FIRE AND BRIMSTONE UPON SODOM GENESIS 19:1-38

1 FIRE AND BRIMSTONE UPON SODOM GENESIS 19:1-38

FIRE AND BRIMSTONE UPON SODOM 2 Text: Genesis 19:1-38, 1. The two angels came to Sodom in the evening while Lot was sitting in the city s gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face toward the ground. 2. He said, Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant s house. Stay the night and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning. No, they replied, we ll spend the night in the town square. 3. But he urged them persistently, so they turned aside with him and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them, including bread baked without yeast, and they ate. 4. Before they could lie down to sleep, all the men both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom surrounded the house. 5. They shouted to Lot, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them! 6. Lot went outside to them, shutting the door behind him. 7. He said, No, my brothers! Don t act so wickedly! 8. Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please. Only don t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof. 9. Out of our way! they cried, and This man came to live here as a foreigner, and now he dares to judge us! We ll do more harm to you than to them! They kept pressing in on Lot until they were close enough to break down the door. 10. So the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house as they shut the door. 11. Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, with blindness. The men outside wore themselves out trying to find the door.

3 12. Then the two visitors said to Lot, Who else do you have here? Do you have any sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or other relatives in the city? Get them out of this place 13. because we are about to destroy it. The outcry against this place is so great before the Lord that he has sent us to destroy it. 14. Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were going to marry his daughters. He said, Quick, get out of this place because the Lord is about to destroy the city! But his sons-in-law thought he was ridiculing them. 15. At dawn the angels hurried Lot along, saying, Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged! 16. When Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters because the Lord had compassion on them. They led them away and placed them outside the city. 17. When they had brought them outside, they said, Run for your lives! Don t look behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed! 18. But Lot said to them, No, please, Lord! 19. Your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I am not able to escape to the mountains because this disaster will overtake me and I ll die. 20. Look, this town over here is close enough to escape to, and it s just a little one. Let me go there. It s just a little place, isn t it? Then I ll survive. 21. Very well, he replied, I will grant this request too and will not overthrow the town you mentioned. 22. Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there. (This incident explains why the town was called Zoar.) 23. The sun had just risen over the land as Lot reached Zoar. 24. Then the Lord rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord. 25. So he overthrew those cities and all that region, including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew from the ground. 26. But Lot s wife looked back longingly and was turned into a pillar of

4 salt. 27. Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28. He looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of that region. As he did so, he saw the smoke rising up from the land like smoke from a furnace. 29. So when God destroyed the cities of the region, God honored Abraham s request. He removed Lot from the midst of the destruction when he destroyed the cities Lot had lived in. 30. Lot went up from Zoar with his two daughters and settled in the mountains because he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 31. Later the older daughter said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is no man anywhere nearby to have sexual relations with us, according to the way of all the world. 32. Come, let s make our father drunk with wine so we can have sexual relations with him and preserve our family line through our father. 33. So that night they made their father drunk with wine, and the older daughter came and had sexual relations with her father. But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. 34. So in the morning the older daughter said to the younger, Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let s make him drunk again tonight. Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father. 35. So they made their father drunk that night as well, and the younger one came and had sexual relations with him. But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. 36. In this way both of Lot s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37. The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today. 38. The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben Ammi. He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today. (NET)

5 Commentary: Two angels were sent by God to Sodom. While there they found that righteous Lot was living in very wicked surroundings. Lot, like his uncle Abraham, showed great respect for the angels. He bowed himself before them with his face toward the ground. He invited them into his house and prepared a great feast for them. Before they slept, the wicked men of the city came to Lot s door demanding that the men be brought out to them to satisfy their wicked desires. These sinful men were from all age groups and from all levels of society. Lot begged them not to be so wicked. In an act, that is unbelievable to me, Lot offered his two virgin daughters to these evil men in the place of his two visitors. The Law of Moses taught that all homosexual behavior is a sin. (Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13) Lot s actions manifest a misguided sense of hospitality. His choices had led and would continue to lead to catastrophe. Lot was spared from the destruction of Sodom because of Abraham. (Genesis 19:29) Abraham rescued Lot twice; from the Mesopotamian kings and from the destruction of Sodom. Lot was instructed to leave the city quickly and not look back. After that, The LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. (Genesis 19:24-25) Sadly, Lot s wife looked back and she was destroyed. (Genesis 19:26) Peter wrote of this destruction saying, And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. (2 Peter 2:6-9) All that Lot had gained by living in best land now burned up. The account of the incest of lots daughters with their father gave us insight into the origin of the Moabite and Ammonite. The effect of living in Sodom had been degrading on Lot's daughters. Two angels visited Lot -- Genesis 19:1-14: The visit of the angels to Sodom

