Monday, September 30, 2019

2019.09.30 Hopewell @Home ▫ Genesis 19:1-11

Questions from the Scripture text: Who had said that He was going down to Sodom in Genesis 18:21? And who does Genesis 18:22 say departed? Now, who does Genesis 19:1 say arrive in Sodom? At what time of day do they arrive? Where do they find Lot? How does he respond when he sees them? Where does he tell them to spend the night (Genesis 19:2)? Where do they say that they will spend the night? Who prevails (Genesis 19:3)? What does Lot do for them? What do the men of the city do in Genesis 19:4? Which ones? For what (whom!) do they ask in Genesis 19:5? What is Lot’s counterproposal (Genesis 19:6-8)? What rationale does he give in Genesis 19:8? What do the men say about Lot in Genesis 19:9? What do they threaten? Who save Lot in Genesis 19:10 and how? What do they do in Genesis 19:11?   
Holy Scripture tells us that Lot was righteous, and that His soul was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (2 Peter 2:7-8) that tormented his soul day with sights and sounds day by day. So it is utterly shocking to hear Lot referring to the Sodomites as “my brethren” (Genesis 19:7) and even more so to see him offering up his daughters to be horribly abused (Genesis 19:8) rather than defending with his own life all who are under his roof.

When we live in such a wicked culture as we do, we must ask ourselves—even if our souls are tormented daily by the sights and sounds of the culture—whether we have found our fellowship with the culture (as Lot has in Genesis 19:7) or given in to the situation by compromising our duties (as Lot in Genesis 19:8).

But ultimately, this passage is not about how far Lot has fallen, but about God’s mission to pull him out of it. Yahweh arrives at Sodom as two messengers who look like men (Genesis 19:1, cf. Genesis 18:21-22), and He is even more earnest for Lot to see what is going on with Sodom and with himself than Lot is for them not to see it. Lot does get them to stay at his house instead of with the sodomites, but the sodomites come to the house.

When things heat up, it looks pretty dismal for Lot. But what he can’t do for himself, the Lord Himself does—striking the entire town with such a supernatural blindness as they can’t even feel their way to the door and give up for exhaustion. It’s a picture of what is happening on a larger scale—Lot hasn’t been able to bring himself, spiritually, to a place where he escapes the wickedness of Sodom. So the Lord Himself has now come to deliver him. Praise God, who deals with the nations on behalf of His people!
With whom do you find your fellowship? What duties does this culture make difficult for you?
Suggested Songs: ARP1 “How Blessed the Man” or TPH1A “That Man Is Blest”

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