Genesis 19-20 - Protection for the Unworthy

The Grace of God in Failure

 6 Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him,  7 and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.  8  Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.”  9 But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down.  10 But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door.  11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door. - Genesis 19:6-11 ESV

 

The passage quoted above is one of several stories in Genesis nineteen and twenty revealing the failure of human nature and the protection of God upon those who failed. Let’s take a moment to consider what they teach us.

 

I Have Two Daughters

The first story is about Lot, Abram’s nephew, who chose to live in the evil city of Sodom. It is uncertain what brought Lot to this decision, but it was here that he raised his family. The nature of Sodom’s sin was such that it stirred God to do something about it. He determined to judge its inhabitants by destroying them with sulfur and fire from heaven (see Genesis 19:24). As a result of Abram’s pleas for mercy in Genesis 18, however, God sent two angels to warn Lot and his family about the coming judgment.

 

Lot met the angels when he was sitting at the city gate. He offered them the hospitality of his home for the night. When they told him they planned to stay in the town square, Lot, knowing the nature of the men of the city, insisted that they stay with him instead. The angels agreed and went with Lot to his home.

 

As the evening wore on, Genesis 19:4 tells us that “the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house.” They demanded Lot hand over the two men who had come to his house. “Bring them out to us, that we may know them,” they demanded. While we are not explicitly told what these men wanted, we have some clues in the passage about their possible intention.

 

First, notice Lot’s response to their demand in Genesis 19:6:

 

 6 Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him - Genesis 19:6 ESV

Lot went out to speak with the men and closed the door after him. He did not want that door of the house to be open. He closed it because he knew there was a risk of danger for his guests.

 

Second, consider Lot’s words to the men who surrounded his house in verse 7:

 

 7 and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. - Genesis 19:7 ESV

 

We understand from this that the intention of these men of Sodom was very wicked.

 

Third, observe the alternative Lot offers them in verse 8:

 

 8  Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” - Genesis 19:8 ESV

 

Lot offers his two daughters to the men to do with as they pleased. He emphasises the fact that they were virgins, showing us that the intention was to allow the men of the city to abuse them sexually.

 

Finally, consider what Jude tells us about the city of Sodom:

 

 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. - Jude 7 ESV

 

According to Jude, Sodom “indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desires.”

 

All of these passages point to the fact that the men of Sodom had some immoral and perverse wickedness in mind for the men under Lot’s roof. What is striking is that Lot was willing to give his young virgin daughters to these men, knowing that they would abuse them sexually. He had no way of knowing whether his girls would be alive in the morning, but he freely offered them to protect his guests.

 

What kind of father would offer his young girls to a group of men to be raped and abused all night? I understand that hospitality was culturally important in those days, and visitors were to be protected while they were under your roof, but at what cost? Lot appears to be too free with his daughter’s lives. Such a thing would be an abomination to God.

 

Despite Lot’s ungodly freedom with his daughters, notice what took place that evening. When the men of the city “pressed hard against Lot and drew near to break the door down,” the angels reached out, brought Lot into the house, and shut the door. Genesis 19:11 goes on to say that they “struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.”

 

The angels of God not only protected Lot and his daughters from harm that evening, but they kept him from doing something he would have regretted for life. Not too many believers go through life without knowing this kind of protection in their lives. Who among us has not made foolish decisions or found ourselves in a compromising situation? The hand of God surrounded Lot that day and kept Him from evil. How thankful we need to be for this kind of protection when we fall prey to the weakness of our fleshly passions and reasonings.

 

But He Lingered

It was bad enough that Lot offered his daughters to a band of lustful men. What made the matter worse, however, was a fact we discover in Genesis 19:12-14. Lot’s daughters were engaged to be married. An engagement was a solemn promise and was taken seriously. By offering his daughters to the men of the city, Lot was not only disrespecting his daughters but also his sons-in-law. How could you respect a father-in-law who would willingly hand the daughter he promised you over to be violated by evil men in the city instead of protecting them from harm?

 

When the angels told Lot to get his family out of the city, for they were about to destroy it, Lot warned his sons-in-law and told them to flee the city. Observe their response in verse 14: “But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.”

 

Lot lived with Abram and saw how God led and spoke to him. He had experienced the presence of God and His leading as he left Ur and travelled from place to place with his godly uncle. He knew to take the warning of the angels seriously. The problem was that Lot wandered from that lifestyle in Sodom. He had not taught his children the ways of the God of Abraham. He was marrying his daughters to men who did not know the Lord or His ways. They would perish with the ungodly of the city. We have evidence here that Lot did not demonstrate the ways of the Lord to his children. He did not pass on this faith to his family. He had no spiritual authority or credibility in their lives. Now that he needed to warn them, they brushed him off as a fool and didn’t believe a word he said.