6 gave one final opportunity for the people to repent. When the angels arrived to Sodom they found Lot sitting in the gate, possibly as a judge. Evidently Lot Was an important man in the government at Sodom. I cannot but help to wonder why Lot had not already left Sodom because of all the wickedness that was there. Peter said that Lot was a righteous man. (2 Peter 2:6-9) Maybe he was there as light and salt of the earth. We know that Abraham was praying for these wicked cities and possibly Lot may have been doing the same for Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 13:13 had said, But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. (Jude 1:7-8) The days of Lot were wicked and the last days will be like his days. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. (Luke 17:28-30) The angels struck the men blind but their lust was so strong that they still tried to get in unto the two men. Lot tried to get his sons-in-law to leave, but they looked at him as one who mocked. Escape for your life -- Genesis 19:15-23: Lot lingered when he should have been leaving Sodom. We cannot help to wonder what he was thinking. And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. (Genesis 19:15-16) Lot may have thought that he could still save some of the people of the city from their wickedness. Let us not be too critical of Lot because sometimes God has to pull us out of our messes also. The people of Sodom had no interest in God; they wanted to live their lives their way. Lot was told, "Escape for your life! Lot appealed to the angels to

7 allow him to escape to Zoar. Zoar was one of the cities that was slated for destruction by God. However, it was spared at Lot's plea as his place of refuge See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. (Genesis 19:21) Lot did end up going to the mountain as God originally told him. Brimstone and fire from the Lord -- Genesis 19:24-29: It was early in the morning when God rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. The message had been, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. (Genesis 19:17) Sadly we read these words concerning Lots wife, But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19:26) She allowed the things of this world to have precedent over her life rather than God. Remember Lot's wife. (Luke 17:32) Lots wife was clinging to this life and she lost it. Nothing should be so important in our life that we would be willing to turn our back on God to have it. Abraham must have been heart broken when he went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. (Genesis 19:28) Abraham now knew that there were not 10 righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah. He must have been praying that some how lot and his family were spared. When this destruction came Lot was blessed because of Abraham. And it came to pass, 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 the which Lot dwelt. (Genesis 19:29) Incest with their father -- Genesis 19:30-38: What had happened to these cities was bad but it was not as bad as the daughters said. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth. (Genesis 19:31) How could these girls be so wicked? Lot allowed himself to get drunk and then his daughters committed incest with him. Even though Lot was a righteous man,

8 we see the result of the life that he had brought his family into in Sodom. Look at what Lot lost by living in Sodom. He lost all the possessions that he had gained; his wife died by being turned into a pillar of salt and his son-in-laws were burned in the cities. Then Lot's daughters committed a sin by lying with their father Lot to have children. These girls probably heard of others in Sodom doing the same thing. We read, Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day. (Genesis 19:36-38) Ruth was a descendant of Moab and also Jesus was a descendant of Ruth. May we all bow in humility before the Mighty God of Heaven. To be saved from sin hear the gospel (Romans 10:17), believe in Jesus (Mark 16:16), repent of sins (Luke 13:5), confess Jesus as Lord (Matthew 10:32), and be baptized into Christ (Romans 6:3-4) After baptism, live in Christ and have Christ in you. (Galatians 4:19) Walnut Street Church of Christ, 306 Walnut Street, Greenville, Alabama 36037 USA

9 Questions on Genesis 19:1-38 1. Lot was sitting at the city s gates when the angels arrived. What does this signify about his position? 2. What did Lot do that showed great respect for the angels? 3. Lot offered them safe accommodations in his house, but the angels said, Did Lot realize this would be dangerous for the men? Explain why.

10 4. The angel s visit to Sodom gave the men one last chance. 5. History has given the term to describe those who engage in this perversion. 6. Lot was desperate to protect the strangers who had accepted his hospitality. How did he try to bargain with the mob to protect them? 7. How did the angels rescue Lot? What judgment was brought upon the mob outside? Was this punishment sufficient to stop the crazed men? 8. Did the people of Sodom respect Lot?

11 9. Were there others living in Sodom that Lot tried to save? Did they heed Lot s warning of the coming disaster? 10. Were the angels able to find ten (10) righteous people living in Sodom? How many were found? 11. At what time of day did destruction strike? 12. What were the three things the angels told them to do? 1. 2. 3.

12 13. Lot feared the destruction would overtake them. Where did he ask to go? Was it a large city? 14. What did the Lord rain down on the cities? It destroyed the of the cities and the of the ground. 15. What were the plains of Sodom and Gomorrah like before the destruction? What is this area like today? Does God bring his judgment on sinful behavior? 16. God s command was clear, yet Lot s wife could not resist the temptation,

13 and she paid the price for her disobedience. Verse 26 says she, Looked back longingly. She found it difficult to give up her earthly desires and obey God. What judgment was brought upon her? 17. What did Abraham see when he arose that morning? and he knew that sadly there were not even in Sodom and Gomorrah. 18. Why did Lot s daughters have sexual relations with him? Was Lot aware that they had sexual relations? Was Lot in any way responsible? 19. Who were the sons born to Lot s daughters and the nations that descended from them? Name three famous descendants of Moab.

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