Transcendence

Six: Lot Flees to a Cave

Sodom was a wretched place. God planned to destroy the entire city, but after Abraham's plea and because of His love for His people, He decided he would let the city stand if only ten righteous people could be found. Abraham knew this would be a hard task, which was his reasoning behind pleading with God to spare the city for such a low number of righteous people. He wasn't sure he could. He had known for years how sinful they were. He wanted nothing to do with such a society, even going so far as refusing a well deserved reward from the government of Sodom when they made him an offer. He had already agreed with God that he would take absolutely nothing from such wicked people.

Lot, his nephew, was just the opposite. He had chosen the coveted path of prosperity and success. He chose to live on the fertile plain near Sodom, he loved the city! Lot had built a name for himself there. He became a well known civic man who made important decisions. He was living 'the life' and was happy in the city of sin, corruption, and arrogance.

The time for God to intervene had drawn near. Not even ten righteous people were found. The Lord was ready to destruct. So one night Two angles appeared near Sodom in the evening where they found Lot at the gateway. Lot got up to greet them and invited them to stay with him until morning, but they refused his offer and said they would stay in the square. Lot insisted again, and urged them to stay with him. He kept on until they gave in. Lot prepared them a meal and bread with no yeast.

Later that evening a huge problem arose when the whole town saw the coming of two strangers as an opportunity for gang rape. Sexual violence was another one of the town's sinful problems. Before Lot and his guests went to bed men from all parts of the city, both young and old, surrounded the house and demanded Lot to bring the men out so they may have sex with them. Lot went outside, he pulled the door closed behind himself and began pleading with the people not to do this wicked thing, explaining with fear that his guests were under the protection of his roof. 

Even with his plea the men were not backing off. Lot knew his guests were angles of the Lord and he felt compelled to protect them no matter the cost so he offered his two virgin daughters as a consolation, exclaiming they could do as they wish with the girls, but to please leave his guests alone. The men were not willing to give in and they began to yell and threaten, "Get out of our way! You are a mere alien in our country, and have come here trying to play judge! We will treat you worse than them!" They all gained up on Lot and pushed their way past him, then began to break down his door.

As God's angels, the two men inside had power, they first pulled Lot back inside then they struck the men outside the door, both young and old, with blindness. They could not find the door. The angles then gave Lot the warning they had came there to tell him, "Get your family, your sons, daughters, and anyone else who belongs to you and get out of this city because we are going to destroy the entire place. The only reason you are getting this warning is because of Abraham. Because of him we will spare your life."

Lot believed what the men said and went out as quickly as possible to warn his sons-in-law who were pledged to marry his daughters, telling them to pack up and leave the city right away, that the Lord was about to destroy it. The warning sounded completely outrageous to them. A big bustling city that had no concern for panic or fear, one that was prosperous in their minds, simply couldn't be destroyed as Lot was describing. They did not believe him. With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot to hurry, to take his daughters, his wife, and go, or he would be swept away when the city is punished. 

Though they pleaded they saw that Lot was not ready to go. They saw him hesitate and knew it was time to be forceful in order to save him. They took him by the arm and urged his wife and two daughters to follow quickly. Finally, they successfully lead them out of the city. When they got to safety right outside the city one of the angels exclaimed, "Hurry, flee for your lives! No matter what don't look back! And don't stop anywhere! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away."

Lot was heartbroken to leave the city he had grown to love. He explained to the angles that if he flees to the mountains he will surely die from grief. He begged to be spared to instead go to a small nearby town.

The angels agreed to spare the town Lot spoke of, which was Zoar. They again pushed Lot to hurry before it was too late, reminding him and his family again not to look back, to only look forward.

On the way to Zoar Lot's wife couldn't resist the urge, as if curiosity had taken a hold of her, she looked back. Her looking back signified that she wasn't ready to leave the sinful city life. The past had a hold on her, one she wasn't able to let go of. Because of her disobedience she instantly turned in to a pillar of salt. Her indecision to leave, and being pulled back into the city she loved, despite it's immorality, cost her her life. (God knew looking back meant the sinful nature of the city would follow her even if she escaped. He didn't want the sins carried with them, therefore she died.)

By the time Lot reached Zoar the sun had risen over the land and by then he knew destruction had taken out the cities he loved. The Lord caused burning sulfur to rain down on Sodom and Gomorrah - it came directly from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus, those cities, everyone living there, and all the vegetation in the land died. He hadn't wanted to destroy it, God loved His people, but sin had grown to a point that there was no other way.

Early the next morning, Abraham went to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down on the land where Sodom and Gomorrah had been, over the entire plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. He knew God had made good on his decision, he knew the city had been destroyed just as the angles had predicted.

Lot made it safely to Zoar and lived there for a while with his two daughters. It was a hard transition, and the life he lived was not a happy one. He not only missed the big city life and all that it offered him, but he also lived in constant fear that destruction would follow him. He saw proof of God's mighty power and how fast it could lay flat an entire city. That fear overtook his everyday life until eventually he was too terrified to stay in Zoar. He finally decided to take his daughters and run to the mountains. He found a cave and hoped by hiding out there he was keeping his daughters safe. The miserable, fear filled years he spent there slowly dragged on.

Lot's daughters grew up in the cave and like all other young women who came of age, they began to desire to be with a man and have children. They were lonely and felt stuck. They longed to be around other people but they weren't able to see an end in sight since their father was too scared to ever take them back to town. Eventually they became desperate and since their father was the only man around, the oldest daughter schemed up a plan to get her father drunk, deciding she and her sister could sleep with him and thus have offspring as they desired. They hoped they could preserve their family line through him.

With a plan in place they waited for the right time. On two separate occasions when Lot was too drunk to be aware of what was going on the daughters went in and laid with their father. Lot was so drunk that he never even knew of when they came in or when they left. Both of his daughters became pregnant.

Lot's oldest daughter had a son and named him Moab, and the younger one also had a son and named him Ben-Ammi.

Lot's drunken incest, and the resulting sons grew up to be family-nations of the Moabites and the Ammonites. (These families grow into huge clans and appear later in the Bible , when centuries down the road we find they fight with their distant relatives in Israel and tempt them to sin.)

(Life question: Lot's wife couldn't let go of the city life she had loved. Even though she was warned to never look back, she clung to the sinful life and couldn't resist. There are things in all of our pasts that could hold on to us and keep us from moving forward in our walk with God. Is there anything in your past that is holding you back? Has God told you to let it go, and to never look back? )