Genesis 19

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

 

1The 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.

 

The Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God, so all of it should be studied by both adults and children. The Bible commands parents to teach their children the entire counsel of the Word of God. Deuteronomy 31:12-13 teaches "Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

 

Notice "All the words". This includes Genesis 19, which is a teaching on sex education. If a parent does not allow the Word of God to teach their children about sex education, then the satanic world system will be happy to comply. Hollywood, the public school system, and other biblically ignorant "boyfriends" will be glad to teach children about the birds and the bees in the backseat of a car.

 

While Abraham was interceding with God, two angels visited Sodom. Lot was no longer living nomadically in a tent outside of the city.  He was sitting at the gate, meaning that he was an elder, a judge, or a city official. Court was held at the city gates. Since Abraham and his army of 318 men had saved Sodom from defeat of the four Mesopotamian kings, then Lot was most likely elevated to celebrity status and was placed into a position of authority very quickly.

 

Lot greeted the angels with respect, but he did not know who they were at this time. He was “entertaining angels unaware”.

 

2He 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.”

 

Lot knew the streets were dangerous. They were controlled by homosexual rape gangs. Therefore, this was a test for Lot to prove that he was righteous. The angelic world was observing this scene. This historical event would be recorded and studied by many future nations.

 

3But 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.

 

Lot passed the test. Lot was a gracious host. He prepared a meal with unleavened bread. This was the first mention of unleavened bread in the Bible.

 

 4Before they could lie down to sleep, all the men – both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom – surrounded the house.

 

Notice that “all” of the men of the city surrounded the house of Lot. Every single man in this city was a member of the homosexual rape gang.

 

Man is totally depraved and evil. If man is left completely alone by the Holy Spirit and without the threat of divinely appointed government , then every single man in every single city would reject God, despise God, worship the creation rather than the Creator, and eventually join homosexual rape gangs. This teaching is not popular with those who are deceived by the satanic world system, but this is the divine viewpoint that Paul taught in Romans 1. 

 

 

 5They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”

 

Many English versions tone down this verse in order to appease the homosexual community. Liberals will claim that God was destroying the city for the sin of forced rape. The original Hebrew dispels both of these human viewpoint interpretations.

 

 The Hebrew word is יָדַע (yada), meaning to “intimately know”. This is the same Hebrew word used in Genesis 4:1 (and others), stating “And Adam knew (יָדַע) his wife, and conceived and bore Cain”. The men of the city wanted to engage in intimate, homosexual sex with these two angels.

 

God had saved the five cities of the plains from the armies of the four invading kings. Abraham had given a testimony of the one true God to the Sodomites. Melchizidek had given a witness of the one true God to the Sodomites as well. However, even this supernatural testimony could not persuade the Sodomites to turn to God. Instead, they followed the pagan path of Romans 1. They despised God, worshipped the creation rather than the Creator, and adopted the homosexual life style. 

 

6Lot went outside to them, shutting the door behind him.

 

Lot showed he was righteous and courageous by going outside alone and facing the homosexual rape gang.

 

 7He said, “No, my brothers! Don’t act so wickedly!

 

The New Testament recorded that Lot’s righteous soul was deeply troubled by the wickedness of the Sodomites. Lot was not a seeker-friendly pastor. He flat out told the entire city of men that they were wicked. It takes a righteous and courageous man to stand up against this type of gang peer pressure.

 

 8Look, 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.”

 

Lot was willing to allow his two virgin daughters to be gang-raped, because rape was a lesser sin than homosexuality. According to the Mosaic Law (which was established by God 400 years later), rape was a marriageable offense, while homosexuality was death by stoning. It is interesting to note that the angels waited and then forced Lot to make his choice. However, God would not allow Lot to compromise his own two daughters.

 

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.

 

The Sodomites do not want anyone judging their behavior. This is why modern liberals hate the Bible, because it condemns their sin.

 

10So the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house as they shut the door. 

 

The angels had to save Lot from the mob.

 

11Then 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.

 

The Hebrew word for blindness is סַנְוֵר (saccar), meaning blindness and confusion.  Even in a dazzled state, these men still tried to find the door so that they could fulfill their homosexual desires. If God leaves man alone, then liberalism will win out and produce a homosexual society. Election and predestination saves mankind from living this ungodly homosexual lifestyle. This is not a popular teaching with liberals, but it is what the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God teaches in Romans 1.

