God knows that Abraham will pass down to his descendants the two principles of tzeddek and mishpat. Taken together, these constitute “derech Hashem,” the way of God. Tzeddek is the responsibility to care for the wellbeing of others, which is coupled with mishpat, the implementation of justice and truth. Sodom represented the exact opposite of this: care only for themselves and their own enrichment, and a society built on unjust laws which favored the wealthy at the expense of the poor. Rabbi Dov Linzer explains more.
