(Gen 19:1 NASB) Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.
Gen 19:1: Two angels came to Sodom. Yahweh visited Abraham with the two angels, but He did not manifest Himself in Sodom.
Lot shows the same hospitality that Abraham did. Once again, I believe this to be a test of faithfulness for Lot. Strangers are to be treated well by Elohim’s people (Lev. 19:33-34).
Lot bowed to these men when they approached. Abraham greeted these men in the same manner. They treat these strangers like long lost family members.
(Gen 19:2 NASB) And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.”
Gen 19:2: He greets them as “lords” or “masters.” The Hebrew word is “adown.” The word used in Gen. 18:3 was “Adonai.” These angels are treated with the utmost in respect even though Lot does not know who they are.
Notice what Lot is saying to them, “then you may rise early and go on your way…” Lot does not want the city people to see these men. He knows what they will want to do.
It would appear that the angels were testing Lot because they tried to stay in the open square in the city. But Lot will have no part of it.
Abraham and Lot displayed the act of loving their neighbor and loving the stranger among them. Obedience to this command has reaped blessings many times. These cases with Abraham and Lot are almost identical to what happened with the disciples after the resurrection of Messiah (Luke 24:28-31).
(Gen 19:3 NASB) Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
Gen 19:3: Lot knew the dangers from the men of Sodom. He insisted the angel stay indoors with him. Lot prepared them a feast in a similar way to Abraham.
(Gen 19:4 NASB) Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter;
(Gen 19:5 NASB) 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 have relations with them.”
Gen 19:5: This area was filled with deviant people. Rabbinic tradition states that it was a very affluent area also. Tradition states that they adopted a policy of maltreating strangers in order to keep their affluence to themselves. But this is more than mistreatment. It is assault.
The location of these twin cities is likely at the southern end of the Dead Sea. The ruins of these cities (if any exist) are likely under water.
Any claims made by men such as Ron Wyatt are questionable at best. Samples of ash taken in that area that are claimed to have been taken from “ancient burned buildings” were analyzed and their contents show that they were not ancient buildings. The late Ron Wyatt and his defenders claim that the ancient burnt buildings are still standing. They show pictures of geologic formations that they claim are ancient buildings and even a sphinx. One does not need to be a scientist to say that such structures burnt with fire 4000 years ago would not still be standing. We do not need to place our faith in fantastic findings of fame hunters.
(Gen 19:6 NASB) But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him,
(Gen 19:7 NASB) and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.
(Gen 19:8 NASB) “Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof.”
Gen 19:8: There is virtually no explanation for this action by Lot. He too must have been morally corrupted by the people of Sodom. Lot felt a stronger obligation to the strangers than he did to his own daughters. We will find out that this corruption was absorbed by the daughters as well.
We find out in verse 14 that these two daughters were betrothed to be married.
(Gen 19:9 NASB) But they said, “Stand aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came in as an alien, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door.
Gen 19:9: Lot is reminded that he is not a natural citizen of Sodom and is a stranger also. He sat at the gates of Sodom and was a judge there. The men of Sodom were going to deal with Lot in a worse way than they were going to deal with the two strangers.
(Gen 19:10 NASB) But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.
(Gen 19:11 NASB) And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.
Gen 19:11: The men saved Lot from the crowd. Then they struck the crowd with “blindness.” The Hebrew word (which is found in only one other place in Scripture), conveys the idea of loss or distortion of vision resulting in mental confusion and bewilderment.
(Gen 19:12 NASB) Then the men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place;
(Gen 19:13 NASB) for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the LORD that the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”
Gen 19:13: Lot is told to get all his relatives together. The city is going to be destroyed.
(Gen 19:14 NASB) And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for the LORD will destroy the city.” But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
Gen 19:14: The NASB calls these guys his “sons-in-law who were to marry his daughters.” That may not be the case. The NKJV states “sons-in-law which married his daughters.” Lot also had sons who did not listen to him according to verse 12.
Lot probably had two daughters who were not married, two daughters who were married, and two sons who were married. That would explain why Abraham was bargaining with Elohim that He spare Sodom if they have at least ten righteous people. But alas, not all of Lot’s family was righteous.
They thought Lot was joking.
(Gen 19:15 NASB) And when 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.”