 

 12Then 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 

 

The angels ordered Lot to get his family out of the city.

 

13because 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.”

 

The entire angelic world and everyone in history who studies this historical event would know that God was righteous for destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. This is one reason why liberals attempt to censor the Word of God. The Word of God condemns liberals for their homosexuality life style.

 

14Then 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.

 

Lot’s two sons-in-law were not righteous. Since "all men" of Sodom were involved in this homosexual gang rape attempt, this included the two sons-in-laws. They enjoyed the Sodomite culture and despised God. Therefore, they saw a miracle, they themselves were blinded by two supernatural angels, but they could not believe in God. They would rather live in Sodom than live in heaven with God. This is the end result of liberalism. Man is so totally depraved and evil, that if God leaves him alone to make his own choice, then he will always choose homosexuality over God.

 

 

15At 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!” 

 

Lot and his family loved Sodom so much, that they had a reluctance to leave. This is the seducing effect that sin has on one’s life. Evil is a powerful seduction tool used by the enemy to make one callous to the things of God.

 

16When 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. 

 

If God did not show grace to Lot and his family, then they would have stayed in Sodom and been destroyed with the city. The angels had to grab their hands and yank them out of the city. Carnality is a deadly place for believers.

 

Man is totally depraved and evil. There is nothing good inside of him. He would rather wallow in his sin. Therefore, God must give him a new nature and yank him out of the pig pen. The satanic world system is a very seductive and alluring place to live. It blinds, callouses, and deadens its victims, placing them in a stupor. The only way to escape the mental asylum of the satanic world system is to have been chosen out of the satanic world system before the foundations of the world were created. 

 

God the Father chose the believer before the creation of the world. He gave all of the believers as a gift to God the Son in eternity past. God the Holy Spirit calls the believer with an irresistible call. The Holy Spirit sends another believer to deliver the good news. When the good news is heard, then the believer believes the message and understands his enslavement. The believer is born from above with a new nature, but his soul is empty of Bible doctrine (except for the gospel). However, his soul (or his intellect) has been filled with knowledge from the satanic world system. Therefore, the Holy Spirit begins to reprogram the baby Christian, filling his soul with Bible doctrine. This is the only way that a child of God can escape the stupor of the satanic world system. Otherwise, even the baby Christian will remain in his spiritual stupor and see evil as good and good as evil.

 

Two of the daughters stayed with their husbands. The angels grabbed these two virgin daughters and the wife of Lot. These three were only saved because of God’s compassion, or because of His grace. All believers are saved in the same manner, by God’s compassion.

 

17When 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!”

 

The angels had to place Lot, his wife, and his two daughters outside of the city. This means that Abraham’s prayer was answered. God will not destroy the righteous with the wicked. Lot and his family had been saved by the prayer of Abraham and the righteous character of God. Lot had been connected with Abraham, so he was blessed by the Abrahamic Covenant.

 

The angels told Lot’s family to run to the mountains or they would be destroyed. They were commanded not to look back. Lot still had three members of his family in Sodom, so he was hesitant to leave them. The family had been saved, but now it was their choice to be obedient or disobedient to the Word of God. Since the Old Testament was incomplete at this time, the Word of God came to them through these angelic messengers.

 

18But Lot said to them, “No, please, Lord! 

 

Lot is protesting against the Word of God (which was delivered to him personally through two angelic messengers). It is dangerous to protest against the Word of God, because God may allow the person's sin nature to  override Bible doctrine.

 

19Your 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. 

 

Lot did not have enough spiritual maturity to understand what he was asking. He was operating on human viewpoint rather than divine viewpoint. His life in Sodom had scarred his soul. Spiritual maturity comes from studying the entire counsel of the Word of God at the deepest level.

 

20Look, 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.”

 

Lot’s prayer request was filled not with divine viewpoint, but with human viewpoint. This little city had been infected by Sodom and Gomorrah. It was now a small cancer that would grow and infect the rest of the Canaanites. If sin is not exterminated completely, then it will grow and spread quickly, infecting cities, towns, and nations. This is the seduction and power of evil.

 

21“Very well,” He replied, “I will grant this request too and will not overthrow the town you mentioned. 

