Connecting Scriptures:  Isaiah 3:9, Romans 1:24-27, Jude 1:7, 2 Peter 2:6-10, Luke 17:32-33, Ezekiel 16:49-50, Jude 7

Can we agree this one is a doozy?  Ok, good.  

Fresh from leaving The LORD and Abraham discussing mercy for any righteous ones left in the city, the two angels enter Sodom and immediately run into Lot.  I don’t think this is a coincidence.  I believe Lot was burdened for any sojourner of this place because he knew the people of this place.  Maybe he believed it was his job to protect those who had found their way into such an evil place.  He also could have had a prominent position in Sodom, which afforded him a place of judgment and leadership as having a “seat at the gate”.  Perhaps he recognized these men/angels as special beings having been connected to Abraham.  Whatever the reason, he pleads with them to stay with him and to be served by him.  See the comparison to the last chapter as Abraham welcomes the visitors, washes their feet and prepares them a meal.  The after dinner reception will be a bit different, however.

What ends up being a scene of horrible proportions, we can get a picture of why Sodom and Gomorrah was about to be destroyed.  Scripture references shed more of light on the heart of the city and the citizens therein.  The physical sins that are threatened here are just the tip of a bigger issue.  The city had no mercy for its people.  It was a place of wealth and comfort for the rich, but great hunger and need for the poor.  The people sought pleasure over compassion, and as Romans 1 depicts, God had turned them over to the evil in their hearts.  I think the outcry over Sodom and Gomorrah was pleas for mercy and justice by a people who were impoverished and abused.  The violent scene of all the men of the city, bombarding Lot’s door to “know” the visitor inside was a picture of how far from God these people had ran, chasing selfish desire and trading the truth of God for a lie.  When true worship of God is removed from our hearts and replaced with self-worship, the image of God will always be twisted and perverted.  

In this chapter we see a clear picture of justice and mercy.  God brings justice to the oppressed, and He shows mercy to those He loves.  Mercy comes as the angels have to drag Lot and his family out of town.  If you are a follower of Christ, you have experienced this “dragging” out of your sinful state.  We would linger there for a lifetime if not for Jesus, our salvation, coming and carrying us out.  Only God can get us out alive.  

You can get out of Sodom, but can you get Sodom out of you?  I think where Lot ended up in that cave (when he had pleaded with he angel to take him to a smaller city instead of the hills!) showed how much of an impact living in such wicked place had on him.  We cannot underestimate the effects of living among the ungodly for so long.  It made him unable to go back to Abraham.  We see Abraham, like the prodigal sons’s father, looking out at Sodom and Gomorrah, watching the smoke rise, believing that God would be faithful to him and Lot even amidst judgement.  I think Abraham was looking for Lot in those ashes and was willing to take him back in.  The ugly desperation of his daughters and the backward since of family loyalty shown resulted in the birth of two nations that would be a brutal people.  The Moabites would make life difficult for God’s people as they wandered toward the promised land, and the Ammonites would be a violent people who held no value in life, especially the young and unborn.  

Questions about Reflection

1.  Why did Lot’s wife turn to a pillar of salt and what does this teach us about obedience and how we view our sinful past? 

2.  How does Lot’s asking for refuge in Zoar, “such a small city” show how his heart had been corrupted by comfort and maybe how his faith was anchored in his position and former life as opposed to trusting God in His mercy?