sacred, an attribute of G’d; others hold that it is profane. If it is the latter, Avraham would have addressed the biggest one of these men. He would have used his own intelligence in making this choice. According to Rashi in the Talmud quoted, Avraham chose the middle angel, (man) as the one whom he addressed as their leader. We know that the angels are not all on the same level. We also know from the descriptions in the Book of Daniel that the senior angels may give instructions to their junior companions. (Daniel 8,16) Even though these men had come to him in the guise of men, human beings, seeing that Avraham had prepared water for them to wash their feet, he addressed the leader in the plural mode, -with the vowel kametz instead of in the singular mode with the vowel chirik as an expression of special honour. We find something parallel in Judges 6,15 when Gideon asked the (lone) angel ”my lord(s), (adonay) how can I help the people of Israel?” He had not been aware at that time that he was addressing an angel. The sages who hold that the word a-donay here is sacred, explain that Avraham used the plural mode because he was addressing G’d Who had visited him, asking Him to wait until he had been able to perform the duty of being a good host to these travelers who had suddenly appeared at the entrance of his tent. The lesson to be derived from this is that the merit of welcoming guests and making them feel at home is even greater than the merit of welcoming G’d into one’s house.

אל נא תעבר מעל עבדך, the word נא is a kind of plea, Avraham begging these strangers not to pass him by without stopping to take some refreshment. The reason why this whole incident has been recorded in the Torah is to teach people how to relate to fellow human beings with charity and love. It is an act of loving kindness to welcome guests into one’s home in order to honour them and to look after their personal requirements, such as letting them wash up and stay overnight.

יקח נא מעט מים, the reason why he mentioned “a little,” is in order to understate his generosity, something that is expected of any person who claims to possess a certain minimum of good character traits. When referring to the water,” Avraham used the passive form of yukach, meaning the water would be supplied by someone other than himself, whereas when he spoke about the bread he would supply, he said: “I will take a piece of bread, etc.”

ורחצו, an imperative, seeing that the letter ר has the vowel patach. If this had been a form of the future constructed with the introductory letter ו, the letter ר should have the vowel kametz under it. Examples are: Exodus 40,31 ורחצו ממנו. Avraham meant to tell his guests to allow themselves to have their feet washed by one of his servants.

ואקחה פת לחם; from this we learn that the righteous say little but do a lot. (Baba Metzia 87) This is the appropriate manner of conducting oneself. The Torah wrote these details in order to teach us that this is part of good manners, דרך ארץ. Avraham spoke about a piece of bread, whereas in fact he served a sumptuous meal. He had even understated the amount of bread he would serve by not saying ואקח לחם, but ואקחה פת לחם, a reference to less than a whole loaf.

וסעדו לבחם, an imperative mode of a transitive verb, i.e. “refresh your hearts with a little bread.” We know that eating bread is a form of refreshment from Psalms 104,15 ולחם לבב אנוש יסעד, “but bread sustains man’s life.”

כי על כן עברתם, seeing that you have already happened to pass my house, it is not possible that you should not at least accept some refreshment. The formulation על כן is found again when Lot justifies his hosting the angels when the Sodomites remonstrate with him. (Genesis 19,8) We also find this formulation על כן when Yehudah acknowledges his embarrassment with Tamar as a punishment for not giving his third son to Tamar for her to become his wife. (Genesis 38,26)

כאשר דברת, only a piece of bread, do not exert yourself beyond this.

ויאמר...שלש סאים, in order to make a challah, loaf, of bread comprising one sa-ah (measure) of flour for each of his guests.

קמח סולת, flour, suitable to make into cake. Cake is made of flour which can be baked more quickly than ordinary bread.

ואל הבקר רץ אברהם, the term רץ is a variant of the term וימהר, he hastened. The Torah wished to give us an impression of the speed with which a man of 99 years old performed the task of entertaining unexpected guests, preparing a virtual feast for them.

בן בקר, male and young, so that it would be both tender and tasty. The word טוב refers to it being juicy, fat; we find this expression used in that sense also in Jeremiah 44,17 ונשבע לחם ונהיה טובים, “we had plenty of bread and were fat.”

אל הנער; to the servant. According to an allegorical interpretation [based on the definitive article ה seeing that Avraham had many servants, Ed.] this is a reference to Ishmael.

לעשות אותו, to prepare it and to cook it.

ויקח, he, personally.

