וַיִּפְנ֤וּ מִשָּׁם֙ הָֽאֲנָשִׁ֔ים וַיֵּלְכ֖וּ סְדֹ֑מָה וְאַ֨בְרָהָ֔ם עוֹדֶ֥נּוּ עֹמֵ֖ד לִפְנֵ֥י יְהוָֽה׃
און די מענער האָבן זיך פֿאַרקערט פֿון דאָרטן, און זײַנען געגאַנגען קײן סדום; און אבֿרהם איז נאָך אַלץ געשטאַנען פֿאַר גאָט.
Allegorical Interpretation of Genesis
[9] But wise reasonings, so far from hiding themselves, are keenly desirous to be manifest. Do you not see that Abraham “was still standing before the Lord and drew nigh and said, ‘Destroy Thou not the just man together with the impious one’ ” (Gen. 18:22 f.), the one that is manifest and known to Thee together with him who shuns and avoids Thee? For this one is impious, but he that stands before Thee and avoids Thee not is just. For the only justice is that Thou, O Master, shouldst be honoured.
On the Cherubim
[18] So much for the second sense of “over against.” But the third where the object sought is closer intimacy we find in the words used of the wholly-wise Abraham, “He was still standing before (or over against) the Lord” (Gen. 18:22). And a proof of this closer intimacy is the further saying that “he drew nigh and said” (ibid. 23). Those who desire estrangement may stand aloof and separate themselves; it is for those who seek intimacy to draw nigh to each other.
On the Posterity of Cain and his Exile
[27] Let such men be hung on desire as from a halter. But Abraham the wise, being one who stands, draws near to God the standing One; for it says “he was standing before the Lord and he drew near and said” (Gen. 18:22 f.). For only a truly unchanging soul has access to the unchanging God, and the soul that is of such a disposition does in very deed stand near to the Divine power.