19:1 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;
A.See Lot becoming more and more involved: As he before had "pitched his tent toward Sodom" - Gen 13:12-13; then he moved right in to live with these wicked people - Gen 14:12.
B.Now he SAT IN THE GATE: Where the judges of the city sat and ruled; similar to our "city council."
C.This is not complimentary, but remember Lot's lack of light, and his effort to measure up to what he did have - 2Pe 2:7-9.
D.The Visitors are two men who had been with Abraham, and who had come to Sodom as ANGELS, while the third Person who had been with Abraham stayed with him as the LORD - Gen 18:16-22.
E.As we read on we see God sent the Angels on the special mis-sion to warn Lot and his family of what was about to happen.
19:2 AND HE SAID, BEHOLD NOW, MY LORDS (lc), 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.
19:3 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.
A.Lot bestowed typical Eastern hospitality on his visitors.
B.The wickedness of Sodom is now to be seen: They were proud, gluttonous, selfish, and immoral - Eze 16:49-50; Gen 19:4-5.
19:4 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:
19:5 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 (THAT WE MAY KNOW THEM CARNALLY, NKJ; THAT WE MAY HAVE RELATIONS WITH THEM, ASV).
A.The vulgar filth of homosexuality - Cf Lev 20:13; Rom 1:18-28; the word "sodomy" is still in our language because the sin is still in our society.
B.McIlwain's comment: "Lot's earlier choice of the 'best' land appears quite different now in light of this awful scene. If God had not sent His angels, what a horrible end Lot and his two daughters would have faced!"
19:6 AND LOT WENT OUT AT THE DOOR UNTO THEM, AND SHUT THE DOOR AFTER HIM,
19:7 AND SAID, I PRAY YOU, BRETHREN, DO NOT SO WICKEDLY.
19:8 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.
A.How to explain a righteous man's offer to give his virgin daughters to a raging mob of sex perverts?
B.Again, not complimentary of Lot -- Strange concept of hospi-tality! Had he lived in the midst of immorality so long that he had begun to think like them? - cf 1Co 15:33.
C.One explanation: He knew his offer would not be accepted, because they were perverts who wanted the men, not women.
19:9 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.
**These "animals" were abusive to Lot -- Accused him of trying to tell them how to live; And threatened him.
19:10 BUT THE MEN PUT FORTH THEIR HAND, AND PULLED LOT INTO THE HOUSE TO THEM, AND SHUT TO THE DOOR.
19:11 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.
**Note that the miraculous blindness did not stop their crazed attempt to reach the door and the men inside.
19:12 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:
19:13 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.
**THIS PLACE had lost its right to exist - cf Pro 14:34.
19:14 AND LOT WENT OUT, AND SPAKE UNTO HIS SONS IN LAW, WHICH MARRIED HIS DAUGHTERS, AND SAID, UP, GET YOU OUT OF THIS PLACE; FOR THE LORD WILL DESTROY THIS CITY. BUT HE SEEMED AS ONE THAT MOCKED UNTO HIS SONS IN LAW.
A.The SONS IN LAW considered Lot to be a fanatic.
B.When we receive the silent treatment from people we warn of the doom to come, remember it is not a new experience.
19:15 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.
19:16 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.
A.THE MEN (angels) had just rescued Lot; We wonder why he did not trust them completely, and move quickly.
B.We do not know how much knowledge Lot had, but he knew THE PROMISE to Abraham in Gen 12, so he gradually trusted God -- And God saves those who trust Him and agree with Him.
B.So Lot was delivered before Sodom was destroyed.
19:17 AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN THEY HAD BROUGHT THEM FORTH ABROAD, THAT HE SAID, ESCAPE FOR THY LIFE; LOOK NOT BEHIND THEE, NEITHER STAY THOU IN ALL THE PLAIN; ESCAPE TO THE MOUNTAIN, LEST THOU BE CONSUMED.
**Note the command: LOOK NOT BEHIND THEE.
19:18 AND LOT SAID UNTO THEM, OH, NOT SO, MY LORD:
19:19 BEHOLD NOW, THY SERVANT HATH FOUND GRACE IN THY SIGHT, AND THOU HAST MAGNIFIED THY MERCY, WHICH THOU HAST SHEWED UNTO ME IN SAVING MY LIFE; AND I CANNOT ESCAPE TO THE MOUNTAIN, LEST SOME EVIL TAKE ME, AND I DIE:
19:20 BEHOLD NOW, THIS CITY [IS] NEAR TO FLEE UNTO, AND IT [IS] A LITTLE ONE: OH, LET ME ESCAPE THITHER, ([IS] IT NOT A LITTLE ONE?) AND MY SOUL SHALL LIVE.
A.We do not know why he thought the fact this city was A LITTLE ONE would exempt it from the order.
B.But The Angel agreed to exempt it....
19:21 AND HE SAID UNTO HIM, SEE, I HAVE ACCEPTED THEE CONCERNING THIS THING ALSO, THAT I WILL NOT OVERTHROW THIS CITY, FOR THE WHICH THOU HAST SPOKEN.
