The Lord keeps a promise today, and it's interesting to note that although the promise was made directly to Abraham and not to Sarah, it is for Sarah that the Bible says the Lord does what He has promised.
"Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him." (Genesis 21:1-2) After what happened in Chapter 20, it's about time somebody was gracious to Sarah! Her husband failed to keep his vow to protect her and provide for her every day of his life, instead lying about her relationship to him and causing her to be taken into the harem of the king of Gerar. Abraham has let Sarah down twice now in the same way, and both times the Lord had to step in and rescue her. It's only because of the Lord's protection that Pharaoh of Egypt (Genesis 12) did not officially make her his wife and sleep with her, and that the King of Gerar (Chapter 21) was kept too busy to make the marriage official and consummate it. Once a woman went into a man's harem, she remained there for the rest of her life whether or not he ever got around to actually marrying her and whether or not he ever looked at her again. Although Sarah would have lived in luxury, she would never again have been a free woman, and she'd have basically lived in captivity until the death of the king, at which time his heir would decide what happened to the harem. The heir could take the harem for himself as his own wives or he could give the harem to his friends or to high-ranking officials in his country. Women in a harem had no rights and weren't really any better off than slaves, with the exception of having gourmet foods and fine clothes and opulent surroundings. Imagine how Sarah must have felt on both those occasions when her husband let her down and allowed her to be kept in another man's household.
I think the wording of verse 1 is deliberate. The Lord "was gracious to Sarah" and the Lord did for Sarah "what He had promised". Ah, here is Someone who keeps His promises! Many a woman has been let down by a man who hasn't kept his marriage vows or who hasn't been a good provider or who hasn't protected his wife from things he could have kept her from having to endure. But the Lord never fails to keep a vow or fulfill a promise! We can count on Him when we can't count on anyone else. I've had a lot of people break promises to me during my lifetime, haven't you? It's hurtful and disappointing. It damages our trust in our fellow man, but we don't have to let it damage our trust in the Lord. We can't judge Him by what human beings have done to us. Our God is a promise keeper.
"Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him." (Genesis 21:3) The name "Isaac" means laughter. Abraham laughed in delight and wonder when the Lord promised him a son. Sarah laughed in bitterness and scorn when she overheard the visitors to their home (two angels and the Lord) repeating this promise to Abraham. They each had their own reasons for reacting the way they did. Abraham found the news almost too good to be true, so he laughed in surprised delight. Sarah, after a lifetime of disappointments and of being pitied and talked about, felt like the visitors were making fun of her. She laughed in an angry, scornful way. But this promised son, who has at last appeared, will give them a reason to laugh together with joy. And I don't know if this is so, but maybe the Lord fulfilled the promise at precisely this time in order to mend any rifts in their marriage. The Lord always knew Abraham would let Sarah down twice. The Lord knows everything we will ever do and I believe He plans accordingly. The promised son is going to give them a reason to rejoice together while they raise him, and maybe this is exactly what they needed at this moment in time to allow their marriage to feel fresh and restored.
"When his son was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him." (Genesis 21:4) The Lord gave this command in Chapter 17, when He told Abraham that circumcision would be the sign of the covenant He was making with Abraham and Abraham's descendants.
"Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him." (Genesis 21:5) It has been twenty-five years since God first made the promise of a son to Abraham and Sarah. In our day, in what my church pastor refers to as a "drive-thru culture", we are not used to having to wait very long for anything. We want what we want and we want it now. Even the two-day shipping on our Amazon Prime seems slow to us. We'd love to be able to place an order on the internet and have the delivery person ring our doorbell immediately afterward. We want to pray to the Lord for something and have Him fix our problem right then and there. But God doesn't always operate that way. Yes, I've had him answer prayers while I was still in the middle of praying them. But there have been other times when I've had to wait months or years before situations were resolved. It's hard for us to wait, especially in an era when we're used to instant gratification. It's easy for us to become discouraged or to want to take matters into our own hands and obtain the desires of our hearts in the wrong way. We need to develop more patience by believing that God is going to do what He says He's going to do. We need to learn to wait for Him to do it in the right way and at the right time.
"Sarah said, 'God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.' And she added, 'Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.'" (Genesis 21:6-7) Bless her heart! I'm so happy for her! All her married life she's endured the pitying glances of other women who had no trouble bearing children. In her culture it was a shame for a woman not to be blessed with children. In her culture it was considered the highest calling for a woman to be the mother of sons. She knows people have talked about her and have speculated whether she's a sinner whom God has punished with barrenness. She knows Abraham's friends have shaken their heads and thought, "Poor Abraham! He's been saddled with an infertile wife while our wives have provided us with many sons to carry on our name." Now she laughs not only with joy, but I think also with relief that at last her virtue has been vindicated by the Lord.
She says something like, "The Lord has made certain no one will ever look down on me again! My friends and neighbors bore children in their youth. There's nothing miraculous about a fertile man and a fertile woman producing a child together; it happens every day. But my son was given to me at the age of ninety by a miracle from God. No one can possibly doubt that. Does the Lord do miracles for sinners living in rebellion against Him? No, I don't think He does. Everyone who talked behind my back saying I was being punished for living in disobedience to my God will have to eat their words. All the moms who felt sorry for my barren state will now declare me blessed above all women. All the dads who pitied my husband for marrying a woman who couldn't give him a son will be clapping him on the back and congratulating him for choosing a woman the Lord saw fit to honor with a miracle in her old age. I know people have laughed at me behind my back, but who's laughing now? I am, that's who! I'm laughing in happiness! I'm laughing in praise! I'm laughing because God has defended my honor!"
What miracle are you waiting for? Have you been waiting for a long time? Have people encouraged you to give up because you've been waiting so long? Don't listen to them. During one of the times when I had to wait years for God to work a situation out, someone I had to deal with on a regular basis kept advising me, "You're beating a dead horse. This is never going to change. You need to give up and forget about it." I know this person talked about my situation behind my back; that's how so many other people in my community heard about my problem. I know this person laughed behind my back when I kept waiting for God to move the mountain that was currently smack-dab in the middle of my path. Well, I guess that person had to eat their words when God came through for me. Who's laughing now? It's me, laughing in praise and delight every time I think about the miracle my faithful and powerful God pulled off. So don't listen to people who tell you God is not going to do something big for you. He is God and they are not. He knows what He's going to do and they don't...and very soon He may prove it to them!
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Saturday, December 21, 2019
In The Beginning. Day 87, The Pagan King Abimelek Scolds Abraham For His Lie
In yesterday's passage the Lord revealed to King Abimelek that Sarah is a married woman. Abimelek had intended to marry her himself. Abraham lied and said she was his sister, so Abimelek took her into his harem until a convenient time to make the marriage legal and consummate it. After the Lord revealed the lie to him in a dream, Abimelek gets up early in the morning to set things straight.
"Early the next morning Abimelek summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid." (Genesis 20:8) We can safely assume that Abimelek and his people are pagans who likely worship some of the gods of Canaan, but that doesn't mean they don't also fear the God of Abraham. In pagan cultures where more than one god is worshiped, the worshipers are usually willing to accept the existence of gods they haven't already heard about. For example, when the Apostle Paul visited the very pagan city of Athens where statues to various gods stood on practically every street corner, Paul observed an altar upon which was inscribed this dedication: "To The Unknown God". (Acts 17:23) The heathen culture of Athens was so afraid of offending a god they had not heard about that they made an extra altar in the city to appease any god who was not already represented. King Abimelek and his officials are willing to accept the existence of Abraham's God. They've already heard about how this God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of the excessive wickedness of the citizens of those cities. Now this same God has revealed to Abimelek that he has come close to unwittingly committing adultery with Abraham's wife. No wonder he and his officials are so frightened! The God who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and everyone who lived there could just as easily destroy them if they don't handle this matter in a way that pleases Him.
"Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, 'What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.' And Abimelek asked Abraham, 'What was your reason for doing this?'" (Genesis 20:9-10) Abimelek is rightly hurt and offended by Abraham's actions. The king has never done anything to deserve being deceived by Abraham, yet Abraham's lie put the king and all his people in danger. I don't blame him for asking, "Why have you behaved so poorly toward me when I've been nothing but hospitable and welcoming to you? How dare you treat me this way? You've done something to me that a man shouldn't do to his worst enemy. You almost made me run afoul of a God so powerful that He can rain down fire from heaven! Why have you repaid my kindness with such treachery? What is the matter with you?"
