Genesis 19:21, commentary and pictures

God answered Lot as he fled Sodom by accepting him concerning this thing also and promising not to overthrow the city for which he had spoken, granting his plea to flee to little Zoar nearby instead of to the mountains. The request came from fearful unbelief and self-planning, for though the Prince of heaven was by his side Lot pleaded he could not reach the mountain lest evil overtake him, his faith dimmed and blunted by long living amid unbelief so he could not trust himself wholly to the divine Messenger. In great mercy toward His erring creature God granted even this small plea to bring Him to Lot's own terms, sparing corrupt Zoar for a short time for Lot's sake, though it was itself doomed like Sodom and, iniquity prevailing there, was consumed not long after Lot feared to remain and left for the mountains. Led out by an angel's hand with his wife and two daughters before fiery blasts were poured forth, righteous Lot was rescued while mercy ceased to plead with guilty Sodom and all who rejected warning were consumed by fire from heaven, proving God both ready to pardon and strong to punish persistent despisers of His grace. His choice of Sodom for pleasure and profit without regard to moral influences weakened his faith, bound up his family with the wicked, and cost him his wife, his married children, his riches and his life-work, teaching that a home must be chosen by its religious influences first and that those who would live godly must separate fully from worldliness even at personal cost.

Verse Wording and Context

The verse records God's answer to Lot as he fled Sodom, that He had accepted him concerning this thing also and would not overthrow the city for which he had spoken. The plea granted was to spare Bela, afterward called Zoar, so Lot could flee there instead of to the mountains. The city spared was urged as a little one near to flee unto, only a few miles from Sodom and itself corrupt and doomed like Sodom. God spared Zoar in mercy for a short time, but iniquity prevailed there as in Sodom, Lot feared to remain and stayed only a short time, and not long after he left for the mountains to live in a cave Zoar was consumed as God had purposed.

The verse belongs to the rescue of righteous Lot from fiery doom by holy angels sent on a mission of mercy to the gates of Sodom. It proves the unceasing guardianship of heavenly angels over the righteous. Led out by an angel's hand, Lot left Sodom before messengers of wrath poured forth fiery blasts, and was safely brought out with his wife and two daughters.

The verse is part of the account of Lot's escape and flight from corrupt Sodom and its destruction, in which Lot lingered and then fled for his life. The highly favored city and its suburbs, once made very beautiful, were blotted out.

Lot's Unbelief and Plea

Lot's plea to spare the city was fearful and self-planning. Though the Prince of heaven was by his side, confused and terrified he insisted he could not escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake him and he die, as though God who had shown him such care and love would not still preserve him. He should instead have trusted himself wholly to the divine Messenger, giving his will and his life into the Lord's hands without doubt or question.

His pleading showed distrust and unbelief. Living so long in that wicked city in the midst of unbelief had let his faith grow dim, weakened his faith and confidence in the justice of the Lord, blunted his sensibilities so that he could not discern God's works and purposes, and left him unable to trust himself in God's hands to do His bidding. Instead of yielding unreservedly to be saved, he kept pleading for himself to bring God to his own terms, urging the nearer refuge as but a small request that his soul might live. He was allowed to make his home there, but he afterward learned that the angels knew better than he where he should go.

Divine Mercy and Judgment

God's answer to spare the city Lot pleaded for shows great mercy toward erring creatures, granting even a fearful, self-planning request made in confusion and terror beside the Prince of heaven who had already shown such care and love. Living long in that wicked city amid unbelief had let Lot's faith grow dim, so that he pleaded he could not flee to the mountain lest evil overtake him and he die, as though God would not still preserve him when he should have trusted himself wholly to the divine Messenger without doubt or question, giving will and life into the Lord's hands. Instead he urged the nearness of the city to flee unto as but a small request that his soul might live, though it lay only a few miles from Sodom and like Sodom was corrupt and doomed to destruction, and God accepted him and promised not to overthrow the city for which he had spoken. The city, Bela afterward called Zoar, was thus spared through mercy so he could flee there instead of to the mountains, and Lot and his family went there while the cities surrounding Sodom remained corrupted by the same sins. Though Sodom was great and wicked, mercy was shown for Lot's sake because God had His Lot in it, and so it is with New York, great and wicked yet containing a people who pant after the pure waters of truth as the hart pants after the water brooks and ready to be worked with God's power carrying truth there.