 

God’s grace towards Lot will save one city from destruction, but it will destroy the entire Canaanite nation. The sin of this one little city will spread throughout the land of Canaan, causing Joshua to return 400 years later with orders from God to exterminate the entire nation.

 

22Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” (This incident explains why the town was called Zoar.)

 

The city of Bela was chained to Zoar, meaning “little”. This was the only plains city of the five to survive. They survived only because of Lot’s intercession.

 

23The sun had just risen over the land as Lot reached Zoar. 

 

It was a long night for Lot, as he was only able to save two of his family members.

 

24Then the Lord rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord. 

 

There are two Jehovah’s in this passage, showing the plurality in the Godhead. The Jehovah on the ground sent down fire and brimstone from the Jehovah in the heavens. The rabbi attempted to squirm around the Trinity in this passage by claiming that the first Jehovah was Gabriel and the second Jehovah was God. They are having to spiritualize this passage to get this type of interpretation.

 

25So he overthrew those cities and all that region, including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew from the ground. 

 

God destroyed Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim. These were four of the five cities of the plain. Before their destruction, the surrounding land was lush like the Garden of Eden. Afterwards, it became desert land, which can still be observed today.

 

26But Lot’s wife looked back longingly and was turned into a pillar of salt.

 

Lot’s wife was attempting to hang on to her life back in Sodom (Luke 17:32-33), so she was covered with a saline encrustation and changed into a statue of salt.

 

27Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 

 

In the morning, Abraham checked upon his nephew.

 

28He 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.

 

Abraham did not know if his nephew survived, but he did know that God could not find ten righteous people in Sodom.

 

29So 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.

 

Abraham’s desire was to save Lot, which was what God did. The Abrahamic Covenant and Abraham’s intercession saved Lot.

 

30Lot 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. 

 

The angels were right. Lot should have gone to the mountains when they first told him to do so. The mountains contains a definite article, so this was most likely the mountains of the future Ammonites and Moabites. 

 

Lot was afraid to live in Zoar, because they were guilty of the same sins as Sodom and Gomorrah. God may have decided to destroy Zoar, so Lot did not want to be there if this was the case. It was also possible that the people of Zoar did not trust Lot, since he was a man of God and the only one who escaped destruction. The city of Zoar would negatively influence the rest of Canaan, leading to their extinction.

 

Lot entered Sodom as a wealthy sheepherder, but he left Sodom with nothing. All of his livestock was destroyed at Sodom. He went from nomad to wealthy city slicker to living as a caveman.

 

31Later 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. 

 

There were men in Zoar who could have married Lot’s two daughters, but they most likely saw them as a bad omen and refused to have anything to do with them

 

32Come, let’s make our father drunk with wine so we can have sexual relations with him and preserve our family line through our father.”

 

The daughters were taken out of Sodom and Gomorah, but Sodom and Gommorah was not taken out of the daughters. The sisters intoxicated Lot, seduced him, and committed incest with him.

 

33So 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. 

 

Just as Noah was totally drunk and did not know what was going on, Lot did the same.

 

34So 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.”

 

The younger daughter followed the advice of her older sister.

 

 35So 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.

 

Lot had unknowingly committed incest with his two daughters.

 

36In this way both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 

 

The influence of Sodom and Gomorrah would pass from the daughters to their sons.

 

37The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today. 

 

Moab means “from father”. The Moabites became the bitter enemies of Israel. Ruth is the only Moabite mentioned in Scripture who became a believer.

 

38The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ammi. He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.

 

Ben-Ammi means “son of my people”. The Ammonites became enemies of Israel. Both the Moabites and the Ammonites lived in the mountains where Lot and his two daughters eventually fled.

 

Today the Ammonites and Moabites live in the area of modern Northern Jordan and Central Jordan. The history of Lot is never mentioned in the Bible again.

 

It is important to note that Sodom will be restored, saved, and it will become a moral city during the Millennial Kingdom (Ez 16:44-47). Jesus declared that during the Day of Judgement, it would be more tolerable for Sodom than for Capernaum. Homosexuality is a terrible sin, but the greatest sin was seeing the Messiah and rejecting the spiritual light that Capernaum was given. 

