Genesis19

Two angels arrive in Sodom and are hosted by Lot, but the city's wicked men demand access to them. The angels rescue Lot, his wife, and two daughters before God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone, though Lot's wife disobeys and turns into a pillar of salt. Afterward, Lot and his daughters dwell in a cave, where, fearing isolation, the daughters intoxicate their father and conceive sons, Moab and Benammi, perpetuating their lineage.

Angels Visit Lot in Sodom

1
The two angels came to S'dom that evening, when Lot was sitting at the gate of S'dom. Lot saw them, got up to greet them and prostrated himself on the ground. ​
2
He said, "Here now, my lords, please come over to your servant's house. Spend the night, wash your feet, get up early, and go on your way.""No," they answered, "we'll stay in the square." ​
3
But he kept pressing them; so they went home with him; and he made them a meal, baking matzah for their supper, which they ate.

The Wickedness of Sodom Exposed

4
But before they could go to bed, the men of the city surrounded the house -young and old, everyone from every neighborhood of S'dom.
5
They called Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to stay with you tonight? Bring them out to us! We want to have sex with them!" ​
6
Lot went out to them and stood in the doorway, closing the door behind him,
7
and said, "Please, my brothers, don't do such a wicked thing.
8
Look here, I have two daughters who are virgins. Please, let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them what seems good to you; but don't do anything to these men, since they are guests in my house." ​
9
"Stand back!" they replied. "This guy came to live here, and now he's decided to play judge. For that we'll deal worse with you than with them!"Then they crowded in on Lot, in order to get close enough to break down the door.
10
But the men inside reached out their hands, brought Lot into the house to them and shut the door.
11
Then they struck the men at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they couldn't find the doorway. ​

Warning and Impending Judgment

12
The men said to Lot, "Do you have any people here besides yourself? Whomever you have in the city - son-in-law, your sons, your daughters - bring them out of this place;
13
because we are going to destroy it. ADONAI has become aware of the great outcry against them, and ADONAI has sent us to destroy it." ​
14
Lot went out and spoke with his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, "Get up and leave this place, because ADONAI is going to destroy the city." But his sons-in-law didn't take him seriously. ​

The Escape to Zoar

15
When morning came, the angels told Lot to hurry. "Get up," they said, "and take your wife and your two daughters who are here; otherwise you will be swept away in the punishment of the city."
16
But he dallied, so the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand and the hands of his two daughters -ADONAI was being merciful to him - and led them, leaving them outside the city. ​
17
When they had brought them out, he said, "Flee for your life! Don't look behind you, and don't stop anywhere in the plain, but escape to the hills! Otherwise you will be swept away." ​
18
Lot said to them, "Please, no, my lord!
19
Here, your servant has already found favor in your sight, and you have shown me even greater mercy by saving my life. But I can't escape to the hills, because I'm afraid the disaster will overtake me, and I will die.
20
Look, there's a town nearby to flee to, and it's a small one. Please let me escape there - isn't it just a small one? -and that way I will stay alive." ​
21
He replied, "All right, I agree to what you have asked. I won't overthrow the city of which you have spoken.
22
Hurry, and escape to that place, because I can't do anything until you arrive there." For this reason the city was named Tzo'ar [small]. ​
23
By the time Lot had come to Tzo'ar, the sun had risen over the land.

Destruction of the Cities of the Plain

24
Then ADONAI caused sulfur and fire to rain down upon S'dom and 'Amora from ADONAI out of the sky. ​
25
He overthrew those cities, the entire plain, all the inhabitants of the cities and everything growing in the ground.
26
But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a column of salt. ​
27
Avraham got up early in the morning, went to the place where he had stood before ADONAI,
28
and looked out toward S'dom and 'Amora, scanning the entire plain. There before him the smoke was rising from the land like smoke from a furnace!
29
But when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Avraham and sent Lot out, away from the destruction, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived. ​

