Genesis 19:23-38 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Genesis 19:23-38. Let’s go!
Genesis 19:23-28 (NIV)
23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land.
24 Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah–from the LORD out of the heavens.
25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities–and also the vegetation in the land.
26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD.
28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
On verses 23-28: God’s wrath against sin is real. It is only by God’s mercy and grace expressed through Jesus Christ on the cross that we have hope and protection against God’s wrath. When Jesus first came to as a suffering servant to die for our sins. The next time Jesus comes, He will not come as a suffering servant but as a righteous judge and conquering king. In fact, in Luke 17, when Jesus describes his second coming, he compares it to the way God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah:
28 “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.
29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
31 On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything.
32 Remember Lot’s wife!
33 Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.
Speaking of Lot’s wife, what exactly happened to her? Earlier in verse 17, the angels told Lot, Lot’s wife and their family not to look back as they flee from Sodom. In verse 26, however, Lot’s wife looks back and becomes a pillar (or perhaps a statue) of salt. What happened exactly? What did that look like? We don’t know exactly, but in any event it is a powerful lesson that living in the past paralyzes us and keeps us from moving forward.
Genesis 19:29 (NIV)
29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
On verse 29: God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, but in remembrance of Abraham, God brought Lot, the relative of Abraham, out of Sodom unscathed. Likewise, we deserved to perish for our sin, but God, remembering His Son Jesus Christ on the cross, spares all of us who are connected to Jesus by faith and brings us to the safe place.
Genesis 19:30 (NIV)
30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave.
On verse 30: Too afraid to stay in Zoar, Lot hid with his two daughters in the mountains. By living in seclusion this way, Lot prevented his daughters from having much prospect of finding husbands. Previously Lot was quick to give his daughters away as sex objects for the men of Sodom. Now here Lot is slow to give his daughters away as legitimate wives. As a result his daughters feel compelled to do something about it.
What can we learn from this?
1. When we live in fear, not only do we suffer, but those who depend on our leadership suffer as well.
2. We are to take good care of those whom God has entrusted to us, especially our immediate family. See 1 Timothy 5:8.
Genesis 19:31-36 (NIV)
31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to lie with us, as is the custom all over the earth.
32 Let’s get our father to drink wine and then lie with him and preserve our family line through our father.”
33 That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and lay with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I lay with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and lie with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.”
35 So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went and lay with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
36 So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.
On verses 31-36: Worried at the possibility of never marrying and having children, Lot’s two daughters decide to take matters into their own hands. They get their father drunk and sleep with him. Their incestuous affairs with their father result in both of them getting pregnant.
The shocking way in which Lot’s daughters took matters in their own hands is similar to the other shocking proposals we heard from the men of Sodom (v5) as well as from Lot himself (v8). Evidently the warped value system of Sodom was still very much alive in Lot’s daughters. It goes to show that you can get the people out of Sodom, but can you get Sodom out of the people?
Many Christians today live like Lot’s daughters: by God’s grace they have been rescued and taken out of a place that was destined to be destroyed by God’s wrath, but they still think and live in the ways of the place they came out of. That is why it is so crucial that after you have said yes to Jesus and allowed Him to save you and forgive you of your sins, don’t stop there. You also need to allow God’s Word and God’s Spirit to begin sanctifying you, that is, transforming you from the inside out so that you become more and more like Jesus in the way you think and live. As Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” As Colossians 3:7-10 says:
7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.
8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Verses 31-36 are also a lesson in the dangers of getting drunk and abusing intoxicating or addictive substances. Getting drunk on wine or other substances leads to us living, talking and deciding in foolish ways that we will regret later. As Ephesians 5:18 says, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”
Genesis 19:37-38 (NIV)
37 The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today.
38 The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.
On verses 37-38: Incredibly the two nations that would arise from these two incestuous affairs were the Moabites and the Ammonites, who would become enemies of the Israelites for centuries. When we do things our way instead of God’s way, it leads to conflict and strife that we would have never predicted or asked for.
Heavenly Father, thank You for every lesson I can learn from Your Word today. I pray that I would not conform to the pattern of this world but that I would be transformed by the renewing of my mind, made possible by Your Word and Your Spirit working in my life. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