Abraham ought to be ashamed. Twice now he's had a pagan king scold him for his lack of morals. Nothing should shame any of us more as believers than to have unbelievers confront us with our hypocrisy and sin. Whenever that happens we ought to immediately apologize to them and confess that we are in the wrong and ask them to forgive us for our mistake. Even an unbeliever can respect an attitude like that. But when we make excuses for our sin and try to justify our behavior, we are going to turn them off, and the sad thing about that is we may turn them off from Christianity as a whole. Why should they want to hear about Christ if Christians aren't practicing what they preach? Unfortunately, Abraham takes the wrong approach and tries to justify his sin. "Abraham replied, 'I said to myself, 'There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.' Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. And when God had me wander from my father's household, I said to her, 'This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, 'He is my brother.'" (Genesis 20:11-13)
His reply is insulting to the king and to the people of his kingdom, plus it reveals a lack of faith on Abraham's part and a willingness to bully his wife into lying for him. He's saying, "When I arrived in your heathen country and observed your pagan ways, I didn't expect anyone here to fear my own God enough to spare my life. I figured someone would lust after my wife enough to kill me in order to have her. So I ordered her to go along with the pretense that she is only my sister. I emotionally blackmailed her into it by saying, 'If you love me, you'll do this.' Besides, it's not really a lie that she's my sister because we have the same father." He's accusing the people of Gerar of being so lacking in morals that they'd think nothing of killing a man to take his wife. He's revealing his failure to fulfill his God-given role as the husband to be the spiritual leader of his household, for he set a poor example for Sarah to follow. In addition, he more or less forced her into going along with his lie by playing on her emotions. On top of all this, he failed as a husband by not protecting his wife from the sexual advances of another man who wants her for himself.
It should not have mattered that Abraham was entering a region where his God was not worshiped or feared. What should have mattered was that Abraham worshiped and feared his God. Abraham knew his God was real and that his God had the power to protect him wherever he goes. This same God already got Abraham out of a mess in Egypt when he previously told a lie about Sarah in Genesis 12. This same God already helped Abraham and his men win a battle where they were vastly outnumbered in Genesis 14. This same God answered Abraham's prayer for his nephew Lot and rescued Lot from the destruction that rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah. After the Lord has displayed His power and His love time and time again, why did Abraham feel the need to tell a lie in Gerar? Why didn't Abraham trust the Lord to protect him?
On the one hand I feel quite critical of Abraham at this point. He's messed up both as a believer and as a husband. On the other hand I can relate to feelings of doubt and fear. The Lord has rescued me from many trials and troubles so far. Some of these problems were of my own making and some of them were things that just naturally happen in a fallen world. And yet when the next big problem comes along I tend to fret about it and toss and turn during the night wondering how it's going to work out. There seems to be this thought in the back of my mind that maybe I've already used up all the mercies allotted to me. But this is unscriptural, for the Bible assures us that our God's mercies are new every morning. (Lamentations 3:22-23) The Lord's mercies don't depend on us; they depend on who He is, and the Bible promises us that a part of His character is that He begins every morning with a fresh batch of mercy for each of us.
Abimelek is so afraid of Abraham's God that he goes above and beyond what he needs to do. Really all he needs to do is release Sarah back into her husband's care and allow them to live in peace. But even though Abimelek is innocent in this whole matter, as a way of honoring Abraham's God he gives gifts to Abraham. "Then Abimelek brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. And Abimelek said, 'My land is before you; live wherever you like.'" (Genesis 20:14-15) When Abraham was in Egypt and lied to Pharaoh about Sarah, Pharaoh threw the couple out of Egypt. Pharaoh had no fear of the Lord. Pharaoh lived in a time before the Lord punished Sodom and Gomorrah for their dreadful sins, so he could have cared less about Abraham's God. But Abimelek doesn't want to get on the bad side of a God who judges and passes sentence, so he invites Abraham to choose the best of the land if he wants it.
"To Sarah he said, 'I am giving your brother a thousand shekels of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.'" (Genesis 20:16) This heathen king shows Sarah far more respect than her own husband showed her. The king is the one who declares her a virtuous woman in front of a great assembly by showering Abraham with a thousand shekels of silver to prove that she is still as pure now as she was when she arrived in the country. A virtuous woman was considered so valuable that the Bible declares she is priceless. (Proverbs 31:10) In the days when the book of Proverbs was written, the ruby was considered the most valuable of gemstones, but the author of Proverbs 31 states that a man who has a wife he trusts is wealthier than a man who owns a fortune in rubies. By declaring Sarah innocent before her husband and before a great assembly, the king is saying, "I have not laid a hand on her and she has not made any advances toward me. Her reputation is not to be besmirched in any way and she is to be accepted back by her husband with the full assurance that she has been completely faithful to him in every way. To somewhat compensate Abraham for the terrible inconvenience of having been without her invaluable presence in his home for a time, I pay this large sum of silver to show him how highly I esteem the moral character of his wife."
"Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again, for the Lord had kept all the women in Abimelek's household from conceiving because of Abraham's wife Sarah." (Genesis 20:17-18) Abimelek already has a wife, so he certainly doesn't need Sarah, but the wife mentioned here was probably his chief wife and queen who would be the mother of the heir to his throne. Men like him often had secondary wives in a harem, which is where Sarah would have been. To show that God meant business when He commanded Abimelek to return Sarah to her husband, the Lord struck all the women with infertility.
Why does Abraham have to pray for Abimelek and his household? Maybe because Abraham would need to make things right with God when he enters into prayer with Him. Maybe because it will help Abraham make things right with Abimelek. It's hard to harbor bad feelings toward someone you are praying for and it's hard for the person who is being prayed for to harbor bad feelings toward the one who is praying for him. Or this may have been necessary as a testimony to Abimelek that the God of Abraham is real and that He is holy and powerful and to be obeyed and feared. When Abraham asked God to heal the women of Abimelek's household, and the women were healed, this would have been proof to Abimelek that God is God. Whether or not he ever turned to God and turned away from idolatry, we do not know, but he was given the opportunity.
"Early the next morning Abimelek summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid." (Genesis 20:8) We can safely assume that Abimelek and his people are pagans who likely worship some of the gods of Canaan, but that doesn't mean they don't also fear the God of Abraham. In pagan cultures where more than one god is worshiped, the worshipers are usually willing to accept the existence of gods they haven't already heard about. For example, when the Apostle Paul visited the very pagan city of Athens where statues to various gods stood on practically every street corner, Paul observed an altar upon which was inscribed this dedication: "To The Unknown God". (Acts 17:23) The heathen culture of Athens was so afraid of offending a god they had not heard about that they made an extra altar in the city to appease any god who was not already represented. King Abimelek and his officials are willing to accept the existence of Abraham's God. They've already heard about how this God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of the excessive wickedness of the citizens of those cities. Now this same God has revealed to Abimelek that he has come close to unwittingly committing adultery with Abraham's wife. No wonder he and his officials are so frightened! The God who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and everyone who lived there could just as easily destroy them if they don't handle this matter in a way that pleases Him.
"Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, 'What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.' And Abimelek asked Abraham, 'What was your reason for doing this?'" (Genesis 20:9-10) Abimelek is rightly hurt and offended by Abraham's actions. The king has never done anything to deserve being deceived by Abraham, yet Abraham's lie put the king and all his people in danger. I don't blame him for asking, "Why have you behaved so poorly toward me when I've been nothing but hospitable and welcoming to you? How dare you treat me this way? You've done something to me that a man shouldn't do to his worst enemy. You almost made me run afoul of a God so powerful that He can rain down fire from heaven! Why have you repaid my kindness with such treachery? What is the matter with you?"
Abraham ought to be ashamed. Twice now he's had a pagan king scold him for his lack of morals. Nothing should shame any of us more as believers than to have unbelievers confront us with our hypocrisy and sin. Whenever that happens we ought to immediately apologize to them and confess that we are in the wrong and ask them to forgive us for our mistake. Even an unbeliever can respect an attitude like that. But when we make excuses for our sin and try to justify our behavior, we are going to turn them off, and the sad thing about that is we may turn them off from Christianity as a whole. Why should they want to hear about Christ if Christians aren't practicing what they preach? Unfortunately, Abraham takes the wrong approach and tries to justify his sin. "Abraham replied, 'I said to myself, 'There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.' Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. And when God had me wander from my father's household, I said to her, 'This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, 'He is my brother.'" (Genesis 20:11-13)
His reply is insulting to the king and to the people of his kingdom, plus it reveals a lack of faith on Abraham's part and a willingness to bully his wife into lying for him. He's saying, "When I arrived in your heathen country and observed your pagan ways, I didn't expect anyone here to fear my own God enough to spare my life. I figured someone would lust after my wife enough to kill me in order to have her. So I ordered her to go along with the pretense that she is only my sister. I emotionally blackmailed her into it by saying, 'If you love me, you'll do this.' Besides, it's not really a lie that she's my sister because we have the same father." He's accusing the people of Gerar of being so lacking in morals that they'd think nothing of killing a man to take his wife. He's revealing his failure to fulfill his God-given role as the husband to be the spiritual leader of his household, for he set a poor example for Sarah to follow. In addition, he more or less forced her into going along with his lie by playing on her emotions. On top of all this, he failed as a husband by not protecting his wife from the sexual advances of another man who wants her for himself.
