DESTRUCTION OF THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN

---

Then God’s judgment falls in the form of sulfur and fire. God destroys Sodom, Gomorrah, the region around it, all the people, and all the vegetation. Lot’s wife disobeys, looks back, and is turned into a pillar of salt.

Lot and his two daughters have been spared, but they have lost everything. The following morning, Abraham sees the smoke rising from all the land of the valley as from a furnace. Everything has been utterly destroyed.

Though they are safe in Zoar, Lot is afraid to stay there. He takes his daughters and runs for the hills, settling in a cave. It’s unclear why Lot didn’t run to the household of his uncle Abraham.

God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and we are told two things, one concerning his wife and the other concerning his daughters. Concerning his wife we read:

 

Genesis 19:26-30 KJV

[26] But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

[27] And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:

[28] And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

[29] And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

[30] And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

 

Genesis 19:26 KJV

But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

---

I think this verse has been greatly misunderstood.

Why in the world did Mrs. Lot turn and look back?

I think that the reason is twofold. First of all, she turned and looked back because she did not want to leave Sodom. She loved Sodom. She loved Lot, too, but it was a lot of Sodom that she loved. And she didn’t want to leave it.

She was probably a member of the country club, the sewing club, and the Shakespeare club. In fact, there wasn’t a club in town that she was not a member of. She just loved these little get-togethers in the afternoon.

I’m not sure but what they met and studied religion in a nice little religious club also. She was right in the thick of it all, my friend, and she didn’t want to leave. Her heart was in Sodom. Her body walked out, but she surely left her heart there.

This is a tremendous lesson for us today. I hear a great many Christians talking about how they want to see the Lord come, but they are not living as if they mean it.

On Sunday morning, it is difficult to get them to leave their lovely home. And on Sunday night, they are not going to leave their lovely home because they love television, too.

They are going to look at the programs on Sunday night because there are some good ones then. But when the Lord comes, my friend, you are going to leave the television; you are going to leave that lovely home; you are going to leave everything.

I have just one question to ask you: Will it break your heart to leave all of this down here?

I have asked myself that question many times. To be honest with you, I am not anxious to leave. I would love to stay. I have my friends and loved ones whom I want to be with. And I have a number of  projects that I want to continue building up.

I’ll be frank with you, I hope the Lord will just let me stay here awhile longer. But I also want to be able to say that when He does call, I will not have a thing down here which will break my heart to leave—not a thing.

I love my home too, but I would just as soon go off and leave it.

How do you feel about that today?

Mrs. Lot turned and looked back, and this is one of the explanations. The other reason that she looked back is simply that she did not believe God. God had said, “Leave the city, and don’t look back.” Lot didn’t look back; he believed God.

But Mrs. Lot did not believe God. She was not a believer, and so she didn’t really make it out of the city. She was turned to a pillar of salt.

Lot did not do well in moving down to the city of Sodom. He lost everything except his own soul. His life is a picture of a great many people who will not judge the sins of their lives.

They are saved, “yet so as by fire.” The Lord has said in a very definite way to these folk who have put all their eggs in a basket like this that if they will not judge their sin down here, He will judge it.

Apparently, that was the case in Lot’s story.

Even after they had been told by actual angels that God’s judgment was coming on Sodom, Lot and his family did not leave easily. Still, God was merciful; the angels forcibly rescued Abraham’s relatives from the city.

After they were out, one of the angels gave them very specific instructions: “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley” (Genesis 19:17).

Even then, Lot insisted on being allowed to stop in a tiny, nearby town, a request the angels granted (Genesis 19:20). Lot’s wife disobeyed this order from God through the angels. She “looked back,” and was punished by being turned into a pillar of salt.

Whether this is a literal, supernatural transformation, or a poetic way of indicating that she was caught up in the destruction due to her delay, the text gives no further details. In either case, God does not let her sin stand.

The language used here might suggest Lot’s wife gazed intently; the point is not that she merely allowed her eyes to take in the catastrophe.