ויתן, he placed before them butter and milk as well as the young calf. He offered them the choice to eat either dairy or meaty. There was no need to mention the bread as it is understood that he first brought them the bread. After all, the very minimum one can serve guests is bread. When one entertains guests who appear to be distinguished people one most certainly does not fail to offer them bread first. Besides, the Torah had already mentioned that he prepared the bread in the guise of uggot, cakes. There was also no need to mention that he served them wine, another, staple at all meals.

אשר עשה, by means of his servant.

והוא עומד, as explained by Onkelos, i.e. he served them in the capacity of waiter.

עליהם, the word is used in the same sense already in verse 2

ויאכלו, this is how it appeared to him. All this was part of his prophetic vision.

ויאמרו אליו, there are dots on the letters יו. Such dots can only be explained by our resorting to allegorical interpretations. For instance, our sages quote Rabbi Shimon ben Eleazar as saying that whenever the dot appears to include someone or something not mentioned in the text as written, we pay heed primarily to these dots. When the dots seem to exclude part of the text as written, we stick to the text in our interpretation of the verse. In our case, the dots mean that the angels also enquired from Sarah where to find Avraham. This teaches that a guest is to enquire from the host about the hostess and from the hostess about the host. The sages say further that the angels knew very well where Sarah was at that time, but the question is reported only to draw attention to the modesty of Sarah who was not in evidence, did not allow her curiosity about the nature of the guests to cause her to peek out of her tent. Knowing that she was so modest would endear her even further to her husband. Rabbi Yossi bar Chaninah says that the purpose of the enquiry was to be able to hand her a cup of blessing. [not literally, but a reference to the good news they brought. Ed.]

איה שרה אשתך, they asked about her, seeing she was not present when they were being served the meal out of a sense of modesty. We learn from this that it is immodest for women to appear in front of male guests. Seeing that in this instance the angels had a message for her, they had to ask after her whereabouts.

הנה באהל, she is in the tent as befits a modest woman.

ויאמר, the senior angel, the one whom Avraham had addressed in verse 3 with the words אם נא מצאתי חן בעיניך. שוב אשוב אליך, this was the one whose task it was to tell Sarah that she would bear a son. He spoke of his return visit a year from the present time. The other two were to destroy Sodom and to rescue Lot respectively. Three angels were required as no angel is charged with more than one mission at a time. (Bereshit Rabbah 50,2)

כעת חיה, at about this time of year next year Sarah will be giving birth. We find the term חיה used to describe giving birth in Yuma 73. On the other hand, the word may also refer to a time frame, i.e. at this time next year, seeing that you will both be alive, Sarah will bear a son. G’d had spoken of למועד הזה בשנה האחרת (compare Genesis 17,21) whereas the angel expressed the same thought in the words כעת חיה. The angel did not spell out to Avraham precisely when this birth would take place, as had G’d in the previous chapter.

ושרה שומעת פתח האהל, she had been inside her tent; when she heard the voices of the angel and Avraham. She went to the entrance of her tent to overhear what was being said. Neither the angel nor Avraham saw her at the time. seeing both their backs were turned towards the entrance. This is the meaning of the words והוא אחריו, i.e. Sarah’s tent was behind the angel who was doing the talking.

ואברהם, this line has been written only in order to account for the reason of Sarah’s laughter.

באים בימים, this is the standard mode in which the Torah describes people who feel that aging has affected their general physique and imposed limitations on them. What the Torah means is that both Avraham and Sarah had reached the years when other people are subject to the limitations of old age. These are the years when the soul begins to separate from the body.

אורח כנשים, the signal of old age for women, i.e. cessation of their menstrual cycle. The Torah uses a euphemism to describe that phenomenon. Rachel used the same euphemism when she explained to her father Lavan why she could not let him search her camel (Genesis 31,35). During old age, due to the body drying out, the flow of blood stops, i.e. a woman no longer ovulates. Our sages in Ketuvot 10 relate that the volume of such a flow of blood is in direct relation to the number of children a woman is likely to bear. There was a well known family by the name of Dorkaty in those days, whose female members never experienced either menstrual blood, nor the blood associated with the puncturing of the hymen. This is why the family was named Dorkaty, meaning that something was radically wrong. None of the females in that family ever had children, the reason being attributed to this abnormal condition of their not menstruating.

ותצחק שרה בקרבה, Sarah laughed derisively internally, not audibly; she did not believe that the man who had made the prediction was an angel, though she assumed that he was a prophet.

