Genesis 19

1 And the two angels came to Sodom at evening; 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 slave’s house and tarry all night and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early and go on your ways. And they said, No, 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 banquet and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed 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 who came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us that we may know them.

6 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 who 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 these men do nothing, for they have come under the shadow of my roof.

9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This fellow came in to sojourn and is he to lift himself up as judge? Now will we deal worse with thee than with them. And they did great violence to the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.

10 Then the men put forth their hand and pulled Lot into the house with them and shut 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.

12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou anyone else here? Sons-in-law and thy sons and thy daughters and whatever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place;

13 For we will destroy this place because the cry of them is waxed great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.

14 And Lot went out and spoke unto his sons-in-law, those who were to marry his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law.

15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters who are here; lest 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 outside the city.

17 And it came to pass as they brought them forth outside, that he said, Escape; for thy soul, do not look behind thee, neither stop thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my lords;

19 behold now, thy slave has found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountain, lest 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 there, (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 the city for which thou hast spoken.

22 Make thee haste, escape there; for I cannot do anything until thou hast arrived there. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

23 The sun was rising upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.

24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of the heavens;

25 and he overthrew those cities and all that plain, with all the inhabitants of those cities, and the fruit of the ground.

26 Then the wife of Lot looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

27 And Abraham rose up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD.

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

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

30 But 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.

31 Then the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man left 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 the generation 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 next day that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in and lie with him that we may preserve the generation 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 bore a son and called his name Moab; the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

38 And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Benammi; the same is the father of the sons of Ammon unto this day.

Genesis 19 Commentary

Chapter 19

The destruction of Sodom, and the deliverance of Lot. (1-29) The sin and disgrace of Lot. (30-38)

Verses 1-29 Lot was good, but there was not one more of the same character in the city. All the people of Sodom were very wicked and vile. Care was therefore taken for saving Lot and his family. Lot lingered; he trifled. Thus many who are under convictions about their spiritual state, and the necessity of a change, defer that needful work. The salvation of the most righteous men is of God's mercy, not by their own merit. We are saved by grace. God's power also must be acknowledged in bringing souls out of a sinful state If God had not been merciful to us, our lingering had been our ruin. Lot must flee for his life. He must not hanker after Sodom. Such commands as these are given to those who, through grace, are delivered out of a sinful state and condition. Return not to sin and Satan. Rest not in self and the world. Reach toward Christ and heaven, for that is escaping to the mountain, short of which we must not stop. Concerning this destruction, observe that it is a revelation of the wrath of God against sin and sinners of all ages. Let us learn from hence the evil of sin, and its hurtful nature; it leads to ruin.

Verses 30-38 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. Let him that thinks he stands high, and stands firm, take heed lest he fall. See the peril of drunkenness; it is not only a great sin itself, but lets in many sins, which bring a lasting wound and dishonour. Many a man does that, when he is drunk, which, when he is sober, he could not think of without horror. See also the peril of temptation, even from relations and friends, whom we love and esteem, and expect kindness from. We must dread a snare, wherever we are, and be always upon our guard. No excuse can be made for the daughters, nor for Lot. 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.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 19

The contents of this chapter are Lot's entertainment of two angels that came to Sodom, Ge 19:1-3; the rude behaviour of the men of Sodom towards them, who for it were smote with blindness, Ge 19:4-11; the deliverance of Lot, his wife and two daughters, by means of the angels he entertained, Ge 19:12-17; the sparing of the city of Zoar at the entreaty of Lot, to which he was allowed to flee, Ge 19:18-22; the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, Ge 19:23-25; Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt for looking back, Ge 19:26; Abraham's view of the conflagration of the cities, Ge 19:28,29; Lot's betaking himself to a mountain, and dwelling in a cave with his two daughters, by whom he had two sons, the one called Moab, and the other Benammi, Ge 19:30-38.