Gen 19:1 ¶Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw
them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground.
Is it made clear here that Lot understood he was seeing mortal men? Or was this just how a person greeted others in his day? I have heard this thought both ways. Yet neither teaching answered what in my mind was the key question to answer.
You see, in one teaching, they say that Lot know one of them was Yeshua. Yet they never answer what came of the one Abraham spoke with. It is after all clear that that was HaShem, or Yeshua, (being as they are one in the same). If Abraham was seeking to HaShem, and He is not found here, why? That answer is not given to us, so to answer it would be to assume, not something I would say is a good idea.
The other, can't give good reason for Lot to bow down before other men. Through out the Word, bowing denotes worship, Yet as we will see, Lot was still found righteous, and removed from the city.
Gen 19:2 And he said, “Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the open square.”
Some may say that it was Lots action that saved him. Yet as we seen, action was not it took to be found righteous, it was faith. Yet faith as we have also seen must be followed by obedience.
There are some that teach Lot was simply acting out of Love for his fellow man, and that it was love a lone that saved him. Yet they fail to show this concept in any of the Torah.
Gen 19:6 So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him,
Gen 19:7 and said, “Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly!
Gen 19:8 “See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.”
Take my kids. Like that's going to be something a truly righteous man would offer up. Most men back then, and even today would fight to the death for their kids. Yet lot was faced with a town, not just one or 2 men. He know he had no chance of winning a fight, yet at the same time, he may have also understood he had in his house 2 angles. So he was willing to do anything to save them. If the latter is true, then Lot didn't have a full understanding of what angles can do. This lack of understanding, may have lead to his willingness to give his 2 daughters up.
Gen 19:10 But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.
Gen 19:11 And they struck the men who
were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary
trying to find the door.
Do we find it sad that depravity ran so deep in the souls of this place, that even blinded they tried to find the door, so they could carry out their evil plain? This as we will see through out the Torah, seems to be recurring theme. Once the heart is set against HaShem and His laws, nothing short of the intervention of the Holy Spirit, will change them.
Gen 19:14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.
It seems that his daughters were marred, so how is he said they had not known men? Some say Lot know that his kids had not known men, as the men they married were gay, and only married to gain Lots wealth. Yet others say Lot knowing the men were gay, picked them, so as to save his daughters for himself. Then there is the chance that Lot married them off to the men, to protect them. The answer is never told to us, what we do know is that the men found Lots story to strange to be true. I am sure that at some point Lot gave up. After all once a person starts the road of mocking another, there is no hope hope left of serious discussion, as every attempt to make ones point is turned aside with contempt.
An action I am sure we have all seen, or may have even taken part in.
Gen 19:17 So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.”
Gen 19:18 Then Lot said to them, “Please, no, my lords!
Gen 19:19 “Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die.
Knowing that bandits roamed the hills, Lot was scared for his life.
Gen 19:20 “See now, this city
is near
enough to flee to, and it
is a little one; please let me escape there (
is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.”
Gen 19:22 “Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
One may find that in the the Word, a truly righteous person is saved through miracles. Like Daniel, Sahdrak, Meshack, and Abendigo. Yet less righteous people are given the chance to save themselves. If that is the case, some as we know fail by turning back. To turn back, shows that ones heart is not in salvation, rather in own life, want's and hopes.
Gen 19:24 Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens.
The text reads as though Lot and his family had made it to Zoar before HaShem started the destruction. Yet as we see, Lots wife looked back.
Gen 19:26 But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
At what point this came to be, we are not told. Yet there is one thing that we must see before going further.
Gen 19:27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD.
Gen 19:28 Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace.
Some look at this and say that it was location. Lots wife could see the city, and Abraham could only see the smoke.
On the other hand, the sages teach us, Lot's wife was not worthy enough to see others being destroyed. Where as Abraham was. This they say was due to Abraham's willingness to plead for the lives of the righteous. As for Lot's wife, she was not due to her willingness to live in a sin filled city, and lack of resolve to leave it.
Gen 19:30 Then Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountains, and his two daughters were with him; for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar. And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave.
Gen 19:31 Now the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father
is old, and
there is no man on the earth to come in to us as is the custom of all the earth.
Gen 19:33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
Gen 19:35 Then they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
The carnal mind works in what it wants, thinking only of self, and not thinking of HaShem, or His power to do the things we see as impossible. True as it may be, they had not seen HaShem at work in their lives, they had seen His power at work, and had seen things, and lived through things that would turn the hearts of most people. Yet it seems that Lot had not passed on the faith Abraham had shown to him, through Abraham's willing to follow with out question, all that HaShem asked of him.
Gen 19:37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; he
is the father of the Moabites to this day.
Gen 19:38 And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; he
is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.
As so little is said of their way of life, it is best we don't jump in say one way or the other. Then try to show it as fact. One thing is clear to us, They were related to Israel, and they did end up fighting with them. This fighting was most likely due to dispute over land.
Some say, and they may well be right, that both worshiped Baal. It is clear that war with them was a fact, and that neither won. They may have won a battle here and there, yet they never won the war.
One thing that we must note, is that Ruth was a Moabite. It seems odd to some that Yeshua would come from a mixed blood line. It also seems just as add to some that don't understand Torah, that Boaz would marry out side of the blood line of Israel. After all to do was against the Law. Yet every thing stated here is true.
So why did Boaz marry her? Did they mix the blood of their off spring to the shame of his people? I truly think the answer is no. They didn't mix blood lines, as for her not being ken by blood. True she was not from a direct line of Abraham, yet she was related by blood. Hens with her words,
Rth 1:16 But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you,
Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people
shall be my people, And your God, my God.
She rejected the actions of her own people, in favor of the Israelis. She reject the faith of her people, and took the faith of Israel.