 

Although the angel’s warning was urgent, Lot lingered in Sodom (Genesis 19:16). Why did he linger? It appears that he was powerless to warn his family. They did not take him seriously. He lingered because the judgment of God was about to fall on them, and he couldn’t convince them to believe what he was saying. As the head of his family, he had let them drift into the evil of Sodom. He had not taken his role as spiritual leader seriously. He had not taught them the ways of the God of Abram. What he spoke to them now was foreign. They did not take him seriously.

 

What do the angels of God do when Lot lingered in helplessness and despair?

 

 16 But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. - Genesis 19:16 ESV

 

Genesis 19:16 tells us that the angels “seized” Lot, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand and led them out of the city. As Lot’s family resists leaving the city, the angels compel them to leave. Genesis 19:16 tells us that God did this out of mercy for them. They did not willingly leave. They were compelled by the angels who seized them to spare them from the terrible judgment of God. They did not walk with God, but God’s hand was upon them, protecting them from the fiery judgment that was about to fall on their city.

 

Oh, No, My Lords

The angels of God seized Lot, his wife, and two daughters, and taking them by the hand, led them outside the city to protect them from the judgment of God. Once they were outside of the city limits, one of the angels gave a command to Lot:

 

 17 And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” - Genesis 19:17 ESV

 

There was urgency in the command, “Escape for your life.” The urgency was such that they were not to look back or stop anywhere in the Jordan Valley until they were safely in the hills. Note the response of Lot, however, to the command of the angels:

 

 18 And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords.  19 Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die.  20 Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” - Genesis 19:18-20 ESV

 

Lot tells the angels, who were trying to save his life, that he doesn’t want to go all the way to the hills. Instead, he wanted to take his family to a small town nearby. He believed that by going to this town, his life would be saved (see verse 20). There is something quite strange about this conversation. The angel, who was about to bring the judgment of God to the whole region, tells Lot where he could go to be saf,e and Lot chooses not to go there. He wants to go somewhere easier and closer, and so bargains with the angel.

 

Observe Lot’s reasoning: “I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die.” Lot didn’t believe that he could get to the hills in time. He believed it would be better to escape to the shelter of the little city instead. I find it shocking to see Lot debate this angel of the Lord. He is actually telling the angel that he had a better idea. He chose to trust the protection of a little city rather than take the advice of the angel of the Lord and flee to the hills. I cannot help but see arrogance in the words of Lot as he debates the conditions of his rescue with the angel of the Lord. Note, however, that the angel of the Lord grants him this favour and allows his family to go to that small city, promising not to destroy it for his sake:

 

 21 He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. - Genesis 19:21 ESV

 

Is it not surprising that the angel of God would be gracious to Lot once more and continue to spare him? The grace of God is evident in the life of a man so unworthy. While God granted Lot this favour, He also left him with a chilling warning. The grace and protection of God are not something to take for granted. As the fire of God fell from heaven upon the region, Lot’s wife looked back. Genesis 19:26 tells us that she became a pillar of salt. The passage does not go into detail about how that happened, but what is clear is that she died in that firestorm from heaven. God removed His protection and struck her dead.

 

Lot’s wife was not an innocent victim to teach Lot a lesson. Genesis 19 makes it clear that she looked back, something she was commanded not to do. She openly defied the command of God and suffered the consequences. The question we need to ask, however, is what was the nature of this looking back? To answer this, consider the words of Jesus in Luke 9 to one who wanted to follow Him but wanted to say farewell to those at home first:

 

 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”  62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” - Luke 9:61-62 ESV

 

Jesus tells us that when we set our hands to the plow, we are not to look back. The idea is that when we come to Christ, we are not to fall back into our sinful ways. We are to commit ourselves to Him and to Him alone, abandoning our life of sin and rebellion.

 

Numbers 11 recounts how, after the Lord delivered the people of Israel from slavery, they longingly looked back to Egypt and the life they once knew under that bondage:

 

 4 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat!  5  We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.  6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” - Numbers 11:4-6 ESV

 

This is the kind of looking back that Lot’s wife did. She longed to be back in Sodom with its rebellion and immorality. She despised the protection and grace of the Lord, and so God took her along with Sodom. Her death, however, was a reminder to Lot that the grace and protection of God was not to be despised, bartered with or taken for granted.

 

Lot Went Out of Zoar

The little city where Lot negotiated with the angel to go did not prove to be as secure as he anticipated. We read in Genesis 19:30:

 

 30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. - Genesis 19:30 ESV

 

It is uncertain what it was about Zoar, “the little city,” that caused Lot to be afraid. Could it be that he saw in that city the same sin as he saw in Sodom? Was he afraid that the judgment of God would fall there as well? Lot decided to leave the city, despite the promise of the angel of God not to destroy it, and go to the hills as the angels had told him in Genesis 19:17. There he found a cave and lived in it with his two daughters.

