Genesis 19:29, commentary and pictures

When God destroyed the cities of the plain He consumed them with fire and brimstone from heaven, blotting out their beauty and leaving the region a bleak and desolate waste. On that same day He sent Lot with his wife and two daughters out of the midst of the overthrow by an angel's hand, while the other inhabitants who had rejected warning perished. He did this because He remembered Abraham and answered his prayer, bringing Lot out of the destruction of the cities in which he dwelt. Lot had chosen Sodom for its prosperity, beauty and worldly advantage without regard to its corrupting associations, and he was sent out with nothing, barely escaping with his life while his possessions, his wife and part of his family were lost. His deliverance shows that God does not forget His people when judgments fall, yet it warns that mercy ceases toward those who reject heaven's message and that obedience to all of God's law is essential to eternal life.

Destruction and Deliverance

God destroyed the cities of the plain with fire and brimstone rained from heaven, consuming the inhabitants together with their cities and suburbs. Messengers of wrath poured forth fiery blasts to consume all and to blot out the entrancing beauty of that highly favored place, making bleak and bare what had once been made very beautiful. The overthrow turned the surrounding region into a desolate waste that became part of the wilderness of Judea.

Lot with his wife and two daughters was led out by an angel's hand and sent out of the midst of the overthrow on the same day the destruction fell, while the other inhabitants perished. The angels who led him out then left him and turned back to destroy Sodom, while the One with whom Abraham had pleaded drew near to complete his deliverance and urge his escape. Only a few escaped though they had been warned, for not even ten righteous persons could be found in all the cities, yet the one man who feared God was snatched from destruction.

Lot's warning to his daughters and sons-in-law was rejected with mockery of his faith, and they perished in the city's destruction. Salvation depended on how the message sent from heaven was treated, for mercy ceased to plead with the guilty cities and God withdrew His Spirit before consuming them. Lot's deliverance from the midst of the overthrow is one instance of the same dealing seen in the Flood in Noah's day, in the desolation declared upon the unbelieving Jews in Christ's day, and in the strong delusion sent in the last days upon those who received not the love of the truth.

Why Sodom Was Overthrown

Its sins reached heaven and defiled the earth, for its corruption spread as its inhabitants taught others forbidden and defiling practices. Its corrupt and licentious wickedness was like that before the Flood, and that wickedness brought God's judgment upon it.

Pride, fullness of bread, abundance of idleness, and failure to strengthen the poor and needy caused its ruin. Idleness enfeebles the mind, debases the soul, perverts the understanding, and opens the way to vice and crime.

Its course degenerated from lightness and frivolity to debasing sins, marked by deep licentiousness and by carnal impurity and lack of strict purity, especially adultery, impurity and crime. Inclination and passion bore sway over reason, self was their god, and the knowledge of God was nearly obliterated through selfish indulgence of corrupt passions. Its inhabitants walked in the imaginations of their own hearts in bold, defiant wickedness like the antediluvian world, and their conduct stands as an example of grave moral corruption and of the wickedness Satan seeks to bring back into the world.

Forwardness, flirtation, common cheap talk and ways, breaking down reserve and true decorum, and sitting in meeting exchanging notes are becoming like the Sodomites and are offensive to God. A land of boasted liberty and advantages becomes as Sodom when wealthy winebibbers and blasphemers give tone to public opinion and take the lead in the highest circles of society. There money is their god, and there men warmed with wine openly express infidel sentiments and contempt for the Son of God, calling wine their Christ, while youth sit by and hear it laughed at as a bright saying.

Casting aside God's law produces pollution like Sodom and Gomorrah. Abandoning distinct dress for men and women encourages immorality and is a warning about becoming a Sodom in social vice. Sodom was destroyed for the same sin that later existed in Canaan, warning against communion with evil spirits and the corrupt practices that follow.

The overthrow was a most dreadful destruction of wrath and a merciful vengeance against wickedness God could no longer perpetuate, sent to rid the earth of the curse of its contaminating influence. It punished disobedience, and stands as an example of God bringing judgment on cities whose sin provoked His wrath. It reveals God as both abundantly blessing, full of compassion and ready to pardon and heal the returning sinner, and strong to punish persistent despisers of His grace.

