Genesis 19

Abraham Intercedes for Sodom

God reveals plans to judge Sodom, and Abraham pleads for the city, asking if it would be spared for the sake of righteous people. This shows:

Abraham’s compassion and sense of justice

God’s willingness to engage in dialogue

The theme of divine justice balanced with mercy

1. (V1-3) Lot convinces the angelic visitors to stay with him.

a. Now the two angels came to Sodom: The two visitors that departed from Abraham in Genesis 18:22 as he and the Lord continued their conversation now came to Sodom.

For the first time they are identified as angelic beings, who first accompanied the Lord as He visited Abraham at Mamre (Genesis 18:1-2).

b. Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom:

There was a steady progression of compromise in Lot’s life.

He went from looking toward Sodom (Genesis 13:10), to pitching his tent toward Sodom (Genesis 13:12),

to living in Sodom and losing everything when Sodom was attacked (Genesis 14:12). Now, back at the infamous city

Lot sat in the gate of Sodom, indicating he was a civic leader.

The gate area of an ancient city was sort of a town hall where the important men of the city judged disputes, conferred with one another, and supervised those who entered and left the city.

King David’s affair with Bathsheba started with a compromise of staying home when he should of went to war

We have to be carful of compromise in our own life

c) According to the customs of the ancient Near East, the hospitality Lot offered to the visitors was not unusual, but the urgency with which he offered it was. Lot was obviously concerned for their safety, and he generously provided for his guests with a feast.

1.1  (V4-5) The wickedness and depravity of the men of Sodom.

a) These citizens of Sodom clearly came to homosexually abuse and rape the two visitors. They were willing to break all principles of hospitality and morality for their own violent and sexual gratification.

b) The men of the city… both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house: This shows that the entire city was given over to this violence and immorality, and that this behavior wasn’t unusual, but it was accepted among the men of Sodom.

Ezekiel 16:49–50 “Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.”

Jude 1:7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Both the Hebrew scriptures (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13) and the Greek scriptures (Romans 1:26-28) condemn homosexual conduct. Jesus Himself affirmed the Old Testament’s condemnation of homosexual conduct when He said, do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill (Matthew 5:17). Jesus also affirmed the Biblical ideal of marriage consisting of one man and one woman joined in a life-long relationship (Matthew 19:4-6).

1.2 (6-9) Lot bargains for the life and safety of his guests.

a) Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly

At first he had the correct response

Then he goes off the rails and offers his daughters

1.3 (V10-11) Angelic protection

Now, the mob had a physical blindness that matched their moral blindness.

1.3 (V12-14) The angels warn Lot

a) The angels were not omniscient

So they asked the question

b) To his sons-in-law:

Lot’s daughters were unmarried and had not known a man (Genesis 19:8).

These men were sons-in-law by the ancient practice of binding betrothal, not yet by marriage

Technically the Marriage had not been consummated

He seemed to be joking: This was the clear effect of Lot’s life of compromise. When he spoke with utmost seriousness to his sons-in-law about the judgment of God, they did not believe him. Not even they would be saved from the judgment to come.

1.4 (V15-16) The angels try to hurry Lot and his family

a) While he lingered:

Too much of Lot’s heart was in Sodom, so he did not have an urgency to leave the city.

A lack of urgency to obey God (even when it is necessary and good) is a common sign of compromise and a backslidden condition.

1 John 2:15 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

They brought him out and set him outside the city: In Genesis 18, Abraham asked God to spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if there were ten righteous found there. Because there were not ten righteous people, God did not spare the city, but He still answered the heart of Abraham’s prayer by bringing Lot and his family out of Sodom, even if it was almost against Lot’s will.

1.5  (17-22) The escape from Sodom.

The angels had far greater urgent to rescue Lot and his family than they had to be rescued.