Last time, we left Lot and the two angels going to Lot’s house to sleep for the night. Before they go to bed, word has spread that these two good-looking visitors are in town. Men, both young and old, stir with anticipation as they gather around Lot’s house and cry out with demands for Lot to bring the men out “so that we can have sex with them.” (Genesis 19:3)
Whew, nothing like getting right to the point of their fleshly desires! We get the idea why the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous . . .”
Lot goes out the to talk to them, shutting the door quickly behind him. Surely he can settle them down. He says, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing.” You tell ’em, Lot!
Then Lot said, “Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you and you can do whatever you want. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” (Genesis 19;7)
What? And who is to protect your daughters, Lot? Are we understanding God’s delimma now of the “the sin so grievous against Sodom”?
Lot’s two guests break into action. They pull Lot back inside and shut the door. Then they strike the men, young and old, with blindness. They give Lot a chance to talk to his potential sons-in-law to come with the family out of the city, but the guys think it’s all a joke. (Genesis 19:14)
By now it is almost dawn. The angels cry out with haste, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” The angels grab the family members by their hands to rush them out of the city. “Flee for your lives. DON’T LOOK BACK!”
The angel tells them to go all the way to the mountain. In other words, get far away! Lot fears going up the mountain and begs to go to the small town of Zoar. The angel relinquishes, but insists that they go quickly.
As the sun rises, the Lord rains down burning sulfur on the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. It totally destroys everything—people, the land, the vegetation—and Lot’s wife. This is her one and only verse. She lingered too long, looking back, unable to move forward, maybe longing to return. Fire and brimstone reigned down on these evil towns or maybe an earthquake spewed up asphalt. I think of Mt. St. Helens and the dust that covered the surrounding land. Or 911, with people running from the collapsed building covered in powdery dust. Those inside became that dust.
The Bible says, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” (Gensis 19:26)
Like Lot’s wife, we may look back to a former life, a former taste of the world, or the taste of revenge, jealousy, regret, mistakes, anger, bitterness. The Lord may be saying, “Move forward, find your way, turn to me. Don’t look back.” (Genesis 19:1-26) Conclusion, next time.
~ Joyce ~