Step into Genesis 19 as we examine the account of Sodom and Gomorrah's downfall. In a time when hospitality was sacred, discover how Lot's position at the city gates and his decisions caused a citywide riot. Our discussion peels back the layers of Lot's complex life, contrasting his desire to protect others against a city spiraling into moral chaos. As we navigate the events of Genesis 19, you'll grapple with the weighty themes of God's judgment on sexual immorality and unnatural desires that scripture associates with these cities' grim fate.
Witness the tension between divine intervention and human skepticism as celestial messengers orchestrate a narrow escape amidst the brewing storm of God's wrath. The angels' mercy in the face of impending doom highlights a narrative rife with contrasts—Lot's struggle between what he wanted and the stark reality of Sodom's iniquity. Follow his plea for Zoar's salvation, and anticipate the devastation that awaits in our next installment. Join us as we dissect these enduring stories, offering a thoughtful exploration that is as unflinching as it is enlightening.
Email: nathan@nathandietsche.com
Step into Genesis 19 as we examine the account of Sodom and Gomorrah's downfall. In a time when hospitality was sacred, discover how Lot's position at the city gates and his decisions caused a citywide riot. Our discussion peels back the layers of Lot's complex life, contrasting his desire to protect others against a city spiraling into moral chaos. As we navigate the events of Genesis 19, you'll grapple with the weighty themes of God's judgment on sexual immorality and unnatural desires that scripture associates with these cities' grim fate.
Witness the tension between divine intervention and human skepticism as celestial messengers orchestrate a narrow escape amidst the brewing storm of God's wrath. The angels' mercy in the face of impending doom highlights a narrative rife with contrasts—Lot's struggle between what he wanted and the stark reality of Sodom's iniquity. Follow his plea for Zoar's salvation, and anticipate the devastation that awaits in our next installment. Join us as we dissect these enduring stories, offering a thoughtful exploration that is as unflinching as it is enlightening.
Email: nathan@nathandietsche.com
Welcome to another episode of the mysteries of God's Word. Today we begin to look at the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis, chapter 19. Starting at verse 1, we read the two angels came to Sodom in the evening and Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said my lords, please turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet, then you may rise up early and go on your way. They said no, we will spend the night in the town square, but he pressed them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house and he made them a feast and baked them unleavened bread and they ate.
Speaker 1:In these first three verses we find the two angels that had just visited Abraham with the Lord. When they visited Abraham, abraham saw them as three men, and now we get more specific information that two of the men were angels. We had learned that these two angels had turned to go towards Sodom in Genesis 1822, and now these two angels had arrived at Sodom in the evening, and when they arrive, they find Lot sitting at the gate of Sodom. Again, lot is Abraham's nephew and Lot's father, heron, had died early on in life and Abraham's father, thera, took Lot in. So Lot and Abraham lived much of their lives as brothers, and Abraham continued to care for his nephew, lot, all of his life. So Lot's sitting at the gate of Sodom and the two angels arrive Now.
Speaker 1:The city gate was a place for city officials and prominent members of the city. They would conduct city business or community affairs. From this description it appears that Lot was one of those judges or high officials sitting at the city gate. Perhaps he set at the gate to protect travelers from the wickedness of the people in his community, as he does with these angels in the next couple of verses, when Lot saw these men, he stood up and he bowed himself to the ground and he said Please come into my house. He invites the two angels to spend the night at his home. This has a very similar feeling to what Abraham did with the three men in our last chapter. But Lot's invitation was more than just courtesy. He had a desire to protect these men from the wickedness of the sodomites. But the angels said no, we're going to spend the night in the town square. The angels were focused on their mission to destroy the city. But we see that Lot continued to press these angels to stay with him at his home and by doing so he shows these angels that he had feelings towards righteousness and he had a desire to protect them. And the angels did. They entered his home, they came into Lot's home and they had a large meal with Lot and his family.
Speaker 1:The Unleavened Bread shows the meal was made in haste, as Unleavened Bread doesn't take time to rise, and considering that we learned the angels had arrived in the evening, we can understand why there would have been very little time to prepare a meal. Picking up in verse 4, it says but before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all of the people to the last man, surrounded the house and they called to Lot when are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them. Let's talk about these two verses. It says Before they laid down. So there was some time there between arriving at the gate, preparing the meal, having a meal at night, but before they laid down, the men of the city had organized and were violently protesting what Lot had done. And it says Young and old, all people to the last man. The fact that this is explicitly said, the fact that every single man in the city, both young and old, had come to Lot's home, tells us this was an organized protest. People had worked to gather every man in the city against the judgment of Lot who, at the gate, offered to protect these men from the immorality of the city. This act by the entire community of men in Sodom shows that the iniquity of Sodom has reached its full measure and divine judgment is impending.
