Joe Dude's Bible Thoughts: Genesis 19

Okay when I get to verse 5, I think what the !@#$ is wrong with you people? But then I remember. Our sinful nature. That terrible thing common to all people. That thing that makes us not live up to our own standards, let alone God's. That thing behind child abuse, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, sex trafficking, strip clubs, pornography, prostitution, abortion, murder, rape, kidnapping, neglect, fornication, adultery, divorce, backstabbing, gossip, fraud, envy, and so on. That thing behind making idols out of sports, games, food, clothes, jobs, kids, homes, bank accounts, cars, boats, hobbies, and so on. That horrid thing that, when we realize it, leaves us in a place where we realize we need someone who can solve a problem for us that we cannot solve -- a place where we realize our need for Jesus Christ.

So back to the gathering crowd. I get Lot's pleading with them not to do the wicked thing they were intent on doing. But, especially as a father of daughters, I do not get why in the world he would offer to send out his daughters in place of the men. I could get "touch my daughters and I will hunt down every last one of you and murder you while you sleep" but willingly giving them to the men I do not get. I can only assume based on a limited understanding of the culture, that hospitality was so greatly valued and women so little valued that this made sense. The hospitality thing seems to make sense when Lot says not to harm them "for they have come under the shelter of my roof."

It crossed my mind for a bit that maybe Lot's response would be different if he didn't know his guests were angels. But the text doesn't read that way to me, and I don't see that Lot actually knew they were angels.

If you try to picture the next scene in detail, I think there's something interesting. First, this angels strike the men with blindness -- they don't pussyfoot around here. However, why did the men wear themselves out groping for the door? If you were near the door, I would think you'd find it quickly or give up far before you wore yourself out. That's just my own thinking though -- we have to take the Word at face value here.

I get how Lot must have felt when he told people that the place was going to be destroyed. I feel the same way when I tell people about Jesus and they give me a "that's great, I'm glad it works for you" or scoff, or reject the message in some other way. It's very frustrating. It reminds me of when I was first rescued by Christ -- I asked a good friend "Why didn't you tell me?!" His response -- "Would you have listened?" The answer is a resounding no, I guess I wouldn't have.

I never really paid attention to the destination before -- that Lot requested to go to Zoar instead of to the hills. I could make something of that, but it would probably be reading to much into a simple detail of the account.

Lot's wife turning to salt has got to be one of the oddest miracles in the Bible. I still think confusing the languages is more odd, but this one is right up there. I've had people scoff and use this as an excuse for not believing the Bible is true -- "Really, salt? I don't think so." While I think it's weird, it's not beyond God. I mean, really, he made the whole universe and people to live in it. Aren't those a lot more awesome than a person turning into something?

The whole escape scene contains a great lesson. First you have people who don't believe Lot at all, and they perish. Then you have the people Lot didn't even tell, and they perish. Then you have Lot's wife, who looked back, and she perished. It's the same with Jesus and the coming judgement. You have people who reject the light of Christ, either outright, or by looking back and longing for their past with it's habitual sin they found so enjoyable. They will perish. But what about those who didn't hear the message? Don't worry about them.

"What? What do you mean don't worry about them." Don't worry about them. God's pretty big and can deal with that sort of thing. It's the person, maybe you, who hears a lot about Jesus, gets the message, and still rejects him, that has something deadly serious to worry about.

Okay, back to the account again. "We don't have a man around, so we'll get our father drunk and get pregnant by him." That doesn't sound like very solid thinking, but then again I don't think ahead regarding my actions a lot of the time. I wonder what he thought when they started showing, assuming he didn't remember what happened!