1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth 2 and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.”
When the Angels who had just visited with Abraham come to Sodom to scout out how wicked the city actually is, they are met by Lot, who greets them the same way Abraham did, with gestures of respect and hospitality. However, since it is late, Lot is also offering the angels a place to stay the night. This invitation was a healthy habit possibly learned from Abraham, and carried over from Lot’s time as a nomad. Lot likely has no idea these men are angels, but he knows they are not from Sodom.
The angels try to refuse his offer, planning to stay the night literally in the city streets, possibly to observe the people of the city.
3 But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
Lot’s urges to get them to stay with him indicate that he knows how wicked Sodom is, and that he is offering the angels protection. Evidently his urgency is enough to convince the angels to stay at his house for the night. As is his custom, Lot prepares a meal for them, however the meal is unleavened bread, a meal that could be made in a hurry, in contrast to the well prepared meal that Abraham and Sarah spent hours preparing. This suggests that Lot really did not know that these men were divine, he just knew that they were not from Sodom, and he was going to try and protect them.
I would like to point out here that Lot is trying to protect total strangers from his neighbors. Lot was living as a righteous man in a city full of wicked men. Now Lot was far from perfect, as we shall see, but he was willing to risk his life for complete strangers. This however, begs the question, why was Lot, a righteous man, living in such an ungodly place? Why didn’t he leave? The answer is unclear, but it seems that Lot enjoyed the comforts of the city as opposed to living alone.
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house.
Before they go to sleep, a large crowd surrounds the house. The phrase “all the men” could be taken literally or as a way of saying a vast majority of the men. It is likely the latter, as we shall see Lot vists some other young men
5 And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.”
The men of Sodom ask about the two strangers who were wandering around and who were now in Lot’s household. They make demands to “know them” a common euphemism for having sex. This is why homosexuality is sometimes referred to as sodomy, after the actions of the men of Sodom. However what they are demanding is not typical of most homosexual relationships. Rather it is an abusive raping of complete strangers. It was not just the homosexuality that got Sodom in trouble, but the way that they did it. It is the fact that the entire city saw fit to act this way, living for the sheer pleasure of abusing others, whether sexually or by other means, that brought God’s judgement upon them.
6 Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, 7 and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8 Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.”
Lot tries to reason with the mob outside. He offers up his virgin daughters, who were likely 13 -15 years old, as they are betrothed to be married. Rather than let the men abuse his guests he is offering up children to them, and risking the anger of his future sons-in-law. While this is an extreme case, it would have been perfectly understandable in middle eastern culture, where guests are treated as worth more that the family. Lot is trying to appeal to the men’s sense of honor.
9 But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down.
Lot’s words fall on deaf ears. The men of Sodom refuse to listen to Lot, a foreigner, and are in fact enraged that Lot is judging them by calling their actions wicked. They attack Lot and begin trying to bust down the door.
10 But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. 11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.
The angels rush to Lot’s defense, bringing him into the house, as well as blinding the mob, revealing their supernatural power. Lot might not have known that he was entertaining angels, but now he knows that he was not protecting ordinary men.
12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. 13 For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”
The angels report their mission to Lot. They know that there is no hope for the city. They warn him to gather anyone who is related to him so they can flee.
14 So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
Lot visits the young men who are betrothed to his daughters while they are sleeping. Since the people outside are likely still blind he is able to make his way though the city with ease. He tries to warn them of the destruction but they don’t believe him.
15 As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” 16 But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
When dawn come the Angels tell Lot to run, but he hesitates, perhaps he is unwilling to let go of the home he has built in Sodom, or perhaps he wishes he could do more to spare others. Either way, in an act of God’s mercy, the angels grab Lot and his family and forcibly escort them out of the city.
17 And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” 18 And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. 19 Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. 20 Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!”
As the angels bring Lot and his family to the edge of the city, one of them orders that they flee to the hills, with a warning to not stop or look back. Lot instead begs that he escape to a smaller nearby city, more likely a village, and not live in the hills.
21 He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 22 Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
The angel grants Lot’s request, telling him to hurry up, for God is delaying the punishment until Lot, the last righteous man of Sodom, leaves Sodom. He heads to Zoar, which means “little.”
23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24 Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven. 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
Lot manages to escape to Zoar and as soon as he does God rains down fire and brimstone upon Sodom, Gomorrah, and the surrounding area, only little Zoar is spared. Fire and Brimstone (noted as sulfur in this translation) would be common of a volcanic eruption, however these cities were located along the transform fault line of the Jordon River Valley, where it would be next to impossible to have a volcanic eruption. As such this was truly a display of God’s wrath and judgment.
26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Despite the angel’s warning Lot’s wife turns and look back toward Sodom, and became a pillar of salt. It is not clear how this happened, or how far away from Sodom they were when it did. However it is clear that in this act of hesitation she was included with the judgement of Sodom.
It should be noted that this judgement occurred around the dead sea, which is the saltiest body of water in the world. It could be that as a result of this judgment, much of the land became salted as they burned, eventually turning the once vibrant landscape (remember how lot had looked toward Sodom and saw that the land was bountiful) into the desolate wasteland that it is today.
27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD. 28 And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.
Abraham can see the destruction from his tent, several miles away. The sheer amount of smoke was probably devastating to see, as just the evening before Abraham had begged God to spare the cities for the sake of ten righteous people. He now knew there were not ten righteous people to be found, and likely does not know immediately that Lot has been spared. In fact the text is unclear as to if Abraham ever saw Lot again.
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 text notes that it was for Abraham’s sake that Lot was spared, not nessicarally for Lot’s sake.
30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters.
Lot does not stay in Zoar long. Perhaps he is afraid of the people, as he is a foreigner living among them. Perhaps they aren’t the most righteous bunch and he is afraid God will eventually destroy them too. In either case he flees to the hills.
31 And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” 33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 34 The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” 35 So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
After some time, Lot’s daughters decide that if they are going to have children, they will need to do so with Lot, as there are really no other people living in the hills. They come up with a plan to get Lot drunk so that he can sleep with them. In his drunken stupor, he is completely unaware of what they are doing.
36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.
The daughters succeed in their plan, and the last righteous man of Sodom fathers two sons through unrighteous relations with his own daughters. The one becomes the father of the Moabites, the other becomes the father of the Ammonites. These two nations become neighbors and even enemies with Abraham’s descendants.