Sin kept steadily increasing after the Flood that saved only Noah and his sons, showing men had not learned that God means what He says when He warns of destruction. Sodom was destroyed by bolts of fire from heaven and stands as certain divine judgment on persistent sin, in line with the Flood and with the threatened destruction of Nineveh.

Remembered for Abraham's Sake

God remembered Abraham and in answer to his prayer sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow and brought him out of the destruction of the cities of the plain in which he dwelt. Not even ten righteous persons could be found in all the cities, yet the one man who feared God was snatched from destruction. The angels who led him out left him and turned back to destroy Sodom, while the One with whom Abraham had pleaded drew near to complete his deliverance and urge his escape. Lot had chosen to live in Sodom without regard to its associations, and he left it with nothing, led by an angel's hand, as the city with its suburbs was destroyed while judgment overtook the wicked and he was rescued. His rescue serves as a picture of faithful people living amid the sin and corruption of modern cities, for there are Lots in every Sodom whom God calls as reformers to stand for His law and do works of mercy.

His later history shows that he had to flee Sodom and that his warning to his daughters and sons-in-law was rejected with mockery of his faith, so that they perished in the city's destruction. He was saved only barely, with his life-work lost and his life a sad failure. He had entered Sodom intending to keep himself free from iniquity and to command his household after him, but he signally failed, for the corrupting influences around him weakened his own faith and his children's connection with the people of Sodom bound up his interest with theirs, so his children were ruined. Voluntarily placing oneself and one's family in an atmosphere of worldliness, unbelief, lax morality, and indifference to religious things for temporal advantage and worldly wealth and honor displeases God, counteracts parental influence, drives holy angels from the home, and sacrifices eternal interests, giving children less chance at the immortal inheritance in exchange for prosperity. His rescue shows that God does not forget His people when judgments fall.

Lot is called just, and he was brought safely out when God destroyed Sodom because he had not corrupted his way before God. He dwelt in the cities where he lived yet stood uncorrupted amid their moral pollution, though such pollution is dangerous to one who is weak in moral power. Deliverance from that overthrow requires repenting, confessing sins and forsaking them, arousing the will in whole reliance on the strength of Jesus to become an overcomer, and separating entirely from the evil class, for God warns to flee such a place as from Sodom and not to make a home there, since carrying unsubdued appetite and passions into it keeps God from prospering and blessing. The Sodomites were punished for disobedience of God's requirements while just Lot was saved out of the overthrow, not winged by the fire from heaven straight into glory. God's mercy does not cancel the final penalty for transgressing His law and does not mean that the disobedient escape judgment, for transgression brings destruction while obedience brings deliverance. Therefore obedience to all of God's law is absolutely essential to eternal life, no one can reach heaven as well by transgressing as by obeying, and no one should presume upon mercy to keep sinning and still expect pardon.

Lot's Choice and Loss

Lot chose his residence in Sodom for its worldly advantages, taking himself and his family into a place of corrupting influence without regard to its associations. He looked at outward appearance, at prosperity and beauty and fertility, while God looks at the heart. He went into Sodom rich and was sent out of the midst of the overthrow with nothing, led by an angel's hand, with his possessions destroyed.

He escaped barely with little more than his life, his life-work lost and his life a sad failure. His wife died, some of his children perished, and he saw his children ruined. Securing worldly wealth and honor for children at the expense of their eternal interests ends in terrible loss.

He had entered Sodom intending to keep himself free from iniquity and to command his household after him, but he signally failed. The corrupting influences around him weakened his own faith, and his children's connection with the people of Sodom bound up his interest with theirs. Evil associations are always detrimental to piety and devotion, principles approved by God may be undermined by unfavorable circumstances, and an attractive setting can endanger devotion. Voluntarily placing oneself and one's family in an atmosphere of worldliness, unbelief, lax morality and indifference to religious things for temporal advantage displeases God, counteracts parental influence, drives holy angels from the home, and sacrifices eternal interests. Choosing a home for temporal advantage rather than for the moral and religious influences surrounding the family gives children less chance at the immortal inheritance, whereas true wisdom might have meant less worldly prosperity but a title to the immortal inheritance made sure.

