Genesis Chapter 19 – John Karmelich

1. Let’s start with a quote by Jesus. That’s always a good thing to do in a Christian bible study! J

a) "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." (Luke 16:13 NIV)

b) Jesus point is that everybody “serves” somebody. Everybody has some sort of “god” in your life. If your “god” is money, then your primary concern in life is making money. Even for a Christian, there are times in life when we are worried about money and worried about where the money is going to come from. At that one particular moment, we are making “money” our god-of-the moment. Worry is the opposite of faith.

c) I use this as my introduction because today we are focusing on the town of Sodom in Genesis 19. It is a town in which other-than-Lot, nobody serves the God of the Bible.

2. Have you ever wondered what is the ultimate end of a town in which nobody serves the God of the bible? Sodom is just such an example. Much of this chapter is about Sodom’s destruction.

a) Even if it is a culture where they never heard of God, He built into mankind an instinctive knowledge to know what is right.

b) Man instinctively knows it is wrong to kill, wrong to steal. Further, every culture in the world has a one-man, one-woman family structure as the basic foundation of the family. Even in places where they never heard of Judaism or Christianity, that knowledge is instinctive.

i) “For the truth about God is known to them (all unbelievers) instinctively; God has put this knowledge in their hearts.” “(Romans 1:19 TLB)

c) Sodom is recorded as the first specific place in the bible where they willfully ignored the instinctively knowledge of right and wrong. Just as one can grow in their maturity in their relationship with God, so one can also grow “the wrong way”. You can get to a “point-of-no-return”, which is what happened to Sodom.

d) I see the destruction of Sodom as a “mercy-killing” more than a judgment. If ever a group of people get to a point like those in Sodom, not only is God destroying that town for judgment’s sake (of the innocent), but also because it gets to the point where a town like Sodom is “incurably” wicked and there is no repentance possible.

e) “Sodom” can also be an example of a person who spends their entire life turning away from God. One can get to “a point of no return” in their life. God essentially says to that person (or that town), “If that’s the way you want to live, fine. I’m giving you the free will to live that way, if for no other reason, to be an example to others of how bad it is. In fact, I’m going to change you so that it will be impossible for you to repent.”

i) I believe there is a “point of no return”. I’m not sovereign God, so I don’t know what and when that point is, I just know it exists and I’ve seen it personally. I still pray for people who I suspect are at that point because I am not God, and I don’t know people’s hearts.

ii) Here is a description of “Sodom” in one verse: “So God let them go ahead into every sort of sex sin, and do whatever they wanted to--yes, vile and sinful things with each other's bodies.” (Romans 1:24 TLB)

3. The particular sin of Sodom is one of sexual depravity.

a) In a few pages, I’m going to deviate a little on that topic, if for no other reason as it is such a “hot button” in our society right now.

b) Sodom could have been “equally” as guilty of being a 100% town of thieves or a 100% town of murders. My point is the specific sin of homosexuality is in view here, but it is the fact that the town “100%” turned away from God is the reason for the action.

4. It is also important to understand that God judges towns, cities and nations as well as people.

a) “Judgment” by God can be complete destruction, or a “lack of dominance”. It is important to understand that not all “biblical” judgment is about sending people to hell. There are other forms of “punishment/judgment” discussed in the bible.

b) One type of judgment is that of a complete destruction of a particular location:

i) Jesus said, "Woe to you, (town of) Korazin! Woe to you, (town of) Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” (Matthew 11:21 NIV)

ii) The towns of Korazin and Bethsaida no longer physically exist. Jesus held them accountable because of the miracles done there. God does give time for a city to repent of what is held accountable to that city, but there is a point of no return.

iii) One can also think about all of those ancient biblical tribes that longer exist today. Once God calls for an eternal judgment on nation, it is gone for good!

c) Another type of judgment is that of a nation never again being a “super-power”:

i) It (Egypt) will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself above the other nations. I will make it so weak that it will never again rule over the nations. (Ezekiel 29:15 NIV)

ii) Egypt, which once ruled the known world for centuries, has always been a lowly kingdom. Since the time of Ezekiel’s prediction, Egypt has never ruled over anyone and I guarantee will never again!

