LOT – PART 5 – A LOT OF TROUBLE FOR GOD – FOR ABRAHAM – AND FOR HIMSELF – GENESIS 19 LOT COMPROMISES; LOT’S WIFE; AND SODOM OVERTHROWN
INTRODUCTION
In this message we will continue from where we left off last time when we considered these verses - {{Genesis 19:15-16 When 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,” Gen 19:16 but he hesitated, so the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the LORD was upon him, and they brought him out and put him outside the city.”}}
We will continue to see the flawed behaviour of Lot after he came out of Sodom. Absolutely nowhere do we read of faith or trust or repentance or prayer or seeking the Lord. I do not think Lot had any of that.
{{Genesis 19:17 It came about when they had brought them outside, that one said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley - escape to the mountains lest you be swept away,”}}
That is exactly what should have happened. One angel told the four of them to run for their lives. Don’t linger; just go. Don’t hanker for the old life but flee. That was hard for Lot who would never have left Sodom on his own accord – ever! It took the power of the angels to remove him out of the town. The mountains were the place of refuge – I will lift my eyes to the hills; from where does my help come? We know the Lord is our mighty help but how does that get through to stubborn goats?
The injunction to them was great urgency. “Do not stay anywhere in the valley. Escape to the mountains.” No wastage of words with angels’ instructions. The command was not to look behind. Why do you think that command was given to them? Well the fact is that any successful walk with the Lord is a walk forward not backwards – {{Philippians 3:13-14 “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, Phil 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”}}
No less was required from Lot and his family. There was danger in looking behind. An alcoholic must not return to what is behind him and back into drink. That look in the backward direction will have the man returning to the old life. Lot was so married to Sodom that any look back and hankering after its sin would have overcome him as it did his wife.
{{Genesis 19:18-19 BUT Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! Gen 19:19 Now behold, your servant has found favour in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness which you have shown me by saving my life but I cannot escape to the mountains lest the disaster overtake me and I die.”}}
In verse 18, notice the second “BUT”. What is up? I always like to look to motives. In these days, don’t take anything at face value because words are not what they seem any more, but in Lot’s era we look to motive. Why did Lot not want to flee to the mountains? Well, it was not the mountains that were the problem as Lot tried to make out. It was that he did not want to separate from Sodom. The towns of the plain were as bad almost as Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot did not want to live a separated life. He wanted to live in sin. He wanted to be close to sin and wickedness. What a feeble excuse came from his lips. Disobedience is again at work. How many feeble excuses we find when confronted with the will of God for us! We try to find ways to get around God’s will and commands for us. [[“O that our hearts longed for the heavenly more, so that instead of having, like poor Lot, to be dragged by main force out of the world, casting a lingering look behind, we might with the clear truth, bound forward like a racer towards the goal.”]] – C H Macintosh
The mind of Lot was working to find a compromise for himself so he would have to give up the very least he could get away with. Sin is so binding and it shackles a man so firmly that only the power of God can break it. Lot was not willing that God would break his shackles. He loved them too much. Don’t make excuses to God.
{{Genesis 19:20-23 Now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) that my life may be saved.” Gen 19:21 He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. Gen 19:22 “Hurry, escape there for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the town was called Zoar. Gen 19:23 The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar.}}
What a compromise this was going to be. Separation from wickedness was too much for Lot. If Sodom was going to be destroyed then what was the next best thing? Well it was an adjacent town a few miles away. Lot walked at night so it was not that far.
Lot needed the circumcision of the heart to remove Sodom from his inner self. Sodom was in Lot’s heart. Lot’s heart remained in Sodom. Sodom fashioned his outlook; controlled his attitudes; dominated his desires. We can easily find alternatives to fuel our self-indulgence. Sin is nasty and very conniving. Zoar was the lean choice. It was the connecting wire to Sodom, the nearest tangible thing that would connect Lot with Sodom.
Zoar was one of the five places to be destroyed meaning that it was as bad as Sodom and here we have Lot now hankering after Zoar. How lamentable is all this. When you unseat God in your heart, then your heart will lust after the old nature.
