"And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: and they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, and said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great; so that they wearied themselves to find the door. And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? Son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it." (Genesis 19:1-13)
We have to ask what Lot was doing living in a city filled with such rampant evil. It is obvious that the evil vexed his soul, that he complained about it to the Lord; but why did he continue to live there? Many bible commentators call this a weakness in Lot, while they at the same time find wisdom in Abraham that he chose to set his tent apart from such vast iniquity. It doesn't look all that good for Lot by comparison to Abraham, does it? And yet, Lot did remain a righteous man even in the midst of all of that evil, as we will see here; and we all know that remaining obedient to God in the face of evil and mockery is not an easy task, but certainly a blessed one, the great blessing of which Lot will soon experience.
Interestingly, the two angels that were earlier seen eating with Abraham and the Lord, have been sent ahead to do the Lord's will and destroy the city, so great was the evil of it (actually five cities are destroyed by what is to come which we will see further on.) Abraham's plea-bargaining with the Lord for the sake of the cities, did not prevent their destruction, because ten persons were not found righteous in them. [Note: We have to wonder what caused Abraham to stop at the number ten in his bargaining? Either he left off there because he felt certain that at least ten would be found, sadly not the case at all. Or the Holy Spirit restrained him from continuing. There is a scripture in Jeremiah where the Lord tells Jeremiah not to continue to pray for Judah for He is set on destroying them for their wickedness and he will no longer hear that prayer, in fact He forbids Jeremiah to pray for them (Jeremiah 7:16).] By the appearances of this passage of scripture here in Genesis 19, the evil in Sodom was so great (as we assume it is in all the cities that fell under the same judgment) that even the patience of God had met its limit; His Word tells us that He will not always strive with the wickedness of men, at some point He will take appropriate measures to cease the wickedness, and such is the case now for the city of Sodom and its cohorts.
Just look at what is happening at one small house, Lot's house, in this city? What else is going on all over the city that we are not privy to? Men lusting after men, voracious in their sexual appetites that are without restraint of any sort it seems. Rest assured, this is only one small area of Sodom's overall wickedness that we are being allowed to observe. And when the angels strike these vile men blind, this voraciousness is not even daunted it appears. What kind of frenzy (sexually motivated frenzy, obviously) causes men who have suddenly been struck blind to still grope frantically for the door that will lead them to the objects of their frenzy until they are wearied, worn out, by the effort? What crazy, out of control (demonic, I would think) behavior causes to not even stop and question why they have gone blind, but continues on with the goal of satisfying that sexual perversion? Frenzy, mindless demonic frenzy at that, is the only word I can think of to describe it.
And so the Lord has determined, after judging it for Himself, that Sodom must be destroyed. And He has sent two angels to carry out His judgment. Is it just coincidence that these angels have been spotted by Lot at the city gates (although we must assume he sees them just as men rather than angels.) Lot's hospitality extended towards these "men" is common in Lot's culture at the time; but Lot's pressing his hospitality upon them so strongly is evidence of his fear for their lives, knowing the city in which he lives as well as he does. He even offers up himself (by going outside of the door to face this mob) and his family (his virgin daughters) in his attempt to save these two men when the wicked men are trying to tear down his door to get at these angels. In the end, the angels seek to save Lot and his family, "to bring them out of this place" before they destroy it.
It is not coincidence, I think, that brought those angels to the city gates while Lot was sitting there. God is a great orchestrator, and I believe, because of Abraham's intercessory prayer, Lot and his family were singled out for salvation.
3 comments:
This passage from the Bible has always disturbed me. I have to believe that Lot somehow knew these two men were angels and not just mere men for me to understand him offering his virgin daughters as a bribe for the men of the city to leave the two men alone. Anything short of that, I cannot comprehend. It has always bothered me that Lot offers over to the evil, wicked men of Sodom his two daughters, or for that matter allow them to marry some of the men within the city (soon we will read how Lot goes to speak with his son in laws to plea with them to leave city because of his knowledge that the Lord will soon destroy it.) Which brings up another question, if the two daughters are married, how are the virgins? It the word marriage in this verse referencing engagement and not what we know as being "married"?
I know Lot has "found grace" and "mercy" in God's sight, but some of his actions do not seem worthy of this favor. Now, I am saying this with a very narrow view of Lot's live since the Bible doesn't share with us a whole lot about his live since he and Abraham split up. It just seems that when you see that the town and its inhabitants are all evil or have that bent, you would run as fast as you can, and you certainly wouldn't promise your children to men of this city or offer them over as a sacrifice; unless you were certain that the two visitors were angels. As you can see, I am grappling with this story and what is soon to follow up in the mountains; how God rewards a man for offering over his daughters to a mob he know will do vile and evil things to or what these two daughters each do to conceive a child. GW
It is so easy for all of us, myself included, to "judge" Lot and find him not only wanting but perhaps evil himself for offering his daughters. However, we live in such a different society and culture from Lot's time, and even today such a different culture than is found in the Middle East still. The romanticism of the West leads us to believe that our way is the only correct way. Yet, for thousands of years, women had a different role in families or in the household than our American women who have become self-sufficient and independent, sometimes even to their own demise unfortunately. Idon't know whether Lot knew these men were angels, perhaps he did. But if he thought they were only men, wouldn't they still have been worthy of all efforts to save, especially by one who is righteous as Lot is? And the bible does declare him to be righteous, we cannot argue with its truth, can we? So, knowing he was righteous, though not always making wise choices, after all he is human, and understanding that the culture was so extremely different, perhaps even opposite of what we know here in America today, it could be that a desperate Lot did the only thing he knew to do. The interesting thing here is that his daughters were rejected, as of course they would be because these men were homosexuals. Perhaps Lot was offering his daughters to the men believing that somehow this sin was less great than the combined sins of homosexuality and being inhospitable to a stranger. Remember also that hospitality in the Middle East is of GREAT importance. In fact, the Bible declares that it is important as well. Maybe Lot was trying to prevent two sins in echange for only one. who knows for sure? I don't like the idea of what he did any more than you do. But the bottom line is that the daughters were rejected anyway. They never were in harm's way, perhaps Lot knew that as well. As for their being "married" as the Word goes on to say and yet still virgins, this definitely points to the use of the term husband and wife in those days as interchangeable between engaged or married. They were obviously only engaged or betrothed, not actually married. Hope that helps.
Thank you for your insight. Good points! GW
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