19:1The entrance of the city was the meeting place for city officials and other men to discuss current events and transact business. It was a place of authority and status where a person could see and be seen. Evidently Lot held an important position in the government or associated with those who did because the angels found him at the city’s entrance. Perhaps Lot's status in Sodom was one reason he was so reluctant to leave (19:16, 18-22).
Life Application Study BibleGenesisChapter 19
Genesis 19
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 35, 36, 37, 38
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19Genesis 19
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
1That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom. Lot was sitting there, and when he saw them, he stood up to meet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed with his face to the ground. 2“My lords,” he said, “come to my home to wash your feet, and be my guests for the night. You may then get up early in the morning and be on your way again.” “Oh no,” they replied. “We'll just spend the night out here in the city square.” 3But Lot insisted, so at last they went home with him. Lot prepared a feast for them, complete with fresh bread made without yeast, and they ate. But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. 5They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!” 6So Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him. 7“Please, my brothers,” he begged, “don't do such a wicked thing. 8Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these men alone, for they are my guests and are under my protection.” 9“Stand back!” they shouted. “This fellow came to town as an outsider, and now he’s acting like our judge! We'll treat you far worse than those other men!” And they lunged toward Lot to break down the door. — 10But the two angels* reached out, pulled Lot into the house, and bolted the door. 11Then they blinded all the men, young and old, who were at the door of the house, so they gave up trying to get inside. 12Meanwhile, the angels questioned Lot. “Do you have any other relatives here in the city?” they asked. “Get them out of this place—your sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else. 13For we are about to destroy this city completely. The outcry against this place is so great it has reached the LORD, and he has sent us to destroy it.” 14So Lot rushed out to tell his daughters’ fiancés, “Quick, get out of the city! The LORD is about to destroy it.” But the young men thought he was only joking. 15At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. “Hurry,” they said to Lot. “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!” 16When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the LORD was merciful. 17When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, “Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!” 18“Oh no, my lord!” Lot begged. 19You have been so gracious to me and saved my life, and you have shown such great kindness. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would catch up to me there, and I would soon die. 20See, there is a small village nearby. Please let me go there instead; don’t you see how small it is? Then my life will be saved.” 21“All right,” the angel said, “I will grant your request. I will not destroy the little village. 22But hurry! Escape to it, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” (This explains why that village was known as Zoar, which means “little place.”) 23Lot reached the village just as the sun was rising over the horizon. 24Then the LORD rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah. 25He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation. 26But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt. 27Abraham got up early that morning and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the LORD’s presence. 28He looked out across the plain toward Sodom and Gomorrah and watched as columns of smoke rose from the cities like smoke from a furnace. 29But God had listened to Abraham's request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain.
Lot and His Daughters
3030Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live ina cave in the mountains with his two daughters. 31One day the older daughter said to her sister, ‘There are no men left anywhere in this entire area, so we can’t get married like everyone else. And our father will soon be too old to have children. 32Come, let’s get him drunk with wine, and then we will have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.”: 33So that night they got him drunk with wine, and the older daughter went in and had intercourse with her father. He was unaware of her lying down or getting up again. 34The next morning the older daughter said to her younger sister, “I had sex with our father last night. Let’s get him drunk with wine again tonight, and you go in and have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.” $5So that night they got him drunk with wine again, and the younger daughter went in and had intercourse with him. As before, he was unaware of her lying down or getting up again. 36Asa result, both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their own father. $”7When the older daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Moab.* He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Moabites. 38When the younger daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Ben-ammi.* He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Ammonites.
Textual footnotes
- 19:10 Hebrew men; also in 19:12, 16.
- 19:37 Moab sounds like a Hebrew term that means “from father.” 19:38 Ben-ammi means “son of my kinsman.”
Life Application Notes 11 notes
19:8How could any father give his daughters to be ravished by a mob of perverts, just to protect two strangers? Possibly Lot was scheming to save both the girls and the visitors, hoping the girls’ fiancés would rescue them or that the homosexual men would be disinterested in the girls and simply go away. Although it was the custom of the day to protect guests at any cost, this terrible suggestion reveals how deeply sin had been absorbed into Lot's life. He had become hardened to evil acts in an evil city. Whatever Lot’s motives were, we see here an illustration of Sodom’s terrible wickedness—a wickedness so great that God had to destroy the entire city.
19:13God promised to spare Sodom if only 10 innocent people lived there (18:32). Obviously not even 10 could be found. because the angels arrived to destroy the city. Archaeological evidence points to an advanced civilization in this area during Abraham's day. Most researchers also confirm some kind of sudden and devastating destruction. It is now widely thought that the buried city lies beneath the waters of the southern end of the Dead Sea. The story of Sodom reveals that the people of Lot’s day had to deal with the same kinds of repulsive sins the world faces today. We should fallow Abraham’s example of trusting God. His selfless faith contrasts with the self-gratifying people of Sodom.
19:14Lot had lived so long and was so contented among ungodly people that he was no longer a believable witness far God. He had allowed his environment to shape him, rather than he shaping his environment. Do those who know you see you as a witness for God, or are you just one of the crowd, blending in unnoticed? Lot had compromised to the point that he was almost useless to God. When he finally made a stand, nobody listened. Have you, too, become useless to God because you are too much like your environment? To make a difference, you must first decide to be different in your faith and your conduct.
