Section 7 - Part 8d: God Judges Sodom and Gomorrah

Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.” Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; and they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.” But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. “Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof.” But they said, “Stand aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came in as an alien, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door. But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. They struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway. Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place; for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city.” But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be jesting. When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” 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. When they had brought them outside, one said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away.” But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! “Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die; 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.” He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. “Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the town was called Zoar. The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord; 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. 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. Lot went up from Zoar, and stayed in the mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. Then 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 the earth. “Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our family through our father.” So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. On the following 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 our family through our father.” 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. Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. The firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day.

Contextual Reminder:

What kind of text is Genesis? What genre?

Historical Narrative.

Can we apply everything in the text to our lives?

Why not?

This is not an epistle.

Section 7: Incest in the Home

This specific text does not have an application. We can learn some things about humanity and God, but application here is not found directly, but indirectly through the actions taken by each person. And, their actions are recorded forever in God’s word.

New American Standard Bible (1995) Chapter 19

30 Lot went up from Zoar, and stayed in the mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31 Then 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 the earth. 32 “Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our family through our father.” 33 So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 34 On the following 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 our family through 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 were with child by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day.

What did Lot do after he went to Zoar?

He left for the mountains even though he said he would die if he went to the mountains

Genesis 19:19 NASB95

“Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die;

Why did he do this?

He was afraid to stay in Zoar

Why was he afraid to stay in Zoar?

It was a wicked place.

It was going to be destroyed

Genesis 19:21 NASB95

He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken.

What did Lot’s daughters believe was going to happen?

There would be no men to repopulate the earth.

Genesis 19:31 NASB95

Then 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 the earth.

What was their solution?

Incest.

What might be the reason for why they would come to the conclusion that incest was a viable solution?

Bad parenting

Their own immaturity

Their own sinful flesh - they want a baby, and they thought they just lost their chance to have one

Sodom’s social values

They did not know the extent of God’s judgment on the earth though the angels told them what locations were safe and where they were going to bring destruction. Lot even acknowledge he understood what was safe and what wasn’t.

Genesis 19:12–13 NASB95

Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place; for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

Genesis 19:17 NASB95

When they had brought them outside, one said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away.”

Genesis 19:19 NASB95

Where did the three of them end up going?

To the mountains, living in caves

Genesis 19:30 NASB95

Lot went up from Zoar, and stayed in the mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters.

What were their children’s names called?

Moab (Became the Moabites)

Ben-ammi (Became the Ammonites)

What did these names mean, and who were their tribes?

Moabites: See the notes below

Moab, Son of Lot (מוֹאָב, mo'av). A son of Lot and his oldest daughter. Ancestor of the Moabites. His name is a wordplay on the Hebrew word for “father” (Gen 19:37). 19:37 Moab The Hebrew word used here sounds like the Hebrew phrase for “from father.”

Ben-ammi: See Notes Below

The Abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament (בֶּן־עַמִּי) n.pr.m. (son of my people) son of Lot by his younger daughter, and ancestor of the Ammonites (בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן v. עַמּוֹן).

Where did these men and their families and tribes end up living?

The Moabites lived in the land that was destroyed.

Ammonites were the Moabites northern neighbors

Application:

Most of us are not tempted by incest, but we are tempted.

Address this in three ways:

Internal and external temptations and influence

Influencing our children and families

Influencing the church

Thinking of what influences us and our kids, there are two influencers:

Internal (Inside us)

External (The devil and the world)

How to deal with such a sin in the church today?

1 Corinthians 5 NASB95

It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst. For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.

Moabites:

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Moab

MOAB (מוֹאָב, mo'av). The geographical plateau east of the Dead Sea, south of the Arnon River, north of the Zered River, and west of the Arabian Desert. May also refer to the ancient state located within this area from the end of the Late Bronze Age through the Iron Age.

Moab in the Bible

Though few narratives portray Moabites as primary characters, Moab itself is a common setting.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary B. Judgment On Moab (25:8–11)

B. Judgment on Moab (25:8–11)

The hostility between Moab and Israel began when Balak, king of Moab, tried to oppose Israel as Moses was leading them to Palestine (cf.

Ammonites:

The Bible Knowledge Commentary A. Judgment On Ammon (25:1–7)

A. Judgment on Ammon (25:1–7)

25:1–2. Ezekiel had already pronounced judgment on Ammon (21:28–32). Now Ammon was singled out to head the list of nations that would feel the sting of divine judgment.

Ammon and Israel had been in conflict since the time of Jephthah during the period of the Judges (Jud. 10:6–11:33). Saul fought with the Ammonites to rescue Jabesh Gilead (

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