לאמור, she contemplated saying out loud what she had only been thinking so far. Even though, she did not laugh in the angel’s face, but contained herself due to her good manners, asking instead in wonderment:

אחרי בלותי היתה לי עדנה, how is it possible that I, who have stopped ovulating should become sufficiently rejuvenated? The word עדנה refers to youthful flesh and skin. It describes a certain elasticity of the skin. The angel was fully aware that she had laughed; this is why he said to Avraham: why did Sarah laugh?

'ויאמר ה, the angel is accorded the name of his Master, something that we find also in connection with Gideon in Judges 6,16.

?האף אמנם אלד, will such a miracle indeed occur on my behalf even though I am that old? Even though the angel did not answer her point by point, he did answer her with an overall statement that there simply is nothing which is beyond G’d’s power to accomplish if he so desires. Our author uses a similar approach when examining the words Eliezer used in explaining his mission in Genesis 24,39. There too, the fact that he conveyed the content of what he had asked Avraham before undertaking his mission was important, the exact wording was not the issue. The angel did not even bother to reply to Sarah’s statement that her husband too was too old to impregnate her with semen. The reason he did not do so was that Sarah having had her menopause was the far greater natural impediment to her becoming pregnant. It is not altogether unknown for old men to father children even in their advanced old age.

?היפלא, these matters appear miraculous in the eyes of human beings, and they cannot fathom how such things can be. However, in light of G’d’s omnipotence, nothing is impossible for Him to accomplish. He who created the universe, has no problem making changes in His universe.

ותכחש...כי יראה, seeing that she was afraid she denied having laughed;

!ויאמר לא, not as you say, for you truly did laugh.

ויקומו משם, from the house of Avraham.

וישקיפו, the direction in which they faced was Sodom. The expression השקפה occurs both in a benevolent sense and in a malevolent sense, depending on the context. The expression also appears sometimes in the passive mode and other times in the causative, transitive mode, hiphil. The reason for the latter mode is that when one looks at someone or something, one is, normally, at the same time visible to the ones one looks at. Hence the passive mode is justified also. When the viewer remains invisible to the one at whom he looks, such as G’d or angels, there is no call for the passive mode, hence we have the causative mode here, seeing that the people of Sodom could not see the angels.

ואברהם הולך עמהם לשלחם, to keep them company for a while, to accompany them. [not to make sure they departed. Ed.] The Torah teaches good manners, i.e. that one does not dismiss a guest abruptly, but by walking with him indicates that one regrets the time had come to part from one another. Our sages in Sotah 46 suggest that the distance one should accompany a guest from one’s house is approximately 1,2 kilometers.

וה' אמר, the Lord, Who had appeared to Him initially to inform him of the sins of the Sodomites (13,13) informed Avraham now, after the departure of the angels, about His plans in detail. The Torah adds, in its narrative, what had prompted G’d to take this unusual step of informing Avraham of His plans, seeing that his own safety was not involved. G’d felt duty-bound to apprise Avraham of His intentions.

ואברהם, seeing that he will become the founding father of most of mankind, how can I conceal from him My plans? Most of the nations of the earth will receive their blessings due to Avraham’s merits. How could I not share such information with him? כי ידעתיו, that he is in awe of Me and loves Me. I intend for his children to develop in the same way. This is why I will inform him “ למען אשר יצוה את בניו שישמרו דרך ה' לעשות צדקה ומשפט, so that Avraham will say to his children that if they practice and emulate G’d’s ways of performing charitable deeds and at the same time endeavour for justice to prevail, their lives will be successful seeing G’d will help them. They will then experience the fulfillment of all the promises (conditional) which I, G’d, have made to him concerning his offspring. If they fail to emulate that lifestyle these promises are liable not to be fulfilled.” If there are among his children some who argue that G’d does not concern Himself with the deeds of individuals, as opposed to the conduct of nations, remind them of what happened to the Sodomites so that they realise that G’d does indeed watch closely over the actions of even small communities. In the event such non-believers would argue that what happened to the Sodomites was an accident of nature, an earthquake, such as we all experience in different parts of the earth, Avraham could reply that G’d had advised him of that event in advance so that it could not be explained away as a natural event. G’d added;

את ביתו ואת בניו, both the members of his household who were not biologically related to his as well as his family, in order to teach us that a man is obligated to monitor the conduct of all members of his household and is responsible for their misconduct if he did not use his authority to put a stop to it. David spells out this responsibility of the head of the household in Psalms 101,6-7 when he said: עיני בנאמני ארץ לשבת עמדי הולך בדרך תמים הוא ישרתני. לא ישב בקרב ביתי עושה רמיה, “my eyes are on the trusty men of the land, to have them at my side. He who follows the way of the blameless shall be in my service.” He who deals deceitfully shall not live in my house;” Concerning the wicked Solomon says in Proverbs 29,12: “a ruler who listens to lies, all his servants become wicked.”