The implication of the passage is that in looking back, Lot’s wife was expressing her continuing affection for the sinful culture of Sodom (Luke 17:31–32).

Later in this chapter, Lot’s daughters will also act in a way consistent with a lack of faith in God and reflective of the morality of the godless culture in which they were raised.

Some traditions point to an odd rock formation near the Dead Sea as the remnants of Lot’s wife, though we have no biblical evidence for this.

 

Genesis 19:27 KJV

And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:

---

What did Abraham think of all this?

In the previous chapter, Abraham had bargained with the Lord on behalf of the city of Sodom, where his nephew Lot lived. The Lord had revealed His intention to destroy the city but had agreed to spare it if as many as ten righteous people could be found there (Genesis 18:32).

Knowing that, Abraham had returned home from the place where he stood with the Lord, looking toward the valley and the condemned cities. Abraham now returns to the same spot the next morning, not knowing what he will find when he looks across the plain.

The following verse will describe the scene. One can only imagine the horror Abraham would have felt when seeing that the town where his nephew lived has become a firestorm.

 

Genesis 19:28 KJV

And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

---

When Abraham looked down toward Sodom, I think his heart was sad. I am not sure whether or not he knew that Lot had escaped. He probably learned about it later on.

When he looked down there, he probably was sad for Lot’s sake, but Abraham had not invested a dime down there. When judgment came, it did not disturb him one whit because he wasn’t in love with the things of Sodom and the things of the world.

Remember that we are told, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world . . .” (1 John 2:15).

First, I look at Sodom through the eyes of Lot himself: he sure had a wrong view of it. And then of Mrs. Lot: she fell in love with it. You can also sight-see in Sodom with Abraham: he lost nothing down there.

Finally, you can go through Sodom with the Lord and see it as He sees it. It is too bad that the church today is not looking at the sin of sodomy as God looks at it.

I do not think it is any more prevalent today than it has been in the past, but there is a tremendous percentage of our population who are homosexuals engaging in perversion.

We speak of it in a more candid manner than we ever have, and it is something that is right in our midst.

What is to be the attitude of the Christian toward homosexuality?

Even Lot in his day said, “You are doing wickedly.” And God judged it.

Isn’t it enough for the child of God to know that he cannot compromise with this type of thing?

This is a sin! The world indulges in it and then calls it a sickness. The same thing is said about the alcoholic. Sure, he’s sick. Of course, he’s sick.

But what made him take that first drink and continue to drink until he became sick?

Sin did it, my friend. Sin is the problem, and homosexuality is a sin. It is so labeled in the first chapter of Romans where God says He gave them up (see Rom. 1:18–32). Genesis 19 is a very important chapter for this present generation in which we are living today.

After securing from the Lord a promise not to destroy the city where his nephew lives if ten righteous people can be found there (Genesis 18:32), Abraham returns the next morning to the place where he and the Lord stood looking out over the plain the night before.

What he sees is smoke. Abraham sees so much smoke rising from the valley where Sodom and Gomorrah once had been that it looks like the smoke of a furnace rising into the air.

Abraham would have understood, of course, that the Lord had destroyed the cities and the region.

He would have understood that the Lord did not find even ten righteous men there. He may not have known yet, though, that the Lord did spare his nephew Lot and Lot’s two daughters in the town of Zoar.

This is an important, often overlooked aspect of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham worried that God’s wrath was too extreme—the lack of righteous people proved this was untrue.

Abraham was likely worried about the fate of his nephew, Lot—God’s provision to rescue Lot proved that to be unfounded, as well.

This story not only teaches us that God will judge sin and evil, but that He will do so in ways which are both fair and just, even though limited human beings cannot see all of the details He does.

This makes the story of Sodom and Gomorrah crucially relevant to the famous story of Abraham and his son, Isaac. When God commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in Genesis chapter 22, we need to remember the context of this very story.

