Genesis 19:1-29: "1 Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. 2 And he said, 'Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.' And they said, 'No, but we will spend the night in the open square.' 3 But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4 Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. 5 And they called to Lot and said to him, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.' 6 So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, 7 and said, 'Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly! 8 See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.' 9 And they said, 'Stand back!' Then they said, 'This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them.' So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. 10 But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11 And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door. 12 Then the men said to Lot, 'Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city--take them out of this place! 13 For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.' 14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, 'Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city!' But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking. 15 When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, 'Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.' 16 And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17 So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, 'Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.' 18 Then Lot said to them, 'Please, no, my lords! 19 Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. 20 See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.' 21 And he said to him, 'See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. 22 Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there.' Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. 23 The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. 24 Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens. 25 So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But his wife looked back behind him, 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 Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. 29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt."
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is a direct result of the unrighteousness of those cities, as we learned in the previous chapter. The unrighteousness of these two cities was so great that everyone is destroyed, the only people saved were Lot, his wife, and two of his daughters. We are told that Lot tries to save his other daughters by pleading with his son-in-laws, but they think he is joking, and they end up perishing. Even Lot's wife, who was initially saved, looked back on the destruction, which she wasn't supposed to do, and was turned into a pillar of salt.
Let's consider this from Lot's perspective. He comes out of this destruction with nothing but his two daughters. He had to leave everything else behind. He was left without any possessions. Remember that this is the land that he chose when his herdsman and Abraham's herdsmen were fighting over the good pastures. Lot chose the valley, which was lush and green. It is no longer that way, even unto today it is a barren wasteland, where not much lives, if anything lives. So, it would appear that Lot has lost practically everything, with the exception of his two daughters, and his own life.
However, Lot has something more than these things, he has righteousness. This is in the end what saved him. We learn from the reading that the reason Abraham pleaded with our Lord God in chapter eighteen was on account of Lot. Abraham pleaded with God for Lot's life. Lot shows his righteousness in protecting the two men sent to destroy Sodom and Gommorah from the men of those cities, who desired to know them carnally. God shows his distaste for such behavior in the manner of the destruction of these two cities. It should also be pointed out, that Zoar, the place where Lot was supposed to escape to, was also meant to be destroyed because of its proximity to Sodom and Gomorrah, but because Lot pleaded to escape there, since it was too far to make it to the hills, it was saved.
We are told in the verses following this pericope that Lot was scared to live in Zoar, on account of what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, that he ended up living in a cave with his two daughters. It would appear that even though Lot was considered a righteous man, for some reason he desired to live with unrighteous men. That is, until the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, then he refused to dwell where unrighteous men lived. In a way, this is a picture of our Lord, who eats with sinners, and takes his dwelling place among the unrighteous, in order that he might save them, and heal them of their unrighteousness.
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah also leads to the birth of two nations, which would come to always be at war with Israel. This narrative is relayed in the verse at the end of chapter nineteen. Lot's two daughters, having reasoned in their mind that Lot will have no offspring, because they are living in a cave, and there are no other people around, that they should each get their father drunk, and sleep with him; an event of which, holy Scripture tells us Lot was unaware. One wonders what he thought when his two virgin daughters each became pregnant.
The two daughters each gave birth to baby boys. Their names were Moab and Ben-ammi, which mean "from the father" and "son of my people," respectively. These two became the fathers of the Moabites and the Ammonites. These followed in the footsteps of their mothers, who learned how to live one's life from the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the nations that grew out of these two boys' loins, became the wicked cousins of the Israelites. And, they were the ones who caused the Israelites to turn away from their God, and worship false gods.
This is the true purpose of the narrative of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, to reveal where the people of Moab and Ammon came from. It also reveals where the wickedness of these two nations came from, that is, from Sodom and Gomorrah. We see from this that even though the evil is punished, it is not destroyed. And this sinfulness and evil eventually becomes a stumbling block to the Israelites, continuing to plague them.
This is why our Lord Jesus comes to dwell among us unrighteous sinners, so that He could on the cross destroy once and for all sin. We see the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as a prefigurement of the cross of our Lord. Brimstone and fire, mystically speaking, are rained down upon sin, death, and the devil on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and they are utterly destroyed. Their power is barren and they are a desolation. Such is our Lord's mercy toward us. He saves us, as He saved Lot, and He frees us from our sins.
God be with you!
Deacon Dulas
Let's consider this from Lot's perspective. He comes out of this destruction with nothing but his two daughters. He had to leave everything else behind. He was left without any possessions. Remember that this is the land that he chose when his herdsman and Abraham's herdsmen were fighting over the good pastures. Lot chose the valley, which was lush and green. It is no longer that way, even unto today it is a barren wasteland, where not much lives, if anything lives. So, it would appear that Lot has lost practically everything, with the exception of his two daughters, and his own life.
However, Lot has something more than these things, he has righteousness. This is in the end what saved him. We learn from the reading that the reason Abraham pleaded with our Lord God in chapter eighteen was on account of Lot. Abraham pleaded with God for Lot's life. Lot shows his righteousness in protecting the two men sent to destroy Sodom and Gommorah from the men of those cities, who desired to know them carnally. God shows his distaste for such behavior in the manner of the destruction of these two cities. It should also be pointed out, that Zoar, the place where Lot was supposed to escape to, was also meant to be destroyed because of its proximity to Sodom and Gomorrah, but because Lot pleaded to escape there, since it was too far to make it to the hills, it was saved.
We are told in the verses following this pericope that Lot was scared to live in Zoar, on account of what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, that he ended up living in a cave with his two daughters. It would appear that even though Lot was considered a righteous man, for some reason he desired to live with unrighteous men. That is, until the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, then he refused to dwell where unrighteous men lived. In a way, this is a picture of our Lord, who eats with sinners, and takes his dwelling place among the unrighteous, in order that he might save them, and heal them of their unrighteousness.
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah also leads to the birth of two nations, which would come to always be at war with Israel. This narrative is relayed in the verse at the end of chapter nineteen. Lot's two daughters, having reasoned in their mind that Lot will have no offspring, because they are living in a cave, and there are no other people around, that they should each get their father drunk, and sleep with him; an event of which, holy Scripture tells us Lot was unaware. One wonders what he thought when his two virgin daughters each became pregnant.
The two daughters each gave birth to baby boys. Their names were Moab and Ben-ammi, which mean "from the father" and "son of my people," respectively. These two became the fathers of the Moabites and the Ammonites. These followed in the footsteps of their mothers, who learned how to live one's life from the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the nations that grew out of these two boys' loins, became the wicked cousins of the Israelites. And, they were the ones who caused the Israelites to turn away from their God, and worship false gods.
This is the true purpose of the narrative of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, to reveal where the people of Moab and Ammon came from. It also reveals where the wickedness of these two nations came from, that is, from Sodom and Gomorrah. We see from this that even though the evil is punished, it is not destroyed. And this sinfulness and evil eventually becomes a stumbling block to the Israelites, continuing to plague them.
This is why our Lord Jesus comes to dwell among us unrighteous sinners, so that He could on the cross destroy once and for all sin. We see the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as a prefigurement of the cross of our Lord. Brimstone and fire, mystically speaking, are rained down upon sin, death, and the devil on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and they are utterly destroyed. Their power is barren and they are a desolation. Such is our Lord's mercy toward us. He saves us, as He saved Lot, and He frees us from our sins.
God be with you!
Deacon Dulas
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