על אברהם, meaning on his descendants after him.

'ויאמר ה' זעקת סדם ועמורה וגו, G’d means to say that the reason he now appeared to Avraham was to inform him that He had heard the outcry concerning Sodom, etc. The same applied to the five kings who were involved in the war with Kedorleomer in chapter 14 were all killed together with their population when Sodom was overturned. They were what the Torah referred to in 19,28 as the ארץ הככר. Moses also referred to this overturning of Sodom and Amora in Deut. 29,22 mentioning 4 towns, seeing that Tzoar was saved at the request of Lot. Also in Hoseah 11,8 the cities of Adma and Tzvoyim are singled out by the prophet, although the largest of the cities were Sodom and Amora. Sodom was the principal city, and the perversions committed in all of these cities were presumably dreamt up by the citizens of Sodom. The prophet Ezekiel 16,53 specifically refers to the other cities of that valley as Sodom’s satellites.

זעקת, the souls of the people who had been tortured by the inhabitants of these cities reached the heavenly court. The primary complaint was violence committed against these people. There were other, lesser crimes committed by these people also. However, the decision to destroy these cities was sealed on account of the violence perpetrated, just as the deluge was brought about by that crime. This was essentially a repeat of what happened on a global scale at the time of the deluge.

וחטאתם, this refers to the sin of violence, taking the law into one’s own hands. The outcry that had reached the heavenly spheres was extremely severe. As the prophet Ezekiel said: “they did not support the poor and the weak.” The poor cry out to heaven on account of their hunger, and they do not have any one who stretches out their hand to support them.

ארדה נא ואראה, we explained the meaning of G’d’s “descending” already on 11,5. This time the text says ואראה, “I shall see,” instead of לראות, “to see.” The Torah writes in this vein although we know that G’d is perfectly aware of all that goes on here on earth. The reason why the Torah describes G’d’s activity in this manner is only to remind people on earth that He is not in a hurry to mete out retribution, but is patient, and even when His patience is exhausted, He does not act impetuously, but is always in complete control. He examines if there is any way in which delaying retribution can be justified. It was this very phrase which provided Avraham with an opening to engage G’d in a dialogue concerning His Justice and man’s perception of Divine justice. He did this not because he doubted G’d’s justice, but in order to be able to teach man something about how G’d’s justice works.

הכצעקתה, if in accordance with the outcry that has come to My attention, they have indeed done, כלה, they deserve to die, but if not, אדעה, I will know about it, and I will welcome the fact that Avraham appreciates this and will ask Me about how I administer justice. The mappik heh is a hint that Sodom was the city which determined the fate of the others. Its satellites patterned their lifestyles on that of the city of Sodom. A comment in the Midrash (quoted by Rashi) suggests that the mappik heh underscores a specific incident in which a young girl who had a soft heart and gave bread to a stranger was found out and punished most cruelly, being smeared with honey and suspended between two trees, so that the bees killed her in the process of licking the honey off her body.

ויפנו משם, this is how it appeared to Avraham in his prophetic vision, i.e. that he had accompanied the angels some distance and after the appropriate distance, the angels turned in a different direction and went away. The angel who had brought the message to Sarah disappeared, whereas the other two proceeded in the direction of Sodom.

ואברהם עודנו עומד, he felt that the vision he had been experiencing had not yet come to a conclusion.

ויגש, the term גישה, ויגש, when used with a place, מקום, invariably refers to the subject משפט, judgment. Avraham enquired how it was possible that the entire population of a city should deserve extinction. Surely, there had to be some righteous people, and why would they have to share the fate of the wicked? Onkelos understands the word האף as a reference to G’d’s anger, wrath, as if Avraham asked if because G’d was angry the innocent would suffer the fallout of that anger and be punished for the sins of the wicked.

