The Destruction of Sodom

Transcription

1 IX. Theme: The Destruction of Sodom 27-Jul-03 Genesis 19:1-38 Duguid Chapter 9 God s sovereign grace rescues Lot out of the destruction of wicked Sodom. Key Verses: Genesis 19: And while he [Lot] lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17 So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed. Review Last week we looked at Genesis 18, the coming of the LORD to Abraham to announce the birth of Isaac and the destruction of Sodom. The announcement of Sarah bearing a child reminds us again of the impossibility of this birth. God is again displaying His sovereign control over redemptive history. Abraham shares a covenant meal with his covenant LORD, and then he joins in the privy council of God as God s Friend. All of us today in the New Covenant have direct access to God s throne of grace through prayer, so in that sense, all who are Christians are friends of God. We saw that in the Day of the LORD, the day in which the LORD comes, there is both blessing and judgment. God comes to bring blessing in the form of the announcement of Isaac s birth, the promised Seed. At the same time, he sees Sodom and judges that wicked city for their sin. The announcement of Isaac s birth is closely connected with the announcement of Sodom s judgment. The two go together. When Christ comes, there is great blessing for those who are found in Him. At the same time, there is great condemnation for all those who reject the Savior. In Genesis 18, we have before us two different peoples. On the one hand, there are the people of faith, joined to Abraham. On the other hand, there are the children of wrath, facing certain destruction. Which group are you in? Introduction Jordan: Genesis forms a single unit with the theme of the birth of the Seed and destruction of the wicked. It shows how God moves forward in history. As He draws near, He revives the righteous and judges the wicked. Jordan: Themes to note: 1. Parallels to the visit of God and the angels to Abraham in Genesis Parallels to the Exodus from Egypt later on: a version of the exodus pattern. 3. Parallels to Noah s Flood: Jesus compares the Flood with the destruction of Sodom in Luke 17: A. Arrival (19:1-11) 1. Lot s Hospitality (19:1-3a) 2. Unleavened Bread (19:3b) 3. Doorway (19:4-10) 4. Sight and Judgment (19:11) B. Gospel (19:12-22) 1. Intermarriage (19:12-14) 2. Sovereign Grace (19:15-16) Genesis II Notes. Doc p. 74 DSB 9-Sep-05

2 3. Offer of the Mountain (19:17-22) C. Judgment (19:23-29) 1. The Day of the Lord (19:23-25) 2. A Memorial Pillar (19:26) 3. A Whole Burnt Sacrifice (19:27-29) D. A New World? (19:30-38) 1. The Cave (19:30) 2. Incest (19:31-38 A. Arrival (19:1-11) 1. Lot s Hospitality (19:1-3a) Duguid, Jordan, & Baldwin: After Lot separated from Abraham, he swiftly went from living near Sodom (13:12) to living in Sodom (14:12). Even after Lot was rescued by Abraham, he still didn t learn his lesson from the events of Genesis 14. He apparently assimilated even further, and gained a position of authority and standing in the community, for he sat in the gate (19:1), the place where the dignitaries or elders of the city gather to make community decisions. Thus, he has become a person of authority (cp. 19:9). You can t live comfortably in a place of such wickedness as Sodom without compromise. Yet, Lot is still called righteous in the New Testament, because he grieved over the wickedness around him (2 Pe. 2:7-8). Lot never totally identified with the world in which he lived. Yet, at the same time, he was unwilling to leave it behind. Lot was in an impossible situation. Eveson & Wallace: Though Lot was in a backslidden condition, his actions indicated that he was of a different spirit to the rest of the population. The opening verses of the chapter also show us how much there was of Abraham still in Lot. He had the same open generosity for the stranger as had his uncle, the same concern to offer to the travel protection from the surrounding dangers. It is at this point that Lot is shown in remarkable contrast to the people of Sodom, who saw in such visitors only a fresh incitement to their lusts. Jordan: Lot s greeting of the two angels is parallel to Abraham in Genesis 18, including the washing of feet (vs. 2); the shadow of Lot s house in vs. 8 (shade of Abraham s tree); and the hospitality and meal given to the visitors. Lot, like Abraham, is a man of hospitality. With Abraham, they came in the day with a word of blessing while Sarah stood in the door. Here, they come at fall of night (vs. 1) and Lot stands in the door (vv. 6-10). The theme here will be of a Passover during the night with judgment coming as the sun arises. Jordan: Unlike with Abraham, the angels were initially resistant to Lot s offer of hospitality. Perhaps they wanted to spend the night outside to evaluate the city, but Lot knew that was dangerous. Perhaps God is not as ready to go with Lot, because Lot has moved away from God. There is some estrangement here. In any event, the angels do come in and Lot prepares a feast. 