d) The bible also predicts of some future judgments to come that haven’t happened yet.

i) Isaiah predicts that one day the city of Damascus (in modern Lebanon) will be utterly destroyed (Isaiah 17:1). Yet that city has been continually alive since Isaiah’s prediction. This will happen, and I suspect it is an “end time” prediction.

e) Finally, Jesus judges churches:

i) Jesus said to the church in Ephesus: Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. (Revelation 2:5 NIV)

a) “Lampstands” are word-pictures of individual churches (See Rev. 1:20).

b) The original church of Ephesus has long been destroyed and is now a pile of ruins for tourists to visit. They “lost their lampstand” as they refused to repent, as Jesus required of them.

f) Judgment also comes in the form of other punishments.

i) One of the sins committed by Lot in this chapter is he offers his two daughters to the Sodomites. No matter how you try to rationalize it, this is wrong.

ii) Later in the chapter we read of these two daughters having sex with their drunken father in order to produce children. Those children become nations that were thorns in the side of Israel for hundreds of years. The point is that God often judges sin in ways we don’t see initially but still have to pay the consequences.

iii) Which reminds me of an old joke about adultery: “God often punishes the adulterer by making him (or her) spend the rest of their life with their new partner.” J The kind of person willing to have sexual relations with a married person is not a person who fears God. Often, living with that second person causes far more grief than the marriage they have damaged.

g) OK, I’ve punished you with enough introduction commentary. Let’s move on to the text before God decides to judge me on this! J

5. Chapter 19, Verse 1: The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. ² "My lords," he said, "please turn aside to your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning." "No," they answered, "we will spend the night in the square."

a) The first word is translated “the”, which is accurate. The idea is that of the 3 “men” mentioned in the previous chapter, two of them moved on to Sodom. Here they are called angels, sent by God.

b) So why don’t we read of “God himself” coming to Sodom as he came to Abraham? Why just the two messengers?

i) I believe there is a “word-picture” being shown for us here: God himself “cannot look” upon evil. Of course “God sees all” and is well aware of Sodom. I believe when a location gets to a point like Sodom, in a word-picture-sense, God “turns his back” and sends angels as final messengers prior to its destruction.

a) “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.
(Habakkuk 1:13a, NIV)

ii) Remember that Sodom did have some “evidence” of God. Remember that Sodom is one of the cities rescued by Abraham. When the King of Sodom offered material rewards to Abraham for this service, Abraham turned down that reward to show “he only served God”. (Reference: Genesis 14:22-24). Abraham “witness” to the king should have been a warning to people of Sodom.

c) Back to Lot and the two angels: There is a “parallel” between the beginning of Chapter 18 when Abraham first saw the “three guys” show up and the beginning of Chapter 19 when Lot first saw these “two guys” show up.

i) In both cases, Abraham and Lot knew these were angels from God.

ii) In both cases, Abraham and Lot bowed down before them.

iii) They both offered food and refreshments. (Can angels digest food? J)

iv) We are going to read of lots of faults and mistakes by Lot in this chapter. Despite that, he still believes in the God of Abraham, and he has enough discernment to know that these two men are angels and sent by God. He doesn’t turn them away, but bows low and calls them “sir” as a sign of respect.

d) We also see of the “fallen state” of Lot in this verse.

i) Sodom is a city called “evil” as far back as Chapter 13.

ii) Here we read of Lot “sitting in the gate”. This means Lot is now in charge of who can and who cannot “do business” in Sodom. He is now “part of the city council”.

iii) It is like the old saying of, “You can’t play with fire and not get burned”. Lot is now part of Sodom and is now strongly influenced by its culture.

