Genesis 19

Genesis 19:1-3

In this chapter we have the history of Sodom’s ruin, and Lot’s reason from that ruin; the result of the enquiry, Chap. xviii. 21. ii. 1. That Lot was very good, ver. 1, 2, 3. 2. That the Sodomists were very misled, and with, ver. 4-11. 3. Special care was therefore taken for the securing of Lot, and his family, in a place of safety, ver. 12-23. 4. Mercy having rejected therein, by this shorn itself in the ruin of Sodom, and of Lot’s wife, ver. 24-26. with a general repetition of the story, ver. 27-29. 5. A foul to that Lot was guilty of, in committing itself with his own daughters, ver. 30, ad finem.

1. AND there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them, rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; 2. And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servants house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, ‘Nay, but we will abide in the street all night. 3. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house: and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

We have, here, the angels arrival at Sodom, and Lot’s kind reception of them.

1. The two angels came to Sodom at even. The Lord sends his excusations of vengeance, and who shall stand before these ministers of flame?

2. Lot meets and presses them into his house. Singular in his party, he is selected from the general ruin. He is earned to solicit their company, and happy to entertain them liberally.

He had seen no such visitants at Sodom of a long time. Note, God men deserve a hearty welcome. We cannot be too pressing on such to favour us with their company.

3. The angels at first seem courteously to excuse themselves, but at last yield to his solicitations. Note, 1. Every invitation which is given us must not be hastily complied with, lest we should seem to run, where we should wait to be drawn. 2. Those who are hearty solicitors, however they may fall with men, shall prevail with God.

4. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compelled the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter. 5. And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.

v. 4, 5. They who came to see, were soon convinced of the wickedness of Sodom. Observe,

1. The universal corruption, old and young from every quarter. Note, That must needs be a wicked place, where the old set the example, and are ringleaders in iniquity.

2. Their crime. The most mouldrous and unnatural; shocking to think of, and infamous to mention; yet they dared know it, and add impudence to their vile affections. Note, 1. No sin in the sight of God is more abominable than unnatural lusts. 2. When men have lost shame, they are on the brink of ruin.

3. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, 7. And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. 8. Behold now, I have two daughters, which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto shee men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. 9. And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and ‘he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee than with them. And they pressed fore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. 10. But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. 11. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

Genesis 19:6-11

We have here,

1. Lot’s interposition. Observe, (1.) His advice; an humble intreaty. A wise reprover will ever cloak rebuke with the garment of love. (2.) His hasty proposal, v. 8. We must not commit sin to avert sin, nor do evil that good may come. (3.) His earnest pleading of the laws of hospitality. When we treat with men, we should endeavour to convince them by argument.

2. Their insolent rejection of his advice, with intimidating threats against himself, v. 9. Note, 1. Ill language in the common lot of those who set their faces against men’s sins. 2. Friendly admonition is often thus rejected as insolent intrusion. 3. They who would rebuke wicked men, must put their life in their hand. 4. The last effort to save is then finished, when sinners thrash out from them the preaching of the gospel.

3. The angel’s interposition to save Lot, and chastise these sinners against the Lord. Note, (1.) God has a hand to pull us in at the door of safety, when our case seems almost desperate. (2.) Those who can trust him with their life, are sure of a safe retreat at last, where the wicked cease from troubling. (3.) Whom God will destroy, he usually infatuates. Demonted goes with perverse. (4.) No judgment will turn the heart. Though sinners of God, as the men of Sodom, still they are fully set to do evil. They say, We will pursue it yet again.

4. And the men said unto Lot, Hath thou here any besides? Son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place. 13. For we will destroy this place: because the cry of them is warers great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. 14. And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get ye out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city: but he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.