It should not have mattered that Abraham was entering a region where his God was not worshiped or feared. What should have mattered was that Abraham worshiped and feared his God. Abraham knew his God was real and that his God had the power to protect him wherever he goes. This same God already got Abraham out of a mess in Egypt when he previously told a lie about Sarah in Genesis 12. This same God already helped Abraham and his men win a battle where they were vastly outnumbered in Genesis 14. This same God answered Abraham's prayer for his nephew Lot and rescued Lot from the destruction that rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah. After the Lord has displayed His power and His love time and time again, why did Abraham feel the need to tell a lie in Gerar? Why didn't Abraham trust the Lord to protect him?
On the one hand I feel quite critical of Abraham at this point. He's messed up both as a believer and as a husband. On the other hand I can relate to feelings of doubt and fear. The Lord has rescued me from many trials and troubles so far. Some of these problems were of my own making and some of them were things that just naturally happen in a fallen world. And yet when the next big problem comes along I tend to fret about it and toss and turn during the night wondering how it's going to work out. There seems to be this thought in the back of my mind that maybe I've already used up all the mercies allotted to me. But this is unscriptural, for the Bible assures us that our God's mercies are new every morning. (Lamentations 3:22-23) The Lord's mercies don't depend on us; they depend on who He is, and the Bible promises us that a part of His character is that He begins every morning with a fresh batch of mercy for each of us.
Abimelek is so afraid of Abraham's God that he goes above and beyond what he needs to do. Really all he needs to do is release Sarah back into her husband's care and allow them to live in peace. But even though Abimelek is innocent in this whole matter, as a way of honoring Abraham's God he gives gifts to Abraham. "Then Abimelek brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. And Abimelek said, 'My land is before you; live wherever you like.'" (Genesis 20:14-15) When Abraham was in Egypt and lied to Pharaoh about Sarah, Pharaoh threw the couple out of Egypt. Pharaoh had no fear of the Lord. Pharaoh lived in a time before the Lord punished Sodom and Gomorrah for their dreadful sins, so he could have cared less about Abraham's God. But Abimelek doesn't want to get on the bad side of a God who judges and passes sentence, so he invites Abraham to choose the best of the land if he wants it.
"To Sarah he said, 'I am giving your brother a thousand shekels of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.'" (Genesis 20:16) This heathen king shows Sarah far more respect than her own husband showed her. The king is the one who declares her a virtuous woman in front of a great assembly by showering Abraham with a thousand shekels of silver to prove that she is still as pure now as she was when she arrived in the country. A virtuous woman was considered so valuable that the Bible declares she is priceless. (Proverbs 31:10) In the days when the book of Proverbs was written, the ruby was considered the most valuable of gemstones, but the author of Proverbs 31 states that a man who has a wife he trusts is wealthier than a man who owns a fortune in rubies. By declaring Sarah innocent before her husband and before a great assembly, the king is saying, "I have not laid a hand on her and she has not made any advances toward me. Her reputation is not to be besmirched in any way and she is to be accepted back by her husband with the full assurance that she has been completely faithful to him in every way. To somewhat compensate Abraham for the terrible inconvenience of having been without her invaluable presence in his home for a time, I pay this large sum of silver to show him how highly I esteem the moral character of his wife."
"Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again, for the Lord had kept all the women in Abimelek's household from conceiving because of Abraham's wife Sarah." (Genesis 20:17-18) Abimelek already has a wife, so he certainly doesn't need Sarah, but the wife mentioned here was probably his chief wife and queen who would be the mother of the heir to his throne. Men like him often had secondary wives in a harem, which is where Sarah would have been. To show that God meant business when He commanded Abimelek to return Sarah to her husband, the Lord struck all the women with infertility.
Why does Abraham have to pray for Abimelek and his household? Maybe because Abraham would need to make things right with God when he enters into prayer with Him. Maybe because it will help Abraham make things right with Abimelek. It's hard to harbor bad feelings toward someone you are praying for and it's hard for the person who is being prayed for to harbor bad feelings toward the one who is praying for him. Or this may have been necessary as a testimony to Abimelek that the God of Abraham is real and that He is holy and powerful and to be obeyed and feared. When Abraham asked God to heal the women of Abimelek's household, and the women were healed, this would have been proof to Abimelek that God is God. Whether or not he ever turned to God and turned away from idolatry, we do not know, but he was given the opportunity.
Friday, December 20, 2019
In The Beginning. Day 86, Abraham Tells Another Lie
Now that we've finished our study of Abraham's nephew Lot, the author of Genesis rejoins Abraham to tell us what's going on in his life. What happens in Chapter 20 is going to remind us of something that happened in Chapter 12.
"Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, 'She is my sister.' Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her." (Genesis 20:1-2) Sarah is about ninety years old now but is still beautiful enough to catch the eye of a king who could have any woman he wants. She didn't look like a ninety-year-old person looks today. She's going to live to be a hundred and twenty, so she's past middle age but she is not elderly.
We don't know why Abraham didn't learn anything from lying about Sarah when they were in Egypt, but he uses the same lie again for fear that a man in the Negev will kill him in order to take Sarah away. But if he claims to be her brother, any man interested in Sarah will have to treat him with respect as the head of the household and as the one in authority over her.
This might have worked in a society where kings aren't used to taking what they want. King Abimelek simply takes Sarah into his harem until a convenient time to make her into one of his wives. The same thing happened in Egypt with Pharaoh back in Chapter 12. You would think Abraham wouldn't make the same mistake again, but before we judge him too harshly, haven't we made some mistakes more than once? Because Abraham makes the same mistake a second time, the Lord is going to have to rescue Sarah just as He rescued her in Egypt.
"But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, 'You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.' Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, 'Lord, will You destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, 'She is my sister,' and didn't she also say, 'He is my brother.' I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.'" (Genesis 20:3-5) We don't know whether Abimelek knew the Lord prior to this event, but he is wise enough to recognize the word of the Lord and to take it seriously. He's shocked by what he's told. He knows the Lord is fully capable of destroying his city; the Lord has already destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. But Sodom and Gomorrah deserved their fate, so Abimelek points out that he was deceived into believing Sarah was a single woman eligible for marriage. It's not his fault or his people's fault that the wife of another man is currently housed in his harem.
"Then God said to him in the dream, 'Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and let you live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.'" (Genesis 20:6-7) Why hasn't Abimelek officially taken Sarah as his wife yet? Because the Lord has prevented him from having a convenient time to do so. We don't know what He's kept Abimelek busy with, but the Lord shows so much mercy in our passage today. He's merciful not only to Abraham and Sarah, but also to this king by not allowing him to unwittingly commit the sin of adultery.
Sarah is either already pregnant by her husband or is about to become pregnant by him as soon as she is released from the harem. Some time has already passed since the angels said in Genesis 18, "By this time next year, Sarah will have a son." She's going to need nine months out of that year for the child to grow in her womb, and she may have gotten pregnant right before the king took her or else she must become pregnant right after he gives her back to Abraham. Either way, it was imperative that no other man be able to touch her, for Abraham would never have known for certain if the child was his. He would have always doubted whether the child was the one promised to him by God and he might not have wanted the child to be his heir for fear that he was the son of the king. He might not have even wanted to be married to Sarah anymore because he would have thought about the other man every time he looked at her, even though it would have been Abraham's own fault if the king had slept with Sarah. The Lord is doing for Sarah what her husband failed to do: He is protecting her and showing her honor and respect. She won't have to worry about having her virtue besmirched. She won't have to worry about being cast aside. She is still going to be the mother of a nation, just as God promised her, and this is going to be accomplished inside of her marriage---not outside of it.
The Lord protects Abraham too, in spite of Abraham's foolishness. Thank God that He so often protects us in our foolishness! I've made some foolish choices in my life that might have been disastrous if the Lord hadn't stepped in. The Lord tells Abimelek that Abraham is a prophet and that Abraham will pray for him not to die. The king will be afraid to lay a finger on Abraham after hearing this. Abraham has to be alive in order to pray for him. If Abraham is a prophet of the God who spoke to Abimelek in the night, then Abimelek would be crazy to do any harm to him. Instead he's going to take action first thing in the morning to resolve this situation in a way that will please the Lord.
Sometimes God lets us reap the consequences of our actions because it's the only way we are going to learn to obey Him. Other times He steps in and takes charge because our foolish mistake is going to change the course of our life or someone else's life in such a drastic way that He has to step in and protect us from the consequences of the choice we've made. In Chapter 20 we find a situation where God has to step in. Does Abraham deserve to bear the grief of having another man sleep with his wife? It would serve him right if that had happened. But this situation is not Sarah's fault and it's not the other man's fault. It's not the fault of the unborn child either. The Lord protects everyone involved---even Abraham---because it's the right thing to do and because not stepping in would change the course of the world. The promised son is going to come from Abraham and Sarah, and a great nation will be born, and the Lord's own Son will come from this line. There must never be any doubt who is the father of the son Sarah will bear. Too much is at stake here and the Lord has to take action.
"Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, 'She is my sister.' Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her." (Genesis 20:1-2) Sarah is about ninety years old now but is still beautiful enough to catch the eye of a king who could have any woman he wants. She didn't look like a ninety-year-old person looks today. She's going to live to be a hundred and twenty, so she's past middle age but she is not elderly.
