147 Genesis 19 Part 1 The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

Genesis 19—The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

19 That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom. Lot was sitting there, and when he saw them, he stood up to meet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed with his face to theground. 2 “My lords,” he said, “come to my home to wash your feet, and be my guests for the night. You may then get up early in the morning and be on your way again.”

Lot’s hospitality mirrors Abram’s in every way. Lot must have learned it from his uncle Abraham or it was part of the culture they had brought with them from Haran or Ur. There must have been others at the gate but it was Lot who offered hospitality. Lot must have converted his stock and servants to money to be able to live in the city. Sitting at the gate means Lot has some standing in the city.

“Oh no,” they replied. “We’ll just spend the night out here in the city square.”

3 But Lot insisted, so at last they went home with him. Lot prepared a feast for them, complete with fresh bread made without yeast, and they ate.

Again, the hospitality of Abram is replicated in the preparing of a feast. Both feasts include fresh, unleavened bread which was quick to make. Do angels have digestive systems since they ate the food prepared? Was this a theophany and so makes the question irrelevant?

4 But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. 5 They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”

Since Lot was new to the town it might have seemed suspicious that he was hosting strangers. Homosexuality was identified as one cause for the land vomiting its people out (Leviticus 18:22, 28). The punishment for homosexuality was death (Leviticus 18:29). Forced homosexuality, which this was, like prison rape might be more about power than sexuality. It was violence that caused the flood (Genesis 6:13) and this might have been the primary problem with Sodom. The narrative suggests this by “all the men of Sodom” were involved. Surely not all men there were homosexual. Can we enforce permanent peace in this earth? The flood brings peace from violence for a time and then we have violence again.

6 So Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him. 7 “Please, my brothers,” he begged, “don’t do such a wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these men alone, for they are my guests and are under my protection.”

Perhaps Lot believes that the men of Sodom would not act against his daughters. Guests, who are strangers, are to be protected at the expense of his own family? Judges (19:1-30) is a parallel account for an old man who offers protective hospitality to a Levite and his concubine from a violent mob. He too offers his virgin daughter as a sex object in place of his guests. This seems to have been an acceptable practice at that time from these two stories. It is an unbelievable idea for our thinking today. Any secular person would want these stories banned for especially children. Pitcairn sexual abuse of minors trumped Adventist morality.

9 “Stand back!” they shouted. “This fellow came to town as an outsider, and now he’s acting like our judge! We’ll treat you far worse than those other men!” And they lunged toward Lot to break down the door.

The men of Sodom regard Lot as an alien. There is resentment here and the result is going to be violent. This incident is prime evidence for the evil of same sex relationships for many. However, while this is part of the takeaway, there is much more to the story.

• There are more than 20 references to Sodom and Gomorrah in Scripture after Genesis 19. Only two of them mention same-sex sin. Here are some examples.

• 2 Peter 2:7 NLT says that was "sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him." This phrase is not a specific reference to same-sex behavior.

• Jude 7 says that Sodom and Gomorrah "gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion." Some translations render this as "unnatural desire," but it literally means "different flesh" (sarkos heteras). This phrase could refer to the proposed rape of the two angels, given that Jude 6 refers to the Nephilim of Genesis 6 ("the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling").

The other verses are as follows:

• Ezekiel 16:50 says, “They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them when I saw it." The word "abomination" (toevah) is used 117 times in the Old Testament - 111 of those uses have no connection to same-sex behavior. The abomination includes not caring for the needy or strangers.

• Isaiah (1:10-17) equates the sin of Sodom with oppressing marginalized groups, murder, andtheft. Jeremiah (23:14) links Sodom’s sin with adultery, idolatry, and power abuses. Amos (4:1-11) and Zephaniah (2:8-11) compare it to the oppression of the poor, as well as prideful and mocking behavior.

• Jesus:

• Christians have not always understood the sin of Sodom to be same-sex behavior. The earliest Christians read the Sodom story as a parable about inhospitality, arrogance, and violence, not same- sex behavior.

• The term "sodomy" was not coined until the 11th century, and even then, it was widely used to refer to all non-procreative sexual acts (including heterosexual acts), not same-sex relations specifically.

• Other Jewish writings say God loathed the people of Sodom "on account of their arrogance" (Sirach 16:8) and punished them "for having received strangers with hostility" (Wisdom 19:15).

