GENESIS

ABRAHAM

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
The Rescue of Lot

Genesis 19:1-38

INTRODUCTION

In Gen. 18 God has visited Abraham and warned him of the impending destruction of the 5 cities of the plain including Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom is of particular importance to Abraham because his nephew Lot lives in Sodom. After Abraham contends with God, God promises that He will NOT destroy the city if upon further investigation His angels discover 10 righteous people living in Sodom. Ten righteous people should not be that hard to find. The story reveals though that when it is all said and done only 1 righteous person lived in Sodom, Lot. The city is ripe for destruction.

Whatever else the story of Sodom and Gomorrah tells us, it does reassure us that whenever God executes judgment upon a person or upon a people group, He is not capricious. He doesn't judge on the basis of a whim or on the basis of He has the right to do whatever He wants to do. This story assures us that God as the judge of all the earth (18:25) is a righteous Judge.

THE ANGELS DISCOVER THE SPIRITUAL CONDITON OF SODOM (19:1-11)

The two angelic messengers who had been with the Lord now approach the city of Sodom. It is evening. At the gate of the city sits Lot. It is interesting that Lot is sitting at the gate of the city because the gate of the city was the place where the local city government conducted its affairs. Lot's being at the gate showed that he had probably risen in the social and government ranks of the city. (The massive amount of wealth from his sheep herding business probably explains why he would have been prominent in Sodom.) Lot invites the 2 men to lodge with him that evening. When they reject his invitation saying they will spend the night in the open city square, Lot INSISTS that they stay with him that night. Most likely Lot knew what dangers were in store for new arrivals in Sodom. (This is truly sad. Whereas normally the open field was dangerous ground and the cities provided safety and security, in Sodom's case the exact opposite was true. The open country was safe, while Sodom was dangerous.)

Notice some important things about this story. First, notice that when the Lord and the 2 angels appeared at Abraham's tent, they appeared suddenly, in such a way that Abraham immediately knew they were divine messengers. As a result Abraham extended hospitality to them. There's nothing wrong with that at all; however, whenever the 2 messengers arrive at Sodom, they arrive in the normal manner, simply by walking up to the city gates. There was nothing in their appearance which indicated that they were divine messengers. Yet even though they appeared to be human, Lot extended to them hospitality. His invitation to hospitality then is more noble than Abraham's. This fact alone may help account for the fact that Peter calls Lot righteous (2 Pet. 2:7).

Second, notice that we've got to ask ourselves the question, "Since Lot apparently knew that Sodom was evil, what in the world was he doing in Sodom?" In fact, many times we need to ask ourselves the question: "What are God's people doing in such places?" Remember that Lot was not there because the Lord had sent him there. When he looked at Sodom and Gomorrah, the site pleased him. He went there because he wanted to go there, not because God had sent him. He probably had assuaged his guilty conscience by thinking he could change the place morally and ethically. Some places though are never going to change, are they? We stay in such places either spiritually or physically because there is something in us that does like those places, even though great spiritual harm can come to us and our families by being in these places. Lot's unwise choice will devastate his immediate family, destroy every sense of dignity about himself, and finally pervert future generations which descended from him--all because he did what was pleasing to his eyes and not because of what the Lord wanted him to do.

The men enter the home of Lot who then presents them a hastily-prepared meal (Lot gave them unleavened bread which takes much less time to bake than leavened bread since unleavened bread does not need time to rise.) Apparently Lot fears for the men and their safety, and desires to get them out of Sodom as early as possible the next morning. There is no time to prepare an elaborate feast.

The city's greeting committee though now arrives at Lot's door. This hospitality committee is made up exclusively of males, males made up of every age group and of every socio-economic strata of the city. In other words, it is a perfect cross-section of the male population of the city; it represents the city to the fullest. How do these men want to greet the new arrivals? By raping them: "Bring them out to us that we may know them," with the word "know" having sexual connotations.

Lot is horrified, but probably not surprised, at the committee's demands. He does everything though to protect his guests, even to the point of risking his own family. Why would he jeopardize his own family for the sake of these guests? First, remember that the men did not ask to spend the night in Lot's home; in fact they had even rejected his first invitation. The only reason they stayed with him that night was that he had INSISTED upon them staying with him. He would fail miserably in his duties as host if he allowed such a thing to happen. To protect the men he suggests that they even rape his own daughters who are virgins. Raping virgins should appeal to their manhood since men traditionally want to be known as the first man a woman has had relations with.

