GENESIS 19: Sodom’s Sin

Sodom and Gomorrah

During our study of the previous chapter we saw that the “outcry” of Sodom had reached the Lord due to the grave sin practiced there.

(Genesis 18:20-22)  Then the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave,  (21)  I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know."  (22)  So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD.

In response to the outcry the Lord sent two angels to Sodom. They were going to bring justice to that place where wickedness has gone too far.

The Bible describes Sodom’s population as being “wicked, great sinners against the Lord”.

(Genesis 13:12-13)  Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom.  (13)  Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.

What exactly was the sin of Sodom? The prophets explain it:

* They proclaimed their sin without shame.

(Isaiah 3:8-9)  For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious presence.  (9)  For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.

* They committed adultery, walked in lies and protected the evildoers.

 (Jeremiah 23:14)  But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah."

* They were idle due to the abundance of riches, yet did not help the needy. Instead, they were arrogant and proud.

(Ezekiel 16:49-50)  Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.  (50)  They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.

Due to Sodom’s sin, an outcry from the Earth reached Heaven. The Lord heard and sent angels to bring justice. But before they destroyed this place, they had to rescue a particular family.

(Genesis 19:1-3)  The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth  (2)  and said, "My lords, please turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way." They said, "No; we will spend the night in the town square."  (3)  But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

Lot’s hospitality reminds us of Abraham. This was in plain contrast with the attitude the rest of Sodom’s population had towards strangers, where they were not welcomed. Rather, they wanted to take advantage of them.

(Genesis 19:4-11)  But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house.  (5)  And they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them."  (6)  Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him,  (7)  and said, "I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.  (8)  Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof."  (9)  But they said, "Stand back!" And they said, "This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them." Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down.  (10)  But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door.  (11)  And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.

Even after they were blinded they were still trying to find the door to get in and harm the visitors. Nothing seemed to turn these men away from wickedness. They did not repent.

The men of Sodom were wicked and they were not going to repent. Therefore, the angels should not delay judgment any longer. However, they would first disclose the divine plans for that place to Lot.

(Genesis 19:12-14)  Then the men said to Lot, "Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place.  (13)  For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it."  (14)  So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, "Up! Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting. 

The threat of judgment seemed unlikely since life in Sodom continued as usual. Many times spiritual warnings are not understood with our reason, but rather in the spirit.  Lot was a good man who was living in the wrong place. He did not belong there, but he was not aware of this, or even wanted to accept it. He hesitated, but the angels saved him by practically shoving him out of the city.

(Genesis 19:15-16)  As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city."  (16)  But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.

Lot’s salvation was mostly due to Abraham’s intercession for him.  Even though he was still far away, he was always was thinking about him. The Lord knew this and that is why he told Abraham what he was about to do to the Sodom region.

Peter explains that God knows how to rescue those who fear him, but he also punishes those who reject him.

(2 Peter 2:4-9)  For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;  (5)  if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;  (6)  if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;  (7)  and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked  (8)  (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);  (9)  then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.

The angels waited only until Lot was safe to bring judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah.

(Genesis 19:23-25)  The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.  (24)  Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven.  (25)  And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 

God saved both Lot and his family. Sadly, Lot’s wife looked back, which is a reflection of a desire to go back to the place she just left, and that action had a serious consequence…

(Genesis 19:26)   But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. 

If you are leaving behind something bad, you should not look back. Those who do, are left paralyzed and can’t continue on with their lives.

ABRAHAM WITNESSED IT

Abraham knew what was going to happen, since God had revealed it to him. He was anxious about it and went up the hillside where he could look down toward the valley where Sodom was.

(Genesis 19:27-29)  And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD.  (28)  And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.  (29)  So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

The text seems to imply that God saved Lot because of the pleading Abraham had done.

AN EXAMPLE

What happened to Sodom and Gomorrah serves us as an example of what eternal punishment is like. The warning of coming judgment is not to condemn, but to urge to repentance while there is still time.

(Jude 1:7)  just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

What happened in Sodom is a shadow of what will happen in the world in the last days. The Lord Jesus will come and destroy all evil from the face of the earth.

(Luke 17:26-30)  Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.  (27)  They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.  (28)  Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot--they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building,  (29)  but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all--  (30)  so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

Let’s intercede for our family, just like Abraham did, so that they may be saved from the coming wrath.

AFTER THE DESTRUCTION

Only Lot and his daughters survived the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:30).

The destruction was so terrible that they thought that everything had been destroyed. This perception led the daughters take extreme measures, since they did not want to die childless.

(Genesis 19:31-38)   And the firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth.  (32)  Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father."  (33)  So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.  (34)  The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father."  (35)  So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.  (36)  Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 

This kind of encounter between father and daughter is known as incest. This is clearly forbidden (Leviticus 18). Nevertheless, Lot’s daughters found it suitable since it served their purpose. However, the Bible does not teach that “the end justifies the means”, but the opposite is true. No doubt Lot’s daughters had been influenced by Sodom’s wicked ways. Lot did not agree with incest and that is why they had to get him drunk. However, his sin was to expose his daughters to a decadent environment that contaminated them. Sin has its consequences…

(Genesis 19:37-38)  The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day.  (38)  The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

It may seem that Lot’s daughters got what they wanted. However, history tells us that their bad decision had a consequence. The descendants of Lot’s daughters were the Moabites and the Ammonites, who will later become enemies of Israel. The Lord made a decree saying that they could not be a part of Israel but until many generations later.

(Deuteronomy 3:2-4)  No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD.  (3)  "No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the LORD forever,  (4)  because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.