Genesis 19:12-14

Lot is here warned of the approaching catastrophe of Sodom, and, as permitted, dies to warn his relations to escape. Observe,

1. The Before Christ Chap. 11. Judg. vi. 35. See Judges pp. 34. 1 Will. vi. 1 Chap. xviii. 20. Bellech Clay.

2. The command given him, to bring out all he could persuade of his relations from the ruin. Note, Those who are themselves awakened to a fense of their danger, must use their utmost efforts to persuade others to fly with themselves from the wrath to come.

3. Lot’s hail to inform his kindness, his sins in law, and their families. Up, get you out. Abrupt and urgent; be- Speaking his solicitude, their danger, and the necessity of immediate compliance. Note, (1.) Ministers cannot be too warm and urgent in their address to sinners consciences. (2.) They who are in jeopardy every hour, have not a moment to strike with.

4. Their reception of him. They thought him mad or melancholy, and laughed at his fears. Note, 1. Many now laugh at hell, who will shortly wait there eternally. 2. To mock at God’s warnings, is the way to hailen his judgments. Such mockers still are found. 3. It is no uncommon thing for despises of the gospel to treat the ministers of it as enthralled or melancholic.

5. ¶ And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters which are here; left thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 16. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. 17. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he laid, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain: escape to the mountain, left thou be consumed. 18. And Lot did unto them, Oh not so, my Lord. 19. Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life: and I cannot escape to the mountain, left some evil take me, and I die. 20. Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. 21. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. 22. Hail there, escape thither: for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither: therefore the name of the city was called Zour.

Genesis 19:15-22

We have here, Lot’s flight and rescue from the burnings of Sodom. Though ten righteous were not found to save the whole, one righteous man is found, and he shall save himself and family. Observe,

1. Lot’s lingering in Sodom. How loth to part from his house, his goods, his sons, his daughters; but go he must, or perish in the flames. Note, (1.) Worldly things are a great snare to the heart. (2.) Their cause may an awakened soul to linger, through fear of loss, or hope of gain, instead of coming out of the world, and being separate. (3.) It is owing to God’s sovereign grace, that we are with a holy violence forced away, and saved from the effects of our sinful lingerings.

2. The angels hail to get him away; they laid hold on him, and his daughters, and brought them out, and then urge their flight to the mountain, without so much as stopping by the way, or calling a look on the devoted cities. Note, (1.) They who would fly from sin to Christ Jesus, must never think of seeking rest any where but in him. (2.) To look back with regret on the pleasures of sin, is the way to be again entangled thereby. (3.) Till death, we must hasten our flight faster and faster from the world which loth in wickedness.

3. Lot’s request. A mixture of unbelief. Why could not he who called him out, help him on his way? How often does unbelief assault the faithful soul? A mixture of charity. If Bela was his refuge, his safety would be theirs also. It was a little city; perhaps less wicked therefore. God mingles his mercy in the midst of judgment.

4. It is granted. Though there might be much infirmity in Lot’s pretending to clothe the place of his safety, the more mercy is manifested in God’s yielding to his request. Effectual fervent prayer available much. Note, 1. A righteous man loved the city; how valuable such men? yet usually they are thought the troubling. 2. God’s hands seem bound till he is late; those who have everlasting promises for their bups, need not fear to perish: God cannot deny himself.

5. ¶ The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zour. 24. Then * the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven. 25. And he overthrew those

cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

Genesis 19:23-25

Bright was the sun which rose upon devoted Sodom. Safe in their foolish confidence, Lot’s flight afforded matter of fresh ridicule, and now they can welcome the returning day. But see when sinners are in the heights of their security, how destruction overtakes them. The sun is covered, the storm arises, the lightnings glare, the heavens are on fire, the flames descend, the smoking cities fend up their dying cries. Too late to call for mercy, it is the time of judgment. Mark the end of sinners vain confidence.

Learn, 1. If judgments are on the earth, it is the Lord’s work. The Lord Jesus is not only the Saviour of those who believe in him, like Lot, but he is the judge and destroyer of those who, like Sodom, reject his situation. 2. They who go after strange flesh, may expect to be punished with strange judgments. 3. What a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Fools now make a mock of sin, but they will find it a bitter thing, when they shall feel, with Sodom, the vengeance of eternal fire, Jude, 7.

