Remember Lot's Family


James E. Farley


Jesus said, “Remember Lot’s wife.” (Luke 17:32). We would do well to do this, and, in fact, we would do well to remember Lot’s entire family and the circumstances that led to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, including some of Lot’s very family. 


Abram and Lot both prospered with large herds and flocks, and with large families. However, the land could not support them all dwelling together. There came strife among the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. Abram pled for unity: that there be no strife. He suggested that Lot separate his people and possessions from Abram’s so there would be peace, and he gave Lot the choice of the grazing lands. Lot took the lush plain toward Sodom. The Word says he “pitched his tent toward Sodom” where men were exceedingly wicked sinners! (Genesis 13:1-13). 


Now, Lot was a just man, and the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah “vexed his righteous soul from day to day …” (2 Peter 2:6-8). How hard it must have been for this good man to live and labor among a people with such evil in their hearts – people who practiced things that were an abomination to the Lord. We are made to wonder how he might have regretted his decision to choose the lands toward Sodom. 


Genesis 18 reveals that angels of the Lord visited with Abraham at the plains of Mamre. They revealed to him God’s plan to destroy the cities of the plain. Abraham asked if God intended to destroy the righteous with the wicked. Then Abraham pleaded with the Lord not to destroy the cities if fifty righteous souls could be found. The Lord agreed to this: if fifty could be found, he would spare the cities. (Genesis 18:26). Abraham asked humbly if God would spare them if forty-five righteous people could be found, and God agreed. (Genesis 18:28) His plea then went from forty to ten (vs. 29-32). God said He would spare the cities if ten righteous people could be found. No doubt, Abraham was thinking of his nephew, Lot, and his family as he meekly “bartered” with God concerning those souls. 


It is a true Biblical principle that the faithful have always been the few. God agreed to spare these wicked cities if just ten righteous people could be found, but not even ten upright people could be found. Lot had more children than just the two daughters who left Sodom with him and his wife. Remember, those two daughters were virgins. (Genesis 19:8). Lot had married daughters, and he went to his sons-in-law to warn them of the coming danger. The Word says that they thought he mocked or jested. Maybe the thought of how great a destruction it would be just seemed impossible to them. They could not conceive of it, so they concluded that Lot must have been jesting. They stayed. (Genesis 19:12-14).


Lot, his wife, and two daughters were warned to flee, but they lingered. It must have been hard. They had family there, and they knew they were going to be lost in the destruction. Their home was there, and all their possessions. The angels took them by the hand and set them outside the city. They were not to stop nor were they to look back at the destruction of the cities. “But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” (Genesis 19:26). 


Tragedy came upon Lot and his family, the cause of which, basically, was that he chose to dwell in that region. He “pitched his tent toward Sodom …” He and two of his daughters were saved from the destruction, but think of the cost he had to pay for his decision. Then, on top of all this, his two daughters concocted an evil scheme to cause Lot to become drunken with wine and then to have sexual relationship with him. (Genesis 19:30-38). They thought that they were the last ones on earth and that they were doing a good thing in preserving their father’s seed. They knew Lot would not consent to incest, so they plied him with wine to make him drunk. Both daughters conceived and bare sons: one’s son was the father of the Moabites, and the other’s son was the father of the Ammonites. Both nations were thorns in the side of Israel in years to come. 


Be careful about your decisions and choices. Be careful to what you expose your family in this life. You may end up like Lot of old; you may lose your family to the world. -P.O. Box 285, Crum, WV 25669. preechkrum@suddenlink.net 

 

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