2. Unleavened Bread (19:3b) Jordan: Lot is not told to make unleavened bread, but here is a parallel to the command of the Exodus. Israelites were supposed to connect their command of unleavened bread to Lot. God was going to pull Israel out of Egypt at daybreak and destroy Egypt just as He did with Lot and Sodom. Unleavened bread is the bread of haste. There was a message for Israel, and there is a message for us. Genesis II Notes. Doc p. 75 DSB 9-Sep-05

3 3. Doorway Theme (19:4-10) Wallace & Eveson: Certainly the particular social sin that comes to mind today when the name of Sodom is mentioned is homosexuality. Yet it is remarkable that in the Old Testament accounts of what was really wrong with Sodom, the city is not blamed precisely for its homosexuality as such, but for the sheer cruelty that arose from the free and untrammeled expression of such a vice. When Ezekiel pronounced judgment on Jerusalem, he likened her to Sodom, for its cruelty to the weak members of the community, its entire lack of social conscience, and especially its carelessness of the rights of the individual (cp. Ez. 16:49). Sodom showed many daytime signs of strong law and order. On the surface everything looked stable and respectable. Strangers who arrived during the day were tempted to imaging that they could even spend the night in the streets of this place, behind the security of the strong, shut gates, without being molested. However, the darker side of Sodom was exposed at night. The response of the people of Sodom to the visitors revealed how depraved the society was. Wallace: Lot simply could not settle down happily in Sodom once he discovered what was there (cp. 2 Pe. 2:7-8). Though he was obviously too much caught up in the trade and business life of the Sodom area to remove away totally, he obviously remained separate socially. He is by himself at the gate (19:1) when we see him at the beginning of our chapter. He is alone facing the mob at night (19:9). His influence upon the city has been negligible. Jordan, Eveson, & Baldwin: Both the young and the old come to Lot s house. Homosexual practices had become so common that old and young alike from every quarter of the city had ganged up together to gratify their sinful desires. There is no one without excuse in Sodom. Lot s determination to protect the visitors nearly cost him his life. In craven self-defense, he offered them his daughters in the forlorn hope that the crowd would disperse. Jordan: The emphasis in this section is on the door and doorway (repeated six times). There is a contrast here with the tent door of Genesis 18. In the previous chapter, the doorway represented birth, passing from the old world into the new world by passing through the door. Here, the doorway of Lot is a doorway to death. Lot offers his daughters to the men, offering them up to death. Lot offers the destruction of his family because of his compromise in Sodom. In Israel during the Passover, there is blood on the doors, allowing them to escape into a new world. If there was no blood on the doorway, then that house suffered the death of the firstborn. 4. Sight and Judgment Theme (19:11) Duguid: The only way he saw to fulfill one sacred obligation, to protect his guests, was to betray an even more sacred obligation, to protect his daughters. Only the intervention of the angels dazzling the men of Sodom saved him from an awful fate. Jordan: The angels struck the men of Sodom with blindness, literally bedazzlement. Their sight became distorted so they could not find the door. In 2 Kings 6, Elisha prays that the Syrians are blinded or bedazzled. After Jesus resurrection, people don t recognize Him until their sight is cleared (road to Emmaus, Luke 24:13-16, 31). Lot offers his daughters to the Sodomites to do what is right in your sight. Now, this sight is smitten. Their judgment was evil. Jesus is the door, He is the truth. Because He was rejected, the Jews could no longer find the door of truth. In verse 9, the question, who made you a judge over us? is a reminder of Israel s response to Moses. There is no hope for Sodom. They are spiritually blind to the truth they can t find the door. Genesis II Notes. Doc p. 76 DSB 9-Sep-05

