Read with Me
Genesis 19:4-11 (HCSB)
Before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, the whole population, surrounded the house. They called out to Lot and said, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have sex with them!”
Lot went out to them at the entrance and shut the door behind him. He said, “Don’t do this evil, my brothers. Look, I’ve got two daughters who haven’t had sexual relations with a man. I’ll bring them out to you, and you can do whatever you want to them. However, don’t do anything to these men, because they have come under the protection of my roof.”
“Get out of the way!” they said, adding, “This one came here as a foreigner, but he’s acting like a judge! Now we’ll do more harm to you than to them.” They put pressure on Lot and came up to break down the door. But the angels reached out, brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. They struck the men who were at the entrance of the house, both young and old, with a blinding light so that they were unable to find the entrance.
Listen with Me
In offering safe lodging to the divine visitors, Lot believed that he had enabled them to avoid the attacks that likely would have come to them in the town square. But the men of the city brought the attack to Lot’s home instead.
The attack came with pounding on the door and loud voices just as the lamps were being extinguished for the night. The men outside demanded that Lot send his two visitors outside so that they could sexually abuse them.
Lot, being a righteous man, recoiled at the very idea. Besides that, according to the cultural standards of those times, by offering the men a place to stay overnight he was guaranteeing their safety insofar as he was able to protect them, and he was honor bound to give it to his best shot.
But this was no small crowd., Moses writes that it included all the men, young and old, from every part of the city. Lot knew that a crowd of that size could quickly and easily break down the door, overpower or kill him, and perhaps his family members as well, and simply take what they wanted.
Lot’s first attempt was to urge the men to consider the horribleness of what they were demanding. When that had no effect on the crowd, he did something that seems abhorrent to many readers: he offered his two virgin daughters to the crowd.
Many excuses have been made for Lot’s actions here, but they are only conjecture. Moses recorded for the people the simple historical facts without apology or evaluation. Lot did it, for whatever reason, and Moses simply put it down in the record without nuance. In large measure this action on Lot’s of part isn’t analyzed more fully because that action wasn’t the point of this piece of history.
Lot’s offer, along with his pleading, did nothing to satisfy the fury of the mob. Instead, they charged the house and grabbed Lot, intending at the very least to remove him from obstructing the door. That was when the door popped open, and the strong arms of the heavenly messengers pulled Lot out of the grasp of his attackers and back into the house.
To put an end to the siege of the house, the angels struck the attackers with what could be called “selective blindness”. They could still see, but they couldn’t see the door to Lot’s house. They knew there was a door there somewhere. It had just been there! But no matter how hard they looked or how carefully they felt around, they couldn’t find it. After a few minutes of fruitless hunting, they gave up and went home.
Pray with Me
Father, I have heard both attacks on and defenses of Lot. The fact is that, while he was a righteous man who feared You and tried to do what was right, he lacked the relationship with You that would have allowed him to see Your solution to his problem. Instead, thinking like a person of the world, he came up with a best solution he could, a solution that ended up being completely ineffective. But You intervened anyway, saving both him and his daughters from the mob, and protecting them your way. Solomon (Proverbs 3:5) reminds us that we are to trust in you always, and to not lean on our own understanding. This is a shining example of why that is good advice. Lord, help me to seek Your way first in every situation I face today. Amen.
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