Summary https://marksbiblejourney.blogspot.com/2019/10/genesis.html
"Ten good men can not be found in Sodom and Gomorrah. Two angels rescue Lot, his wife, and his two daughters. They flee to a small town called Zoar. God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah with burning sulfur falling from the sky. Despite the angel's command, Lot's wife looks back upon the city as it is being destroyed. She turns into a pillar of salt. Lot leaves Zoar to live in the caves of a mountain with his family. There is no one else around. To preserve their father's line both of his daughters get him drunk on two different nights, sleep with him, and become pregnant by him. The older daughter has a son named Moab. He becomes the father of the Moabite clan. The younger daughter has a son named Ben-ammi. He becomes the father of the Ammonite clan."
Reading from the Amplified Bible (AMP) version..
- "But they said, “No, we shall spend the night in the open plaza [of the city].” However, Lot strongly urged them, so they turned aside and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them [with wine], and baked unleavened bread, and they ate." v.2-3
- "But before they lay down [to sleep], the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house, all the men from every quarter; and they called out to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may know them [intimately].” v.4-5
- "See here, I have two daughters who have not known a man [intimately]; please let me bring them out to you [instead], and you can do as you please with them; only do nothing to these men, because they have in fact come under the shelter of my roof [for protection].” v.8
- "But the men (angels) reached out with their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door [after him]. They struck (punished) the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from the young men to the old men, so that they exhausted themselves trying to find the doorway." v.10-11
- "So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were [betrothed, and legally promised] to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he appeared to be joking." v.14
- "But Lot hesitated and lingered. The men took hold of his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, because the Lord was merciful to him [for Abraham’s sake]; and they brought him out, and left him outside the city [with his family]. When they had brought them outside, one [of the angels] said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, or stop anywhere in the entire valley; escape to the mountains [of Moab], or you will be consumed and swept away.” v.16-17
- "Then the Lord rained down brimstone (flaming sulfur) and fire on Sodom and on Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven, and He overthrew (demolished, ended) those cities, and the entire valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and whatever grew on the ground. But Lot’s wife, from behind him, [foolishly, longingly] looked [back toward Sodom in an act of disobedience], and she became a pillar of salt." v.24-26
- "The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is aging, and there is not a man on earth [available] to be intimate with us in the customary way [so that we may have children]. Come, let us make our father drunk with wine, and we will lie with him so that we may preserve our family through our father.” v.31-32
My personal observations and reflections...
- SODOM'S VISITORS. From what I read, the two angels were not really visiting Lot. When Lot offered his house, the two angels kinda rejected him when they said “No, we shall spend the night in the open plaza [of the city].” Hmmm, are they somehow testing Lot? If there is still righteousness left with him.. Anyway, we read that Lot strongly urged them, maybe because he wants to protect them from Sodom's evil men? We later see that these two angels are powerful and it is Lot who actually needs protecting.
Lot himself was a righteous man who was grieved by the sin he saw around him (2 Peter 2:7-8), but because of his compromise few of his family and none of his friends were saved. Compromise destroyed his testimony. –David Guzik" https://dwellingintheword.wordpress.com/2014/09/26/1410-genesis-19/
- GANG RAPE. "the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house, all the men from every quarter; and they called out to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may know them [intimately].” (v.4-5)
This is also a stark contrast to Abraham's hospitality to the 3 visitors, Sodom was very cruel to the visitors.
- SONS-IN-LAW. God was so merciful, the two angels even asked about his household, and allowed Lot to warn his 2 sons in law about the coming destruction, but to no avail. Time was running out. The sons-in-law did not believe him, and thought he was just joking. Why was this written? I wonder if this is a picture of how people sometimes will not take seriously the things of God, like judgement, righteousness, God's mercy and love, salvation, repentance, Jesus coming back, etc.
- LOT HESITATED AND LINGERED. Now, if you already knew what will happen in Sodom, wouldn't you leave already, even in the middle of the night? I wonder if they were able to sleep at all.. Anyhow, we read that morning dawned, and the two angels urged Lot to hurry, to the point that they "took hold of his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters." Finally, maybe it all sank in to Lot, and he even negotiated with the angels that he want to escape and go to Zoar.
- LOT'S WIFE. This is the first time we read of Lot's wife, and she seemed so enamored with Sodom, with her life there.. She was not willing to let go, she couldn't help it, so she "[foolishly, longingly] looked [back toward Sodom in an act of disobedience]." She did not take heed of the angel's warnings to not look behind, stop anywhere in the entire valley, so she became a pillar of salt. Again, it makes me think of what it may represent and signify in my personal life, do I sometimes look back in the past, instead of continuing forward with the new life that God gave me through His Son Jesus Christ?
"LIFE APPLICATION. When it came time for Lot and his family to leave, no one wanted to go. They had seen the miracle that the angels had performed by turning the men of Sodom blind. Still, the angels had to drag them out of the city. What do you think makes it so hard to walk away from people or places that are familiar to us, yet dangerous to our spirit and perhaps to our life?"
- LOT DEBASED. I don't know what to say in this particular part of the story.. It seems that Lot has failed as a father and spiritual leader to his family.. His wife loved a worldly life and she perished because of it, now his two daughters is taking charge of the family's lineage by sleeping with their father. They thought of getting them drunk, because maybe Lot will not agree with their plans. Their descendants will later become the enemies of the people of God (Israel).
* “Ironically, in his own drunkenness Lot carried out the shameful act that he himself had suggested to the men of Sodom: he lay with his own daughters.” –John Sailhamer https://dwellingintheword.wordpress.com/2014/09/26/1410-genesis-19/
Bible's Footnotes:
Genesis 19:26 Lot’s wife not only “looked back” to where her interests were, but perhaps lingered behind and was overtaken by the fire and brimstone; her dead body likely became continually encrusted with salt since this disaster occurred in the salt-rich area around the Dead Sea.
Genesis 19:28 Not only were Sodom and Gomorrah blazing ruins, but also Admah and Zeboiim (Deut 29:23; Hos 11:8), as well as all the towns in the Valley of Siddim; Zoar was the lone exception.
Read the Bible here:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+19&version=AMP
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