4 Duguid: The sins of Sodom were complete. Now had come the time for judgment. B. Gospel (19:12-22) 1. Intermarriage (19:12-14) Jordan & Baldwin: Lot had been delivered already by his association with Abraham, and now he is invited to warn anyone in the city who is related to him, even if indirectly, of its imminent overthrow. In Genesis 6:2, the sons of God (godly line of Seth) intermarry with the ungodly line. Here, the daughters of Lot marry the ungodly, but the result is the same. Lot s married daughters are destroyed in Sodom. The threat of destruction was ludicrous to the sons-in-law, and so they are lost. Lot s sons are not mentioned, and so apparently they are caught up in Sodom and lost too. And so the Day of Judgment comes on the ungodly. 2. Sovereign Grace (19:15-16) Jordan: Lot hesitates, so the angels seize their hands. First the angels save them from the evil men, and here they save them from the destruction by pulling the hand. This is sovereign grace. God pulls Lot out. God has compassion on Lot. God s love and sovereign grace saves Lot. This is a comfort to us. Israel should have learned from Lot. God seizes Israel by the hand and pulls them out of Egypt. Wallace: Though the influence of a good tradition thus lingered on and deeply affected him, it was not this that saved Lot in the crisis, but rather the prayers of his uncle and the sovereign grace of God. 3. Offer of the Mountain (19:17-22) Wallace: Lot was shattered to find that he had miscalculated everything around him. The shock brought complete personal collapse. The offer to betray his own daughters rather than the strangers (19:8) can be read either as an expression of the confused rambling of his mind in the process of collapsing, or as a symptom of his already having lost every scrap of his moral integrity. It becomes obvious that Lot cannot make the decision to leave the city. Left to himself, he will certainly be destroyed. Jordan: The angels tell Lot to escape to the mountain, not mountains. The text is singular, not plural as in the translation. This is a symbol of the kingdom of God. Eden was a mountain (4 rivers flowing out from it). At Bethel (Gen. 12:8), Abraham worships God on a mountain. Lot leaves the mountain (Gen. 13:3-4ff.), goes to the plain, and ends up in Sodom. So the mountain is where Abraham is, where the true worship of God is, where the Kingdom is. The offer here is for Lot to go back to Abraham, back to the true worship of God. Go back to Abraham s mountain, that s where the blessing is. Jordan, Baldwin, & Eveson: Lot is told to go to the mountain of blessing, but Lot doesn t want to go this is very sad. He wants to go to the town of Zoar. The name Zoar is similar to the Hebrew noun for a small thing or little one, and the pun reinforces his plea that he is really not asking much. Lot s little request amounted to no less than the reversal of the instructions he was first given. Zoar was one of the five cities on the plain in Genesis 14:2, 8. Of the five, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim are destroyed, but the town of Zoar is spared, on account of Lot s pleas God preserves Zoar for the sake of Lot and his family. Sodom and Gomorrah were even safe until Lot reached Zoar. Besides Sodom and Gomorrah the other two Genesis II Notes. Doc p. 77 DSB 9-Sep-05

5 cities are also used by the Lord to warn Israel: How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? (Hos. 11:8). C. Judgment (19:23-29) 1. The Day of the Lord (19:23-25) Eveson & Jordan: When the morning dawned, the time of grace was all but over. Yet in those last moments, the merciful Lord snatched the hesitant Lot. When the sun rises, God brings salvation to the righteous and judgment upon the wicked. Again, we have this sunrise theme. 