GOD’S ANCIENT PEOPLE
GENESIS
_ALUN OWEN_
CHAPTER 19
TWO *ANGELS GO TO SODOM
V1 The two *angels reached Sodom in the evening. Lot sat at the gate
of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he stood up. He went to meet them. He
bent himself down so that his face was toward the earth. V2 He said,
‘Sirs, please... [ Continue Reading ]
There was a wall round the city. So anyone who entered the city had to
go through the gate. And anyone who left went through the gate.
Therefore, people often met each other at the gate. And the gate
became the place where people talked. Lot was sitting there when the
two *angels came. He would give... [ Continue Reading ]
The ‘street’ was an open place that was in the city. A traveller
might sleep there. The city’s walls would protect him. He would be
safe from thieves, because they were not in the city. They were beyond
the walls.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lot knew that the men of Sodom were evil. He knew that they might
attack the two travellers. Therefore, he persuaded the travellers to
stay in his house.
V4 But when they were not yet lying down to sleep, the men in the city
came. The young men and the old men in Sodom came. None of the men in
Sodo... [ Continue Reading ]
The men in Sodom tried to do a very evil thing.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lot tried to protect the *angels because they were his guests. That
was the custom. But he still did not know that they were *angels. Lot
offered to give his two daughters to the men of Sodom. He thought that
the men of Sodom would take his daughters. And so they would not take
the two men. That was... [ Continue Reading ]
‘The men became blind.’ This probably does not mean that they
could not see. But they could not understand what they saw. The
*Hebrew word is not the usual *Hebrew word that means ‘blind’. The
Bible uses this *Hebrew word in only two places. The other place is 2
Kings 6:18. Elisha prayed that God wo... [ Continue Reading ]
‘They thought that Lot joked.’ They knew Lot, because Lot lived
with them. They could see that he was not sincere. Therefore, they did
not believe what he said. If we tell people about God, we must be
sincere. And people must see that we live good lives. Otherwise, they
will not believe us.
V15 Whe... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Lot delayed.’ Lot told people that they should leave the city.
(See verse 14.) But he himself was unwilling to leave. He did not
believe his own message.
‘The *Lord was saving them.’ He was saving them because Lot was
Abraham’s nephew. He was saving them because Abraham prayed for Lot.
(See verse... [ Continue Reading ]
The *angels told Lot to go to the hills. But Lot did not go there. The
*angels allowed Lot to go to Zoar. Lot wanted to go there. But Lot
soon had to go where the *angels had said. (See verse 30.)... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Zoar’ means ‘little’. (See verse 20.)
GOD DESTROYS SODOM AND GOMORRAH
V24 Then the *Lord sent burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah. He sent
it like rain that falls from the sky. V25 And he destroyed those
cities. He destroyed all the valley. He killed all the inhabitants of
the cities. He killed... [ Continue Reading ]
What happened may have been natural. It happens in many parts of the
world. This valley is a place where it sometimes happens. Very hot
rock rises from below the ground. The rock is so hot that it flows
like water. Sometimes it rises so fast that it goes up into the sky.
Then it falls like rain. Thi... [ Continue Reading ]
Lot’s wife delayed too long. She stayed too close to the cities. So
some of the hot rock that fell from the sky fell on her. It became a
solid lump. The salt was probably not the ordinary kind of salt that
people eat.
V27 Abraham went out early in the morning. He went to the place where
he had stoo... [ Continue Reading ]
When God did these things, he had two purposes.
• He had a purpose for the people at that time. He destroyed the
cities in order to kill the wicked people and to save the good people.
• He had a purpose to teach people who would live in later times. He
did it to teach us how Christ would save us f... [ Continue Reading ]
Lot was wealthy when he moved to Sodom. (See Genesis 13:12.) But when
he left Zoar he had very little. He had lost all his possessions. He
had done two things that were wrong. He chose to live among the
inhabitants of Sodom, who did evil things. And when the *angels came
to save him, he preferred to... [ Continue Reading ]
It was very important to people in those times that they should have
*descendants. Lot’s daughters could not find husbands. The men who
had intended to marry them were dead. (See verse 14.) So the daughters
decided to produce a family in the only way that they could.... [ Continue Reading ]
In later years, the Moabites were an important nation. Their country
was called Moab. It was east of the Salt Sea. The Ammonites lived east
of the river Jordan. Both the Moabites and the Ammonites were enemies
of the nation of Israel.
ANGEL ~ a servant of God who brings messages from heaven. The Heb... [ Continue Reading ]