We don't know why Abraham didn't learn anything from lying about Sarah when they were in Egypt, but he uses the same lie again for fear that a man in the Negev will kill him in order to take Sarah away. But if he claims to be her brother, any man interested in Sarah will have to treat him with respect as the head of the household and as the one in authority over her.
This might have worked in a society where kings aren't used to taking what they want. King Abimelek simply takes Sarah into his harem until a convenient time to make her into one of his wives. The same thing happened in Egypt with Pharaoh back in Chapter 12. You would think Abraham wouldn't make the same mistake again, but before we judge him too harshly, haven't we made some mistakes more than once? Because Abraham makes the same mistake a second time, the Lord is going to have to rescue Sarah just as He rescued her in Egypt.
"But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, 'You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.' Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, 'Lord, will You destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, 'She is my sister,' and didn't she also say, 'He is my brother.' I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.'" (Genesis 20:3-5) We don't know whether Abimelek knew the Lord prior to this event, but he is wise enough to recognize the word of the Lord and to take it seriously. He's shocked by what he's told. He knows the Lord is fully capable of destroying his city; the Lord has already destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. But Sodom and Gomorrah deserved their fate, so Abimelek points out that he was deceived into believing Sarah was a single woman eligible for marriage. It's not his fault or his people's fault that the wife of another man is currently housed in his harem.
"Then God said to him in the dream, 'Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and let you live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.'" (Genesis 20:6-7) Why hasn't Abimelek officially taken Sarah as his wife yet? Because the Lord has prevented him from having a convenient time to do so. We don't know what He's kept Abimelek busy with, but the Lord shows so much mercy in our passage today. He's merciful not only to Abraham and Sarah, but also to this king by not allowing him to unwittingly commit the sin of adultery.
Sarah is either already pregnant by her husband or is about to become pregnant by him as soon as she is released from the harem. Some time has already passed since the angels said in Genesis 18, "By this time next year, Sarah will have a son." She's going to need nine months out of that year for the child to grow in her womb, and she may have gotten pregnant right before the king took her or else she must become pregnant right after he gives her back to Abraham. Either way, it was imperative that no other man be able to touch her, for Abraham would never have known for certain if the child was his. He would have always doubted whether the child was the one promised to him by God and he might not have wanted the child to be his heir for fear that he was the son of the king. He might not have even wanted to be married to Sarah anymore because he would have thought about the other man every time he looked at her, even though it would have been Abraham's own fault if the king had slept with Sarah. The Lord is doing for Sarah what her husband failed to do: He is protecting her and showing her honor and respect. She won't have to worry about having her virtue besmirched. She won't have to worry about being cast aside. She is still going to be the mother of a nation, just as God promised her, and this is going to be accomplished inside of her marriage---not outside of it.
The Lord protects Abraham too, in spite of Abraham's foolishness. Thank God that He so often protects us in our foolishness! I've made some foolish choices in my life that might have been disastrous if the Lord hadn't stepped in. The Lord tells Abimelek that Abraham is a prophet and that Abraham will pray for him not to die. The king will be afraid to lay a finger on Abraham after hearing this. Abraham has to be alive in order to pray for him. If Abraham is a prophet of the God who spoke to Abimelek in the night, then Abimelek would be crazy to do any harm to him. Instead he's going to take action first thing in the morning to resolve this situation in a way that will please the Lord.
Sometimes God lets us reap the consequences of our actions because it's the only way we are going to learn to obey Him. Other times He steps in and takes charge because our foolish mistake is going to change the course of our life or someone else's life in such a drastic way that He has to step in and protect us from the consequences of the choice we've made. In Chapter 20 we find a situation where God has to step in. Does Abraham deserve to bear the grief of having another man sleep with his wife? It would serve him right if that had happened. But this situation is not Sarah's fault and it's not the other man's fault. It's not the fault of the unborn child either. The Lord protects everyone involved---even Abraham---because it's the right thing to do and because not stepping in would change the course of the world. The promised son is going to come from Abraham and Sarah, and a great nation will be born, and the Lord's own Son will come from this line. There must never be any doubt who is the father of the son Sarah will bear. Too much is at stake here and the Lord has to take action.
Thursday, December 19, 2019
In The Beginning. Day 85, Lot's Daughters
In yesterday's passage Lot bargained with the angels who instructed him to flee up into the mountains. Instead he wanted to go to a nearby city named Zoar, which means "small, little, insignificant". We discussed some possible reasons why he may have wanted to persuade the angels to let him go to Zoar, and they did allow it, but like so many of Lot's decisions in life, it's a bad decision. Zoar was one of the five cities of the plain along with Sodom and Gomorrah. The atmosphere was likely quite similar, since the angels appeared to indicate they had intended to destroy it as well. But Lot is an example of a man who thinks "small" instances of disobedience don't really matter. The problem with each act of disobedience is that it takes us further and further outside of God's best plan for our lives. It hardens our hearts. It decreases our faith. I think all the things Lot does from the time he learned his town would be destroyed stem from a crisis of faith. His lack of faithfulness to the Lord has affected not only his own life, but the lives of his family members as well. His daughters make a shocking and sinful decision in today's portion of Scripture.
"Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar." (Genesis 19:30a) The Bible doesn't tell us how long he stayed in Zoar or why he was afraid to remain. Some scholars believe he never actually settled in Zoar but that he was overcome with fright and dread when, from Zoar, he observed the terrible destruction that rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah. This may have led him to doubt that the angels would spare Zoar for his sake as they had promised. Other scholars think he actually lived in Zoar for a time but was not accepted very well by its citizens. Either way, Lot is in no condition to set a godly example for his daughters because he is not in the right frame of mind. We might expect that after two angels saved his life, he would put more trust in God, but I think he has spent so many years living in comfort and ease in Sodom that he never got into the habit of trusting in the Lord. Instead he trusted in his great wealth and in his position as an elected official. He must have thought these things made him untouchable by calamity. But no one is untouchable by calamity. There is nothing we posses in this world that we can't lose in the blink of an eye---except our salvation and our relationship with the Lord. Nothing can take Him away from us, and this is our true source of security. He is the bedrock underneath our feet when it feels like the world is falling down around us. Lot had to flee Sodom with nothing but the clothes on his back and he doesn't know how to cope with a circumstance like this because he's never understood that the Lord (and not his wealth) is the source of his security.
"He and his two daughters lived in a cave. One day the older daughter said to the younger, 'Our father is old, and there is no man around to give us children---as is the custom all over the earth. Let's get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.'" (Genesis 19:30b-32) Our modern society has become immune to a lot of shocking things, but even in our day what these women plan to do is detestable. This thing goes against nature. It goes against common decency. It's hard for us to wrap our minds around what could possibly have caused these women to think their plan makes sense.
Why does such an idea even enter their minds? Do they believe the Lord is going to destroy everything and everyone around them, leaving only them and their father alive? Or do they believe it will never be safe for them to come down out of the mountains again due to whatever caused them to fear living in Zoar? If this is the case, then their idea seems to them to be the only way to keep their family from dying out.
But why do they not find this idea thoroughly repulsive? I think we have to consider their background. They were raised in a godless society where anything goes. They have witnessed levels of perversion we can't even imagine. After all, it seemed reasonable to the men of Sodom to break down a man's door in order to drag his guests out of the house to gang rape them. These two young women aren't repulsed by anything. They've seen it all. They've heard it all. Nothing is out of bounds, sexually speaking, not even perpetrating what amounts to a sexual assault upon their own father.
Where did they get wine? Have they had time to make it or did they obtain it in Zoar? We don't know, but the devil has a way of placing harmful substances into the hands of human beings. Perhaps they've been using wine to deal with their mental distress. Or perhaps they were already in the habit of doing heavy drinking while they lived in Sodom. But it's the instrument they are going to use to carry out their wicked scheme. "That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. The next day the older daughter said to the younger, 'Last night I slept with my father. Let's get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.'" (Genesis 19:33-34) The oldest daughter is more jaded by the sins she witnessed in Sodom than her younger sister is. We don't know the difference in their ages, but she's been more affected by her culture than her sister. She has to persuade her younger sibling to commit this despicable deed. She knows she will never persuade her father to commit this deed, so her only option is to get him so intoxicated that he has no idea what he's doing. She has been successful at this once, so now she talks her sister into doing the same thing.
"So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up." (Genesis 19:35) Alcohol is a substance capable of lowering our inhibitions. It has caused many a man and woman to do things they wouldn't have done while sober. It has caused many a person to do things they don't even remember doing. The fact that Lot doesn't know he's sleeping with his daughters doesn't absolve him of the sin of not having brought them up in the fear of the Lord in the first place. It doesn't excuse him for raising his children in a godless society where nothing was considered going too far sexually. Lot made many mistakes before he ended up in a cave in the mountains. One small compromise after another led to the sad tale we're reading today.