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

Genesis 19:26

But four came out of Sodom, and one was left by the way. Behold, and tremble. Remember Lot’s wife.

1. Her sin is looking back. Disobedient to the command, and distrustful of the threatening, with unfabund affection to her worldly enjoyments, she was drawn out by violence, but her heart was behind. Note, 1. They who make prediction of religion, out of complaisance to their friends, or by mere constraint, will soon make shipwreck of it, to their shame. 2. If we think of leaving our sin, we must make no reserve, either in affection or practice: once on the way to heaven, we must persevere; to look back, is to return unto perfidious. Let us fear then, least we fall.

2. Her punishment: a pillar of salt; a lasting memorial to warn succeeding ages. Note, (1.) Many a saint of God goes to heaven, and leaves his wife, through her pervertness, on the plain. (2.) No inducement must tempt us to stay, or look back on them; if they will not go with us, we must leave them to their ruin.

3. ¶ And Abraham got 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.

Genesis 19:27-29

Abraham spent the night, no doubt, solicitous about the issue of his prayer, and at early dawn, arises to see what God had determined. And here we have,

1. The awful sight before him; the desolate plain, and smoking ruins of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Satisfied in the vengeance, no doubt he justified God in his judgments. The saints who shall praise God in glory for his mercies to themselves, shall also when the smoke of the sinners turned ascends, cry Hallelujah, Rev. xix. 3.

2. The kind remembrance God had of Abraham, in the rescue of Lot. Note, (1.) When we are enquiring after the answer of our prayers, we shall certainly find their effect; if not in our own way, yet in such a way, as we have need be thankful for. (2.) Connexions with true believers, are great blessings; we often find the benefit of their prayers.

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

Genesis 19:30

Lot’s removal from Zour. Whether shocked at their wickedness, or frightened with the apprehensions of those waters, that now rose to make the lake of Sodom, he shun to that mountain, which before he was so unwilling to go to, and leaves the city, to dwell more securely in a cave. Note, 1. Our own choice seldom proves good, and therefore, sooner or later, God by disappointments brings us to follow his will as the best. 2. Lot’s plenty, that the land could not hold, is now gone, and a hole in a mountain contains his little all. Note, Those who for secular advantage, leave God’s people, will smart for it usually in grievous disappointments.

31. ¶ And the first-born 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 firth-born 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 firth-born said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yefternight 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 firth-born 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 Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

Genesis 19:31-38

How little safety is there for us from sin in any place? He who was kept in Sodom, is overcome in a cave. We have here,

1. His daughter’s wicked contrivance. They had, it is to be feared, been too much tinctured with Sodom’s sin, and were eye-witnesses of its punishment: now the old fore breaks out again; what they could not effect when their father was sober, they endeavour to bring about by drunkenness, and thus one crime is aggravated with another. Note, (1.) When a woman’s heart is set on wickedness, it will go hard, but she succeeds. (2.) No judgments can restrain those, whom divine grace doth not change. (3.) Solitude is so far from being a cure to lewdness, that it there usually prevails: to fly away from these evil imaginations into company, is their readself cure.

2. Lot’s shameful and scandalous fall. Lord, what is man, if left to himself? Drunk and ineffectual, and thus repeatedly too: let us read it with horror. Note, (1.) No man this false heaven, is false from presumptuous sins, or above praying to be kept from them. (2.) Drunkenness hath no end of evil; then every crime without horror or shame is easily committed. (3.) Let nearself relatives beware: the freedoms of their relation may degenerate into the foulest indulgence.

3. The fruit of this ineffectual commerce. Two sons, Moab and Ammon; and two nations also, a perpetual memorial of Lot’s shame. Note, Though prosperity may seem to attend the most unnatural sins, the end will be misery and shame.