Once again, I want to apologize for not updating in a little while. Instead of going super in depth to every part that I have just read, I want to focus just on the bigger picture of the Destruction of Sodom and Gommorah. The whole story begins with 2 angels visiting Abraham. How he knew they were angels is a mystery. Perhaps they had the whole "Touched By an Angel" light/halo thing going for them. Either way, Abraham figures it out that these guys are angels. Through conversation, they tell him that they are going to destroy he cities of Sodom and Gommorah, which Abraham knows includes his relative Lot. So Abraham barters with these angels. He asks a question that I think many of us think about, or perhaps even ask: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?...Will not the Judge of all the Earth do right?"
We see this question all the time, especially in the news after a disaster. "How could God let this happen?" We think...but what about all the good people? The Christians? Why would God harm them as well? Turns out, this question goes back to the beginning of time. And, unfortunately we don't really get an asnwer. Yes, Abraham is able to barter down to allowing the city to be spared if 10 righteous people are found...but it makes you wonder why God would even allow 1 Righteous person to be destroyed? Why allow 10 good people to die, if you have he ability to save them? Now, perhaps Abraham settles for the 10 beause he knows how many people live with Lot, and he assumes that those 10 will be righteous enough to save the city. Maybe it's Abraham's way of beating the system. Perhaps Abraham knows that, with Lot and his family that there will definitely be 10 righteous people, so therefore the city will be saved.
It also begs the question, is there really such thing as a righteous person? Will we not later learn, in Romans, that there is no one Righteous? Was God (or the angels) just playing Abraham...making him think that he was really saving a city, when in reality there was never a single righteous person there to begin with (including Lot)?
Even assuming that finding a single righteous person is in fact possible, it is pretty clear, upon the arrival of the angels, that there are not 10 righteous people in the city. The bible says that, when the strangers arrive at the home of Lot, "all the men, from every part of the city" come by the home and request to have a huge orgy with the 2 visitors. Now, a lot of people take this verse as a clear sign against homosexuality. "Look...Sodom and Gommorah was destroyed because of homosexulaity!"...but would this not be just as bad if it was a group of women coming by to sleep with the strangers? Whether it was an attempted homosexual or not, doesn't change the fact that the act itself is immoral. Either way, whether it was male/male or male/female...it would be rape. I would be wrong,unjust, disgusting and sinful. I don't think the homosexuality was the straw that broke the camel's back here. Yes, there was homosexuality in the city, that is pretty clear...but, from what I understand, THAT is not the reason the city was destroyed.
You would think that Lot would be afraid, and hide is family, perhaps escaping through a back window and running away...but instead, Lot (the assumed "righteous" of the city) offers instead his daughters to the hormonal, sex-crazed crowd. He was willing to send his daughters out to get raped. Not father of the year, that is for sure. It is after this suggestion, that the 2 angels decide to intervene and blind the men, causing them to be confused and unable to find the door to the house. Why it took them so long, I don't know. If I was one of those angels, I would have struck the blindness pretty much immediately (probably also would have done some other tricks as well).
The angels then tell Lot to escape the city, with his family, for the Lord will destroy the city. I think the large attempted rape was enough to prove that the city was vile and evil. The angels tell Lot to leave quickly, "or you will be swept away when the city is punished". This begs the question...could God not wait for Lot to leave? Was it so urgent to destroy the city right that second...could God not give an hour or so for Lot to get his stuff, pack and leave? In fact, later in the chapter we read that "I cannot do anything until you reach [the safe city]". It seems that, yes...God was in fact delaying the destruction until Lot left. So why the hurry? Was it a final test for Lot? Abraham packed up everything to go to a land he didn't even know of, and not it was Lot's turn to grab his things and run? Was God just excited to destroy the city, and wanted to get it done with as quickly as he could?
Whatever the reason for the hurry, and for the delay on God's part, the one clear message is "don't look back". Which is an interesting request. Why not look at the destruction? If I am running away from somewhere, and there is an explosion,or whatever method God used to destory the city (especially if it is a city that I lived in for a while), I would want to see. What purpose would there be to punish curiousity? It's human nature...you hear a noise, smell smoke, feel fire...you look to see what happened.
I remember in Sunday school always focusing on the part of the story of Lot's wife. She turned to look and was turned to a pillar of salt. We often would talk about how she didn't want to leave, and how she was saddened by the destruction, so she turned and watched it happen. I remember talking about how, her act was a blatant disrespect for God's command to not look back, and how she stopped running to turn and look. But what I find amazing is that the bible never goes into detail about this (and it is also important to know that the Angels ever say what will happen if they turn and look). The bible says, "But Lot's wife looked back and she became a pillar of salt". That' s it! No in depth look into her reasoning. No description about ho Lot reacted to this, as I'm sure he was quite upset about it. She looked back, and BAM! It never says that she stopped running to look. She may have just glanced over her shoulder as she is running away. We don't know. We make her out to be this bad person, when in reality, we have no idea what her motive was. I want to know more. I want to know why such a harsh (and strange) penalty for looking behind. One of the many questions I will ask in heaven.
Final section here: So Lot and whats left of his family escape to a nearby town. In that town, Lot's 2 daughters (the same ones he offers to the crowd in the city) decide to get their father drunk, and get pregant by him. Once again, keep in mind that these are the people that God deemed righteous and saved from Sodom. So they do. The oldest does it on the first night, and the youngest the next night. It seems to be a general theme in the Bible. God saves someone, deems them righteous, and then they mess up. Noah, after being saved from the flood gets drunk and shames himself, Cain kills his brother, Abraham sleeps with Hagar after God promises a child, and now Lot and his daughters commit incest right after they get saved from Sodom and Gommorah. Just goes to show that Romans is right. There is no one Righteous. God uses sinners. God uses murderers, drunkards, adulterers, even people who commit incest. Does that mean that God is ok with these actions? No, of course not...but God uses everyone. He uses the people we don't expect. And, it also shows human nature. One minute, we are right with God and righteous, and the next moment we fall, and make horrible choices. But God forgives, and God loves us anyway. Amen!
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