Genesis 19: When God Has to Grab You by the Collar!

Journey through the Book of Genesis with me.  The plan is simple. Read ONE chapter a day. Blog or journal 5* things you learned that you previously didn't know and ask 5* questions about the chapter that you'll ponder all week. Let's go!

** You'll probably learn way more than 5 things and have more than 5 questions about each chapter. That's totally fine. The more the merrier! 

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Genesis 19:1-38

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1: When Lot invites the two strangers to spend the night at his house, was this simply Middle Eastern courtesy custom, or was he doing it to protect them from what he suspected would happen and did inevitably happen later?

QUESTION 2: Why were the two men/angels insistent on spending the night in the “town square” (v.2)? How differently might God’s judgment have played out in both cities had the two been confronted by the gang in the middle of Town Square?

QUESTION 3: Clearly, these two men/angels were on a mission from God to evaluate the cities and destroy them. So why did they change courses (briefly) by yielding to Lot’s request that they “turn aside” and spend the night at his house?

QUESTION 4: Is verse 8 a bluff? Did Lot actually intend to offer his two daughters as a substitute for rape? How in the world could Lot even contemplate this? And how in the world does this make Lot any better than the depraved Sodomites God is about to destroy?

QUESTION 5: If all the men in Sodom, “… to the last man,” (v.4) showed up at Lot’s house to gang rape the two men, then where were Lot’s two sons-in-law at the time? Gomorrah?

WHAT I LEARNED

INSIGHT 1: Verse 4 is an indication of just how morally bankrupt Sodom’s sin had become. It says literally every man in the city, “…both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house” [to sexually assault the two strangers in town). This wasn’t just a few people messing things up for everyone else; every man was a full participant! Unfortunately, as goes the man, so goes the home.

INSIGHT 2: Even after being struck blind by the two angels, the men of Sodom still groped for the door to sexually assault them, to the point of wearing themselves out. (v.11). This brings to mind the words of Jesus in Mark 7:21-23, “ For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

INSIGHT 3: If God was merciful enough to “seize” (v.16) Lot and his family so they were out of the path of judgment, and if God went so far as to grant Lot and his family a second option for a safe zone (v.21) that was more convenient, then Lot’s wife’s actions in verse 26 was clearly an act of rebellion against God. In other words, she wasn’t merely judged (turned into a pillar of salt) because she casually glanced back at the city. No. Lot's wife must have looked back with a sense of longing to return to her old way of life, or even possibly have looked back with a sense of disdain at God. Hence her abrupt judgment (v.26). They were clearly warned in verse 17, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley.” So this, perhaps was God’s way of saying, “Okay, you want to be with them so much? Have your way!”

INSIGHT 4: Lot’s sons-in-law do not realize how dangerously close they are to being swept up in judgment - “But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.” (v.14). Perhaps Lot did not convey the seriousness of what lay ahead? After all, he himself still lingered behind the next morning (v.16) and physically had to be yanked out by the two angels. Unfortunately, both sons-in-law never heeded his warning and got swept up in the judgment.

PRAYER: “Lord, may we always take seriously your warnings!”

INSIGHT 5: The angel’s forceful action of “seizing” Lot and his daughters is indeed a great act of mercy (of God). Sometimes God pleads with us gently and urges us to flee from sin. Other times, He mercifully “seizes” us by our shirt collar and drags us away from painful judgment.

PRAYER: “Lord, please feel free AT ANY POINT IN MY LIFE to forcefully yank me off the path of judgment when I foolishly insist on staying the course!”

INSIGHT 6: Abraham’s first thought in verse 27-28 when he saw the rising smoke from Sodom and Gomorrah must have been: “Wow. I guess there weren’t even 10 righteous men in the city.” For there is none righteous, none who seek God. ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

INSIGHT 7: Some of the greatest national threats to Israel came from the incestuous affair that took place here in Lot’s household (v.30-28). Sin ALWAYS comes back to bite us in our homes!

PRAYER: “Lord, keep me off the path of sin. Protect my children from suffering the spiritual consequences of my past foolish decisions. Keep them safe from engaging in any foolish choices that may put them in spiritual jeopardy. Send your mightiest warrior angels to stand guard over them in any invisible spiritual battles that may be waged over their lives, or that I may foolishly lead them into.”

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