בראשית, פרק י״ח, פסוק כ״ח

The negotiation to save Sodom enters a delicate stage, with Abraham carefully testing the boundaries of Divine mercy. He begins by gently reducing the number of righteous people required for salvation, posing a hypothetical condition: what if five were missing from the initial fifty? He questions whether the entire area would be destroyed simply because of a deficit of five individuals [מחוקקי יהודה, אבן עזרא, רד״ק, ביאור יש״ר, ביאור שטיינזלץ].

The primary approach among commentators explains the mathematical logic behind the number forty-five. Abraham sought to save five cities, assuming a group of ten righteous individuals was required to protect each one. With only forty-five, each city would have exactly nine righteous people. Abraham therefore asked God, the ultimate Righteous One of the world, to personally join these groups and complete the required quorum for each city [רש״י, אור החיים, לבוש האורה, חזקוני, נחלת יעקב]. Approaching the numbers from a slightly different angle, Abraham wondered if the fifth and most guilty city of the region would be the only one destroyed simply because it lacked its own independent quorum [ספורנו, אלשיך].

Other commentators suggest different motivations for this specific request. Some propose that Abraham assumed fifty righteous people did exist, but five might have left their homes. He argued that a group which began complete should continue to protect the city even if its numbers slightly diminished [כלי יקר]. A more psychological approach suggests that Abraham feared pressing God too hard and offending His honor. Therefore, he began with a minor reduction of just five people. Only after seeing that God accepted this plea did he gain the confidence to reduce the number by ten at a time [בכור שור, חזקוני]. Another distinct perspective suggests that perhaps out of the fifty, five possessed a lesser degree of righteousness, and Abraham pleaded that the city not be destroyed due to the moral shortcomings of those five [מלבי״ם].

In His response, God agrees to spare the region. However, a precise shift in God's language throughout the dialogue reveals deeper layers of meaning. At the numbers forty-five, twenty, and ten, God promises to prevent destruction, whereas at forty and thirty, He promises not to act at all. A promise to prevent destruction means withholding total annihilation, though God might still bring suffering or educational punishment to correct the inhabitants. In contrast, promising not to act represents a guarantee to avoid bringing any harm whatsoever [העמק דבר, כלי יקר, אלשיך, רש״ר הירש].

Despite His agreement, God's answer remains conditional, based on whether He actually finds that number of righteous people. God does not explicitly inform Abraham that the cities lack even forty-five righteous individuals, because the final judgment of the inhabitants had not yet been completely sealed at this stage. Instead, God allows Abraham to continue his pleas. As a result, Abraham remains entirely unaware of the true moral decay of the cities until he wakes up the following morning and sees the smoke of their destruction [רמב״ן, ביאור יש״ר].