Read with Me
Genesis 19:12-22 (HCSB)
Then the angels said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here: a son-in-law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of this place, for we are about to destroy this place because the outcry against its people is so great before the LORD, that the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”
So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were going to marry his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
At daybreak the angels urged Lot on: “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he hesitated. Because of the LORD’s compassion for him, the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters. Then they brought him out and left him outside the city.
As soon as the angels got them outside, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look back and don’t stop anywhere on the plain! Run to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
But Lot said to them, “No, my lords —please. Your servant has indeed found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness by saving my life. But I can’t run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die. Look, this town is close enough for me to run to. It is a small place. Please let me go there—it’s only a small place, isn’t it?—so that I can survive.”
And he said to him, “All right, I’ll grant your request about this matter too and will not demolish the town you mentioned. Hurry up! Run there, for I cannot do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city is Zoar.
Listen with Me
The storming of the house by the men of Sodom and their demand to sexually abuse the visitors that had been given shelter by Lot graphically confirmed the wickedness of the city, and by extension, that of the rest of the cities of the plain. The plan for their destruction would thus move ahead.
Ten righteous people could not be found in the city, which, by God’s own admission would have spared the whole city from destruction (Genesis 18:32). Lot even tried to convince his daughters’ fiancées that they needed to leave the city. But they refused to believe his warnings. So, only four were able to take advantage of God’s deliverance.
At first light, the messengers commanded Lot to take his family and flee to the hills for refuge, because all the cities of a plain were doomed to destruction. The destruction was to be so thorough that they were not to stop anywhere in the valley to rest or to camp. And as they were now outside the city, they were not to go back, not even for anything that may have been left behind.
Lot was genuinely terrified. He knew that the cities of the plain were wicked, but he had never imagined that God would take action to destroy them. Lot was an older man at this point, and he doubted that he could reach the top of the surrounding hills by midday. So, he proposed an alternate plan. His wife and daughters could go to the nearby village of Zoar, or “Little Place”. Surely such a small village could not be as wicked as the city of Sodom or the other cities in the valley. Surely God could spare that village so that he could flee there for safety and not be caught up in the coming conflagration.
The messenger conveyed God’s gracious acceptance of Lot’s proposal. The sake of Lot, He would not destroy Zoar so that Lot could flee there. But time was of the essence. Even though Zoar was only a few miles away, it would take Lot two or three hours to make the journey. And, in order to preserve his life and the life of his family members, God would not begin the destruction until he was safely inside the walls of the city.
Pray with Me
Father, Your graciousness is astounding. All five cities clearly deserved the judgment that was waiting for them. But You spared a whole village for the sake of one man. (Lot’s wife and two daughters were shown to not be righteous in subsequent events.) It is easy in the midst of the normal challenges of living to forget how much grace, how much unmerited favor, we receive from You every day. The people of Zoar likely never understood that they had only been spared from the devastation You poured out on the other cities because of a single man who came into town just before the fire fell from the sky. Lord, You have shown me so much mercy, so much grace, over the course of my life. Help me to never take that for granted. Amen.