19:16Lot hesitated, so the angel seized his hand and rushed him to safety. Lot did not want to abandon the wealth, position, and comfort he enjoyed in Sodom. It is easy to criticize Lot for being hypnotized by Sodom when the choice seems so clear to us. To be wiser than Lot, we must see that our hesitation to obey stems from the false attractions of our culture’s pleasures.
19:16-29Notice how God's mercy toward Abraham extended to Lot and his family. Because Abraham pleaded for Lot, God was merciful and saved Lot from the fiery destruction of Sodom. A righteous person can often affect others for good. James says that the “earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power” (James 5:16). All Christians should follow Abraham's example and pray for others to be saved.
19:24In the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, we see two facets ot God’s character: his great patience (agreeing to spare a wicked city for 10 good people) and his fierce anger (destroying both cities). As we grow spiritually, we should find ourselves developing not only a deeper respect for God because of his anger toward sin but also a deeper love for God because of his Patience when we sin.
19:26Lot’s wife turned back to look at the smoldering city of Sodom. Clinging to the past, she was unwilling to turn completely away. Are you looking back fongingly at sin while trying to move forward with God? You can’t make progress with God as long as you are holding on to pieces of your old life. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 6:24: “No one can serve two masters.”
19:30-38In this pitiful sequel to the story of the destruction of Sodom, we see two women compelled to preserve their family line, They were driven not by lust but by desperation—they feared they would never marry. Lot’s tendency to compromise and refusal ta act reached its peak. He should have found right partners for his daughters long before this; Abraham’s family wasn't far away. Now the two daughters stooped to incest, showing their acceptance of the morals of Sodom. We are most likely to sin when we are desperate for what we feel we must have.
19:30-38Why doesn’t the Bible openly condemn these sisters for what they did? In many cases, the Bible does not judge people for their actions. It simply reports the events. However, incest is clearly condemned in other parts of Scripture (Leviticus 18:6-18; 20:11, 12, 17, 19-21; Deuteronomy 22:30; 27:20-23; Ezekiel 22:11; 1 Corinthians 5:1). Perhaps the consequence of their action--Moab and Ammon became enemies of Israel—was God’s way of judging their sin.
19:37,38Moab and Ben-ammi were the products of incest. They became the fathers of two of Israel's greatest enemies, the Moabites and the Ammonites. These nations settled east of the Jordan River, and Israel never conquered them. Because of the family connection, Moses was forbidden to attack them (Deuteronomy 2:9). Ruth, great-grandmother of David and an ancestor of Jesus, was from Moab.
Charts, profiles & sidebars from the printed pages
Personality profile · page 37
Aname carries great authority. It sets you apart. It triggers memories. The sound of it calls you to attention anywhere. Many Bible names accomplished even more. They were often descriptions of important facts about one’s past and hopes for the future. The choice of the name /saac, “he laughs,” for Abraham and Sarah’s son must have created a variety of feelings in them each time it was spoken. At times it must have recalled their shocked laughter at God’s announcement that they would be parents in their old age. At other times, it must have brought back the joyful feelings of receiving their long-awaited answer to prayer for a child. Most important, it was a testimony to God’s power in making his promise a reality. In a family of forceful initiators, Isaac was the quiet, mind-my-own-business type unless he was specifically called on to take action. He was the protected only child from the time Sarah got rid of Ishmael until Abraham arranged his marriage to Rebekah. In his own family, isaac had the patriarchal position, but Rebekah had the power. Rather than stand his ground, Isaac found it easier to compromise or lie to avoid confrontations. In spite of these shortcomings, Isaac was part of God's plan. The model his father gave him included a great gift of faith in the one true God. God’s promise to create a great nation through which he would bless the world was passed on by Isaac to his twin sons. It is usually not hard to identify with Isaac in his weaknesses. But consider for a moment that God works through people in spite of their shortcomings and often through their shortcomings. As you pray, put into words your desire to be available to God. You will discover that his willingness to use you is even greater than your desire to be used.
Strengths and accomplishments
• He was the miracle child born to Sarah and Abraham when she was 90 years old and he was 100
• He was the first descendant in fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham
• He seems to have been a caring and consistent husband, at least until his sons were born He demonstrated great patience
Weaknesses and mistakes
• Under pressure he tended to lie
• In conflict he sought to avoid confrontation
• He played favorites between his sons and alienated his wife
Lessons from his life
• Patience often brings rewards
• Both God's plans and his promises are larger than people
• God keeps his promises! He remains faithful though we are often faithless Playing favorites is sure to bring family conflict
Vital statistics
• Where: Various places in the southern part of Palestine, including Beersheba (Genesis 26:23)
• Occupation: Wealthy livestock owner
• Relatives: Parents: Abraham and Sarah. Half brother: Ishmael. Wife: Rebekah. Twin sons: Jacob and Esau
“But God replied, ‘No—Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant’ ” (Genesis 17:19).
Key verse
lsaac’s story is told in Genesis 17:15—-35:29. He is also mentioned in Romans 9:7-10; Hebrews 11:17-20; James 2:21.
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