Genesis 19 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Genesis 19:12-30

12 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, 13 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.’

14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, ‘Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!’ But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

15 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.’

16 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. 17 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!’

18 But Lot said to them, ‘No, my lords, please! 19 Your servant has found favour 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. 20 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.’

21 He said to him, ‘Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.’ (That is why the town was called Zoar.)

23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the Lord rained down burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah – from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities – and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 He looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah, towards all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

29 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.

Lot and his daughters 30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave.

A. Find Out:

1. Why was the Lord going to destroy Sodom? v.15
2. How many people eventually left? v.15
3. How eager was Lot to obey the angels? v.16
4. Why did the Lord spare Zoar? v.18-22
5. Why did the Lord rescue Lot from Sodom? v.29
6. Where did Lot end up living? v.30

B. Think:

1. How is Lot shown in this passage?
2. How is the Lord shown?
3. Why is Abraham significant?

C. Comment:

This passage reveals the confusion that affects Lot. First of all we need to remember WHO he is: the nephew of the man of God. He went with Abraham and knew much of the Lord. Tragically he forgot who he was and settled in a place that was far from the sort of place he should have been in.

Second, we should note his foolishness in settling in that evil place. You don’t stay in such a place unless you like it! He was loath to leave it when he is told the Lord is about to destroy it (v.16). He has become part of it, and this creates unbelief that hardly believes the angels. Psalm 1 shows us the downward slope: walk, stand, sit, and Lot was now sitting in the seat of mockers!

Third, when he does leave, he still doesn’t want to disassociate himself from the towns of the plain and go to the mountains (v.19,20). Finally we leave Lot living in a cave in the mountains (v.30). Despite all this we find the apostle Peter declaring Lot to be righteous (2 Peter 2:7,8) because in the midst of it he hated what was going on around him! What that tells us is that even righteous men who hate what is happening around them, often don’t have the courage to get up and leave it! It was only the grace of God through the angels that eventually got him out!

D. Application?

1. Will we learn from Lot to stay away from sin?
2. Will we be obedient when the Lord calls us to leave?