In verses 21 – 22 the angels agreed with Lot’s request. They had stated the will of God, that is, “Go to the mountains,” but in disobedience Lot refused. To disobey can only mean disaster. When our hearts are set, God pleads with us, but may grant us our desires. As with the Israelites, He granted them the meat they demanded but their souls knew leanness as a result, for God’s manna was rejected.
Again C H Macintosh stated this well – [[“Though commanded by the angel to flee to the mountain, he refuses and still fondly clings to the idea of a little city to maintain the attachment of the world’s delights. What a commentary is Lot’s life on that verse, “Love not the world, neither the things in the world . . .” This world’s Sodoms and Zoars are all alike; there is no security, no peace, no rest and no solid satisfaction for the heart. Let us then seek to pursue a path of holy separation from the world. Let us be found cherishing the Master’s return while standing outside the world’s attractive domain.”]]
I don’t at all agree with him, but this is what Martin Luther has said:- [[“These commands of the angel indicate how sufficiently Lot thought and felt. He leaves the city against his will. After leaving it he desires to stay in the neighbourhood, evidently because he is moved by compassion for the city that is going to ruin and perishing.”]] (Martin Luther Lectures on Genesis)
In fact Luther is way off the mark. Lot had no compassion for the city that was to perish; he only had regret that it was to be destroyed, like a baby that loses his favourite toy. The opposite of what Luther said was true.
THE OVERTHROW - TWO JUDGMENTS VERSES 23 - 29
{{Genesis 19:24-29 Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, Gen 19:25 and He overthrew those cities and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground, Gen 19:26 but his wife, from behind him, looked back and she became a pillar of salt.
Gen 19:27 Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the LORD, Gen 19:28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace. Gen 19:29 Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.”}}
Their time was up. The day of reckoning had arrived. All sin will come under judgement, be it sooner or later. God destroyed the cities of the plain except Zoar that should have been destroyed. There is considerable speculation about the cause of this destruction. Some say the tar pits caught on fire. The Lord did it; that is all that matters. God may have used natural causes but it was the Lord! It was a complete destruction.
We come now to Lot’s wife. Ancient Jewish tradition claims her name was Edith. Because of Lot’s initial disobedience by moving into Sodom and not staying separate on the outside, great damage was done to him and his wife and daughters (and maybe sons). Lot demonstrated deep reluctance to leave Sodom; his wife showed a deep desire to return. She pointed herself in that direction. She too had become entangled in Sodom like a moth caught on the sticky thread of a spider’s web. When sin has a hold on a person only the power of God can break that. It was all too much for that woman. Her desire was with Sodom and not with the Lord. She did not willingly leave Sodom – the angels had to drag her out.
Lot’s wife looked back. The Hebrew for “looked back” means more than to glance over one’s shoulder. It means “to regard, to consider, to pay attention to.” I think, like her husband, her heart was also in Sodom. Where your heart is there your treasure is also. I think it was a real desire to return to that lifestyle she had. An internet posting said, [[“Lot’s wife does not turn to salt as a supernatural punishment for ignoring a divine command, but as a repercussion of her lack of faith in the angels’ words. Lot’s wife’s death is simply the consequence of her own slowing down.”]]
I think the comment found on “Got Questions” is interesting – [[[“The Bible isn’t clear whether Lot’s wife was covered in the salt that rained down with the brimstone or if her remains were dusted with a coating of salt later. But it is interesting that she is described as a “pillar.” The Hebrew for “pillar” refers to a garrison or a deputy, that is, something set to watch over something else. The image of Lot’s wife standing watch over the Dead Sea area - where to this day no life can exist - is a poignant reminder to us not to look back or turn back from the profession of faith we have made, but to follow Christ without hesitation and abide in His love (Luke 17:32).]]]