At the same time mercy ceased to plead with the guilty inhabitants of Sodom and judgment became final. All but Lot with his wife and two daughters were consumed by fire sent down from heaven. Salvation depended on heeding God's merciful warning, and rejecting that warning brings withdrawal of God's Spirit and destruction with no further plea. Only a few were saved despite having received warning.

The destruction stands as an executed judgment proving God means what He says and will not be trifled with. After sin opened the floodgates of woe through eating the forbidden fruit and grew worse till the Flood and has steadily increased since, Sodom was destroyed by bolts of fire from heaven. The world is fast becoming as it was before the Flood.

Transgression brings final penalty, and obedience to all God's law is absolutely essential to eternal life, with no assurance that heaven can be reached just as well by transgressing as by obeying. The Sodomites were punished for disobedience of God's requirements while just Lot was saved. The fire that fell from heaven did not wing the wicked straight into glory.

Though God abundantly blesses and is full of compassion and ready to pardon, going forth to meet the returning prodigal and humbling Himself at every step to meet fallen man to heal the bruised and smitten, in mercy He proved Himself a God of vengeance, strong to punish persistent, independent despisers of His grace. The headstrong, independent, wicked lives of the Sodomites, who walked in the imaginations of their own hearts, reached such wickedness that God could not perpetuate them. The same guilt rests on those who make that choice now on the borders of the heavenly Canaan with all advantages and light and evidences of truth and fail to purify their souls by living up to them.

Sodom's Sin and Destruction

The cities of the plain were overthrown for idleness, together with pride, fullness of bread, and failure to strengthen the hand of the poor and needy, for idleness brings terrible results that enfeeble the mind, debase the soul, and pervert the understanding. Their inhabitants corrupted their way before God and became corrupt in body and soul by choosing the imaginations of their own corrupt minds. They dishonored God by wicked inventions and indulged destructive lusts until, steeped in licentiousness, they could no longer discern the difference between the pure affections and attributes of human nature given by God and destructive lust, making them as sinful as those before the Flood. The same guilt rests on those who now walk in the imaginations of their own hearts on the borders of the heavenly Canaan with all advantages and light and evidences of truth and fail to purify their souls by living up to them.

That Sodomite character is forwardness of young girls toward young men, flirtation, sitting in meeting exchanging notes, and common cheap talk and ways. It is immodesty and lack of Christlike humility and elevation of character, thinking only of getting into each other's society and breaking down all barriers of reserve and true decorum. It is offensive to God and controlled by the adversary even while professing Christianity, and those with great light who live this way and pervert privileges and misapply powers will meet God's close judgments in righteousness and be left destitute of the Spirit and reap a harvest they will not be pleased to garner.

The history shows want of strict purity and carnality, with men and women professing godliness yet sold unto sin and practicing adultery. Sodom and Gomorrah stand as examples of extreme wickedness and licentiousness, under judgment for the same crime found among the Canaanites. Sodom was a place of moral pollution with a dangerous moral atmosphere and associations, especially to one weak in moral power, from which God's voice calls to flee as from Sodom. It shows what a land of boasted liberty and advantages becomes when wealthy winebibbers and blasphemers give tone to public opinion and take the lead in the highest circles of society where money is their god.

Sodom and Gomorrah are the pattern for what the cities and the world are becoming as the world grows worse and worse when teachings remove moral restraint and purity. Their days of moral corruption and pollution are set beside the world's condition, and the present world is becoming a second Sodom and Gomorrah by repeating those same sins. This growing likeness to Sodom and Gomorrah is one of the signs of the times that God's people are to discern.

Compromised Home and Ruin

Lot chose his dwelling without regard to the associations around him, selecting Sodom for pleasure and profit and for temporal and financial advantage rather than for the moral and religious influences that would surround himself and his family. He went into Sodom rich, drawn by its fertile plains and outward beauty, yet that entrancing beauty did not make it a safe place to live. When judgment came he was led out by an angel's hand and left with nothing as the highly favored city and its suburbs, once made very beautiful, were blotted out and made bleak and bare.