Lot's suggestion about his daughters horrifies modern sensibilities. The reason we are horrified is that we don't understand the oriental attitude towards hospitality. Whenever anybody stayed as a guest in your home, you were responsible for that person. By having them stay in your home, you were basically promising to protect hem. Your own dignity and reputation would have suffered irreparably if you let anything bad happen to your guests. We see just this very attitude among Arabs in the movie Lawrence of Arabia. When a guest insults Auda abu Tayi (Anthony Quinn) in his tent, Auda replies: "Be glad you are with me in my tent; otherwise, I would kill you." In fact, there are stories of some Arabs who would tell a guest in his tent, tonight we dine because you are in my tent; tomorrow though I will kill you." Hospitality is a serious affair in the Middle East and helps explain Lot's reaction to the men.

At this point the greeting committee turns on Lot. They tell him: "Stand aside. . . . This one [Lot] came in as an alien, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them." Little do they realize that although Lot is not their judge, they are actually in the process of being judged. God has sent the angels to investigate the crime scene. If enough incriminating evidence is found against the Sodomites, God will judge them and judge them severely. In their arrogance they refuse to be judged, but judged they are going to be.

When the men start to press hard against Lot, even to the point of breaking down the door to his house, the 2 angels grab Lot and pull him inside the house, slamming the door behind them. Then they turn on the greeting committee and strike each of them with blindness. They are so blind that they have to grope their way along the city back home.

RESCUING LOT (19:12-22)

At this point the angels have gotten Lot's attention. They now inform him of the impending destruction about to befall the city. They tell him to gather his family together and to flee the city. Lot finds his 2 future sons-in-law and tells them what the angels have just said. They think that he has been drinking and so begin to ridicule him (they may not have known about what happened to the city's greeting committee).

Day dawns and now the angels almost frantically push Lot, his wife, and 2 daughters out of the city. Destruction is coming to Sodom, whether Lot is there or not. When Lot hesitates, the angels grab Lot by the hand and practically manhandle him out of the city. When he and his family exit the city, the angels warn them to flee for their lives. They are not to look behind them at what is happening to the city. They are to rush to the nearby mountains to escape God's wrath.

Lot though begs that the angels spare one little village on the plain because that is as far as he thinks he will be able to make it. Besides, he reasons, it is only a little city. Since that village was so little, the moral balance of the universe would not be upset if it was spared, even though it was wicked. The angels concede. Since Lot thinks that he can only make it to that little village, they will spare it for his sake. Although we do not know the original name of that village, it is later named Zoar which means "small."

One question emerges from this passage: "Why are the angels going to all this trouble with Lot, when Lot is basically so resistant to their help? If Lot doesn't want help, why do they persist in helping him, almost against his will?" The answer to this question will be given later.

THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH (19:23-26)

Lot makes it to Zoar. It is now full day, and literally all hell breaks loose upon the cities in the plain. Fire and brimstone (sulfur) shoot down from the sky, completely devastating all the cities and their inhabitants. Lot's wife, not heeding the angels' instructions, turns to look back at the destruction. She instantly turns into a pillar of salt.

It is unlikely that she literally became a pillar of salt. Rather it is most likely that she is caught up in the rain of sulphur, even salt which is falling from the sky. That region is covered with salt; in fact the Dead Sea is dead because of its high saline content. Whatever literally happens to her, she disobeys God and turns to look longingly at her beloved Sodom, the Sodom which had just tried to rape angels. She is past all hope of redemption. Consequently, she suffered horribly God's wrath.

Now that we've come to the part of the story about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, we have to ask ourselves, "Just exactly why did God destroy the cities?" Of course, there are none righteous in these cities, except for Lot; however, what was the nature of the crime which brought down God's wrath?

The first and most obvious answer is homosexuality. The sin of Sodom is so connected with homosexuality that homosexual acts henceforth are called acts of sodomy and homosexuals have been labeled sodomites. Rape was definitely a factor in Sodom being condemned; however, homosexuality seemed to play a part in Sodom's condemnation also.