Speaker 1:And as we consider that, let's consider a couple of other verses in Scripture. Jude 7 reads Just as Sodom and Gomorrah in the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example of undergoing punishment of eternal fire. You see, sodom and Gomorrah are used as examples in Scripture over twenty times of God's judgment on immorality and the rejection of the gospel message. Noah, the preacher of righteousness, had only been dead one hundred years and his son Shem would still be alive at the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. These two phrases sexual immorality and unnatural desire we should probably define. Sexual immorality refers to any sexual desire outside of a lifelong marital relationship between one man and one woman. Unnatural desire refers to desires that are against the natural order. The Greek word literally means different flesh. Such examples in Scripture are men desiring to sleep with men or women desiring to sleep with women. Other examples are men sleeping with animals or angels sleeping with men. These are unnatural desires.
Speaker 1:We also see in Romans 1, describing the wrath of God on mankind. In verses 26 and 27 it says For this reason, god gave them up to dishonorable passions For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature, and men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. At the beginning of this verse in Romans it says For this reason, god gave them up. We should probably describe that the reason God gives them up to this kind of unnatural desire is that they themselves continued in their lusts and in their pride, refusing to acknowledge their need for help. Therefore, god gave them over to passions that are even more dishonorable, because they themselves lusted after more and more things that are contrary to God's design, and in so doing, they are given up to lusting after things that are contrary to their very nature and to the very created order, and they become consumed by them. Such was the case of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Speaker 1:Back in Genesis, chapter 19 and verse 5, we read that these men of Sodom came to lot and they said to lot when are these men who came with you? Bring them to us that we may know them. Now, this Hebrew word for no it's a euphemism meaning to have sexual relations, and these euphemisms were fairly common cross-culturally and they shouldn't surprise us. We also see in Genesis, chapter 4, verse 1, that Adam knew his wife, eve, and she conceived and bore Cain. Picking up in verse 6, lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him and said I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.
Speaker 1:When we first read this, this can seem very disturbing, but as we put ourselves in the place of Lot, with the entire city surrounding the home, faced with this aggression and unbridled lust coming from the entire town, lot attempts to appease them offering up his two virgin daughters. We also must recognize in this culture that hospitality was considered a sacred duty. A host was bound to protect his guests, even at the expense of his own life, while Lot had the courage to go out and face the crowd. Clearly he is compromising one form of wickedness for another which he considers less perverse. This reveals that while Lot was distressed by the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah and we know that Scripture teaches us Lot was right with God through faith. He had allowed himself to be compromised and he had a weak faith that had, up to this point, kept him from leaving Sodom.
Speaker 1:Picking up again in verse 9,. But they said Stand back. And they said this fellow came to Sojourn and he's become the judge. Now we will deal worse with you than we will with them. And they pressed hard against the man Lot and drew near to break the door down. But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door Without a scene. One of the leaders in this organized riot against Lot says stand back. And they begin to press hard against Lot and try to break down the door. This crowd demanded that Lot get out of the way.
Speaker 1:The lusts of these men had taken hold of their minds to the point of being uncontrollable. They are forcibly attempting to break into another man's home and defile these men who came to the town to fulfill their passions. And when they say that this fellow came to Sojourn and he's become the judge, they're talking about how Lot had come into the Promised Land with Abraham as a Sojourner and now he's become one of the prominent men of the town sitting at the gate. This is describing how Lot had taken that spot at the city gate and had been participating in making decisions for the city. And now the men of the city tell Lot that his decisions are no longer acceptable and he's an outsider. And the men of the city say that they're going to deal worse with him than they do with the men inside the home. These kind of threats are a common theme found among the wicked. Not only do they want their sexual lusts fulfilled, but they have hatred toward anyone who would stand in their way and will use injustice and any means to dispose of them Because Lot has taken a stand towards their unbridled homosexual behavior. They're threatening to do worse things to him than they're planning to do to his guests.
Speaker 1:But we see that the angels reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house. Lot, in a terribly dangerous situation, being unable to persuade this rioting crowd, is rescued by the angels and brought into the house. And it says the angels struck the men with blindness. The word for blindness here is sometimes translated blinding light. It means to dazzle. It occurs only here and in 2 Kings 618. It appears that this blindness was both to the eyes and to the mind. We're told that the men wore themselves out groping for the door In this type of blinded state, that the men act as animals, groping as if by instinct of lust, simply trying to find the door while unable to do so.
