Genesis Chapter 19

God’s Judgement

Genesis 18 Gave us a glimpse of God’s Power & Might in the two Prophecies of Abraham & Sarah to have a son the next year and the coming Judgement of destruction for Sodom, Gomorrah and the cities of the plains. Both of these help us remember God is in control and He can do everything and anything necessary to bring about His perfect Will.

19:1-2

The angels arrive at Sodom just at dusk. This would indicate that the distance from Abrahams camp to Sodom was probably within one half a days walking distance, since the angels arrived at midday, ate, and then departed for Sodom. Notice that Lot also recognizes that these ‘men’ are special, as he rises up from his seat at the gate and goes out to meet them and then bows down to them, indicating he is honoring them. In addition, he immediately calls them ‘my lords’ acknowledging they are superior, and aks them to be his guests for the night, offering them gracious hospitality. He also adds that they can then get up early and go on their journey. Obviously, Lot does not want these ‘men’ to be exposed to the horrible wickedness of the men of the city. Immediately the ‘men’ tell Lot, No, we can stay in the streets for the night. Can you imagine the horror that must have appeared on Lot’s face?

19:3

‘Pressing upon them greatly’ means that Lot strongly and urgently insisted that they not stay out at night and immediately go into his home. Obviously this was for their protection and to be spared the horrors of what went on in the streets at night. Yet, we are not told that Lot tells them anything, except that they must quickly accept his hospitality, which they finally agree to do. Lot immediately makes them a feast, baking them unleavened bread, meaning there was no time for the bread to rise. The angels then ate the meal.

19:4-5

However, before the men can even lay down for a good nights rest from their travels, all the degenerate wicked men of Sodom, both young and old, surround Lot’s house yelling out to Lot, demanding that Lot bring out the men who came to Sodom at dusk, so that they could know them. This term ‘know refers to a physical sexual attack. Obviously, some men saw these ‘men’ come in the gate, and then witnessed Lot hurrying them into his home.

19:6-7

Now Lot is trying to do ‘damage control’ by going outside, where presumably he hoped the angelic visitors could not hear what was going on. Lot begs them do not do this ‘wicked thing’. This type of ‘gang rape’ by homosexuals would result in the torture, pain and death of any ordinary men.

19:8

Now Lot does the unthinkable, he actually offers to sacrifice his own virgin daughters to these wicked degenerate men to use and abuse however they wished. We are shocked and horrified to hear that Lot would even think such a thing, as this would mean horrible physical torture and death for his own innocent daughters! Lot continues to beg them not to attack the ‘men’ who have come into his home under his protection! By now, we are realizing that Lot can’t provide any protection at all from this mob of wicked degenerate men of Sodom! Although Lot’s motives were in the right direction, he was acting and speaking foolishly in trying to deal with wickedness that could only be dealt with by God. Sometimes we are in situations that are so evil that all we can do is cry out to God and ask for His wisdom and direction in removing ourselves from such an evil environment. When my husband, Gene, said God wanted us to move here to Lake Havasu City, he said that God told him to “get out of Sodom and Gomorrah.” We lived in an affluent area that was rapidly abandoning any form of Christianity.

19:9

The mob screams at Lot to get out of their way; “who do you think you are, coming into our city ‘temporarily’, and now trying to be our judge! We will deal worse with you than with these men!” So now they are threatening to rape and murder Lot also! The mob then rushed violently against Lot and come close to breaking down the door! Obviously, the wicked men knew Lot was not one of them, and they resented his attempts to act and speak righteously, however pitiful it may have been.

19:10-11

Miraculously, the angelic men reach out, grab Lot and pull him safely back into the house and shut the door against the mob. The angels then strike the men outside with some kind of ‘blindness’ so that they are unable to find the door. If Lot didn’t know they were angels beforehand, he certainly would have realized it by this time!

19:12-13

Now things become urgent, and the angelic men ask Lot about his family, sons-in-laws, sons, daughters! Whoever you have in the city, bring them out of this place! We have come to destroy Sodom for the cry and shriek against these people has grown great before the Lord, and God has sent us to destroy Sodom!

19:14

We must assume that Lot secretly slips out and goes to his sons-in-law, warning them of the coming destruction (and perhaps to his own sons). Yet, they ignore his warnings, thinking it all foolishness. Often when we warn our own family and friends of the coming judgement of God, they too, act as though we are joking, or that we are ridiculous and foolish. Lot was declared righteous yet he lived a distressed life and was tortured in his soul because of the wickedness around him. If you also feel you are surrounded by wickedness and evil, it is because you are! See II Peter 2: 7-8. Yet, we must continue to use God’s Word to speak the Truth of His coming judgement on all who refuse to repent, and accept Jesus as Lord, God and Savior.

19:15

Now the angels must hurry to get Lot and his wife and daughters out of Sodom! The angels repeat that they will be consumed in the destruction and punishment of the city. The destruction is quickly coming, and the time to escape is almost gone! Can you imagine the urgency? And yet Lot lingers, why? Was he trying to figure out another way to try to get his other family members out of Sodom? We just don’t know.

19:16-17

The angels have to seize firmly the hands of Lot, his wife and daughters, and to pull them out of the city. The angels bring them out of the city, sternly warning them to flee for their lives from that entire valley area, warning them not to even look back, don’t stop anywhere, keep fleeing! Warning them to head for the mountains for safety, or they would be consumed, meaning, completely destroyed.

