Gen 19:1-29 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Gen 19:1-38: 19:1-38 The Canaanites were an evil, corrupting people. God judged their morally bankrupt civilization and warned others against becoming like them. It was difficult to get Lot and his family out of Sodom; it was more difficult to get Sodom out of Lot and his family. This chapter helped later Israelites to understand the moral and spiritual threat of the peoples living in and around the Promised Land, such as the Canaanites and Lot’s descendants, the Moabites and the Ammonites (see Num 22–25 ; Deut 23:3-6 ; Josh 24:9 ; Judg 10:7-9 ; 11:4-5 ; 1 Sam 10:27 ; 1 Kgs 11:1-3 ; 2 Kgs 24:2 ). Summary for Gen 19:1-14: 19:1-14 The two angels who were with the Lord at Mamre (cp. 18:2 , 22 ) visited Sodom reluctantly, knowing what kind of people lived there. Despite Lot’s hospitality, they preferred lodging in the square to entering Lot’s house. 19:1 The two angels also first appeared to Abraham as men (18:2 ). • Lot was no longer living in tents next to Sodom (13:12 )—he had become a citizen and leader in Sodom, sitting there at the entrance of the city. Community leaders (elders) usually congregated in the gates, where legal and business transactions were publicly finalized (cp. 23:18 ; Job 29:7 , 12-17 ). As a righteous man (2 Pet 2:7-8 ), Lot tried to modify the townspeople’s wickedness by giving advice on good living (cp. Gen 19:9 ). Although he denounced gross evil, Lot preferred Sodom’s sumptuous lifestyle to life in the hills (cp. 13:10-11 ), where there was clean living but no “good life.” As long as the Lord left Lot and his family alone in Sodom, he lived comfortably there and kept his personal belief in God; but finally, he could not hold to both. Sodom would have destroyed Lot if the Lord had not destroyed Sodom. • This account showed Israel that God is the righteous judge of the whole earth (18:25 ) who will judge evildoers with justice and equity. In wicked societies, moral and ethical failures lead to social injustice.

Summary for Gen 19:1-38: 19:1-38 ^a The Canaanites were an evil, corrupting people. God judged their morally bankrupt civilization and warned others against becoming like them. It was difficult to get Lot and his family out of Sodom; it was more difficult to get Sodom out of Lot and his family. This chapter helped later Israelites to understand the moral and spiritual threat of the peoples living in and around the Promised Land, such as the Canaanites and Lot’s descendants, the Moabites and the Ammonites (see Num 22–25 ^b; Deut 23:3-6 ^c; Josh 24:9 ^d; Judg 10:7-9 ^e; 11:4-5 ^f; 1 Sam 10:27 ^g; 1 Kgs 11:1-3 ^h; 2 Kgs 24:2 ⁱ).
Summary for Gen 19:1-14: 19:1-14 ^j The two angels who were with the Lord at Mamre (cp. 18:2 ^k, 22 ^l) visited Sodom reluctantly, knowing what kind of people lived there. Despite Lot’s hospitality, they preferred lodging in the square to entering Lot’s house. 19:1 ^m The two angels also first appeared to Abraham as men (18:2 ⁿ).

• Lot was no longer living in tents next to Sodom (13:12 ^o)—he had become a citizen and leader in Sodom, sitting there at the entrance of the city. Community leaders (elders) usually congregated in the gates, where legal and business transactions were publicly finalized (cp. 23:18 ^p; Job 29:7 ^q, 12-17 ^r). As a righteous man (2 Pet 2:7-8 ^s), Lot tried to modify the townspeople’s wickedness by giving advice on good living (cp. Gen 19:9 ^t). Although he denounced gross evil, Lot preferred Sodom’s sumptuous lifestyle to life in the hills (cp. 13:10-11 ^u), where there was clean living but no “good life.” As long as the Lord left Lot and his family alone in Sodom, he lived comfortably there and kept his personal belief in God; but finally, he could not hold to both. Sodom would have destroyed Lot if the Lord had not destroyed Sodom.

• This account showed Israel that God is the righteous judge of the whole earth (18:25 ^v) who will judge evildoers with justice and equity. In wicked societies, moral and ethical failures lead to social injustice.
Summary for Gen 19:4-5: 19:4-5 ^w The townsmen’s vileness was matched by Lot’s hypocrisy (19:6-9 ^x).
Summary for Gen 19:6-9: 19:6-9 ^y Lot opposed homosexuality and rape and rebuked their wicked plans, but he was hypocritically willing to sacrifice his daughters to fend off the townsmen’s vice. Lot had originally pitched his tent next to Sodom; now Sodom controlled his life.
19:9 ^z The men of the city were enraged by Lot’s attempts to curtail their wickedness. Lot had apparently not condemned them before, since they were amazed that he now judged them.
19:14 ^aa Lot’s warning words were not taken seriously because of his hypocrisy. It seemed that there would not be even ten righteous people in the city.
Summary for Gen 19:15-23: 19:15-23 ^ab Lot escaped judgment by God’s grace, but his heart was still in Sodom. Israel would forever remember Lot as lingering, halting, and being dragged to safety by angels. The Lord mercifully spared Lot for Abraham’s sake (18:23 ^ac; 19:29 ^ad). Lot deserved judgment for his way of life, but he was a believer at heart and the Lord rescued him (2 Pet 2:7-8 ^ae).

• Lot is not alone in his conflicted lifestyle. Countless believers fall in with a corrupt world rather than flee a doomed society. God’s people, living in a pagan world, must remain separate (1 Jn 2:15-17 ^af). The corrupt world system awaits God’s coming judgment, which will be far greater than the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt 11:23-24 ^ag).
Summary for Gen 19:18-22: 19:18-22 ^ah Lot demanded a concession from the angels even after he was delivered. He wanted to live in the small town of Zoar (little place).
Summary for Gen 19:23-25: 19:23-25 ^ai Cp. Luke 17:29 ^aj. The eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii in AD 79, as well as recent natural disasters, show how quickly a thorough catastrophe like this could happen.
19:26 ^ak looked back: The verb indicates prolonged, intense gazing toward the world she loved, not a curious glance (15:5 ^al; Exod 33:8 ^am; Num 21:9 ^an; 1 Sam 2:32 ^ao; cp. Exod 3:6 ^ap). Lot’s wife was too attached to Sodom to follow God’s call of grace, so she was included in the judgment as she lingered on the valley slopes. Christ’s return to judge the world will be as sudden and devastating as the destruction of Sodom (Luke 17:32-37 ^aq). Those who crave the life of this wicked world will lose this world and the next.
19:29 ^ar God honored Abraham’s intercession (cp. 18:23-32 ^as), but Lot’s entire world was gone because he lived by instinct and desire, not by faith in God. He could no longer live in the good land he selfishly chose for himself (13:10-13 ^at; cp. Matt 16:26 ^au; 2 Cor 5:7 ^av).