• No Jewish literature until the writings of Philo in the first century connected the sin of Sodom to same-sex behavior specifically. Even then, the same-sex reading of the story did not become the mainstream interpretation among Christians until the time of Augustine in the early fifth century.

• Sinners have the ability to blame their sufferings on God and pretend they have no fault (Psalms 44:17-26).

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11 Then they blinded all the men, young and old, who were at the door of the house, so they gave up trying to get inside.

Hospitality pays its own dividends at times. In this case divine protection favours Lot and his daughters.

12 Meanwhile, the angels questioned Lot. “Do you have any other relatives here in the city?” they asked. “Get them out of this place—your sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else. 13 For we are about to destroy this city completely. The outcry against this place is so great it has reached the LORD, and he has sent us to destroy it.”

Are these angels only partially informed since they are asking Lot for information? One of the characteristics of heaven is its concern for the well being of others. These two angels seem to be genuinely concerned for Lot’s family.

14 So Lot rushed out to tell his daughters’ fiancés, “Quick, get out of the city! The LORD is about to destroy it.” But the young men thought he was only joking.

Notice the energy of Lot in this respect. The angels have to pull him out because of his apathy and reluctance, not because he is frail and feeble. There is an implied suggestion that it is not God but some other reality causing the destruction which is going to happen thus the angels hasten Lot to call his family out of Sodom.

15 At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. “Hurry,” they said to Lot. “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!”

Apparently, there were other daughters. The destruction is at hand, as it was with eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii in 79 A.D. The Dead Sea and the cities of the plain are in the rift valley. There is volcanic activity in the Rift Valley but it does not seem to have caused the destruction of Sodom. The deadliest earthquake ever recorded was in China in 1556 with over 830,000 fatalities. However, there is no overt evidence of volcanic activity around the Dead Sea. Some have suggested that a meteorite destroyed the area.

16 When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the LORD was merciful.

Lot knows that the destruction is going to come. It is the urgency that he is missing. The angels are not triggering the destruction, it is at hand. This is the salvation of a conflicted man and his immediate family. It is one of the greatest examples of the mercy of the LORD.

Sunday

17 When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, “Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”

The last statement is intriguing. It sounds as if there is physical catastrophe about to happen.

18 “Oh no, my lord!” Lot begged. 19 “You have been so gracious to me and saved my life, and you have shown such great kindness. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would catch up to me there, and I would soon die. 20 See, there is a small village nearby. Please let me go there instead; don’t you see how small it is? Then my life will be saved.”

This is an unbelievable dialogue. In the middle of imminent destruction Lot is arguing with the angels about where he wants to go. This discounting of the consequences reminds us of Abram’s parallel conversation with the LORD about how many righteous people would save Sodom. Lot feels that a small village would be safer than a large settlement like Sodom.

21 “All right,” the angel said, “I will grant your request. I will not destroy the little village. 22 But hurry! Escape to it, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” (This explains why that village was known as Zoar, which means “little place.”)

Apparently, the angels could decide when the destruction would take place. The angel is involved in the allowing the destruction. Compare with 4 angels holding back the winds of strife.

23 Lot reached the village just as the sun was rising over the horizon. 24 Then the LORD rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah. 25 He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation.

This is a local extinction since every bit of the vegetation is destroyed. This was a catastrophic event. Why would God want to destroy vegetation. Causation is attributed to the LORD but this is rather prediction rather than causation.

26 But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt.

Contradiction in the story. Angels could not destroy till they arrived in Zoar. Was Mrs. Lot so far behind? Similar to what happened to some of the inhabitants of Pompeii. Intense heat or radiation can have this effect on organic material.

27 Abraham got up early that morning and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the LORD’s presence. 28 He looked out across the plain toward Sodom and Gomorrah and watched as columns of smoke rose from the cities like smoke from a furnace.

Abraham could have concluded that Sodom was an extremely wicked city. He may also have suspected that Lot and his family were dead too.

29 But God had listened to Abraham’s request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain.

There seems to be some vacillation on what caused the catastrophe. In some cases, it is the LORD and then the above verse the passive voice does not indicate the causation. Compare with the implication of Matthew 10:28.

Read Deuteronomy 29:21–23 for the conclusion Lot and His Daughters