19:29
“So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.”
The chapter at a glance
- 1–3Lot’s welcomeLot shelters strangers in a city that will not
- 4–11The men of SodomThe city’s violence is exposed; the angels protect
- 12–14A warning laughed offLot’s word carries no weight with his own family
- 15–23Dragged to safetyMercy seizes a lingering man
- 24–29Fire from heavenJudgment falls; God remembers Abraham
- 30–38The caveFear and drunkenness end Lot’s story in shame
The chapter in brief
The two angels come to Sodom in the evening, and Lot, sitting in the city gate, presses them to stay in his house and makes them a feast. Before they lie down, the men of Sodom, young and old, “all the people to the last man,” surround the house and demand that Lot bring the visitors out “that we may know them.” Lot goes out and begs them not to act so wickedly, and offers them his two virgin daughters instead. They turn on him, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge!”, and press to break the door, but the angels pull Lot inside and strike the men with blindness. The angels tell Lot to gather his family, for the LORD has sent them to destroy the city; his sons-in-law think he is joking. At dawn Lot lingers, and the angels seize him, his wife, and his daughters by the hand, “the LORD being merciful to him,” and bring them out: “Escape for your life. Do not look back.” Lot begs to go to the little town of Zoar, and it is spared for his sake. The LORD rains sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah and overthrows the cities of the valley; Lot’s wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt. From the place where he stood before the LORD, Abraham sees the smoke rising like a furnace, and the narrator says that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out. Afterward Lot, afraid, lives in a cave with his daughters, who make him drunk and conceive by him; their sons are the fathers of Moab and Ammon.
Judgment and mercy meet in this chapter. Sodom becomes Scripture’s standing example of God’s judgment (2 Peter 2:6; Jude 7), and Jesus uses “the days of Lot” to warn of the day the Son of Man is revealed (Luke 17:28-30). Yet the chapter is also a rescue, and the reasons given for it are mercy and an intercessor: “the LORD being merciful to him” and “God remembered Abraham.” So it is for us. We are saved from the wrath to come not by our readiness but by mercy, through “Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). Even the dark ending is not the end of God’s grace: from Moab came Ruth, great-grandmother of David, who stands in the genealogy of Jesus (Ruth 4:13-17; Matthew 1:5).
Points for discussion
vv. 1–3
Lot in the gate
The gate was where elders sat and business was done (Ruth 4:1), so Lot has become a man of standing in Sodom (compare 13:12; 14:12). His welcome copies Abraham’s in smaller measure: he bows, offers water for their feet, and makes a feast. He “pressed them strongly” because he knows what the town square is like at night. Peter calls him “righteous Lot,” a man “tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard” (2 Peter 2:7-8). He had not given in to Sodom, but he had settled in it.
vv. 4–11
What Sodom’s sin was
“All the people to the last man”: the outcry of 18:20-21 is confirmed, and there are not ten righteous. “That we may know them” means sexual relations, as Lot’s offer in verse 8 makes plain; the demand is the gang rape of guests under a host’s roof. Violence, contempt for strangers, and sexual sin are all present. The church has historically read the passage, with Jude 7, as including the men of Sodom’s demand for relations with men, and this commentary holds that reading because we believe it most faithfully reflects the Word. Some readers stress instead that the sin was violent assault on strangers, or that the visitors were angels; Ezekiel 16:49-50 adds Sodom’s pride, excess, and neglect of the poor. Where a passage like this names sexual sin, a word of care belongs with it. It is no verdict on a believer who feels these desires and fights them: such a believer stands where every believer stands, in Christ, with no condemnation (Romans 8:1). Every believer carries some besetting sin, the “sin which clings so closely” (Hebrews 12:1), and the church is a company of forgiven sinners still being made holy. Faithfulness means calling sin what God calls it, in ourselves first, and the question for each of us is the same whatever the sin: does it grieve me, or am I justifying it, or even teaching others that it is no sin? Jesus warned that “whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19). “Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation” (2 Corinthians 7:10). And Jesus said it will be “more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom” than for those who saw His works and refused Him (Matthew 11:24): the deepest danger is unbelief toward Christ, and the remedy for every sin is the mercy that is in Him.
v. 8
Lot’s offer
“Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please.” Lot will hand his own daughters to a mob to protect his guests. Some readers have tried to excuse it by the duties of ancient hospitality, but Scripture records it without a word of approval and nowhere sanctions it: it is a father betraying the daughters he should have shielded. The angels, not Lot, protect everyone in the house. If any reader has been handed over or failed by those who should have protected them, the fault lies with those who did it, never with the one wronged; such wrongs are crimes to be reported to the authorities, God sees them (16:13), and no one is commanded to stay in danger.