God proved to Abraham that He would not only act justly, but that He would provide for Abraham’s welfare in ways Abraham himself had not considered. This earned trust, not blind faith, is what drives Abraham’s obedience in that upcoming event.

 

Genesis 19:29 KJV

And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

---

This is most welcome and instructive after so painful a narrative. It shows if God is a “consuming fire” to the wicked [Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 12:29 ], He is the friend of the righteous.

He “remembered” the intercessions of Abraham, and what confidence should not this give us that He will remember the intercessions of a greater than Abraham in our behalf.

This verse restates what Abraham learned only later. God saved Lot and Lot’s daughters because He remembered Abraham. God even saved Lot’s wife, at least temporarily, though she died during the escape due to her own disobedience.

God did indeed overthrow and thoroughly destroy the region in which Lot lived for their overwhelming sinfulness. But God saved Lot.

God’s act of rescue even in His judgment would serve as evidence to Abraham that God would keep His promises to Abraham in the years to come.

What happened in Sodom and Gomorrah has to be remembered when interpreting God’s command to Abraham in chapter 22 to sacrifice his son Isaac.

God has proven that He will not only act properly, but that He will work out all things for good in ways Abraham never could have foreseen.

It is that earned trust, through experience with God’s providence, which will lead Abraham to place his faith in God during such a confusing time.

 

Genesis 19:30 KJV

And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

---

See the peril of security. Lot, who kept chaste in Sodom, and was a mourner for the wickedness of the place, and a witness against it, when in the mountain, alone, and, as he thought, out of the way of temptation, is shamefully overtaken.

When the angels rescued Lot and his family from the destruction coming on Sodom and Gomorrah, they specifically told Lot to “escape to the hills, lest you be swept away” (Genesis 19:17).

Lot said no. He begged, instead, for the angel to allow him to escape to the small city of Zoar. The angel agreed.

Now, however, Lot is afraid to live in Zoar. He has apparently lost everything in God’s destruction of the region. All his flocks, herds, servants, slaves, and property are apparently gone.  He may have felt exposed and unprotected in Zoar for some reason.

He might have feared retaliation or abuse from those who lived in the city, now that he was a less-wealthy and less-powerful man. In any case, he takes his two daughters and runs to the hills, after all.

They settle in a cave. It’s unclear why Lot didn’t run, instead, to the safety of his uncle Abraham’s household.

 

Lot And His Two Daughters

---

In one of Scripture’s most tragic embarrassments, Lot’s daughters decide they have lost all hope of ever being married or having children. They take matters into their own hands.

Reflecting the all-but-nonexistent morality of the Sodomite culture in which they were raised, they get their father blindly drunk on two consecutive nights, each having sex with him in his stupor.

Both daughters become pregnant, and the resulting sons become the fathers of the Moabite and Ammonite peoples, respectively. Lot’s story, so far as the Bible is concerned, ends here, in ruin, shame, and humiliation.

 

Genesis 19:31-38 KJV

[31] And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:

[32] Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

[33] And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

[34] And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

[35] And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

[36] Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

[37] And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

[38] And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben–ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

 

Genesis 19:31 KJV

And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:

---

Let him that thinks he stands high, and stands firm, take heed lest he fall. Though saved from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his two grown daughters have lost everything else, including Lot’s wife, the girls’ mother.

They’ve been reduced to living in a cave in the hills, overlooking the annihilation of the entire region. Prior to these events, Lot’s two daughters had been engaged to men in Sodom (Genesis 19:14).

Those men were destroyed along with the rest of the city for their wickedness. Now they cannot imagine a life beyond what they have lost. From their perspective, they will find no husbands. They will never have children.

Some interpreters speculate that Lot’s daughters might have believed they were the only people left on earth. Others think it’s more likely these women felt that men from outside their familiar culture were unsuitable as husbands.

The following verses will reveal the actions they choose to take in response to their view of the world, but it is important for us to recognize that their view is false. Though they could not see it then, the world beyond what was lost was still full of eligible husbands.

