first they turned down his invitation but Lot insisted, and for good reason.
The events of that night and the next morning are detailed in Genesis and read like a horrible nightmare. When the angels arrived at Lot’s home, he served them dinner. But before they could go to bed a mob of men from all parts of the city surrounded his house and demanded that he bring the two visitors outside so they could molest them.5 Lot implored that such wickedness not happen, and then in what must have been a desperate decision intended to protect God’s messengers, Lot offered the depraved horde his two virgin daughters instead — whom they rejected.
Growing even angrier because Lot refused to turn over the visitors, the mob surged forward to break down the door. At the last moment, the two angels reached out, pulled Lot back into the house, and struck the raging Sodomites with blindness.
The angels ordered Lot to gather his family immediately so they could unleash God’s judgment. With the men of the city now blinded, Lot was able to go out and warn his daughters’ fiancés. He told them what God was about to d,o but they did not take him seriously.6
At dawn, the angels pressed Lot to hurry lest he and his wife and daughters be caught in the judgment themselves. Lot hesitated, so the angels took them by the hands and led them quickly out of the city. The angels gave them permission to flee to the small town of Zoar, but warned them not to look back longingly.7
As Lot and his family arrived at Zoar, God began to rain brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah.8 However, his wife looked back. She disobeyed God’s command and became a pillar of salt. For Lot and his daughters, though, their desperate rush to escape was honored.
The Bible tells us that every man, woman, and child in the valley was killed in God’s righteous judgment.9 Every house and all the vegetation burned up, leaving only ash.10 From outside his tent many miles away, Abraham could see dark smoke rising from the valley where Sodom and Gomorrah had been.
The Bible’s last words about Lot reveal that he was afraid to live in another city, so he took his two daughters — whose husbands-to-be had been killed in the destruction — and lived with them in a cave in the hills above Zoar.11
PRIMARY PASSAGES
Gen. 18:16–19:30; 2 Pet. 2:6–8
KEY VERSE
“Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So he overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.” Gen. 19:24–25
WRAP UP
“Lot chose to raise his family in a very dark place, even though he had other options. Father, You were willing not to destroy Sodom if there were just ten righteous people there. That should have been easy. Between Lot’s family and his daughters’ fiancés there were six people. But apparently, they had given in to the culture. Even Lot’s own wife longed for Sodom more than she wanted to obey You. Lord, reveal my blind spots. Please show me how to help my family love and honor You above everything this world has to offer.”
1 This appearance was likely not more than three months after God’s initial declaration (Gen. 17) of the upcoming birth. On that day, Abraham and all the men of his clan were circumcised. Now, enough time had passed that he was healed enough to be able to run to the Lord and the two angels that visited him in Genesis 18:1–2, yet he was still 99 and his son would still be born within a year (Genesis 18:10). The Genesis 18 announcement was apparently new information to Sarah, so she must not have been present at the previous (Genesis 17) announcement. It is also noteworthy that during the interim that separated the two angelic visitations (not more than three months) Abraham had in faithless fear subjected Sarah to the nearby King Abimelech (Genesis 20), like he had 24 years earlier when he gave her to a Pharaoh in Egypt (Genesis 12).
2 Genesis 19:24–25; Jeremiah 50:40. See also “The Discovery of the Sin Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,” www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2008/04/16/The-Discovery-of-the-Sin-Cities-of-Sodom-and-Gomorrah.aspx.
3 Genesis 19:30–38 reveals Lot was “old” but not too old to father children. The age of his daughters at this time is not known, and though they may have been fairly young they were old enough by the standards of their society to be engaged.
4 Proverbs 31:23
5 Genesis 19:5
6 Genesis 19:14
7 Regarding Genesis 19:17 (“do not look behind you”) and 19:26 (“his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt”), the word “expectingly” is used in Young’s Literal Translation (“look not expectingly behind thee”) but not in most modern translations. Substitution of a more modern word, such as “longingly” rather than “expectingly” is preferred in order to better understand the situation. Lot’s wife was judged for her disobedience and turned into a pillar of salt (possibly actual salt, or possibly encased by the burning sulfur that God was raining down). Her delay indicates a longing to return to the sin-filled cities, rather than obedience and gratefulness at being rescued by God’s messengers.
8 Genesis 19:24. “It is likely that the Biblical ‘gafrit’ is the hydrocarbon bitumen, which is the essential ingredient of asphalt. . . . Bitumen/asphalt is a naturally occurring, highly flammable substance found in the Dead Sea area,” per http://www.aish.com/ci/sam/48931527.html.
9 Genesis 19:25 — the Lord overthrew (killed) everyone living in those cities; Deuteronomy 29:23 (ESV) says, “the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout…”
10 2 Peter 2:6
11 Genesis 19:30 — Although evolutionary teachers promote the idea that most cave dwellers were not fully human, many normal men and women have for thousands of years taken advantage of the excellent natural protection and ready availability of caves, worldwide. The Bible itself refers to numerous people who lived in caves, including Lot and his daughters, David and his warriors, and Israelites at the time of Gideon (Judges 62). “Cavemen” are exactly that; men and women who live in caves for various reasons and lengths of time.
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ISAAC, NEARLY SACRIFICED!
(c. 1871 B.C.)
Learning to trust!
When the Lord called Abram to move to the region we know as Israel, He promised that, like the stars of heaven, Abram’s descendants
