Genesis

A Devotional Commentary

By W. H. Griffith Thomas

Chapter 25

The Story of Lot

Gen 19:1-38

 

THERE are lives recorded in the Bible which have well been called beacons. There are men like Balaam, Saul, and Solomon, who started well, with every possible advantage, and then closed their careers in failure and disaster. Such a life was that of Lot the nephew of Abraham. He came out of Mesopotamia with his uncle, and continued with him in Canaan until their possessions necessitated a separation (chapters 12, 13). He thereupon pitched his tent towards Sodom, but soon entered and abode in the city. As a consequence he was involved in its captivity by the kings of the East (chapter 14). Even his rescue by Abraham did not suffice to warn him from the place, for he returned and lived there as before. There is scarcely a life recorded in Scripture which is fuller of serious and solemn instruction for every believer.

I. The Angelic Visit (Gen 19:1-3).

While the Divine personage remained in company with Abraham, the two attendant angels journeyed on to Sodom, where Lot was sitting in the gate, the place of concourse, the place of importance. It is not improbable that he sat there in an official capacity as judge. With the true spirit of Eastern courtesy he rose to meet them, and greeted them with profound obeisance, also offering to them hospitality. At first they declined his invitation, alleging a somewhat remarkable reason, "We will abide in the street all night." They were there for the purpose of exploration with a view to judgment, and perhaps this was why they suggested remaining all night in the open street. But Lot urged them, and at last they yielded, and accepted his hospitality.

II. The Awful Depravity (Gen 19:4-11).

Into the fearful story recorded in these verses it is impossible to enter for more than the barest comment. Every one knows that the sin hinted at here is perpetuated for ever by a word in our language to which this chapter has given rise. Perhaps two other cities have equaled Sodom in this respect, the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, both of which have suffered in a similar way from devastation, and one of them to this very day reveals the unspeakable depravity of its inhabitants. One other point dare not be overlooked in this hideous recital of sin, and that is, the selfish readiness of Lot to sacrifice his daughters in order to save his own life and peace.

III. The Solemn Warning (Gen 19:12-14).

The angels now enquire of Lot as to his kinsfolk, and command him to bring them out of the wicked city. They also announce in the plainest terms the purpose of their errand. The Lord hath sent us to destroy it. Lot does not hesitate to believe their testimony, and at once goes forth to urge upon his sons-in-law the absolute necessity of getting quickly out of the city. But he seemed as one that mocked. His testimony had no power. He had lived too long as one of themselves, without any very real difference, to allow of his message being of any avail. When the testimony of the life does not agree with the testimony of the lips the latter always goes unheeded. It is the life that is the true light.

IV. The Urgent Deliverance (Gen 19:15-22).

At daybreak the angels had to urge Lot to take his wife and two daughters out of the city, lest they be consumed. Even then Lot lingered, until at last the men laid hold upon him, his wife, and his daughters, and compelled them to go outside the city, the Lord being merciful. On reaching the confines of the city another urgent appeal was made. Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain.

Even now, with almost incredible weakness, Lot pleads that the mountain is too far away, and begs to be permitted to go to the neighboring city of Zoar. The Divine messengers concede this point, urging him once more to escape, since God was unable to do anything till His servant was in safety. What a marvellous picture of the Divine condescension and patience with one of the frailest of His creatures.

V. The Divine Judgment (Gen 19:23-26).

Lot, together with his wife and his daughters, had only reached Zoar when the Lord poured out His judgment on the wicked cities and overthrew them and all their people. Lot’s wife seems to have been equally attracted to Sodom, for we are told that she looked back, and was soon engulfed in the lava by which the cities were destroyed. With husband and wife both weak, hesitating, and yielding, there can be no surprise at what we know of their family life.

VI. The Powerful Intercession (Gen 19:27-29).

Abraham rose early that morning on his way to a place from which he could see the plain of the Jordan valley. As he looked towards the cities he saw a smoke like that of a furnace, and yet with exquisite suggestiveness we have inserted at this point the indication that Abraham’s prayer was answered so far as concerned his nephew. God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out. Abraham had ceased praying at the mention of ten righteous, but God was better than his prayers, and heard him for four only.

VII. The Unutterable Shame (Gen 19:30-38).

Again it is impossible to comment on this unspeakably sorrowful scene. Drunkenness and impurity are once more seen in association. It perhaps says one thing for Lot that it was only by means of the sin of drunkenness that his daughters could accomplish their ends. Yet this is but an infinitesimal point by comparison, for we cannot forget that Moab and Ammon (though they were kinsmen to Abraham) were in after years among the most implacable foes of Abraham’s descendants. As for Lot he had sounded the lowest depths of shame, and passes away into the darkness and oblivion that were his due.

