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GENESIS 19
All it takes is one righteous person for God to act mercifully. -- (DATE: Between 1852 and 1851 before Christ)
DISCOVER Genesis 19: The angles sent by the Lord arrived at the city of Sodom in the evening. Lot, Abraham’s nephew, was by the gate at the time, and when he saw them, he approached and bowed low before them before inviting them to spend the night at his house. He offered to give them water to wash their feet and spend the night well, so that they might leave early the next day. The two men, however, declined, as they were intent of spending the night by the town square. But Lot pressed them strongly to accept his invitation, and in the end they agreed to come to his home. There, Lot made a feast for them, and they ate of his freshly made unleavened bread. -- Before they could turn in for the night, however, the men of the city, young and old, surrounded the house and called upon Lot to bring the two strangers he had invited, so that they might get to know them intimately. When Lot went out to speak to them, he made sure to immediately shut the door behind himself. Once out, he pleaded with the people to please don’t act so wickedly. Instead of the two men, whom he had invited into the safety of his home, he would offer them his two virgin daughters to do with them as they pleased tonight. When the men of the city heard this they grew angry: Who did Lot think he was that he, as a simple sojourner from abroad, would dare judge matters like this? Threatening that they would deal even worse with him once they had their fun with the two strangers, they wanted to get a hold of him, while others began preparations to break the door. But the servants of the Lord pulled him back in and struck the gathered people with blindness, so that they wore themselves out searching for the door. -- Disregarding the people outside, the men asked Lot whether he had anyone dear to him in the city, like other children or sons-in-law. If he did, he was to bring them out of this place, for they had come here in the name of the LORD, to confirm the outcry that had reached him against these cities. And now that they had seen it for themselves, they were about to destroy it. Hearing that, Lot went and searched for the men he had promised his daughters to, and told them that they needed to flee the city with him, for the LORD would destroy it. But they couldn’t take him seriously. When dawn came, the angles urged Lot to take his wife and daughters and flee the city, lest he, too, be swept up in the city’s imminent destruction. But Lot lingered (, hoping to convince his sons-in-law). -- So the men had no other option, but to grab him and his wife and his daughters by the hand, for the LORD was merciful and remembered Abraham haggling with him for every life he could. They set them outside the city, telling Lot and his family to flee for their lives and not to turn back until they had reached the end of the valley and escaped to the hills. (Now, Lot knew the land, and how far he had just been commanded to run, and he saw no way he and his family would be able to accomplish that, so) he requested that since he had found favor in the LORD’s eyes, as he had saved his life already, that he might show him mercy once more by letting him flee to a small, nearby city instead, lest the disaster, which the LORD God would unleash, might overtake him and kill them all anyway. And God agreed to grant him this boon, and spare the city of Zoar, which Lot had spoken of. But Lot was to make haste, for the angels could do nothing until the four refugees managed to get there. -- By the time Lot and his family had reached Zoar, the sun was already up in the sky. Then God rained fire and sulfur out from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah. And the cities, its inhabitants, and all that grew there on the ground was utterly destroyed. But Lot’s wife, who had been behind her husband, disregarded the warnings of the angles and turned back towards her home and by so doing became a pillar of salt. -- When Abraham went out from his tent this morning and looked out into the valley, he saw smoke coming from this direction as if the land had been turned into a furnace. -- After these events, Lot took his daughters and moved into the hills, where they lived in a cave, for he had seen the judgment of the Lord and was afraid to live in Zoar. This decision left his daughters dissatisfied, however, for this lifestyle further diminished the slim chance they still might have had to find husbands for themselves. Therefore the firstborn of the two suggested to her younger sibling, since they would be unable to find husbands anymore, they should make their father drunk, so that they might preserve offspring from him while he slept. So they brought Lot wine and made him drunk. And while he slept the firstborn went in to him and lay with him, without Lot being the wiser of her deed. The next day they repeated the process, but this time it was the younger one’s turn to go in to her father and lie with Lot, without him noticing. Thus both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. And the firstborn bore a son, whom she named Moab, who became the father of the Moabites. While the younger bore a son, whom she named Ben-ammi. He became the father of the Ammonites.
PRAYER: Our righteous God, we bow down with awe and trembling at your just judgments. You destroyed the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, so that no traces of them were left, like you dealt with the whole world during the time of Noah. Help us to always remember that you are not indifferent to our evil conduct but utterly reject it. At the same time we marvel at your mercy and at what lengths you went with your angels to save the life of Lot, Abraham’s nephew with his loved ones. Thank you that through your Son Jesus Christ you promise all people on earth, who believe in Him, to be saved from your final judgment, which will definitely come upon all the earth. Amen.
QUESTION 19: How did God save the relatives of Abraham from the horrific doom of Sodom and Gomorrah?