2. A Memorial Pillar (19:26) Duguid & Wallace: It s all or nothing; a full commitment is necessary. That is what Lot s wife discovered. Though Lot is listless in his response to God s grace, once on the way he does not look back. He is not defiant. But his wife pays no heed to the angel s warning and in an act of brazen defiance turns and looks. We are not told whether she is prompted by regret or curiosity. All we know is that she deliberately shows her disregard for God at the moment when everything depends on believing in him. The difference between Abraham and Lot now pales into insignificance in the face of the gulf that here appears between Lot and his wife. Jordan: Lot s wife became a pillar of salt. Pillars are memorial stones for remembrance. Our memorial pillar is the Lord s Supper. Salt pillars around the Dead Sea are reminders of God s judgment and what happens if you turn back and you really don t want to be saved. Israel should later remember what happens if you turn back and want to return to Egypt. Your bodies are scattered in the wilderness. Duguid: A remnant consisting of only four people was saved from the destruction of Sodom, and one of those four disobeyed the angels command and was consumed along with the city. She didn t have the commitment to go all the way, and so she perished. Lot was still a reluctant pilgrim. He was utterly unable to fulfill the conditions that the Lord laid down for his salvation. Was he still reluctant to leave the worldly ways of cities behind completely? Did he still have to have an earthly city, even it only a little one, to make life bearable? What a miserable picture he presents! But see also how patient, how gracious, God is. God held back His entire timetable of destruction so that He could save poor, compromised Lot. For the sake of Abraham, and because of his intercession on Lot s behalf, Lot was not destroyed. Judgment is suspended until the righteous are safe, but then the ax falls. 3. A Whole Burnt Sacrifice (19:27-29) Eveson & Baldwin: Judgment fell, and the cities on the plain were destroyed by brimstone and fire. It was not only that whole populations died in the overthrow of their cities, but that the total area was rendered infertile by the cataclysm. Buried somewhere in the Dead Sea region lie the remains of the cities of the plain. The sea itself lies hundreds of feet below sea level and is full of salt. At the southern end there is a great mountain of salt 700 feet high and five miles long, known in Arabic as the Mount of Sodom. Pillars of salt also arise from the ground and there is the stench of sulfur fumes in the air. God had turned paradise into hell (cp. 13:10). Jordan: The whole area becomes an altar and the smoke goes up like a furnace (different word than the word used in Genesis 15). If we don t have Jesus as our whole burnt sacrifice, we become the whole burnt sacrifice (cp. Jdg. 20:40). Genesis II Notes. Doc p. 78 DSB 9-Sep-05

6 Wallace: Abraham looks down on the destruction of Sodom, standing on the very spot where he had been encouraged to pray boldly and had been inspired with confidence that God would hear. He had believed that God s will was to bless and save all nations through him and had hoped that the saving of Sodom might be a sign to him that God s Word was to be relied on. But now he is dashed and perplexed in his hopes. Of course in time he will hear the story and he will understand. He will come to know that in sending Lot out God has given him a sign other than the one he has looked for, that he is indeed remembered and that his praying is heard and answered. Eveson: Genesis 19:29 impresses upon us that God did answer Abraham s prayer. God ruined the cities, remembered Abraham, and rescued Lot. There are many parallels between the account of the Flood and the record of the destruction of the cities. God remembered Abraham is like God remembered Noah (8:1). The substitute of Abraham for Lot makes a very powerful point. It emphasizes the grace of God in delivering Lot, not on account of his own righteousness, but through the intercession of Abraham. Wallace: Jesus compares the deliverance of Noah from the destruction of the Flood and also the deliverance of Lot from the destruction of Sodom with the deliverance of the saints in the final destruction of the world (Luke 17:26-29). A judgment worse that Sodom and Gomorrah is coming, and He is warning us not to be lulled to sleep by the apparent stability of things around us. But as in the days of Noah, when they were eating and drinking and giving in marriage and did not know until the Flood came (Mt. 24:38-39), so in Sodom they were completely unaware of the corruptions of their customs and the hopeless instability of their way of life. We too can become lulled to sleep by the apparent strength of what has become established all around us as acceptable and good social, political, and moral customs. Jesus further reminds us to remember Lot s wife (Luke 17:32-33), who had been so blessed by God and so near to safety, yet was caught up in the destruction because of her disregard for the word of God. D. A New World? (19:30-38) After judgment and destruction there is a new world. But there is also always another fall and corruption. After