Lot doesn't even know he's committed the sin of incest with each of his daughters until they both fall pregnant. Then there is no doubt he is the father of their babies, for no other man has been around them. The Bible doesn't tell us how Lot reacts to this news. In fact, the Bible doesn't tell us anything else about Lot's life because he fades into obscurity after Chapter 19. The man who thought it would be fine to argue against the instructions of angels and who begged them to be allowed to dwell in a town whose name meant "small, little, insignificant" became small, little, and insignificant himself. He made a series of disobedient choices in his life that seemed "small" to him, but they added up to a life that made no godly influence on his family and that did nothing to advance the kingdom of God.
"So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today." (Genesis 19:36-38) The Moabites and the Ammonites later became enemies of the nation of Israel. They were both pagan tribes and the children of Israel were forbidden to intermarry with them because of their idolatrous beliefs and sinful lifestyles. They did, however, mix with them in spite of God's orders. The Moabites led some of the people of Israel into Baal worship. The Ammonites went so far in their worship of the detestable false god Molech that they practiced child sacrifice. King Manasseh, of the tribe of Judah, fell so hard into the idolatry of the Ammonites that he sacrificed one of his sons to Molech,
None of these things had to happen, but we can see how a "small" sin grows over time. If Lot had been so shocked by the sin of Sodom when he arrived there that he had decided to live elsewhere, things would have turned out differently. If he had still settled in Sodom but had set a godly example for its citizens and for his own family, perhaps his family would have had faith in the Lord and many of his friends and neighbors might have turned to the Lord. Let's say he still made all the mistakes he made in Sodom but decided to devote his life to the Lord after being rescued by the angels, then he and both his daughters would have made better choices. If he'd only trusted that the Lord would provide for him and protect him, he could have taken his daughters and settled somewhere else instead of hiding in a cave due to lack of faith. He could have gone to his uncle Abraham's for a while and Abraham could have arranged marriages for Lot's daughters with godly men. Abraham could have helped Lot get back on his feet spiritually and financially. A lot of different choices could have been made so as not to end up where we are now, with Lot being the father of his own grandsons.
Lot walks off the pages of Scripture at this point without even receiving the honor of having his place of death or his age at death recorded. The Lord could not use Lot for His kingdom work because Lot evidently never made himself available for the Lord's work, so we don't know what happened during the rest of his life. If he'd accomplished something for the Lord I think it would appear here on the pages of the Bible. We can use Lot as an example of what not to do. We don't want to ever reach the point where God cannot use us for the glory of His kingdom.
"Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar." (Genesis 19:30a) The Bible doesn't tell us how long he stayed in Zoar or why he was afraid to remain. Some scholars believe he never actually settled in Zoar but that he was overcome with fright and dread when, from Zoar, he observed the terrible destruction that rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah. This may have led him to doubt that the angels would spare Zoar for his sake as they had promised. Other scholars think he actually lived in Zoar for a time but was not accepted very well by its citizens. Either way, Lot is in no condition to set a godly example for his daughters because he is not in the right frame of mind. We might expect that after two angels saved his life, he would put more trust in God, but I think he has spent so many years living in comfort and ease in Sodom that he never got into the habit of trusting in the Lord. Instead he trusted in his great wealth and in his position as an elected official. He must have thought these things made him untouchable by calamity. But no one is untouchable by calamity. There is nothing we posses in this world that we can't lose in the blink of an eye---except our salvation and our relationship with the Lord. Nothing can take Him away from us, and this is our true source of security. He is the bedrock underneath our feet when it feels like the world is falling down around us. Lot had to flee Sodom with nothing but the clothes on his back and he doesn't know how to cope with a circumstance like this because he's never understood that the Lord (and not his wealth) is the source of his security.
"He and his two daughters lived in a cave. One day the older daughter said to the younger, 'Our father is old, and there is no man around to give us children---as is the custom all over the earth. Let's get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.'" (Genesis 19:30b-32) Our modern society has become immune to a lot of shocking things, but even in our day what these women plan to do is detestable. This thing goes against nature. It goes against common decency. It's hard for us to wrap our minds around what could possibly have caused these women to think their plan makes sense.
Why does such an idea even enter their minds? Do they believe the Lord is going to destroy everything and everyone around them, leaving only them and their father alive? Or do they believe it will never be safe for them to come down out of the mountains again due to whatever caused them to fear living in Zoar? If this is the case, then their idea seems to them to be the only way to keep their family from dying out.
But why do they not find this idea thoroughly repulsive? I think we have to consider their background. They were raised in a godless society where anything goes. They have witnessed levels of perversion we can't even imagine. After all, it seemed reasonable to the men of Sodom to break down a man's door in order to drag his guests out of the house to gang rape them. These two young women aren't repulsed by anything. They've seen it all. They've heard it all. Nothing is out of bounds, sexually speaking, not even perpetrating what amounts to a sexual assault upon their own father.
Where did they get wine? Have they had time to make it or did they obtain it in Zoar? We don't know, but the devil has a way of placing harmful substances into the hands of human beings. Perhaps they've been using wine to deal with their mental distress. Or perhaps they were already in the habit of doing heavy drinking while they lived in Sodom. But it's the instrument they are going to use to carry out their wicked scheme. "That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. The next day the older daughter said to the younger, 'Last night I slept with my father. Let's get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.'" (Genesis 19:33-34) The oldest daughter is more jaded by the sins she witnessed in Sodom than her younger sister is. We don't know the difference in their ages, but she's been more affected by her culture than her sister. She has to persuade her younger sibling to commit this despicable deed. She knows she will never persuade her father to commit this deed, so her only option is to get him so intoxicated that he has no idea what he's doing. She has been successful at this once, so now she talks her sister into doing the same thing.
"So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up." (Genesis 19:35) Alcohol is a substance capable of lowering our inhibitions. It has caused many a man and woman to do things they wouldn't have done while sober. It has caused many a person to do things they don't even remember doing. The fact that Lot doesn't know he's sleeping with his daughters doesn't absolve him of the sin of not having brought them up in the fear of the Lord in the first place. It doesn't excuse him for raising his children in a godless society where nothing was considered going too far sexually. Lot made many mistakes before he ended up in a cave in the mountains. One small compromise after another led to the sad tale we're reading today.
Lot doesn't even know he's committed the sin of incest with each of his daughters until they both fall pregnant. Then there is no doubt he is the father of their babies, for no other man has been around them. The Bible doesn't tell us how Lot reacts to this news. In fact, the Bible doesn't tell us anything else about Lot's life because he fades into obscurity after Chapter 19. The man who thought it would be fine to argue against the instructions of angels and who begged them to be allowed to dwell in a town whose name meant "small, little, insignificant" became small, little, and insignificant himself. He made a series of disobedient choices in his life that seemed "small" to him, but they added up to a life that made no godly influence on his family and that did nothing to advance the kingdom of God.
"So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today." (Genesis 19:36-38) The Moabites and the Ammonites later became enemies of the nation of Israel. They were both pagan tribes and the children of Israel were forbidden to intermarry with them because of their idolatrous beliefs and sinful lifestyles. They did, however, mix with them in spite of God's orders. The Moabites led some of the people of Israel into Baal worship. The Ammonites went so far in their worship of the detestable false god Molech that they practiced child sacrifice. King Manasseh, of the tribe of Judah, fell so hard into the idolatry of the Ammonites that he sacrificed one of his sons to Molech,
None of these things had to happen, but we can see how a "small" sin grows over time. If Lot had been so shocked by the sin of Sodom when he arrived there that he had decided to live elsewhere, things would have turned out differently. If he had still settled in Sodom but had set a godly example for its citizens and for his own family, perhaps his family would have had faith in the Lord and many of his friends and neighbors might have turned to the Lord. Let's say he still made all the mistakes he made in Sodom but decided to devote his life to the Lord after being rescued by the angels, then he and both his daughters would have made better choices. If he'd only trusted that the Lord would provide for him and protect him, he could have taken his daughters and settled somewhere else instead of hiding in a cave due to lack of faith. He could have gone to his uncle Abraham's for a while and Abraham could have arranged marriages for Lot's daughters with godly men. Abraham could have helped Lot get back on his feet spiritually and financially. A lot of different choices could have been made so as not to end up where we are now, with Lot being the father of his own grandsons.
Lot walks off the pages of Scripture at this point without even receiving the honor of having his place of death or his age at death recorded. The Lord could not use Lot for His kingdom work because Lot evidently never made himself available for the Lord's work, so we don't know what happened during the rest of his life. If he'd accomplished something for the Lord I think it would appear here on the pages of the Bible. We can use Lot as an example of what not to do. We don't want to ever reach the point where God cannot use us for the glory of His kingdom.
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
In The Beginning. Day 84, Lot's Wife Perishes/The Lord Has Mercy On Abraham
In verse 17 the angels told Lot and his family to flee for their lives and not look back. Lot's wife can't resist looking behind her when destruction begins to rain down on the city. "But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt." (Genesis 19:26)
Why is she punished so harshly for disobeying the angels? Looking back seems a natural enough thing to do. Scientists and geologists believe a massive earthquake from the fault line in the region is likely what started the disaster. Tar pits and deposits of bitumen lay under the ground, and the earthquake would have forced these things, along with sulfuric vapors from the bitumen, into the air where they came in contact with the early morning cooking fires and lanterns that would have been burning all across the city. Explosions would have occurred, with fire and burning materials flying up into the air only to rain back down onto the thatched roofs of the structures, thus setting the entire city on fire from the top down and trapping the people inside the conflagration. If I were racing away from such a scene, I think I'd be tempted to at least glance into my rearview mirror.