vv. 12–23
The LORD being merciful
Lot’s sons-in-law think he is joking (v. 14), and years of compromise have left his warning without weight. At dawn Lot himself “lingered,” and the angels take him by the hand, “the LORD being merciful to him.” He is saved by mercy, not by readiness. Even his fearful bargain for Zoar (“is it not a little one?”, the name Zoar means “little”) is granted, and the angel says, “I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Judgment waits until the rescue of God’s own is complete; “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials” (2 Peter 2:9).
vv. 24–29
Fire from heaven
“The LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven.” Some early Christian readers saw two persons named in that verse; many read it as Hebrew emphasis, and it is best held lightly. Jesus treats the judgment as history (Luke 17:29). Lot’s wife, “behind him, looked back,” and Jesus’ words “Remember Lot’s wife” come right after His warning not to turn back for goods (Luke 17:31-32): her heart was still in the city. Abraham returns to “the place where he had stood before the LORD” (v. 27) and sees the smoke. Ten were not found. Yet “God remembered Abraham,” as He remembered Noah (8:1), and sent Lot out. Intercession was answered beyond its own terms.
For discussion
Lot was rescued because God was merciful and because Abraham had prayed (vv. 16, 29). How does that picture our own salvation, and Christ’s intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25)?
vv. 30–38
The cave
Lot ends in a cave, afraid, having lost his home, his wife, and his standing. His daughters, believing there is “not a man on earth to come in to us,” make him drunk on two nights and conceive by him. Scripture records this and does not approve it; the law later forbids it plainly (Leviticus 18:6-7). Readers weigh the blame differently, since the daughters plan it and Lot is drunk, and many note the grim reversal of the offer he made in verse 8. The narrator passes no spoken verdict, and the shame speaks for itself. Where a reader has known abuse within a family, the wrong belongs to the one who did it; it is not to be hidden, and it should be reported to the authorities. Moab and Ammon became troubled neighbors of Israel (Deuteronomy 23:3-4), yet grace reached even here: Ruth the Moabite became great-grandmother of David (Ruth 4:13-17), and Naamah the Ammonite was mother of Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:21). Through Ruth and Naamah, both peoples born of this night stand in the line that leads to Jesus (Matthew 1:5, 7).
Threads across the chapter
Hospitality. Abraham’s welcome (18:1-8) and Lot’s (vv. 1-3) stand against Sodom’s assault on strangers (vv. 4-11).
Knowing. The mob demands to “know” the guests (v. 5), Lot offers daughters who have not “known” a man (v. 8), and Lot does not “know” what his daughters do (vv. 33, 35): one word traces the chapter’s corruption.
Lingering and looking back. Lot lingers (v. 16) and bargains (vv. 18-20), and his wife looks back (v. 26): the city still held them.
Mercy and remembrance. “The LORD being merciful to him” (v. 16) and “God remembered Abraham” (v. 29) name the only reasons Lot lives.
Key words
- 19:5, 8
- יָדַע yada'“Know”; here of sexual relations, as verse 8 makes plain
- 19:16
- חֶמְלָה chemlah“Being merciful,” compassion that spares; the reason Lot was brought out
- 19:21, 25, 29
- הָפַךְ haphak“Overthrow”; the word that made Sodom a byword for judgment (Deuteronomy 29:23; Amos 4:11)
- 19:29
- זָכַר zakar“Remembered”; God acting on His commitment, as with Noah (8:1) and Israel (Exodus 2:24)
Cross-references
- 2 Peter 2:6-9Sodom made an example; righteous Lot rescued
- Jude 7Sodom and Gomorrah serve as an example
- Ezekiel 16:49-50Sodom’s pride, excess, and neglect of the poor
- Luke 17:28-32As it was in the days of Lot; remember Lot’s wife
- Matthew 11:23-24More tolerable for Sodom than for those who refused Christ
- 1 Thessalonians 1:10Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come
- Romans 8:1No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
- Ruth 4:13-17Ruth the Moabite, great-grandmother of David
- 1
How do Abraham’s welcome in chapter 18 and Lot’s in chapter 19 help us see what was wrong in Sodom?
- 2
Peter calls Lot “righteous” (2 Peter 2:7), yet he lingers, bargains, and offers his daughters. What does his story teach about the slow cost of settling near Sodom, and about the mercy that still rescued him?
- 3
Jesus said, “Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32). What are we tempted to look back to, and why?
- 4
Genesis 19, Ezekiel 16:49-50, and Jude 7 each name Sodom’s sin. How do we speak truthfully about sin, our own first, without contempt for anyone?
- 5
What does it say about God’s grace that Ruth, a daughter of Moab, stands in the line of Jesus?
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