Suggestions for Meditation

1. Lessons from Sodom.

(a) We observe the awful extent of human depravity. This is one of the most terrible chapters in the Bible, and is a reminder of the hideous possibilities of sin, and the extent to which evil can take hold of human nature. When the restraints of the Divine law are removed or set at naught there are scarcely any limits to human degeneracy and depravity (Rom 1:21-31; 2Pe 2:8; Jud 1:7-8).

(b) We mark the certainty of Divine judgment. The iniquity of Sodom was indeed full. The cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord, and when human sin reaches its awful fruit the judgment is as certain as it is unerring. There is no fact in God’s universe more certain and assured than this that He is not, and cannot, and will not be indifferent to human sin.

(c) We note the marvel of Divine mercy. From the narrative it might seem that Lot was not worth saving. His weakness amounted to wickedness, and yet again and again God bore with him, waited for him, pleaded with him, urged him, and at length did not bring down the Divine judgment until he was safe out of Sodom. Is there anything in this world so wonderful as the mercy that waits for us, follows us, hedges our path, and short of compulsion does everything to keep us from ruin?

2. Lessons from Lot.

(a) His dangers may easily be ours also. His first danger was from things lawful. It was not wrong to desire a good place for his flocks and herds. The sin was in putting earthly ease and prosperity first. More men are killed by meat than poison. More souls are lost by abuse of things lawful than by the use of things unlawful. It is not wrong to have possessions, it is only wrong to let possessions have us. A ship in the water is perfectly right, but the water in the ship would be perfectly wrong. The Christian in the world is right and necessary, but the world in the Christian is wrong and disastrous. Another danger of Lot’s was that of compromise. At first he pitched his tent towards Sodom, but soon entered the city and stayed there. He doubtless thought he could testify to the wicked people, but his words were nothing without deeds. They were quick enough to see that he was as sharp about money-making as the rest of them. A Christian must be outside Sodom in order to testify against it. To go into the world to influence it is futile and fatal. The world does not need influencing but saving, and for this the Christian must live a life of separation, in the world, but not of the world. This suggests yet a third danger that Lot incurred that of worldliness. He did testify and showed genuine hospitality, but his character was weakened, and his life was essentially selfish from the moment that he chose the best part of the land to the moment when he was prepared to sacrifice his daughters for his own safety. Some men are utterly unable to bear worldly success. It affects their character and their home life. Not least of all this worldliness endangered his happiness. He got on in the world, he sat in the gate as a leading citizen, but he was miserable. He vexed his soul day by day in seeing and hearing their wickedness (2Pe 2:8). It is always so with those who do not put God first. Those who put Him second are the most miserable of men.

(b) His weakness may be ours also. He lacked the spirit of true independence. He was all right as long as he was with the stronger nature of Abraham, but he never seems to have been right afterwards. When the prop was removed he fell. It is often the case with Christian people to-day. Their religion is one of association. As long as they are surrounded with Christian friends, and connected with a Christian Church, their life seems to be perfectly right; but let these supports be removed, and they themselves placed alone in difficult surroundings, and their weakness is at once seen. Lot also lacked decision. At every point of the story from his separation from Abraham indecision is stamped on his career. Mark in this chapter the urgency of the angels, and the references to his lingering, and to their hastening him. Even Zoar had to be left and the mountain reached after all. Every true life needs decision and firmness of character. Otherwise when emergencies come circumstances are too strong and we fall. "The flighty purpose never is o’ertook, unless the deed go with it."

(c) Lot’s needs may be ours also. The one supreme and all-embracing requirement was whole hearted trust in and consecration to God. But for the phrase righteous Lot (2Pe 2:7) we should have scarcely believed him to be in any sense a believer. From the Old Testament narrative he seems to be apparently godly, but really worldly, and the explanation is that there was nothing whole-hearted about his relation to God. His religion, though real as far as it went, was so entirely superficial that it did not cover more than a small part of his life. And so he was a backslider, an awful failure, his soul saved, but his life lost. Saved, so as by fire. What a call it is to keep close to God and to His people, to witness for God to the world around, never to indulge in any half-way house between godliness and worldliness, but to let our light shine, and live by faith in the Son of God Who loved us and gave Himself for us.