I am going to share some options on Lot’s wife from various writings for your own wider interest (I don’t necessarily agree with all of them though I utterly reject Luther again):-
NUMBER 1. [[“But Lot's wife, who during the flight was continually turning round towards the city, curious to observe its fate, notwithstanding God's prohibition of such action, was changed into a pillar of salt.”]] (Josephus - Antiquities I 203)
NUMBER 2. [[“Moreover, on that occasion the Lord made it plain that, while He never forsakes those who place their hopes in Him, He visits pains and penalties on the rebellious; and as a sign of this, Lot's wife, who had accompanied in his flight, but later changed her mind and fell out with him, was turned into a pillar of salt to this day.”]] (I Clement 11)
NUMBER 3. [[“Lot listened to this warning, but his wife, a fickle woman, backwards turned her glance, and clung to her dear Sodom's luring charms. Eve had enticed her lord to share her sin, but Lot's wife only perished for her fault.”]] (Aurelius Prudentius Clemens - The Origin of Sin)
NUMBER 4. [[“Lot's wife ... was undoubtedly a believing and saintly woman; otherwise she would neither have followed her husband ... Nor would she have been seized by the angels and led out. Therefore let us reject the Jewish legends; for they make the nonsensical statement that she... refused the angels salt to season their food and ... for this reason ... turned into ... salt ... Therefore - since women are rather weak by nature - she either forgot the command of the angels, or she thought there was no longer any danger ...”]] (Martin Luther Lectures on Genesis)
NUMBER 5. [[“It may now be asked, why the Lord so severely punished the imprudence of the unhappy woman ... Perhaps being doubtful, she wished to have more certain evidence before her eyes; or it might be, that, in pity to the perishing people, she turned her eyes in that direction. Moses, certainly, does not assert that she purposely struggled against the will of God; but ... it was right that her ingratitude should be thus punished ... First the desire of looking back proceeded from incredulity; and no greater injury can be done to God, than when credit is denied His word. Secondly, we infer from the words of Christ, that she was moved by some evil desire (Luke 17:32) and that she did not cheerfully leave Sodom, to hasten to the place whither God called her ...”]] (John Calvin Commentary on the Book of Genesis)
Look at verse 29, a most important verse. Note carefully to whom Lot owes his physical safety! How much can be wrought through intercessory prayer. [[“For even the fact that he escaped from Sodom, as the Scripture indicates, belongs more to Abraham's honour than to Lot's merit.”]] (Origen Homilies on Genesis (V). Yes, it was that GOD REMEMBERED ABRAHAM. That was the whole reason for Lot’s survival. If it was not for that continued intercessory prayer Lot would have perished.
Experience teaches a man, and God can use experience to fashion a man into His way. Did that work for Lot. No, it did not. Lot learnt nothing from his experience. Again I have to say I am aware of what the New Testament says about Lot but not one thing indicates he followed the Lord or sought Him or was ever repentant. In fact from that point onwards things just got worse and that will be the subject in the next message.
The title of all these messages is – LOT – A LOT OF TROUBLE FOR GOD – FOR ABRAHAM – AND FOR HIMSELF. As we have worked through the chapters we have seen that the title fits all the episodes in Lot’s life.
Before he entered Sodom, Lot was well off. When he left Sodom what did he have to show for all those years? He first went to the outskirts of Sodom with all his animals – presumable sheep, goats, camels, and herdsmen but what did he leave with? Nothing material at all, and just two daughters. What a wasted life when God is placed on the outside. Sin will ravage an individual and spiritually dehydrate him to the extent he is nothing. Satan is the great enemy but too many Christians dismiss the forces of evil too lightly. They are real and we must be realistic about that. We are in a battle but too many think we are on a cruise. We battle the world, the flesh and the devil. We are well equipped though because the Lord is always with us; the Holy Spirit is within to remain; and the word of God is our great vanquishing sword. I wonder how much of that Lot really knew. The God of Abraham wanted to cover Lot and the word was his protection but I think he refused all that.
Do not let that happen to you. Take stock of your life, and place God on the throne. Time is short and eternity is real. If you are unsaved then repent from sin and turn your life over to God. Be saved when His mercy is still extended. If you are a Christian living a wayward and useless life, repent of that and surrender your life to the Lord so you become a profitable servant.
Any thinking mind will see that the world is going mad with WOKE stupidity and evil men are in Governments everywhere and getting worse as the bible says they will. Some people are fearful about the future because they are fed lies such as this climate change hoax Satan is using to bring discord, confusion and trouble to many nations on earth. Delusion is everywhere. Only true stability in Christ can overcome all this. Please turn to Jesus Christ and accept Him as your Savior.
Part 6, the last one, will follow on.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