But Lot's wife appears to have looked back for some other reason than to see what's happening or to make certain the fire wasn't catching up to her. The Lord Jesus refers to her behavior in a warning He gives in Luke 17:32. In this passage He is comparing her to those who reject salvation. He speaks of those who want to save their lives (who cling to the things of this world and who value their independence apart from God rather than acknowledging Him as Lord) and says that those who want to save their lives in this manner will lose them. He also says that those who lose their lives (who submit to Him as Lord and Savior, giving up their right to live however they please in favor of serving and obeying Him) will save their lives. It's their eternal souls He's referring to when He says they will either "save" or "lose" their lives. Into this discussion He interjects, "Remember Lot's wife!", indicating that she rejected salvation in favor of the world. Over the centuries, scholars have taken this to mean Lot's wife mourned the destruction of the prosperous and wicked city. She didn't want to leave. Perhaps she even loved her lifestyle in Sodom so much that she wished she'd perished with her fellow citizens. The Lord seems to be accusing her of being wrong in her heart toward Him, and He would know, so we must take His word for it.
Did she literally become salt? The region of Sodom and Gomorrah is the region of the Dead Sea, so I think at the very least she was covered in a thick deposit of salt. If you've ever seen photos or TV specials about the destruction of the ancient city of Pompeii, then you've seen the preserved bodies of its citizens covered in ash and other deposits that rained down on them within a matter of seconds when Mount Vesuvius erupted. I think something similar happened to Lot's wife. I think that as she hesitated and maybe fell behind her fleeing family, she was covered in falling material and met her demise, leaving her frozen in position and covered in white material which may have been partly or entirely made of up salt.
While all this is going on, Lot's uncle Abraham gets up early in the morning to see what's happening on the plain. He had asked the Lord not to destroy the city even if only ten righteous people could be found there. The Lord promised him He would not destroy it if ten righteous people could be found. "Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace." (Genesis 19:27-28)
His heart must have sunk when he saw the smoke. He knew the Lord hadn't been able to find ten righteous people. According to archaeologists, excavations of ancient cities in the Dead Sea area has revealed towns large enough to support populations of anywhere from 600 to 1,200 people. If the population of Sodom was 600 to 1,200 people, this means that out of so many souls, not even ten were right with the Lord. How sad this is! Not only that, but we can assume Gomorrah's population was similar, so the total number of those who lost their lives could have been anywhere from 1,200 to 2,400 people, not including any ungodly residents of any outlying "suburbs" that may also have been affected. Among all these, the Lord couldn't find anyone who wanted to know and follow Him. Not even Lot and his family really wanted to follow Him, and the Bible makes this clear by revealing to us for whose sake the Lord pulled Lot and his family out of Sodom in the first place. "So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived." (Genesis 19:29)
The Lord didn't rescue Lot for Lot's own sake. Lot was hesitant to leave Sodom. The angels literally had to take him by the hand and pull him outside the city gates. If they hadn't, he'd have still been inside when disaster struck. The Lord rescued Lot for Abraham's sake. Who might the Lord rescue for your sake and for my sake? There may be people who get to heaven because you and I kept praying for them to turn to the Lord. I know it's easy to become discouraged when we pray for years and years for someone who never seems to change. Just because we aren't seeing results doesn't mean we should quit. Abraham didn't see the angels rescue Lot from Sodom, but I think he was praying hard while it was happening. You and I may not even live to see the salvation of those we've prayed so hard for. For example, maybe some of your children or grandchildren are lost and are living in sin. It may seem like your prayers aren't producing any results. In fact, sometimes it seems like the harder we pray for someone, the more they resist the Lord and the deeper they fall into sin. Don't give up! That grandchild you're praying for may not come to the Lord during your lifetime, but that doesn't mean your prayers aren't going to pay off in their later years. Abraham wasn't there to see Lot make it out of Sodom, but he heard about it afterwards. You and I may not still be on the earth when some of the people we've prayed for finally get saved. They may resist the Lord for a long time before they submit their hearts to Him, and we may not see it take place, but that's no reason to stop praying.
If only Lot had been a praying man like his uncle Abraham! If only Lot had set a godly example for his family! His wife might not have perished in today's passage. His daughters might not have done what they will do in tomorrow's study.
Why is she punished so harshly for disobeying the angels? Looking back seems a natural enough thing to do. Scientists and geologists believe a massive earthquake from the fault line in the region is likely what started the disaster. Tar pits and deposits of bitumen lay under the ground, and the earthquake would have forced these things, along with sulfuric vapors from the bitumen, into the air where they came in contact with the early morning cooking fires and lanterns that would have been burning all across the city. Explosions would have occurred, with fire and burning materials flying up into the air only to rain back down onto the thatched roofs of the structures, thus setting the entire city on fire from the top down and trapping the people inside the conflagration. If I were racing away from such a scene, I think I'd be tempted to at least glance into my rearview mirror.
But Lot's wife appears to have looked back for some other reason than to see what's happening or to make certain the fire wasn't catching up to her. The Lord Jesus refers to her behavior in a warning He gives in Luke 17:32. In this passage He is comparing her to those who reject salvation. He speaks of those who want to save their lives (who cling to the things of this world and who value their independence apart from God rather than acknowledging Him as Lord) and says that those who want to save their lives in this manner will lose them. He also says that those who lose their lives (who submit to Him as Lord and Savior, giving up their right to live however they please in favor of serving and obeying Him) will save their lives. It's their eternal souls He's referring to when He says they will either "save" or "lose" their lives. Into this discussion He interjects, "Remember Lot's wife!", indicating that she rejected salvation in favor of the world. Over the centuries, scholars have taken this to mean Lot's wife mourned the destruction of the prosperous and wicked city. She didn't want to leave. Perhaps she even loved her lifestyle in Sodom so much that she wished she'd perished with her fellow citizens. The Lord seems to be accusing her of being wrong in her heart toward Him, and He would know, so we must take His word for it.
Did she literally become salt? The region of Sodom and Gomorrah is the region of the Dead Sea, so I think at the very least she was covered in a thick deposit of salt. If you've ever seen photos or TV specials about the destruction of the ancient city of Pompeii, then you've seen the preserved bodies of its citizens covered in ash and other deposits that rained down on them within a matter of seconds when Mount Vesuvius erupted. I think something similar happened to Lot's wife. I think that as she hesitated and maybe fell behind her fleeing family, she was covered in falling material and met her demise, leaving her frozen in position and covered in white material which may have been partly or entirely made of up salt.
While all this is going on, Lot's uncle Abraham gets up early in the morning to see what's happening on the plain. He had asked the Lord not to destroy the city even if only ten righteous people could be found there. The Lord promised him He would not destroy it if ten righteous people could be found. "Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace." (Genesis 19:27-28)
His heart must have sunk when he saw the smoke. He knew the Lord hadn't been able to find ten righteous people. According to archaeologists, excavations of ancient cities in the Dead Sea area has revealed towns large enough to support populations of anywhere from 600 to 1,200 people. If the population of Sodom was 600 to 1,200 people, this means that out of so many souls, not even ten were right with the Lord. How sad this is! Not only that, but we can assume Gomorrah's population was similar, so the total number of those who lost their lives could have been anywhere from 1,200 to 2,400 people, not including any ungodly residents of any outlying "suburbs" that may also have been affected. Among all these, the Lord couldn't find anyone who wanted to know and follow Him. Not even Lot and his family really wanted to follow Him, and the Bible makes this clear by revealing to us for whose sake the Lord pulled Lot and his family out of Sodom in the first place. "So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived." (Genesis 19:29)
The Lord didn't rescue Lot for Lot's own sake. Lot was hesitant to leave Sodom. The angels literally had to take him by the hand and pull him outside the city gates. If they hadn't, he'd have still been inside when disaster struck. The Lord rescued Lot for Abraham's sake. Who might the Lord rescue for your sake and for my sake? There may be people who get to heaven because you and I kept praying for them to turn to the Lord. I know it's easy to become discouraged when we pray for years and years for someone who never seems to change. Just because we aren't seeing results doesn't mean we should quit. Abraham didn't see the angels rescue Lot from Sodom, but I think he was praying hard while it was happening. You and I may not even live to see the salvation of those we've prayed so hard for. For example, maybe some of your children or grandchildren are lost and are living in sin. It may seem like your prayers aren't producing any results. In fact, sometimes it seems like the harder we pray for someone, the more they resist the Lord and the deeper they fall into sin. Don't give up! That grandchild you're praying for may not come to the Lord during your lifetime, but that doesn't mean your prayers aren't going to pay off in their later years. Abraham wasn't there to see Lot make it out of Sodom, but he heard about it afterwards. You and I may not still be on the earth when some of the people we've prayed for finally get saved. They may resist the Lord for a long time before they submit their hearts to Him, and we may not see it take place, but that's no reason to stop praying.