 

What Lot possibly failed to understand in those days living in the cave was that sin is not bound by geography and that hiding in a cave did not remove its evil presence. Lot and his girls would prove this in what happened in that cave. Fearing that they would die childless, Lot’s two girls decided to get their father drunk and sleep with him. In this drunken state, Lot impregnated both his daughters.

 

God does not send fire from heaven upon Lot and his daughters for this abomination. In fact, we read in Genesis 19:37-38 that these girls gave birth to two boys, one would become the father of the Moabite nation and the other, the father of the Ammonites. By his sinful act, Lot gives birth to two nations that would become enemies of the nation God promised Abraham. The family line of Lot would continue, but it was not a godly line. They would go on to become great nations, but they did not know God or His ways. God did not stop the sin that took place in that cave. He allowed these ungodly relationships to produce enemies for His people. What He did, however, was to extend his protection of Abraham’s descendants from Lot’s ungodly line.

 

She is My Sister

Lot chose a path contrary to the purpose of God and paid a steep price for his decision. Genesis 13 recounts how, when he lived with Abram, Lot had “flocks, herds and tents” and the “land could not support both of them living together “ (Genesis 13:5,6). Now an old man (Genesis 19:31), he has lost everything and is living in a cave in the hills above the Jordan Valley with two pregnant daughters, fearing for their lives.

 

What about his uncle Abraham, the man of God, through whom the nations of the earth would be blessed? What kind of man was he? The story of Lot and God’s merciful protection of his life is immediately followed by an incident in the life of his uncle Abraham and Sarah, his beautiful wife.

 

In Genesis 17:21, God promised Abraham that He would bless him with a son through His wife Sarah within a year:

 

21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.” - Genesis 17:21 ESV

 

Three chapters later, in Genesis 20, we find Abraham and Sarah in the land of the Philistines. As they traveled there, Abraham, understanding that “there was no fear of God in that place” (Genesis 20:11) chose to deceive King Abimelech into thinking that Sarah was his sister and not his wife. He did this because he feared that if they knew she was his wife, they would kill him and take her from him. If they believed she was his sister, however, they would treat him well for her sake.

 

When they arrived in Gerar, believing their lie, King Abimilech took Sarah for his harem. We have to understand the seriousness of this event in the context of God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah. Not only did Sarah find herself in a situation where she could become an adulteress, but how would the promise of God be fulfilled if Sarah were in Abimilech’s harem? The unwise decision to lie, placed Abraham and Sarah in a compromising situation and threatened the purpose of God for them as a couple.

 

How did God respond to their lack of trust and foolishness? He protected Sarah and her relationship with Abraham by keeping Abimelech from touching her (Genesis 20:6), and threatened to kill the king if he did not return Sarah to her rightful husband (Genesis 20:7). Abraham and Sarah, the father and mother of the nation of Israel, failed God. They risked the promise of God to bless them with a child. They risked unfaithfulness in their marriage. They demonstrated that they had not come to a place of full confidence and obedience to the Lord. The Lord bursts through that failure to protect what He had promised them as a couple and, in the very next chapter, as God had promised, Sarah conceived a child through her husband Abraham and gave birth to her first child at the age of ninety years.

 

We serve a God of incredible patience and grace. We will never fully know the extent of His protection and favour in our lives. How often has He protected us from our foolish ways and decisions? How many times have His angels, unknown to us, protected our lives from danger? How often, in our rebellion and pride, has God held back His judgment? Not one of us will go through life without experiencing this gracious favour of God, despite our foolish and fleshly ways. Jesus reminds us of this when He said:

 

 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  45  so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. - Matthew 5:44-45 ESV

 

While Genesis 19-20 speaks powerfully of the protection and grace of God in failure, there are two key details we cannot miss here.

First, in the middle of this demonstration of the protection and favour of God on Lot’s family is the story of his wife’s tragic death. It reminds us that we dare not take this graciousness of God for granted. Jesus, Himself, speaking in His day, had these words to say to His disciples:

 

 32  Remember Lot’s wife. - Luke 17:32 ESV

 

The gracious favour of God is a blessing beyond measure. Where would we be today were it not for this wonderful attribute of God? It is not something, however, that we can take for granted. He is under no obligation to us. Lot’s wife paid the ultimate price for despising the grace of God. Jesus challenges us to remember her and her tragic end.

 

Second, while we see the amazing grace and protection of God in the life of Lot’s family, we also need to see the state of a life lived in rebellion and disobedience. Little by little, Lot lost everything he had. He went from living in the richness of his uncle’s tents to the cold dampness of a cave in the hills above the Jordan Valley in his final years. He lost the respect of his community members, sons-in-law, and even his daughters. He lived in his cave in fear of the Lord’s judgment. Lot experienced the grace of God in his rebellion but lost everything in the process. Knowing the grace of God does not mean we get whatever we want in life. On the contrary, it means we are temporarily spared from what we deserve and given another chance. May we recognize those second chances and allow them to transform us into His image.