?אולי יש חמשים צדיקים בתוך העיר, the words בתוך העיר must be understood as referring exclusively to the city of Sodom, not including its satellites. We know this from G’d’s reply in which He spelled out: in verse 24 “if I find in Sodom 50 righteous men inside the city, etc.” Avraham’s argument could have been that if there would be 50 righteous men in the city of Sodom, it was most likely that also the satellite towns would harbour among their populations some righteous people. Alternately, Avraham may have asked that if there would be a total of 50 good men scattered in the various towns, this should be enough to allow all the cities to escape destruction at this time. G’d might then have mentioned Sodom as an example of all of the cities in the valley, saying that 50 people would suffice for G’d’s forgiveness at this time. He singled out Sodom because Lot, Avraham’s kin, lived in that particular city. Avraham tested the number of righteous men that would be the rock bottom minimum for G’d to suspend all or part of the destruction He had planned.

האף תספה ולא תשא למקום, he did not mention the people in the place but referred to the place itself. Avraham could not reasonably expect G’d to forgive the sinners, but he felt that the place could be saved. If the guilty would be wiped out the righteous would at least be able to continue living in that town, and would not have to migrate to a new location. Avraham concentrated on the word כלה, “total destruction,” of which G’d had spoken. The prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 22,30 and already in chapter 21, elaborates further on how the impending destruction which overtook Jerusalem in his time could have been stopped. Not only would there have to have been interlocutors such as Avraham, but the sins of the city would have had to be in the main minor sins, i.e. not violence, the sin which provokes G’d’s wrath the most, as we know from the generation of the deluge already. Not only that, but in order for the righteous to be able to save their townsfolk from disaster they must be absolutely righteous, not only barely have more merits than debits in G’d’s ledger of their conduct. In Jeremiah’s time there were righteous people. These were withdrawn, did not mix with the wicked, and did not dare go out into the streets to admonish their countrymen, as they were afraid for their own lives and were not prepared to risk their lives in order to urge their fellow Jews to do penitence. Our author quotes Jeremiah 5,1, Psalms 94,15, 69,12, as well as Ezekiel 14,14 and 14,16 to support his case.

חלילה לך, such a procedure must not occur as it would hurt Your image among mankind if You would be perceived as killing both the wicked and the righteous.

כצדיק כרשע, using two letters כ in succession to describe a comparison. It is as if the Torah had written: “this is like this and this is also like this.” The syntax is intended to abbreviate the sentence. You find similar examples in Genesis 44,18 and in Isaiah 24,2.

השופט כל הארץ, if You will subject the entire earth to judgment, You cannot very well single out only this location for Your judgment; if however, You will wipe out the righteous together with the wicked this would not be justice. Therefore, please let me know why You plan to destroy just this region totally?

ויאמר ה' ...לכל המקום, the city and her satellites, and I will not destroy them.

ויען..הואלתי, “I wanted to speak some more to G’d, אנכי עפר ואפר, even though compared to You I am only dust and ashes. I did not mean to protest Your justice, but I merely wish to understand it.

אולי יחסרון, if there are 5 righteous people missing from the 50 righteous people of whom I said that their presence should serve to save the city at this time, are You going to going to destroy the earth (surrounding these towns) and not forgive the place on account of the 45 righteous people that live there?”

ויוסף עוד..לא אעשה, I will not utterly destroy the whole region, as G’d had already said in verse 28 when He worded this as לא אשחית. Basically, the same considerations prevail in respect of all these numbers, G’d varying His reply by sometimes phrasing it as לא אשחית and other times as לא אעשה, “I will not do.”

ויאמר אל נא יחר, seeing that Avraham was afraid to belabour the same point of questioning G’d about how He administered justice, he now prefaced further questions with the request that G’d not become angry at him. In order not to stretch G’d’s patience, he now omitted reducing the numbers by five at a time, reducing them by ten each time, i.e. 40,30,20,10.

ויאמר, we already explained this type of response.

ויאמר...אך הפעם, Avraham makes clear that if there would not be at least ten righteous people, he would no longer have any argument to present which could be used to help these towns escape their deserved punishment. Significantly, he made no mention of Lot, as he believed that Lot deserved to share the fate of the city having voluntarily associated himself with the wicked inhabitants of that town. Besides, Avraham had no way of knowing if Lot had adopted the perverted lifestyle of the inhabitants of Sodom. He believed that Lot’s only way of saving himself from the doom decreed on the city was to voluntarily depart from that city.

'וילך ה, G’d’s presence withdrew from Avraham, and it became clear to him as part of his vision that he had returned to his terrestrial home, the very place where he had become the recipient of this prophetic vision.