6. Verse 3: But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate.

a) Verse 2 states that the angels said they would spend the night in the open square.

b) Verse 3 says that Lot insisted so strongly, they spent the night in Lot’s house.

i) Here is a question to ponder: Does this mean angels can change their minds?
Do angels have the power to make free-will decisions?

a) You can argue, “They got further instructions from God to go with Lot”, and/or, “This was a test to see if Lot would let them stay with him”.

b) I don’t have the answer to this question. It is just something to ponder.

c) Paul says in 1^st Corinthians 6:3, that Christians will “judge angels”. Why and how do angels require judging? Is it because of the decisions they have made?

c) Back, to the text, this is the first reference to “yeast” (or leaven) in the bible.

i) Yeast, also known as leaven, is associated with sin. When Moses institutes the Passover meal centuries later, one of the key instructions is to not use yeast.

ii) It is a word-picture of sin as yeast “corrupts by puffing up”. Sin, like yeast, when left alone, grows bigger and bigger.

iii) How did Lot know all of this?

a) One can “simply” say, “Lot was in a hurry and made unleavened bread as you don’t have to wait for the dough to rise.”

b) For those of us who believe every word of the bible is there for a reason,
I see this as a “foreshadow” of Lot knowing the right thing to do and a word-picture of the fact Lot is “still righteous” as he trusted in God.

7. Verse 4: Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house. ⁵ They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."

a) The key word about Sodom is the word “all” in Verse 4. It says, all the men of Sodom.

i) The town of Sodom had grown so much in their perversion that it is now all the men of the city who wanted to sexually attack these two angels.

b) OK, it’s now time to tackle the issue of homosexuality.

i) Among the most common questions asked of Evangelical Christians is, “What is the big deal about homosexuality? They aren’t hurting anyone and there is nothing wrong with it. Jesus never condemned homosexuality.”

ii) Well, for starters, it is the first sin mentioned in the bible where a town gets destroyed for that sin. It is not the only reason a town is judged (destroyed) in the bible, but it is the first one mentioned.

a) You will read of bible critics saying the town was judged for violence or for lack of hospitality. If you learn your Hebrew, you will know the word that is translated “have sex with them” is a sexual reference in this context.

iii) God considers homosexuality a sin because it violates God’s desire for a one-man, one-woman marriage. Over and above the command to Adam and to Noah of “be fruitful and multiply”, think about some of the 10 commandments: “Honor your father and mother”, or “You shall not commit adultery”. Homosexuality activity is a violation of these commands.

a) The ideal is God designed men and women to live together.

b) As any married person will tell you, men and women are different and any marriage is a challenge as men and women process information differently. This is why we need God as a center of our marriage as it makes that marriage easier to manage.

c) I am sure many homosexual couples have an easier time getting along. Men can get along with men easier than men can get along with women. The problem is that is not what God intended for society to exist.

iv) An argument made by those living in the homosexual lifestyle is that it is “instinctive”. They will argue, “I was born this way and I can’t help it.”

a) If that were true, that would be cruel of God. If God designed you that way, and then forbade homosexuality, that would be unfair of God.

b) I do believe God creates all of us with certain weaknesses and all of us with certain strengths. All of us have weaknesses in certain temptations. (The trick to remember in life is giving God our “strong suits” as well as our “weak suits”. Peter’s “strong suit” was his boldness. He didn’t turn that over to God and denied Jesus three times when he should have been bold.)

c) Romans Chapter 1 also teaches on this topic:

(1) “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.” (Romans 1:24 NIV)

(2) “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. “
(Romans 1:26 NIV)

(3) I believe once you’ve “crossed that line” to homosexual behavior, there is a physical change within you. God is saying in a sense, “Ok, that is the way you want to live, I will physically change you”.

(4) On the other hand I have seen people come from a homosexual backgrounds, become born-again Christians and change. In many cases, they still have to “fight that urge” because it is still an inherit weakness that they have to deal with. There is a national ministry called “Exodus” ministering to those who deal with this issue.

v) Next, I want to tackle the false idea that, “All sins are the same in God’s eye”.

a) On one hand, entrance into heaven does require perfection. God does not tolerate any sin whatsoever. This leads back to my Habakkuk 1:13a quote of “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.”
To get into heaven requires God’s perfect-sacrifice on our behalf.

b) With that said, it is important to understand that some sins are worse than others in God’s eyes.