Ham, you have Nimrod. The same idea is happening here. 1. The Cave (19:30) Eveson: Lot was a righteous man according to the estimate of Peter (2 Pe. 2:7-8). However, he was a worldly-minded man who made wrong choices based on worldly advantages rather than on God s word. Even to the end, Lot continued to display a lack of trust (19:30). What a fainthearted, vacillating man he was! Jordan: Lot leaves Zoar for the mountains, but is Lot going to the true mountain. Lot did move to a mountain, but not the true mountain. He is living in a cave. Even though the cave does have food and wine, it is still a symbol of death. People live in caves when they are close to death. Jesus was buried in a cave. The cave of Machpelah is the burial place of Sarah (Gen. 23:19) and Abraham (Gen. 25:9). Lot and his daughters are living in the place of death. Just when you thought they couldn t descend further, they continue to go downhill. 2. Incest (19:31-38) Eveson & Baldwin: The final narrative from Lot s life is almost a repeat of what happened to Noah after the Flood. Though Lot s daughters had escaped from Sodom, they had not been brought up in Sodom for nothing. Despite their godly father they adopted the standards of their Genesis II Notes. Doc p. 79 DSB 9-Sep-05

7 friends in Sodom; they brought the lusts of Sodom to the cave where they lived. Unlike Abraham and Sarah, they acted in a way which went against custom and law. They knew it was wrong and that their father would never agree, so they arranged to get him dead drunk. Jordan: Was incest a sin at this time? Some have said no, not until the time of Leviticus. Cain, Abel, and Seth all had to marry sisters. Abraham married his half-sister Sarah. Nahor marries his niece. Isaac marries his cousin Rebekah. It is not clear if incest is a sin at this time. However, it seems clear enough from the text that the daughters didn t think Lot would approve, so it probably was wrong in this case. They were not willing to wait for husbands, so it was sinful. Jordan: However, the primary sin in this episode was that of Lot. He failed to provide for his daughters. He should have gone to Abraham and gotten husbands for them from Abraham s household. Instead, he becomes an alcoholic in a cave. Baldwin: Their two sons, children of Lot, were to become nations, near neighbors of Abraham s descendants, related to them but standing for a totally different and incompatible way of life. The Moabites worshipped a fertility god and indulged in orgies which beguiled the Israelites on their way into the promised land (Num. 25). Ammon became noted for cruelty not only in war (Am. 1:13), but even in religious observance (Lev. 18:21), for Molech was the Ammonite god who demanded child sacrifice. 3. Parallels to the Sin of Ham a. Drunkenness Jordan: Noah drank enough to get sleepy, but he did know what his sons did he was not totally out of it (Gen. 9:24). Noah s drinking is (probably) to be associated with relaxation, the wine of communion, not the wine of irresponsibility. The emphasis in Genesis 9 is not on Noah, but on the sin of Ham. In the case of Lot, he drank so much that he did not know what happened to him. Lot s drunkenness was a retreat from the world into irresponsibility. b. Uncovering Nakedness Jordan: Noah had a right to uncover in the privacy of his tent. Then, Ham sought to seize the robe in order to leave Noah uncovered. Uncovering nakedness means to expose shame (Gen. 9:24). Lot s daughters uncover his nakedness in the sense of Lev. 18:7, exposing him to shame, seizing for themselves what should have been his decision (to find them husbands). c. Canaanites Jordan: Noah said that Canaan would be cursed because he would carry forth Ham s rebellious attitude. Lot s daughters act like Ham and Canaan, and carry forth the Canaanite mentality. Thus, Moab and Ammon are seen as Canaanite cultures, like Sodom (Zeph. 2:9). Moab and Ammon are just like Sodom and Gomorrah. Instead of moving into a new world by escaping Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his family extend Sodom and Gomorrah down through history and become a plague to the people of God. Salvation was offered to Lot and his family. Although Lot is saved (according to the testimony of the New Testament 2 Pe. 2:7), he and his family propagate Canaanite culture and die in the wilderness. Israel doesn t learn this lesson and they wander in the wilderness of death for 40 years. Genesis II Notes. Doc p. 80 DSB 9-Sep-05

