Genesis 19:1-38
Jesus said, "Remember Lot's wife." Luke 17:32. We know very little about her. Her name is not recorded in the Bible. However, in Genesis 19 we learn four basic truths about her. First, an angel held her hand, escorting her from the doomed city of Sodom. Second, she heard the angels warning her family members, "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you...." Third, she looked back. Fourth, she became a pillar of salt. Christians are the salt of the earth, but a pinch of salt will do, not a pillar.
The leading character in this chapter is her husband, Lot, so let's remember him today. When we first met Lot he lived in Ur of the Chaldeans with his uncle, Abram. They traveled together to the land of Canaan, but separated when there arose strife between their herdsman. Lot chose to settle down in the plain of Jordan, and eventually wound up in Sodom, where the men "were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord." He became a city-slicker.
The chapter begins with Lot entertaining two angels, who appeared as men. He welcomed them into his house and treated them to a feast. Next we find him protecting them from an unruly, evil mob that surrounded the house and shouted, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally." Lot went outside to reason with them, even offering the men his daughters. When they threatened Lot, the two angels pulled him into the house and struck the men at the doorway of the house with blindness.
The men informed Lot why they had come to Sodom, saying, "For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it." According to Ezekiel 16:49 the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were "pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." But there was more than that. Sodom and Gomorrah had "given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh...." Jude 7. When Lot told his sons-in-law of the impending destruction they considered his warning a joke.
Early in the morning the angels told Lot, his wife, and daughters to make haste and flee, but "he lingered." The angels had to take each of them by the hand and lead them outside of the city. God's messengers said, "Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed." Lot replied, "Please, no, my lords!" Then he explained that he didn't want to flee to the mountains, but preferred to escape into the nearby city of Zoar. When Lot entered the city, all hell broke loose as "the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah...."
Fear drove Lot and his daughters from Zoar to the mountains, where they dwelt in a cave. He lost everything except his life.
Why was he spared? "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...." Genesis 19:29. In the previous chapter Abraham had drawn near to the Lord and asked, "Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?" Genesis 18:23. Lot's deliverance from Sodom was God's answer to the intercessory prayer of Abraham.
In the previous chapter Abraham had received word from the Lord that He was going to destroy Sodom. The patriarch knew that Lot and his family lived there. He prayed that God would not destroy the righteous with the wicked. Lot and his daughters were rescued by angels. Abraham was remembered by God.
Lord, thank You for answering our prayers. Thank You for Jesus who prays for us at Your right hand. Do a work in our hearts that we might be found faithful in interceding for others. In Jesus' name. Amen!