Lot and His Daughters: Origin of Moab and Ammon

30
Lot went up from Tzo'ar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, because he was afraid to stay in Tzo'ar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. ​
31
The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there isn't a man on earth to come in to us in the manner customary in the world.
32
Come, let's have our father drink wine; then we'll sleep with him, and that way we'll enable our father to have descendants." ​
33
So they plied their father with wine that night, and the older one went in and slept with her father; he didn't know when she lay down or when she got up.
34
The following day, the older said to the younger, "Here, I slept last night with my father. Let's make him drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him, and that way we'll enable our father to have descendants."
35
They plied their father with wine that night also, and the younger one got up and slept with him, and he didn't know when she lay down or when she got up.
36
Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father.
37
The older one gave birth to a son and called him Mo'av; he is the ancestor of Mo'av to this day. ​
38
The younger also gave birth to a son, and she called him Ben-'Ammi; he is the ancestor of the people of 'Amon to this day. ​

Study Notes for Genesis 19

Verse 1

The two visitors are the angels previously seen with the LORD in Genesis 18. Lot sat in the gate, which was the place of business, legal proceedings, and social prominence, indicating he held some status in the city.

Verse 2

Lot demonstrates the sacred duty of hospitality expected in the ancient Near East, a virtue that stands in stark contrast to the subsequent behavior of the city residents.

Verse 5

The phrase 'that we may know them' (Hebrew: *yada'*) is a euphemism for sexual intercourse. This demand reveals the deep moral perversion and violent intent of the Sodomites, confirming the severity of the 'outcry' mentioned in Genesis 18:20.

Verse 8

Lot's offer of his daughters, though morally appalling, underscores the absolute priority of protecting a guest under one's roof in ancient culture, even above the honor of one's own family. This shows Lot's desperate moral confusion after years of assimilation.

Verse 11

The immediate, localized blindness inflicted by the angels demonstrates their supernatural power and serves as a final, decisive warning to the inhabitants before the ultimate judgment.

Verse 13

The angels confirm that they are God’s agents sent specifically to execute the destruction of the city because its sin has reached a catastrophic level, fulfilling the divine investigation of Genesis 18.

Verse 14

The sons-in-law's dismissal of Lot's warning illustrates the spiritual blindness and complacency that results from living within a corrupt culture, leading them to mock the divine decree.

Verse 16

Lot 'lingered,' showing his spiritual lethargy and attachment to the condemned city. His rescue was not due to his own initiative but was an act of sovereign grace, as the LORD was merciful to him for Abraham’s sake (v. 29).

Verse 17

The command to 'look not behind thee' symbolizes the spiritual necessity of total separation from the condemned way of life, emphasizing that attachment to the world leads to ruin.

Verse 20

Lot’s fear prevents him from obeying the command to flee to the mountain; instead, he bargains for the small, nearby city of Zoar. This reveals his weakness and continued reliance on visible safety rather than divine protection.

Verse 22

The statement, 'I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither,' highlights God's protective commitment to the righteous (even the compromised Lot) before the full judgment is executed upon the wicked.

Verse 24

The destruction by 'brimstone and fire' suggests a catastrophic, yet divinely directed, event involving volcanic or seismic activity, marking the area as a place of irreversible judgment.

Verse 26

Lot's wife's disobedience and looking back signify a desire or longing for the life she was commanded to abandon. She serves as a lasting testament to the danger of spiritual compromise (Luke 17:32).

Verse 29

This verse provides the theological reason for Lot's deliverance: God remembered Abraham, confirming that Lot’s salvation was an extension of the covenant promise and Abraham’s intercession in Genesis 18.

Verse 30

Lot’s fear of Zoar, the city he had just negotiated for, demonstrates his continuing psychological instability and inability to trust after the trauma of the judgment.

Verse 32

The daughters’ primary motivation is not sexual pleasure but the cultural imperative to 'preserve seed,' ensuring the continuation of their father's lineage in what they perceive as the end of the world.

Verse 37

Moab, meaning 'from father,' becomes the ancestor of the Moabites, a people who would often be hostile to Israel, establishing an ancient rivalry rooted in this dishonorable event.

Verse 38

Ben-ammi, meaning 'son of my people,' becomes the ancestor of the Ammonites, another nation frequently antagonistic to the Israelites, completing the tragic legacy of Lot’s family.

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