Warning for Present Time

The days of Sodom and Gomorrah illustrate the world's present moral corruption, for the cities of the present day are becoming as Sodom and Gomorrah while the world grows worse and worse. Excitement and pleasure-seeking draw people into dissipation and weaken spiritual life, which is why the comparison holds. The same eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building, and marriage infatuation that marked Sodom will mark the days of the Son of Man.

This condition is a sign of the times to be discerned. When corrupt teaching removes the safeguards of virtue and restraint the world could become a second Sodom. The deeply licentious conduct of Sodom and Gomorrah is the wickedness Satan seeks to bring back into the world. That same impurity, even among men and women professing godliness who lack strict purity and are sold unto sin, especially in adultery and carnal impurity, is now making the world a second Sodom and Gomorrah.

The condition that brought the overthrow is now returning in cities and even country towns. The training of youth is after the same order as then, to love excitement, to glorify self, and to follow the imagination of evil hearts. The result then as now is depravity, cruelty, violence, and crime.

There are Lots in every Sodom, for Lot's presence in Sodom shows God has faithful people even in a wicked city. As New York has people longing for the truth, so every corrupt modern city has those like Lot living amid sin and corruption. His rescue, when God remembered Abraham and brought him out of the destruction of the cities of the plain in which he dwelt, pictures those faithful ones whom God calls as reformers to stand for His law and do works of mercy.

Lot's escape warns against following the majority when doing so leads away from God, for only a few escaped though they had been warned. His choice to take himself and his family into Sodom, a place of corrupting influence, warns against placing young people among worldly people and Sodom-like depraved places and associations. What they see and hear must be guarded so that corrupt practices do not stain their purity. Placing God's institutions amid wicked surroundings carries the same danger, compared to Lot's going into Sodom.

Believers should discern the times and not make large plants or establish business interests in the cities, including a city like Melbourne that is becoming as Sodom and Gomorrah. God warns to flee such a place of moral pollution as from Sodom and not to make a home there, since it is dangerous to one weak in moral power. Carrying unsubdued appetite and passions into it keeps God from prospering and blessing.

Deliverance requires repenting, confessing sins and forsaking them, arousing the will in whole reliance on the strength of Jesus to become an overcomer, and separating entirely from the evil class. Christ's followers will be temperate in eating and drinking and seek those things which are above, rather than letting gratification of appetite occupy thoughts and time at neglect of eternal interests, abusing the body, destroying health, unbalancing the mind, strengthening animal propensities, and awakening the sword of justice against them. The same guilt rests on those now on the borders of the heavenly Canaan who with all light, evidences of truth, and advantages refuse to purify their souls by living up to them, for the overthrow reveals God as both abundantly blessing, full of compassion and ready to pardon and heal the returning sinner, and strong to punish persistent despisers of His grace.

Men cannot reject the warnings God in mercy sends without punishment. Mercy ceased to plead with the guilty inhabitants of Sodom, God withdrew His Spirit, and consumed all but Lot with his wife and two daughters by fire sent down from heaven, so that salvation depended on how the message sent from heaven was treated. Israel's rebellion was bringing it toward a fate like Sodom and Gomorrah. Those who profess to be Christians and have great light yet live in perversity, in forwardness, flirtation, common cheap talk, breaking down reserve and true decorum, and exchanging notes in meeting, becoming like the Sodomites and offensive to God, and who do not live up to that light, will face close judgments, for the end is near and God will do terrible things in righteousness against them. Lot's deliverance from the midst of the overthrow is one instance of the same dealing seen in the Flood in Noah's day, in the desolation of the unbelieving Jews in Christ's day, and in the strong delusion sent in the last days upon those who received not the love of the truth.