 

Lot was considered righteous in 2 Peter 2:7-8. Lot did risk his life for his guests in front of an angry and dangerous homosexual rape gang. Many criticize him for moving to Sodom, but there are many Christians today who live in and possess strong ministries in San Francisco, Dallas, and New Orleans.

 

In conclusion, the human viewpoint of the satanic world system teaches that same sex marriage is a protected race, because people are born into this life-style. 

 

The divine viewpoint of the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God teaches that homosexuality is a sin that carries with it capital offense. If homosexuallity is tolerated, then it will destroy nations.

 

Appendix #1

Archaeology of Sodom and Gomorrah

 

Dr. Steven Collins is the Dean of the College of Archaeology and Biblical History at Trinity Southwest University. He was lead archaeologist at the Tall el-Hammam dig in Jordan, which is uncovering Sodom and Gomorrah. He introduced some very interesting connections to the biblical text about Sodom with possible connections of the cultic practices of the Minoan civilization of Crete.  He states

 

"Between those two things we knew that the people of Tall el-Hammam (Sodom) weren't just any old garden-variety Canaanites." What is significant is that the Mycenaean culture was known for its " institutional paiderastia of the Minoans, including the time-honored and accepted practice of ritual kidnapping...The Minoan paiderastia was, in fact, the very structure of the society by which boys were raised into men. It was the rule, not the exception. Each boy, at age 12, was taken as an eromenos ("beloved") by a 22-year-old erastes ("lover") to be raised for 8 years in a male-male sexual bond. It was usually initiated with a ceremonial kidnapping performed by a gang of ritual abductors sent by the older male. The practice was formalized and ubiquitous across Minoan culture. Boys couldn't be considered properly-trained male citizens unless they submitted to this process. They then repeated this "societal norm" with their own eromenos. Generation after generation. On Crete, the women and/or wives often lived separately from the men and boys. It was a thoroughly male-dominated homosexual culture in which the narrow role of women was to bear and raise children. There were additional formal Minoan institutions developed to promote and sustain their androphile model of social organization....And the more we research into this, the clearer the Crete-Sodom connection becomes. I'm sure even the Canaanites were shocked by the presence of this culture in the southern Jordan Valley!" April 22, 2013 TEH Update Newsletter

 

Dr. Collins adds from his recent article “Tall el-Hammam Is Still Sodom: Critical Data-Sets Cast Serious Doubt on E.H. Merrill’s Chronological Analysis.” Biblical Research Bulletin 13, no. 1 (2013): 1–31 Link. 

 

Even Hammam’s intriguing Minoan connection provides an extraordinary backstory for the attempted abduction of Lot’s angelic visitors." page 1 In the footnote he states: "Minoan artistic motifs and architectural features discovered in the most recent excavation seasons at Tell el-Hammam, when linked with the story of the attempted abduction of the angels by the “young and old” men of Sodom (Gen 19), suggest an affinity to the formal cultural institution of paiderastia found on Bronze Age Crete, including a unique feature: ritual kidnapping. Research in this vein is ongoing, but the results thus far support the idea that the link is more than coincidental. 1 n.4.

 

The Minoan practice is described by Strabo in his Geography.

 

(The Cretans) have a peculiar custom in regard to love affairs, for they win the objects with their love, not by persuasion, but by abduction; the lover tells the friends of the boy three or four days beforehand that he is going to make the abduction; but for the friends to conceal the boy, or not to let him go forth the appointed road, is indeed a most disgraceful thing, a confession, as it were, that the boy is unworthy to obtain such a lover; and when they meet, if the abductor is the boy’s equal or superior in rank or other respects, the friends pursue him and lay hold of him, though only in a very gentle way, thus satisfying the custom; and after that they cheerfully turn the boy over to him to lead away; if, however, the abductor is unworthy, they take the boy away from him. Ephorus of Cyme (Strabo Geogr. 10.21.4).

 

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1. SAQ--What is the theme of Genesis 19?

 

2. Why was Lot living at the city gate?

 

3. Why was Lot considered a celebrity?

 

4. How did Lot prove that he was righteous?

 

5. Why did Lot offer his two daughters to the rape gang?

 

6. What happens to people who reject the gospel?

 

7. How did Zoar lead to the destruction of all of Canaan?

 

8. Who are the Moabites?

 

9. Who are the Ammonites?

 

10. What happens when homosexuality is tolerated?