If only Lot had been a praying man like his uncle Abraham! If only Lot had set a godly example for his family! His wife might not have perished in today's passage. His daughters might not have done what they will do in tomorrow's study.
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
In The Beginning. Day 83, Sodom And Gomorrah Destroyed
The angels pretty much had to pull Lot and his family outside the city of Sodom before destruction begins to rain down. "As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, 'Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!'" (Genesis 19:17)
"But Lot said to them, 'No, my lords, please! Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can't flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I'll die.'" (Genesis 19:18-19) I hate to be so critical of Lot all the time, but what on earth is he talking about? He's just been promised that he'll be safe if he flees to the mountains, so why does he insist that he'll die if he goes to the mountains?
His statement, in the original text, goes something like this: "Something wicked will stick to me/pursue me and put me to death/execute me." Does Lot believe the people of the hill country will kill him because he's the only man who escaped from the judgment of the Lord that fell upon Sodom? Does he fear that these people will think they are doing the Lord a favor by executing an escapee, not realizing that he escaped only by the Lord's mercy? Or does he think that living in a culture so different from that which he's used to will be to much for him? Is it his own sins he fears will follow him, (as the saying goes "be sure your sins will find you out"---Numbers 32:23), and that he will be made to pay for compromising his faith all these years by dying in poverty and obscurity in the mountains?
Lot's motivations are difficult to understand, but I can't help feeling that the core of his problem is his lack of faith. God calls us to the mountaintops, but that takes the courage to step out in faith. Sometimes we fail to make it to the mountaintop because we're willing to settle for a much smaller blessing. That seems to be what Lot wants to do: settle for something much smaller. He lacks the faith to go to the mountaintop with God. He suggests an alternative. "Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it---it is very small, isn't it? Then my life will be spared." (Genesis 19:20) We will see as we move through our chapter that this town is Zoar. It's name literally means "little, small". It's one of the five cities that were located on the plain of Jordan, with the other four being Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zebolim. I believe Lot wanted to go to Zoar because it was enough like the city he was used to for him to feel comfortable in it. The reason I believe this is because it seems, from what the angels say next, that Zoar was also on their list of cities to be destroyed.
"He said to him, 'Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.' (That is why the town was called Zoar.)" (Genesis 19:21-22) The town was called Zoar because the town was "little" as Lot said. I think Lot was saying, "Can't you spare this tiny little town? Look how small it is. What can it hurt to leave it alone? It's so close by that my family and I can flee to it far faster than we can flee up into the mountains." The angel replies, "Fine, I will leave Zoar alone, just get to it right now! You're holding me up. I can't get started on the task the Lord has given me until you are far enough away from Sodom."
Lot thinks leaving one small sinful city alone won't hurt anything. This is because he is used to there being a little bit of sin in his life. But haven't we all fallen into this trap from time to time? We think, "What can this little sin hurt?" Or we'll be willing to let the Lord deal with certain areas of our life while not wanting Him to mess with other areas. We hold certain things back for ourselves, thinking something so small surely won't matter. But the Lord wanted Lot's whole heart. He wants our whole heart. And that means letting Him have access to everything in it so He can repair anything that needs repaired. We wouldn't go to a heart surgeon and tell him to fix anything he finds wrong except one little thing. That would be foolish. While the heart surgeon is in there, we'd want him to fix anything he finds wrong, whether big or small. But sometimes we don't permit the Great Physician to have full access to our hearts. We cling to things and tell Him, "Hands off!" And sometimes, like the angel does when speaking to Lot in our passage, the Lord says, "Fine, I'll leave this thing alone." But it's never in our long-term best interests to insist that the Lord leave this thing alone. Sometimes He has to let us have our own way just to prove to us that our own way is not the best.
Zoar was so close to Sodom that, even though dawn is already breaking, Lot reaches the town by full sunrise. "By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah---from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus He overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities---and also the vegetation in the land." (Genesis 19:23-25)
The precise location of these destroyed cities is not known. Some scholars and archaeologists believe they now lie under the Dead Sea. Others think that Sodom was in the Bab edh-Dra region and that Gomorrah was near Numeira. Both these locations show evidence of a long-ago fiery conflagration. A layer of ash about three feet deep has been excavated there. As we were told earlier in Genesis, the plain contained tar pits, and there is evidence that at one time tar pits and subterranean deposits of bitumen (a petroleum-like substance that contains a high concentration of sulfur) lay underneath the area. Some geologists think a major earthquake could have struck the area since there is a fault line running underneath it. This would have caused bitumen to be forced out of the earth where it ignited due to all the early morning cooking fires that would have been burning in the cities. After this substance caught fire and exploded and shot flames up into the air, the burning material would have fallen back down and pelted all the structures in the towns. Ancient mausoleums excavated in the general area appear to have burned from the top down.
Though we don't know exactly what method the Lord used to destroy these wicked cities, He destroyed them so thoroughly that they were never rebuilt. He destroyed them so thoroughly that the names of Sodom and Gomorrah have become synonymous with wickedness and judgment.
After being miraculously rescued by angels from the wrath to come, and after witnessing the astonishing level of destruction upon these once-prosperous cities, what does the rescued family do? Not what you'd expect! They don't fall to their knees in thanks to the Lord. They don't repent of their waywardness and experience a change of heart after witnessing both the mercy and the wrath of Almighty God. Things go from bad to worse for this family in tomorrow's passage.
"But Lot said to them, 'No, my lords, please! Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can't flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I'll die.'" (Genesis 19:18-19) I hate to be so critical of Lot all the time, but what on earth is he talking about? He's just been promised that he'll be safe if he flees to the mountains, so why does he insist that he'll die if he goes to the mountains?
His statement, in the original text, goes something like this: "Something wicked will stick to me/pursue me and put me to death/execute me." Does Lot believe the people of the hill country will kill him because he's the only man who escaped from the judgment of the Lord that fell upon Sodom? Does he fear that these people will think they are doing the Lord a favor by executing an escapee, not realizing that he escaped only by the Lord's mercy? Or does he think that living in a culture so different from that which he's used to will be to much for him? Is it his own sins he fears will follow him, (as the saying goes "be sure your sins will find you out"---Numbers 32:23), and that he will be made to pay for compromising his faith all these years by dying in poverty and obscurity in the mountains?
Lot's motivations are difficult to understand, but I can't help feeling that the core of his problem is his lack of faith. God calls us to the mountaintops, but that takes the courage to step out in faith. Sometimes we fail to make it to the mountaintop because we're willing to settle for a much smaller blessing. That seems to be what Lot wants to do: settle for something much smaller. He lacks the faith to go to the mountaintop with God. He suggests an alternative. "Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it---it is very small, isn't it? Then my life will be spared." (Genesis 19:20) We will see as we move through our chapter that this town is Zoar. It's name literally means "little, small". It's one of the five cities that were located on the plain of Jordan, with the other four being Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zebolim. I believe Lot wanted to go to Zoar because it was enough like the city he was used to for him to feel comfortable in it. The reason I believe this is because it seems, from what the angels say next, that Zoar was also on their list of cities to be destroyed.
"He said to him, 'Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.' (That is why the town was called Zoar.)" (Genesis 19:21-22) The town was called Zoar because the town was "little" as Lot said. I think Lot was saying, "Can't you spare this tiny little town? Look how small it is. What can it hurt to leave it alone? It's so close by that my family and I can flee to it far faster than we can flee up into the mountains." The angel replies, "Fine, I will leave Zoar alone, just get to it right now! You're holding me up. I can't get started on the task the Lord has given me until you are far enough away from Sodom."
Lot thinks leaving one small sinful city alone won't hurt anything. This is because he is used to there being a little bit of sin in his life. But haven't we all fallen into this trap from time to time? We think, "What can this little sin hurt?" Or we'll be willing to let the Lord deal with certain areas of our life while not wanting Him to mess with other areas. We hold certain things back for ourselves, thinking something so small surely won't matter. But the Lord wanted Lot's whole heart. He wants our whole heart. And that means letting Him have access to everything in it so He can repair anything that needs repaired. We wouldn't go to a heart surgeon and tell him to fix anything he finds wrong except one little thing. That would be foolish. While the heart surgeon is in there, we'd want him to fix anything he finds wrong, whether big or small. But sometimes we don't permit the Great Physician to have full access to our hearts. We cling to things and tell Him, "Hands off!" And sometimes, like the angel does when speaking to Lot in our passage, the Lord says, "Fine, I'll leave this thing alone." But it's never in our long-term best interests to insist that the Lord leave this thing alone. Sometimes He has to let us have our own way just to prove to us that our own way is not the best.