So does God wipe out nations which descend into homosexuality like ancient Greece and ancient Rome? Whatever your answer to that is, it must be admitted that the Bible takes a harsh view on the homosexual act, not just the OT but also the NT. Moses later will say that those who commit homosexual acts are to be put to death because such acts are an abomination to God (Lev. 18:22). When Paul later describes the depth of pagan sin, he lists as #2 homosexual acts (Rom. 1:26-27), the first being sensuality (1:24-25). When addressing the Corinthian church, Paul claims that homosexuality, instead of being accepted or tolerated, should be something a person is saved from, cleansed of (1 Cor. 6:9-11).

Our western civilization today not only tolerates homosexuality and even accepts it, it almost tends to promote it. The church and Christians must decide whose attitude towards homosexuality they are going to adopt, God's or western civilization's? We don't have to condemn any sinner whenever we condemn sin; however, we are to speak about sin the way God speaks about it, including homosexuality. (Some will claim that Jesus tolerated homosexuality since He never addressed it in His teachings. The reason He didn't address the topic is that when it came to this topic, He would have been preaching to the choir since the Jews of Jesus' day definitely already believed that this was an abominable sin before the Lord.)

CONCLUSION (19:27-29)

The next morning after God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham is looking out from his camp in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah. He sees smoke coming from that direction. He knows that God has destroyed the cities in the plain. The angels had not been able to discover 10 righteous people in the city of Sodom.

On the surface it seems like although Abraham had made a noble effort to save Lot, he had failed. Yet although Abraham does not know the total outcome, we do. For all practical purposes God HAD answered Abraham's prayer positively. When it is all said and done, Abraham had not been primarily concerned about the cities; he had been concerned about Lot. Well, God did not need to spare the cities in the plain in order to save Lot. God is so creative that He could spare Lot while destroying the cities.

We need to remember this. Many times our prayers almost put God in dire straits. Not only do we want God to answer our prayers, we want Him to answer them a specific way. God must follow every detail of our prayer in order for us to feel like He has really heard us and answered our prayers. The very first verse of the Bible though teaches us that whatever else is true about God, He is very creative. Many times we just need to sit back and look at the results of our prayers the way He looks at them. Many times we may feel like He did NOT answer our prayers positively, while in fact He may just have answered them positively. He just answered them positively in a way different than we had specifically prayed for. The passage is an example of this principle.

Note another instance of a recurring theme in the stories of Abraham. In verse 29 Moses tells us that God remembered Abraham whenever He rescued Lot. Abraham is the reason God rescued Lot. When you look at the story closely, you will see that Lot really didn't deserve being rescued since he had no business at all living in such a place. ABRAHAM is the reason the angels practically manhandle Lot in order to get him out of Sodom. Abraham is the blessed one of God; Lot's relationship with Abraham is what ultimately saved him and his family.

This is a challenge for you and me. Are we the kind of Christians who move God to bless others because He loves our relationship with Him? I love the verse: "If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will FOR HIM give life to those who commit a sin NOT leading to death" (1 John. 5:16). Christ says the same thing when He says: "And for their sakes I sanctified Myself that THEY THEMSELVES might be sanctified in the truth" (John 17:19). Be such a great Christian that God will want to honor you by blessing your son or daughter or wife or husband.

AFTERMATH (19:30-38)

So what DID become of Lot after he escaped the destruction of the 4 cities? The father who had almost cheapened his daughters by offering them to rapists is now going to be cheapened by those same daughters. (You reap what you sow.) First of all Lot refuses to stay in Zoar because he probably fears that the villagers will get suspicious since he is the only survivor from Sodom and the other 3 cities which the Lord destroyed. He removes himself with his daughters to the nearby mountains.

At this point his daughters panic because their long-term prospects don't seem very promising. The older daughter wanting to produce offspring hatches a plot: they will get their father drunk that night, she will lie with him, and conceive a son. They will do the same thing the next night but this time the younger daughter lying down with her father and conceiving a son. The plot works perfectly. The first night sees the older daughter getting pregnant, the second seeing the younger daughter getting pregnant--by their father. The 2 sons become the ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites who will eventually live to the east of Israel in what today is the country of Jordan.