(1) Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin." (John 19:11 NIV)

(2) If Jesus said someone is guilty of a “greater sin”, then Jesus is stating that some sins are worse than others.

vi) So how bad is the sin of homosexuality?

a) “You shall not lie (sexually) with a male as with a woman.
It is an abomination. (Leviticus 18:22 NKJV)

b) Some people will say, “Christians are under grace. Not everything in “the law” applies to the New Testament Christian.” That’s true as some of the Old Testament “food laws” do not apply to Christians. There are many laws that do apply. Murder and stealing were part of the “law” and they are still outlawed to this day.

c) The verse listed in Leviticus right before this homosexuality condemnation (Leviticus 18:21) is about taking your baby and burning it as an offer to the god “Molech”. It was a ritual of that day, saying, “I trust in the god Molech more than my baby”. This too, is an “abomination”.

d) The verse listed in Leviticus right after this homosexuality condemnation (Leviticus 18:23) is about “sleeping with animals”. I doubt God condones this today. This too, is an “abomination”.

e) My point is if the abominations of child sacrifice and bestiality still apply today, the abomination of homosexuality also applies today.

vii) Let’s talk about the argument that “Jesus never condemned homosexuality”.

a) Well, Jesus never condemned rape either. That doesn’t make it right.

b) Jesus did declare that Moses was a prophet of God (e.g.: Mark 12:26), and Moses is the one who wrote of the “abominations” in Leviticus.

c) Further, Jesus spoke to Paul in Acts (Acts 9:5, et.al.) and Jesus declared Paul as being sent by Him (Acts 9:15). Paul is the one who condemned homosexuality in Romans 1 among other places in his writings.

viii) What Christians “cringe” at the most is the public condoning of homosexuality.

a) What caused the judgment on Sodom is not the fact that homosexuality existed, but the fact that it got to a point where it was openly condoned and accepted in society.

b) Homosexuality in American culture is to be treated as a sin. Many states had “sodomy” as a crime on the “books” for decades. These laws were not designed to invade the bedrooms of people’s homes, but to prevent the public condoning of homosexuality as a practice.

c) America was designed to live under Judeo-Christian values not, every law of the Old Testament. Part of those values is to honor the one-man, one-woman marriage commitment as the standard for society. I am convinced that God will judge America in one of the ways described in the introduction to this chapter if America continues to condone the public acceptance of homosexuality.

(1) “If God does not judge the United States of America, God owes Sodom and Gomorrah an apology…And God doesn’t apologize” Billy Graham.

ix) Finally, we need to discuss the Christian attitude toward those who are living in the homosexual lifestyle.

a) Nobody likes a “holier-than-thou” attitude, and that would include someone living in a homosexual lifestyle.

b) We are called as Christians to be witnesses to the world. We disagree with that aspect of their lifestyle, but it means we should treat them decently in every other aspect of life.

c) There has to be a balance between “toleration” versus “condemnation”. As God’s “witnesses” to the world, we need to have a loving, giving attitude and at the same time have the boldness to stand up for God. The key is not to “fix” their homosexuality, but to be witnesses to them for Jesus. It is not the job of Christians to “clean people up”, but God’s job. Our job is just to be a witness to them and preach the Gospel, period.

d) Christians are never called to beat up sinners. There are no bible references to that concept. In that sense, the sin of homosexuality is no different from any other sin. Remember the cliché, “But for the grace of God go I”.

x) OK, I’ve been rambling for over two pages on this topic. This is a hot topic in our society right now, and it was best to tackle it head on for that reason. Meanwhile, let’s get back to Genesis.

8. Verse 6: Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him ⁷ and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. ⁸ Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof."

a) OK, I’ve been off topic for a few pages. Time to recap the story:

i) Here is this angry mob outside the door. The text says that all the men of the city were there, “young and old.” The two angles are in Lot’s house. Lot then goes outside to try to calm the crowd. He tries to offer them his two daughters instead of the angels as a substitute.

b) No matter how you try to rationalize why Lot offered his daughters, it doesn’t cut it.

i) Some commentators take the view that the concept of “hospitality” is so important, you would rather offer your own children than a guest.

ii) Some commentators take the view that Lot was hoping his son-in-laws to be (the chapter implies both daughters were engaged to be married) would come to the rescue, and thus Lot made this offer.