8 4. The Wrong Mountain Jordan: Lot went to the wrong mountain and lost it all. The message to Israel is this: when you leave Egypt, go to the right mountain, or you will die in the wilderness. The message for us is to flee to the mountain of Christ. We need a Passover, an exodus; for we are blind and we need to find the door of life. Conclusion 2 Peter 2:7-8 7 And delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds). Duguid: The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah have been doomed ever since they were introduced in Genesis 13 with the ominous words, This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (13:10). The reason for their destruction was their wickedness (13:13), but the broader background of the fall of Sodom is the universal wickedness of humanity begun in Genesis 3. As a consequence, everyone has been exiled from the Garden of Eden and placed on a Titanic of a world. On this excursion, some may travel first class, living superficially wonderful lives, while others may travel steerage, eking out their days in misery. Either way, every person who has ever lived is on an inevitable collision course with judgment. Will anyone be saved out of the destruction of this doomed planet? Duguid: Was Lot reformed by his experience of judgment and salvation? Hardly. You can take Lot and his daughters out of Sodom, but it s a lot harder to take Sodom out of them. His daughters biological clocks were ticking, and they wanted children, and they were unwilling to leave the future to God. If there is anything in your life that you must have, apart from God, then it is your idol. Lot s idol was wealth and comfort, and so he chose security and prosperity over the Promised Land. Ironically, in spite of his choice, he ended up with neither security nor prosperity. The daughters ended up with what they wanted, yet though they satisfied their idols, were they ultimately any better off than their father? Their future descendants, with some exceptions notably Ruth, who becomes a link in the chain that leads to the Messiah remained outside the covenant community, outside the promises of God. In contrast to Lot and his daughters, Abraham chose God plus nothing, trusting in the bare promise of God. He ended up with more than he asked for: the seed through whom salvation would come to the world even though he did not see all of God s promises fulfilled in his own lifetime. Duguid: What is particularly striking and tragic is that neither Lot nor his daughters returned to Abraham. The angels had directed him to flee the plain and return to the mountains, the place from which Abraham looked down to see the judgment of God unfold on Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet even after Lot finally did abandon the plain and leave the halfway house of Zoar behind, and return to the mountains, he still did not seek out the one person in whom blessing could have been found: Abraham. Eveson: Lot s death is unrecorded and his grave unknown. What a tragic figure! There was nothing to show for an earth-centered life. What was Lot s legacy to the world? Moab and Ben- Ammi became two nations that despised the seed of Abraham. The Moabites tried to curse Israel using Balaam (cp. Num ). The Ammonites were no better, for they joined Moab in hiring Balaam and refused to assist Israel in their journey (cp. Dt. 23:3-6). The divine judgment is Genesis II Notes. Doc p. 81 DSB 9-Sep-05

9 consistent: Surely Moab shall be like Sodom, and the people of Ammon like Gomorrah (Zeph. 2:9). Baldwin: Later on, the prophets made frequent reference to this event (Jer. 20:16; 23:14; Ho. 11:8), seeing it as typifying the destruction of Samaria and Jerusalem in their turn. Ezekiel foresaw the restoration of the region of the Dead Sea (Ez. 47:8) and the rebuilding of Sodom and her daughters (Ez. 16:53, 55). In the gospel there is hope for even the most degraded. Duguid: Which of them are you most like? Are you like the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, comfortably set in your sins, oblivious to the ticking time bomb of God s judgment? Are you like Lot s wife, ultimately unable to give up the world for God? Are you more like Lot, believing in God (cp. 2 Pe. 2:7-8), yet compromised and compromising for the sake of something you want more than God, hardly able to be saved? Or are you more like Abraham, living by faith in God s promises in the midst of this world of much tribulation, looking to God for salvation and trusting Him to bring you to the city that is yet to come? Close in Prayer. Next week: Lesson 10 Attack on the Seed Gen. 20:1-18 (Duguid chapter 10) Genesis II Notes. Doc p. 82 DSB 9-Sep-05