19:22 HASTE THEE, ESCAPE THITHER; FOR I CANNOT DO ANY THING TILL THOU BE COME THITHER. THEREFORE THE NAME OF THE CITY WAS CALLED ZOAR (ZOAR means "smallness").
A.So Zoar was spared for the sake of Lot and his daughters.
B.The location of the City of Zoar has been identified, and it is near the southern end of the Dead Sea; since it was NEAR to Sodom and Gomorrah (Verse 20), they too were in that area.
19:23 THE SUN WAS RISEN UPON THE EARTH WHEN LOT ENTERED INTO ZOAR.
19:24 THEN THE LORD RAINED UPON SODOM AND UPON GOMORRAH BRIMSTONE AND FIRE FROM THE LORD OUT OF HEAVEN;
19:25 AND HE OVERTHREW THOSE CITIES, AND ALL THE PLAIN, AND ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE CITIES, AND THAT WHICH GREW UPON THE GROUND.
A.No trace has ever been found of THOSE CITIES - cf 2Pe 2:6.
C.The area had been even as the Garden of Eden - Gen 13:10-13, but now THAT WHICH GREW UPON THE GROUND was burned and gone, and the land is totally barren to this day.
A.God is holy and righteous; He hates sin, and He demands death as the payment for sin.
B.Just as He destroyed the sinful world by a flood in the time of Noah, now He destroyed these wicked people by fire; and in 2Pe 2:6 He calls the destruction of these cities an example of what is going to happen to all ungodly people.
D.Let us stay aware that God still sees and hates sin, and that no one can escape His judgment - Ac 17:30-31.
19:26 BUT HIS WIFE LOOKED BACK FROM BEHIND HIM, AND SHE BECAME A PILLAR OF SALT.
A.The clear instruction was LOOK NOT BEHIND THEE - Verse 17.
B.Perhaps this was more than just a curious glance over the shoulder to see the terrible blast -- that she looked back because she liked the sinful ways of the people of Sodom and did not want to leave, but wanted to go back.
C.There was no excuse for her disobedience - cf Lk 17:32.
19:27 AND ABRAHAM GAT UP EARLY IN THE MORNING TO THE PLACE WHERE HE STOOD BEFORE THE LORD:
19:28 AND 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.
19:29 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.
19:30 AND LOT WENT UP OUT OF ZOAR, AND DWELT IN THE MOUNTAIN, AND HIS TWO DAUGHTERS WITH HIM; FOR HE FEARED TO DWELL IN ZOAR: AND HE DWELT IN A CAVE, HE AND HIS TWO DAUGHTERS.
**There are mountains east of the Dead Sea; this seems to be where Lot and his daughters found refuge IN A CAVE.
19:31 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:
19:32 COME, LET US MAKE OUR FATHER DRINK WINE, AND WE WILL LIE WITH HIM, THAT WE MAY PRESERVE SEED OF OUR FATHER.
A.Realizing that Lot would have no posterity (he had no son), his daughters made him drunk and committed incest with him.
B.We wonder if they would ever have thought of such if they had not lived among fornication and incest on every hand?
19:33 AND THEY MADE THEIR FATHER DRINK WINE THAT NIGHT: AND THE FIRSTBORN WENT IN, AND LAY WITH HER FATHER; AND HE PERCEIVED NOT WHEN SHE LAY DOWN, NOR WHEN SHE AROSE.
19:34 AND IT CAME TO PASS ON THE MORROW, THAT THE FIRSTBORN SAID UNTO THE YOUNGER, BEHOLD, I LAY YESTERNIGHT WITH MY FATHER: LET US MAKE HIM DRINK WINE THIS NIGHT ALSO; AND GO THOU IN, [AND] LIE WITH HIM, THAT WE MAY PRESERVE SEED OF OUR FATHER.
19:35 AND THEY MADE THEIR FATHER DRINK WINE THAT NIGHT ALSO: AND THE YOUNGER AROSE, AND LAY WITH HIM; AND HE PERCEIVED NOT WHEN SHE LAY DOWN, NOR WHEN SHE AROSE.
19:36 THUS WERE BOTH THE DAUGHTERS OF LOT WITH CHILD BY THEIR FATHER.
19:37 AND THE FIRSTBORN BARE A SON, AND CALLED HIS NAME MOAB: THE SAME [IS] THE FATHER OF THE MOABITES UNTO THIS DAY.
19:38 AND THE YOUNGER, SHE ALSO BARE A SON, AND CALLED HIS NAME BEN-AMMI: THE SAME [IS] THE FATHER OF THE CHILDREN OF AMMON UNTO THIS DAY.
A.So the sons of Lot were Moab (father of the Moabites) and Ben-ammi (father of the Ammonites).
B.In the history which is to follow, we find the tribes of the Moabites and the Ammonites living on this eastern plateau, being idolaters who were most of the time enemies of Israel.
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