iii) Some commentators take the view that because Lot knew they were homosexuals, that they would never accept the daughters.

iv) My view, is that this is just plain sinful by Lot, period.

c) The lesson to learn from Lot offering his daughter is that when you are “surrounded by sin”, it can lead to irrational and bad decisions.

d) Later in the chapter, after Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed and Lot is living alone with his 2 daughters, we are going to read of the daughters scheming to get pregnant via their father and getting Lot drunk first. I am convinced that story later in the chapter is meant to be tied to this story. The fact that Lot offered his daughters to the wicked, is later “punished” by God by allowing his two daughters to perform that act on their father. The act by their daughter is another example of wrongful, sinful behavior.

9. Verse 9: "Get out of our way," they replied. And they said, "This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We'll treat you worse than them." They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

a) The key phrase to me is “We'll treat you worse than them” by the mob.

i) Notice that this phrase implies that they knew they were doing wrong. By stating the fact they yelled out “treat you worse then them”, they knew that raping these men was somehow wrong. It didn’t stop them from trying.

ii) Sin can get to a point where you know it is wrong, but you “can’t help yourself” and it controls you. Alcoholic’s Anonymous says the test to see if you are an alcoholic is, “Does your habit control you, or do you control the habit?” Sex itself is not a sin. The perversion thereof, and an obsession thereon, becomes the sin. Anything that takes your focus off of God can become a “little god” and therefore idolatry, and a sin.

b) Notice that despite the threat to take Lot, they “kept pressing” on the door.

i) “Group behavior” is rarely, if ever a good thing. It often takes one or a few bad leaders to cause a whole group to go astray. In another typology, “Sodom” is a word-picture for any group that lacks a fear-of-God leader within that group. It is easier to be lead down the wrong path than the right path.

10. Verse 10: But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door.
¹¹ Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.

a) The last we read of the townsfolk of Sodom is that they were struck with blindness.

i) There is a “pun” that runs through the chapter about physical darkness and spiritual darkness. Back in Verse 1 it mentioned that the angels arrived “at dark” (or sunset) and here we read of the men of Sodom being struck with blindness.

ii) Jesus describes eternal hell as “darkness” (ref: Matthew 8:12, 22:13 and 25:30).

iii) The word picture being painted is about sin leading to a path of “eternal darkness”. If God is described as “light” in the beginning of Genesis, the willful avoidance of that light can be described as “seeking darkness”. Punishing someone by sending them to eternal darkness is appropriate because, essentially, “that is what they want”. Here in Genesis 19, we have “a warning step” of blinding people so hopefully, they can “see” the error of their ways. Sometimes, people have to be “made blind” in order to see their faults.

b) Here’s a good theological question: Isn’t blindness “enough” punishment? Let’s assume for the moment the blindness is permanent. Why didn’t God stop there and say, “If any other town acts like Sodom, I will strike the townsfolk blind.” Why the necessity for complete destruction?

i) The answer is sin is incurable. To “handicap” a person does not cure the sin problem. Sin must be judged and must be destroyed.

ii) Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed and permanently judged as examples to us of a future judgment.

a) In Noah’s day, the world was judged as it had become 100% corrupt, other than Noah’s family. God said he would never again judge the world with a flood. Our problem of course, is we didn’t read the fine print of the contract. J God still judges locations, but now works on a smaller level.

b) Does this mean that every time a city is destroyed it is God judging that city? That question can’t be answered without God’ knowledge. We do know that all things done by God have a purpose.

11. Verse 12: The two men said to Lot, "Do you have anyone else here--sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, ¹³ because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it."

a) The next question is “Why did the angels ask this question of Lot?” Why did the angels want to know if Lot had any “family” in this city and for Lot to get them out of there?

i) For starters, remember that Abraham prayed to God in Chapter 18 to spare the righteous. Abraham and God “haggled” down to 10 people and stopped there. In a sense, these verses here in Chapter 19 are God answering that prayer.

a) It makes you stop and think about praying for others. I wonder how many lives have been spared judgment through the centuries simply because a “righteous person” prayed for those living in a sinful location?