The God who had so dramatically saved their lives would certainly be capable of providing husbands for them in due time. Clearly, Lot also did not lead them to this conclusion, though he apparently had no idea what they had planned for him.

Lot’s daughters were not willing or able to trust God in this, however. Given that they were raised in the depraved culture of Sodom, and engaged by their father to men of that city, this is hardly a surprise.

 

Genesis 19:32 KJV

Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

---

See the peril of drunkenness; it is not only a great sin itself, but lets in many sins, which bring a lasting wound and dishonor. Many a man does that, when he is drunk, which, when he is sober, he could not think of without horror.

Lot’s two grown virgin daughters had lost all they had ever known. This included their home, their mother, their wealth and status, and the men to whom they were engaged.

The previous verse revealed their state of mind: They could not imagine that they would ever have opportunity to be married or have children after all they had lost.

Instead of trusting the God who saved them to provide such things, they hatched a plan to provide them for themselves. This plan is horrific in both its motivation, and its details.

However, it’s important to remember that these women were raised in a profoundly depraved culture. Their father had even arranged for their marriage to men of that city. These are two desperate women, filled with fear and steeped in a godless environment.

Their plan, as it turns out, is as simple as it is awful: incest. More specifically, the women plan to get their father Lot so drunk with wine that he would not resist (or even be aware of) their coming to have sex with him in the night.

 

Genesis 19:33 KJV

And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

---

See also the peril of temptation, even from relations and friends, whom we love and esteem, and expect kindness from. Lot’s two grown virgin daughters have experienced intense loss.

They have witnessed the annihilation of their culture in Sodom, the loss of their prospective husbands, the destruction of their family’s wealth and power, and the death of their mother.

Their despair was stated in prior verses: they were convinced no men would ever marry them. They would never have children. All they had was gone. They were living in the hills in a cave with no prospects for any kind of better life.

This lack of trust in God reflects poorly on Lot’s spiritual leadership. Then again, Lot chose to not only raise his children in a city as corrupt as Sodom, he arranged for his daughters to marry men of that city.

That these women would turn to despair in a crisis is not surprising. Unfortunately, this upbringing also seems to factor into their attempt at resolving their situation.

In Sodom, the men of the city demanded Lot turn over his guests so they could be raped (Genesis 19:5).

Lot’s daughters enact a plan, here, which also revolves around sexual abuse. Lot’s daughters concoct a plot to inebriate their father so they can sexually use him, in order to conceive children.

Here, Lot’s firstborn daughter successfully executes the plan. They see to it that Lot is so blindingly drunk that he has no idea what is happening. His oldest daughter then takes advantage of her father, sexually, in order to conceive a child.

 

Genesis 19:34 KJV

And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

---

We must dread a snare, wherever we are, and be always upon our guard. Lot’s daughters are reeling from the loss of their home, mother, and prospective husbands during the annihilation of Sodom.

Apparently, they have no sense of trust in God, or His provision for their future. Instead, they seem convinced they no longer have any hope of marriage or children.

This faithlessness is not unexpected, since Lot chose to plant his family deeply in the midst of a godless, depraved Sodomite culture.

The plan these women devise to fix their predicament is also reflective of the culture in which they were raised. Earlier, men of the city demanded two strangers be sent out of Lot’s home in order to be raped (Genesis 19:5).

Recently, Lot’s daughters have plotted to conceive children by sexually violating their father—getting him drunk to the point of stupor and then having sex with him.

Lot’s oldest daughter has already been successful in her attempt. Since her scheme worked on the previous night, she encourages her younger sister to take advantage of their father, as well.

 

Genesis 19:35 KJV

And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

---

No excuse can be made for the daughters, nor for Lot. After losing everything in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, including the men to whom they were engaged, Lot’s two daughters made a plan to attempt to have children of their own.

