‘And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. And Lot saw them and rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.' Compare Genesis 18:1. What a contrast. Abraham sat in the door of his tent, a place of thought and meditation and repose. Lot... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he urged them strongly, and they turned in to him and entered into his house, and he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread and they ate.' It is in Lot's favour that he persists in his attempts to help them, even though he does not know who they are. The constant parallels with Genesis 1... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But, before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every section. And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you this night? Bring them out to us that we might know them.” ' The enthusiasm... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Lot went to the door and went out to them, and he shut the door behind him.' Lot is no coward. He goes to meet the thirsting crowd. The picture is vivid. His slow approach to the door. Then slipping through a gap in the door and quickly pulling it to behind him. Then facing the crowd, many of... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he said, “I beg you, my fellow-citizens, do not behave so wickedly”.' It is no easy task to face such a baying crowd. Lot was unquestionably a brave man. But he has given hospitality to the strangers (and deliberately) and custom meant it was his responsibility to protect them. The laws of hos... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And they said, “Stand back”. And they said, “This one fellow came in to sojourn and he must now be a judge over us. Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” ' Some simply tell him to get out of the way, but others begin to bring up the racial factor, and then the moral factor. Lot is not r... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But the men reached out their hand and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.' The door opens sufficiently for Lot to be dragged in to safety by the men within. Through them the hands of Yahweh reach out to protect him.... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And they smote the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.' Perhaps it was a temporary blindness brought on by an exceedingly bright light. We do not know. (The Hebrew word does not indicate permanent blindness b... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the men said to Lot, “Have you any other relatives? Son-in-law, your sons and your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, bring them out of this place. For we will destroy this place because their cry has grown huge before Yahweh, and Yahweh has sent us to destroy it”.' Lot is offered th... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And as the morning began the angels put pressure on Lot to hurry up, saying, “Get up. Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment on the iniquity of the city.' As first light arises the matter is now urgent and there is no time to lose. ‘Who are here'... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But he hung back, and the men seized his hand, and the hand of his wife, and the hands of his two daughters, Yahweh being merciful to him, and brought him out and placed him outside the city.' Lot was still not sure. He did not want to leave behind what he had gained through years of toil and effo... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And it happened that, when they had brought them out, he said, “Escape for your life. Do not look behind you. Do not stay in all the Plain. Escape to the mountain lest you be consumed.” ' The ‘he' has been prepared for by the phrase ‘Yahweh being merciful to him'. He is now directly aware of the v... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Lot said to them, “Oh! Not so, my Lord. Look, your servant has found grace in your sight and you have magnified your mercy, which you have showed to me in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the mountain in case evil overtake me, and I die. See, now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he said to him, “Look, I have accepted you about this as well, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. But hurry up. Escape there. For I can do nothing until you are come there. ” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar (something insignificant).' Yahweh's patience... [ Continue Reading ]
‘The sun was risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.' It is tempting to read into these descriptions of time some spiritual significance. The dawn of a new life, and then the arising of the sun. But what follows demonstrates that this is not so (as do similar references with regard to Abraham (Ge... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven, and he overthrew those cities and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and all that grew on the ground.' The possibility from the description is that we are to see here volcanic action. But w... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But his wife looked back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt.' The final footnote increases the tragedy for Lot and warns against complacency. His wife was possibly a native Sodomite and could not bear to leave her home and family. As they hurry on she lingers behind, refusing to stay... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Abraham went up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yahweh, and he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah, and towards all the land of the plain, and saw, and lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.' We do not know what made Abraham realise that somethin... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And so it was, 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 dwelt.' Throughout the whole account the writer has spoken of Yahweh, for it has had continually in mind the deliverance... [ Continue Reading ]
LOT'S SUBSEQUENT CAREER (GENESIS 19:30). By choosing the well-watered Circle of Jordan with little regard for the consequences and the fact that it was outside the land chosen by Yahweh for His people, resulting first in being taken prisoner by the five kings, and then in his gradual absorption int... [ Continue Reading ]