Zoar was so close to Sodom that, even though dawn is already breaking, Lot reaches the town by full sunrise. "By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah---from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus He overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities---and also the vegetation in the land." (Genesis 19:23-25)
The precise location of these destroyed cities is not known. Some scholars and archaeologists believe they now lie under the Dead Sea. Others think that Sodom was in the Bab edh-Dra region and that Gomorrah was near Numeira. Both these locations show evidence of a long-ago fiery conflagration. A layer of ash about three feet deep has been excavated there. As we were told earlier in Genesis, the plain contained tar pits, and there is evidence that at one time tar pits and subterranean deposits of bitumen (a petroleum-like substance that contains a high concentration of sulfur) lay underneath the area. Some geologists think a major earthquake could have struck the area since there is a fault line running underneath it. This would have caused bitumen to be forced out of the earth where it ignited due to all the early morning cooking fires that would have been burning in the cities. After this substance caught fire and exploded and shot flames up into the air, the burning material would have fallen back down and pelted all the structures in the towns. Ancient mausoleums excavated in the general area appear to have burned from the top down.
Though we don't know exactly what method the Lord used to destroy these wicked cities, He destroyed them so thoroughly that they were never rebuilt. He destroyed them so thoroughly that the names of Sodom and Gomorrah have become synonymous with wickedness and judgment.
After being miraculously rescued by angels from the wrath to come, and after witnessing the astonishing level of destruction upon these once-prosperous cities, what does the rescued family do? Not what you'd expect! They don't fall to their knees in thanks to the Lord. They don't repent of their waywardness and experience a change of heart after witnessing both the mercy and the wrath of Almighty God. Things go from bad to worse for this family in tomorrow's passage.
Monday, December 16, 2019
In The Beginning. Day 82, The Angels Warn Lot Of The Coming Disaster And Tell Him To Flee
The mob outside Lot's house is moving in on him and planning to break down the door. The two angels intervene now. "But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, so that they could not find the door." (Genesis 19:10-11)
This isn't the only time in the Bible when the Lord will strike someone blind in order to prevent them from doing harm. In 2 Kings 6, Elisha the prophet will pray for the Lord to strike a group of Aramean soldiers blind when they surround the city of Dothan to kill him. The Lord answered his prayer and Elisha was able to escape. In Acts 9, when Saul of Tarsus was headed to Damascus with permission to arrest any Christians he found there, the Lord struck him blind on the way and Saul was converted and later became the Apostle Paul. In Acts 13 the Lord struck a false prophet and sorcerer named Elymas blind because he tried to prevent Barnabas and Paul from preaching the gospel to a Roman proconsul who very much wanted to hear it. In all these cases the blindness was a temporary condition. I don't know whether the blindness of the men of Sodom would have been temporary or permanent, since the destruction of the city takes place so soon afterwards.
Time is growing very short, so the two angels speak urgently with Lot about the need for him and his family to flee the city. "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, 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.'" (Genesis 19:12-14) They can see that Lot has a wife and two daughters in the house, but they don't know whether he has other children who have already married and moved out. The Lord hasn't provided them with this information because it's not something they need to know for the task they were sent to perform.
"So Lot went and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters." (Genesis 19:14) Engagements were legal contracts in those days, almost as binding as marriage. It was typical for a man to refer to those who were engaged to his daughters as his sons-in-law even though the marriage ceremony had not yet taken place. We need to stop and think for a minute about just how deeply Lot has integrated into the society of Sodom. It is acceptable to him for his daughters to marry pagan unbelievers. He has not sought to arrange better marriages for them, but is fine with having sons-in-law from a city as wicked as Sodom. Because he has not found godly men for his daughters to marry, these two young men laugh off what he has to say about the coming disaster. "He said, 'Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is going to destroy the city!' But his sons-in-law thought he was joking." (Genesis 19:14b) I tend to think these two young men are not part of the blinded mob outside the house. If they were, maybe they'd have taken the warning more seriously, so I picture them lounging in their homes when Lot comes calling. When they hear what he has to say, they laugh and flap their hands dismissively at him and say, "Oh man, get out of here with that crazy story! Do you think we were born yesterday? Haha, of all the practical jokes you could have pulled, this was the dumbest." Lot has never set a godly enough example for these men that they can believe he would receive a message from the Lord. They think he's pranking them and they refuse to go with him. Lot has to give up on them and go home.
The disaster is going to strike at daybreak, so as the sky begins to lighten, the two angels tell Lot to get out before it's too late. "With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, 'Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.'" (Genesis 19:15)
"When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them." (Genesis 19:16) Lot doesn't really want to go. It may be that he doesn't fully believe what they're saying. Or it may be that he's reluctant to leave all his accumulated wealth behind and leave Sodom with nothing. It could be it's hard for him to place all his trust in the Lord after living a worldly life of compromise for so long. The Bible doesn't explain his motive for hesitating, but it tells us that "the Lord was merciful to them". How many times has the Lord been merciful to us in our weakness? Sometimes we know He's telling us to do a particular thing but we're so scared that it's hard for us to take the first step. We believe and we don't believe at the same time. We have faith but it wavers in the face of the enormous task before us. In those situations, the Lord so often pulls us forward when we can't find the strength to take that step on our own. The two angels have to physically pull Lot and his family out of the city.
I think the Lord has mercy on Lot for two reasons. One, because in his heart he does actually believe in the Lord. He has fallen far from where he once was, but he has not denied the Lord or worshiped false gods. And two, I think the Lord has mercy on this family because of Abraham, who is living close to the Lord and who has interceded with the Lord on their behalf. So don't stop interceding for those you love. This may be the very reason the Lord rescues them someday from danger.
This isn't the only time in the Bible when the Lord will strike someone blind in order to prevent them from doing harm. In 2 Kings 6, Elisha the prophet will pray for the Lord to strike a group of Aramean soldiers blind when they surround the city of Dothan to kill him. The Lord answered his prayer and Elisha was able to escape. In Acts 9, when Saul of Tarsus was headed to Damascus with permission to arrest any Christians he found there, the Lord struck him blind on the way and Saul was converted and later became the Apostle Paul. In Acts 13 the Lord struck a false prophet and sorcerer named Elymas blind because he tried to prevent Barnabas and Paul from preaching the gospel to a Roman proconsul who very much wanted to hear it. In all these cases the blindness was a temporary condition. I don't know whether the blindness of the men of Sodom would have been temporary or permanent, since the destruction of the city takes place so soon afterwards.
Time is growing very short, so the two angels speak urgently with Lot about the need for him and his family to flee the city. "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, 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.'" (Genesis 19:12-14) They can see that Lot has a wife and two daughters in the house, but they don't know whether he has other children who have already married and moved out. The Lord hasn't provided them with this information because it's not something they need to know for the task they were sent to perform.
"So Lot went and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters." (Genesis 19:14) Engagements were legal contracts in those days, almost as binding as marriage. It was typical for a man to refer to those who were engaged to his daughters as his sons-in-law even though the marriage ceremony had not yet taken place. We need to stop and think for a minute about just how deeply Lot has integrated into the society of Sodom. It is acceptable to him for his daughters to marry pagan unbelievers. He has not sought to arrange better marriages for them, but is fine with having sons-in-law from a city as wicked as Sodom. Because he has not found godly men for his daughters to marry, these two young men laugh off what he has to say about the coming disaster. "He said, 'Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is going to destroy the city!' But his sons-in-law thought he was joking." (Genesis 19:14b) I tend to think these two young men are not part of the blinded mob outside the house. If they were, maybe they'd have taken the warning more seriously, so I picture them lounging in their homes when Lot comes calling. When they hear what he has to say, they laugh and flap their hands dismissively at him and say, "Oh man, get out of here with that crazy story! Do you think we were born yesterday? Haha, of all the practical jokes you could have pulled, this was the dumbest." Lot has never set a godly enough example for these men that they can believe he would receive a message from the Lord. They think he's pranking them and they refuse to go with him. Lot has to give up on them and go home.
The disaster is going to strike at daybreak, so as the sky begins to lighten, the two angels tell Lot to get out before it's too late. "With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, 'Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.'" (Genesis 19:15)
"When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them." (Genesis 19:16) Lot doesn't really want to go. It may be that he doesn't fully believe what they're saying. Or it may be that he's reluctant to leave all his accumulated wealth behind and leave Sodom with nothing. It could be it's hard for him to place all his trust in the Lord after living a worldly life of compromise for so long. The Bible doesn't explain his motive for hesitating, but it tells us that "the Lord was merciful to them". How many times has the Lord been merciful to us in our weakness? Sometimes we know He's telling us to do a particular thing but we're so scared that it's hard for us to take the first step. We believe and we don't believe at the same time. We have faith but it wavers in the face of the enormous task before us. In those situations, the Lord so often pulls us forward when we can't find the strength to take that step on our own. The two angels have to physically pull Lot and his family out of the city.
I think the Lord has mercy on Lot for two reasons. One, because in his heart he does actually believe in the Lord. He has fallen far from where he once was, but he has not denied the Lord or worshiped false gods. And two, I think the Lord has mercy on this family because of Abraham, who is living close to the Lord and who has interceded with the Lord on their behalf. So don't stop interceding for those you love. This may be the very reason the Lord rescues them someday from danger.
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