(Gen 19:16 NASB) But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the LORD was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city.
Gen 19:16: Lot was procrastinating, but Elohim was merciful to him. The wording of verse 16 appears to imply that their removal from the city was supernatural.
(Gen 19:17 NASB) And it came about when they had brought them outside, that one said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, lest you be swept away.”
(Gen 19:18 NASB) But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords!
Gen 19:18: The angels tell Lot and his family to escape to the mountains. Lot pleads for a different place than all the way up the mountains. Perhaps his plea is to save one of the smaller nearby cities which would otherwise have been destroyed.
(Gen 19:19 NASB) “Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest the disaster overtake me and I die;
(Gen 19:20 NASB) now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) that my life may be saved.”
Gen 19:20: Lot wants to flee to Zoar which means “tiny place.”
(Gen 19:21 NASB) And he said to him, “Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken.
(Gen 19:22 NASB) “Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the town was called Zoar.
(Gen 19:23 NASB) The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
Gen 19:23: The angels allowed Lot and his family to reach Zoar in safety. They said Elohim will spare that little city.
(Gen 19:24 NASB) Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven,
(Gen 19:25 NASB) and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
(Gen 19:26 NASB) But his wife, from behind him, looked back; and she became a pillar of salt.
Gen 19:26: Ryrie states “Deposits of sulfur (brimstone) and asphalt have been found in this area. Possibly an earthquake occurred and lightning ignited the gases that were released, causing a rain of fire and smoke.”
It could have been an earthquake and something meteoric in nature. That seems to fit the description better.
Lot’s wife is too caught up in the material possessions that she lost. She apparently looks back with the hope of going back. She ignores the instructions of her husband and the Lordship of Elohim.
Tradition states that she was turned into a pillar of salt that was still recognizable for a long time. The Apocryphal book “the Wisdom of Solomon” states “a pillar of salt stands as a memorial to an unbelieving soul.” Josephus also claims to have seen this salt formation that was once Lot’s wife. But who is to say that Josephus knew what he was looking at either?
(Gen 19:27 NASB) Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the LORD;
(Gen 19:28 NASB) and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace.
(Gen 19:29 NASB) Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.
Gen 19:29: The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is used as a warning on several occasions in Scripture
Abraham views the destruction that took place. It says that Elohim “remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow.” This verse illustrates the truth of James 5:16.
(Gen 19:30 NASB) And Lot went up from Zoar, and stayed in the mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters.
Gen 19:30: Why were they afraid to stay in Zoar? If this were an earthquake, the city might have been shaken and they thought it was doomed as well.
(Gen 19:31 NASB) Then the first-born 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 the earth.
(Gen 19:32 NASB) “Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve our family through our father.”
(Gen 19:33 NASB) So they made their father drink wine that night, and the first-born went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
Gen 19:33: Apparently they thought the whole world was destroyed just as it was in the days of Noah. Lot was old and the girls, thinking they might have ot repopulate the earth, probably did not know any better.
I find it interesting that these three leave Zoar thinking that the world will be destroyed and they take their wine with them. They knew that their father would not consent to this, so they got him juiced up and had sex with him.
(Gen 19:34 NASB) And it came about on the morrow, that the first-born 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 our family through our father.”
(Gen 19:35 NASB) 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.
(Gen 19:36 NASB) Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father.
Gen 19:36: The girls were under the impression that they were to repopulate the world. While it is a terrible thing to comprehend, their anonymity on this issue appears to vindicate them to a degree.
(Gen 19:37 NASB) And the first-born bore a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day.
(Gen 19:38 NASB) And as for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day.
Gen 19:38: Two sons are born and nothing more is heard of Lot. It is a sad way to end the story of a man that had some degree of righteousness within him.
Moab and Ammon exist today in the country of Jordan. They are Muslims who share a devout hatred of Israel and of Elohim. We have only covered 19 chapters in Scripture and we can see the beginnings of the Ishmaelites, Moab, and Ammon. They constitute much of the modern Muslim Empire which will be the last kingdom of man on earth.
Patrick McGuire
Copyright 2014 Patrick McGuire and Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly All rights reserved, no portion of this Lesson may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews. Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly Fort Smith, Arkansas