This plot not only reflects a lack of trust in God, it also echoes the deep depravity of their childhood culture. In order to have children, Lot’s daughters plan to get Lot so drunk with wine that he would not be aware that they were coming into his bed to have sex with him.

The older daughter went first, and was able to succeed. Lot is so blinded by alcohol that he is not even aware of what’s happening, and has intercourse with his own daughter.

She then encourages her younger sister to follow the same plan of action. So, on the following night, the younger daughter does the same. Lot appears not to have been aware of what had happened in either case.

 

Genesis 19:36 KJV

Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

---

Scarcely any account can be given of the affair but this, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

From the silence of the Scripture concerning Lot henceforward, learn that drunkenness, as it makes men forgetful, so it makes them to be forgotten. Lot’s two daughters had sex with their father on consecutive nights.

Acting desperately, but very deliberately, they got him so drunk with wine that he didn’t even realize what was happening (Genesis 19:33; 35).

Both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant through this sexual abuse of their own father.

Why would they do such a thing?

Their stated reason was they assumed no man was left who would marry them and give them children. The men they were engaged to had been destroyed in God’s judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24–25).

Their mother was dead (Genesis 19:26). Lot, apparently, had lost all of his wealth, and they were now living in a cave. In their view, there was nothing left for them.

Lot, apparently, had not taught his daughters to seek help from the Lord or to wait for Him to provide. That goes a long way to explaining their despair and scheming.

At the same time, even the godless world outside of Sodom and Gomorrah would have regarded this kind of incest as wrong. The action of the daughters reflected the “anything goes” morality of the culture in which they were raised in.

Sodom had been wiped from the face of the earth, but it had not been removed from the hearts of Lot’s family. Lot had allowed his family to be deeply influenced by this cultural sin, and it certainly shaped his daughters’ sense of morality.

Despite their humiliating origins, the sons conceived in this event become the fathers of significant people groups: the Moabites and Ammonites. As seems to be common in the Bible, their names serve as a reminder of the circumstances of their birth.

 

Genesis 19:37 KJV

And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

---

Lot and his two grown, virgin daughters were rescued from the annihilation of Sodom and Gomorrah by two angels (Genesis 19:15–16).

During this escape, the entire culture of Sodom was wiped out, along with the girls’ mother and their prospective husbands (Genesis 19:24–26).

While sheltering in a cave, the women despair of ever finding husbands or having children. This lack of faith is unsurprising, given that their father chose to anchor his family in such a depraved culture.

Unfortunately, that same depravity is reflected in the plan Lot’s daughters concoct in order to bear children: to get their father so drunk that they can have sex with him.

On consecutive nights, Lot’s own daughters carry out this very plan. They make him so inebriated that he doesn’t even realize what is happening (Genesis 19:33, 36). His own children sexually abuse him in order to become pregnant.

The son of the firstborn daughter was called Moab. This word sounds similar to the Hebrew term meaning “from father.” He became the father of the Moabite people, who would later become enemies of Israel.

Likewise, the younger daughter bears a son named Ben-ammi, whose Ammonite descendants are also antagonistic towards God’s people.

 

Genesis 19:38 KJV

And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben–ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

---

As Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed, two angels rescued Lot and his grown, virgin daughters. After losing their mother, prospective husbands, and homeland, these women sheltered in a cave with their father.

Reflecting a lack of spiritual guidance from their father, Lot’s daughters assume they will never be able to find husbands and have children.

Echoing the heinous immorality of their home culture, the women scheme to conceive children by their own father, plying him with alcohol until he literally has no idea what is occurring (Genesis 19:33, 36).

Lot’s two daughters had sex with their father on consecutive nights. Both become pregnant. The older daughter’s son is named Moab, the patriarch of the Moabites, who become enemies of Israel.

The son of the younger daughter was called Ben-ammi, a name meaning “son of my people”. He eventually becomes the father of the Ammonite people. Like the Moabites, the Ammonites would later become enemies of Israel.

 

 

I hope that you have really enjoyed this post,

 

---