He had entered intending to keep himself free from iniquity and to command his household after him, and for a time he stood uncorrupted amid its moral pollution. Yet he signally failed, for the corrupting influences weakened his own faith and the dangerous moral atmosphere and associations proved especially perilous to one weak in moral power. His children's connection with the inhabitants bound up his interest with theirs, they were surrounded by temptation and formed associations unfavorable to piety and right character, and they were ruined.

He was saved from the city's destruction, but his selfish choice brought severe loss to him and his family and barely saved his own soul. His lingering and delay in obeying the call to leave danger had grave consequences, costing him the life of his wife, who looked back murmuring against God and became a pillar of salt. Even his two rescued daughters were left corrupted in morals by Sodom, while his married children, his riches, and all the possessions for which he had exposed his family were lost, so that he fled for his life with nothing.

Though God in mercy spared him, his life-work was lost and his life a sad failure. In choosing a home God requires the moral and religious influences to be considered first, and the choice of home and the family's direction must not be governed by worldly advantage. Voluntarily placing oneself in an atmosphere of worldliness, lax morality and unbelief displeases God and drives holy angels from the home, exposing children to temptation and evil associations that counteract parental influence. Worldly wealth and honor secured for children at the expense of eternal interests prove a terrible loss, and with true wisdom less of worldly prosperity would have made sure of title to the immortal inheritance.

Call to Separate Living

Joined with Genesis 18, the verse calls hearers to seek the Lord most earnestly and to take a more decided stand for the Lord by being obedient to all of God's requirements and not merely professed believers in the truth, a call that leads to confession and to hearts softened and subdued by the Spirit of the Lord under earnest prayer.

The verse warns all who wish to live godly lives to separate fully from influences that lead away from God and not to be governed by worldly advantage, for God means what He says and will not be trifled with. Lot pleaded to be excused from fleeing fully to the mountains and allowed a nearer refuge from doomed Sodom, keeping on pleading for himself to bring God to his own terms instead of yielding unreservedly to be saved, which shows distrust and unbelief after living so long in the wicked city had weakened his faith and confidence in the justice of the Lord, blunted his sensibilities so he could not discern God's works and purposes, and left him unable to trust himself in God's hands to do His bidding. That lingering unbelief cost him the life of his wife, who looked back murmuring against God and became a pillar of salt, and left even his two rescued daughters corrupted in morals by Sodom. Lot's escape does not mean that familiar habits and customs will automatically leave with him, so worldly influences must be resisted and obedience to God chosen even at personal cost, delay in obeying God's call to leave danger can have grave consequences in the loss of home and family direction, and full obedience would compass salvation and give precious victories.

Taking one's family into a corrupting environment is dangerous, and young people should guard their senses and associations and stay as far from depraved places and practices as possible. Calling them to Battle Creek and associating them with worldly people is like Lot taking his family into Sodom. Yet even in cities steeped in sin God has His Lot and a people who can serve Him, who pant after the pure waters of truth as the hart pants after the water brooks. Lot amid moral corruption is a picture of faithful people living and working in sinful cities, and as New York though great and wicked is ready to be worked with the power of God carrying the truth there, so God calls for reformers to defend His law and relieve suffering.

Because Sodom and Gomorrah are the pattern for what the cities and the world are becoming as the world grows worse and worse, this growing likeness is one of the signs of the times to be discerned. God's people should not move without God's counsel to make large plants and establish business interests in large cities such as Melbourne. Lot chose his home in the fertile plains of Sodom for financial advantage and outward beauty, which did not make it a safe place to live, and that choice cost him his wife, his married children, his riches, and forced him to flee for his life, warning those selling out and moving not to make settling where they will have the greatest financial advantage their first study. Establishing an institution at the proposed Hill Street location would be like Lot going into Sodom, whereas Abraham's going out into a country he knew not where he could be an influence for good is the right pattern, for God's people are His property to do His work faithfully and intelligently because the end of all things is at hand. The account of Sodom as a society sunk in immorality also teaches that distinct clothing for men and women helps restrain wrongdoing.