19:18-20

Lot begs the angels to continue to be merciful to he and his family by sparing a very small city known as Zoar, and allowing them to flee there, rather than heading up to the mountains, which he feared. Lot realizes the angels have provided protection for he and his family and that they will destroy the city. Keep in mind that Lot does not know how the city will be destroyed!

19:21-22

One of the angels agree to allow Lot and his family to enter into Zoar, and promises that small place will be spared for his sake; yet the angel strictly tells him that he cannot do anything until Lot has entered Zoar!

19:23-25

The sun had already risen when Lot entered into Zoar and immediately the Lord God rains brimstone and fire upon both Sodom and Gomorrah from out of the heaven, which could mean from the sky. Exactly what this brimstone and fire were comprised of, we do not know. Brimstone is usually associated with sulfur. The word ‘fire’ is used here for the first time in the Bible, and could be a divine fire, or gases or other combustible explosion ignited by a volcanic explosion, erupting and then falling to earth. This entire area is part of the Great Rift Valley, which is active tectonically. Much like the big Island of Hawaii is still an active volcano and does erupt material that is volcanic fire and ‘brimstone’, which is sulphur! The sulphur from Hawaii’s volcano is so strong and dangerous, that there are numerous warning signs telling people to avoid breathing the deadly sulphur fumes! Notice that everything, people, animals and plants were all destroyed, just like what happens with a volcanic eruption!

19:26

‘But’ is nearly always a warning to us; Lot’s wife looks back, (which was in disobedience to the angels warning); from behind him, meaning she was lagging behind Lot, and became a pillar of salt. This could have meant she was lagging quite a bit behind, perhaps looking back toward Sodom more than once. It may have been that the thermal brines (salt) buried her in a shower of salt deposits that were blown into the sky with the eruption. Another possibility is that she was covered with volcanic ash, killing her instantly, and her body then became petrified quickly, which means minerals (salt) replace the body. This is the same thing that happened to many of the people of Pompeii as they became petrified when buried in the ash. Many of the people of Pompeii were petrified in semi-upright positions, indicating it happened relatively quickly! We are also reminded that this is a warning to us because Jesus warns us that the end times of the tribulation will be as it was in the days of Lot. Jesus affirms the Truth of this account, by reminding everyone that it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Jesus says the way it was then, it will be when the Son of Man is “revealed’. Jesus then emphasis the warning to remember Lot’s wife! Read Luke 17:20-37. See also Matthew 11:23-24.

19:27-28

That same morning, Abraham gets up early, and goes to the place where he stood before the theophany of the Lord. We can assume he perhaps hoped God would appear again, or maybe just to solidify in his mind all that happened. In any case, Abraham looks toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward the entire land of the plain, and the entire valley is smoking as a furnace!

19:29

This is like a quick summary of the fact that God had heeded Abrahams unspoken request to save Lot out of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and had saved Lot from being destroyed along with the wicked. Note that the Bible says Lot dwelt in the ‘cities’ probably meaning the entire area was much like many of our metropolitan areas, where one city runs into another.

19:30

Interestingly Lot eventually leaves Zoar and does dwell in the mountains, in a cave, with his two daughters because he feared to live in Zoar. Obviously, this was not a good place in any way! Perhaps he would have been wiser to heed the angels warning in the beginning. We may also wonder why Lot did not return to the family group of his uncle Abraham, as we know they are within a half days walk? Any thoughts as to why Lot would not go back to his uncle for protection and help? Pride maybe? Fear of rejection? Keep in mind that uncle Abraham had already rescued Lot and his family from being captives of the kings in Chapter 14.

19:31-32

Obviously they have been living in this cave home for some time before the older daughter comes up with her ‘solution’ to their perceived ‘problem’, or they would not have had wine to drink. Remember that many people lived in caves in the mountains and in the Dead Sea Region. The Essene sect had an entire community of people that lived in caves. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found hidden in these caves.

19:33

We’re not sure how the daughters ‘made’ Lot drink wine, nor how the incest occurred with the older daughter without Lot’s being aware of his actions. We can be certain that their actions were designed to get Lot to do something that they knew he would not agree to if he were sober. (34. – 35.) The very next night, they repeat their actions, with the younger daughter laying with Lot. Again we are told he did not perceive when she lay down with him, nor when she arose. This is such a strong warning about actions we may become part of if we are influenced by any type or kind of ‘mind altering substance’. We must carefully guard ourselves against willingly doing or taking any substance that would affect our ability to make rational, wise, godly decisions.

19:36-38

Both daughters then become pregnant at the same time by Lot. And both bare sons; the older daughter’s son is named Moab and becomes the father of the Moabites. The younger daughter names her some Benammi and he becomes the father of the children of Ammon which we know as the Ammonites. Although the daughters wanted to preserve their family line by having children, they foolishly chose to resolve their dilemma with their own plans rather than seeking a solution from God. The end result was that the Moabites and Ammonites became perpetual enemies of the Israelites.

How about us? We often cause problems for our families for generations when we fail to seek God’s will for our lives in resolving family problems or needs. May this entire chapter give us God’s wisdom and warning regarding maintaining pure and healthy relationships for ourselves, our families and all of society. Immorality in any form, is bad for our bodies; and is destructive to our souls and spirits! Remember, for Believers, your body is the Temple of God! When we honestly review the circumstances of our problems and trials, we often realize that we have brought much suffering upon ourselves, and others, by our foolish sinful actions! The majority of people who end up incarcerated, are those who refuse to take responsibility for their own actions. God gives us the privilege and responsibility for making choices; make Godly choices that will honor God. “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that is what he shall reap.” Galatians 6:7