B'resheet 18:20-21 And the L-RD said, "The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know."
Does this mean He did not know? No......HE ascends and He descends throughout the Bible.
Proverbs 30:3-4 Nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His Son's name? Surely you know!
B'resheet 18:22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the L-RD.
All the men turned away except for the L-rd.
B'resheet 18:23-33 And Abraham came near and said, "Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? "Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? "Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from Thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?" So the L-RD said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account." And Abraham answered and said, "Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the L-rd, although I am but dust and ashes. Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?" And He said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there." And he spoke to Him yet again and said, "Suppose forty are found there?" And He said, "I will not do it on account of the forty." Then he said, "Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?" And He said, "I will not do it if I find thirty there." And he said, "Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the L-rd; suppose twenty are found there?" And He said, "I will not destroy it on account of the twenty." Then he said, "Oh may the L-rd not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?" And He said, "I will not destroy it on account of the ten." And as soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham the L-RD departed; and Abraham returned to his place.
Why did Abraham stop at 10? Remember why Abraham and Lot separated? They both had many servants and livestock. I suspect that Abraham initially was thinking of Lot, his family, and his servants all being righteous. Perhaps there number was about 50. Then perhaps he had second thoughts and dropped the number down again and again. Why 10? We will see in the next chapter that Lot had a wife; two unmarried daughters, and at least 2 married daughters. That would be a minimum of 8 people possibly more. So Abraham may have felt pretty certain that just with Lot's family there would have been enough righteous to spare two cities. Sadly this was not the case.
This again illustrates that the L-rd loves all and His patience lasts right down to almost the point where there is no hope for anyone left that would want to follow the L-rd. The fact that this place was destroyed tells us that again man is capable of good but has a tendency to spiral downward. There were only eight righteous people in the days of Noah. Now we do not even have ten people that followed HaShem.
He will take the righteous out of the world before He brings his wrath upon the world during the Tribulation period. This is known as the Rapture. After the Rapture, there will be those that are here that claim to know Him or claim to be believers. They may claim to be believers but they will not really know Him.
When He returns at the Rapture for the righteous, I wonder how many He will find?