Speaker 1:Picking up in verse 12,. Then the men said to Lot have you anyone else here, sons-in-law, sons, daughters or anyone you have in the city? Bring them out of the place, for we're about to destroy this place because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord and the Lord has sent us to destroy it. So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters Up, get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city. But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be justing.
Speaker 1:The angels ask Lot if he has anyone else. We see that God in his mercy, asks Lot, the righteous man, if he has anyone else related to him, if there's anyone else he wants to rescue from this place. This is an example of how God saves people from a temporary destruction who live under the protection of a believer, even if they themselves are not eternally saved. And we see that Lot had some sons in law. From the narrative it would appear these men were not fully yet married to his daughters. Lot had two daughters, but it would seem they were merely betrothed at this point, because the Scripture says who were to marry his daughters and additionally, we know his daughters were still virgins when Lot went out to warn his sons in law. They may have very well been with the other men outside and lots words of God's impending judgment just seemed like a joke. But the angels said the Lord has sent us to destroy the city.
Speaker 1:The angel tells Lot of God's decree of justice on the cities. The statement speaks of God's omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence Even before any of these events took place. That clearly showed how the men of Sodom were united in their wickedness against God and his people. The Lord had told these angels to destroy the town with his knowledge of where their hearts were. In verse 15 we read as 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. But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
Speaker 1:We read as morning dawned. We're not told how much sleep anyone got that night, but it would appear that the men who were blinded outside continued to grope around until they were completely worn out. This gave Lot and his family some time to catch some sleep, until the break of a new day when the angels said Up. The angel was the alarm clock that morning and the angel does not seem to display the patience we might expect from an angel. The angel urges Lot to take his family and leave. But then we read but Lot lingered. For whatever reason Lot was dilly-dallying. Maybe he had some doubt as to what the angel was actually saying. Maybe, like so many other believers who have compromised themselves in sinful relationships, he had convinced himself that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah needed him. For the reason for Lot's dilly-dallying Lot didn't see the urgency of leaving, even when the angels of judgment was in his home. So, it says, the men seized him.
Speaker 1:The angels of the Lord seized Lot, his wife and his two daughters forcibly by the hand and they took them out of the city. And it says, they set them outside the city. It's interesting that the angels forcibly placed Lot and his family outside the city. Perhaps this seems strange to you that an angel who is fully obedient to God would forcibly take someone in this way. However, the scripture is clear that the angels doing this was an act of the Lord's mercy to them. This saved them from the destruction of the city, and this is an excellent example of how strong intervention in a believer's life for the benefit of their life is an act of mercy and godliness.
Speaker 1:Picking up in verse 17, as they brought them out, one said Escape for your life, do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away. And Lot said to them oh no, my lords, behold, your servant has found favor in your sight and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life, but I cannot escape to the hills lest the disaster overtake me and I die. Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it's a little one. Let me escape there, is it not a little one? And my life will be saved. He said to him Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing until you arrive there. Therefore, the name of the city was called Zor. And we see, even after the angels forcibly take Lot out of the city and set him outside the city, and then they tell him to run to the hills because they're going to destroy the valley.
Speaker 1:Lot begins to plead with the angel saying no, I can't go to the hills because he thinks he's going to die there. We're not really told why Lot was afraid of living in the open hill country. However, this statement shows again his wavering faith and uncertainty in the commands of God, even in the middle of God protecting him from this judgment. Additionally, lot had lived with Abram for many years in the open and learned to protect his family and herds, but yet here we find him pleading with the angel not to send him there. While Scripture clearly teaches that Lot is a believer in the Messiah, it's equally clear that Lot is pleading with God to do things his way rather than obeying what God has asked him to do.
Speaker 1:And Lot pleads to go to one of the cities that God was about to destroy. And Lot says the city is near enough and it's a little one. Apparently, lot had become accustomed to the urban life and pleaded with the angel to go to the city of Bella. The city of Bella became known as the city of Zor after this event, and Zor means little one.
Speaker 1:God, in his continued mercy for Lot and the protection of Lot in his family, permits Lot to go to Zor, and the angel himself tells him he will wait until he gets there to bring the judgment down. The angel says I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. And this reply by the angel to Lot about not overthrowing this city reaffirms to us that the entire plains was under the judgment of God, just as we had read in verse 17,. All the plains were slotted for judgment, which would have included all five cities of the plains. However, god is going to allow Lot to escape to a little one and withhold judgment from it. Zor was the furthest city south in the plains of the Dead Sea. Thank you for joining me this week. Join me next week as we see the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot yet again changing his mind. God bless you this week.