Genesis 19. God Rescues Lot

God Rescues Lot

The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom.

• This implies Lot was some kind of civic leader of Sodom

When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth ² and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.”

• Did Lot know they were angels and if not angels then royalty in a way? I know the culture was to treat guests with more respect than your family, but he seems to know they are important.

They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” ³ But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

• And did he know of the sin around him – I assume yes and partially why he pressed them strongly to stay inside. Why would you want to keep your family there? There is a difference between living among those that choose to sin vs to be around these dangerous men.

⁴ But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. 

• ALL the men – young and old – came to Lot’s house. That is insane. Why would Lot want to even stay in a place like that? Just because of the good land?

⁵ And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.”

• Many focus on homosexuality in Genesis 19, it’s important not to overlook that the immediate event in the chapter is an attempted gang rape of Lot’s guests.

⁶ Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, ⁷ and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. ⁸ Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.”

• And in a shocking twist, Lot instead offers his own daughters to them. Reminds me of Judges 19.
• There is kind of a thematic mirroring of the sons of God taking women in Genesis 6 vs the men trying to violate angels in Genesis 19.

 ⁹ But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.”

Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. ¹⁰ But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. ¹¹ And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.

• They continued TRYING to open the door even after they were struck with blindness!!

¹² Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. ¹³ For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

¹⁵ As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 

• Lot has no sense of urgency here, and it makes me wonder what in my life I am holding onto despite God telling me to run.
• He was saved purely because “…the Lord being merciful to him.”

 “I thought, as I read my text, that it gave us a striking example of doing all we can. Lot and his wife, and the two daughters—well, that was four—the angels had only four hands, so they did all that they could—there was a hand for each. You notice the text expressly says, they took hold of the hand of Lot, and the hand of his wife, and the hand of his two daughters. There were no more persons, and no more helping hands, so that there was just enough instrumentality, but there was not a hand to spare.”

-Charles Spurgeon, Lingerers Hastened

¹⁷ And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” ¹⁸ And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. ¹⁹ Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. ²⁰ Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” 

²¹ He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²² Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

• The name Zoar (צֹעַר Tsoʿar) means “small” or “insignificant” 

God Destroys Sodom

²³ The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. ²⁵ And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸ And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹ So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

• “Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.” (Ezekiel 16:49-50)

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰ Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 

• So the angel tells Lot to go to the hills, and Lot says no and wants the city, so the angel says OK go to the city, and then Lot says no I’ll go to the hills….?

³¹ And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. ³² Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” ³³ So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

• First of all where did they receive this much wine? They are living in a cave. I cannot imagine the amount of alcohol needed for this to occur.
• Secondly, they just got back from Zoar and know that there were many other men in the world. Why didn’t they travel to Abraham? Why did they think this was necessary?

³⁴ The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” ³⁵ So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 

• Lot suggested the men of Sodom defile his daughters. Ironically he ended up doing so.

³⁶ Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

• Moab מוֹאָב means….”from father”
  • Ruth is a Moabite and in line of the Messiah
  • However most Moabites in the Bible will become enemies of Israel or lure them into idolatry
  • settled east of the Dead Sea
• Ben-ammi (בֶּן־עַמִּי) means “son of my people”
  • Forms the Ammonites
  • Known for their worship of Milcom/Molech (and their child sacrifices)
  • settled northeast of the Dead Sea