SODOM AND GOMORRAH – Genesis 18:16 – 19:29

Do you remember when a long time ago Lot and Abraham went their separate ways? Well, Lot went to live in the city of Sodom. There was another city close by that was named Gomorrah.

 

The people who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah did not want to know anything about God, and did not care about doing what was right. Actually they were very bad and loved to do terrible things. They liked to harm anyone they could.

However, even though Lot lived in Sodom, he cared about God, but he also wanted comfort, money and recognition. 

Unfortunately, things in Sodom and Gomorrah were so evil and bad that God decided to destroy all the people and the horrible things that were going on there.

Do you remember the three men who had visited Abraham and told him that he was going to have a son?

When the angels left, God stayed behind with Abraham and when he looked down on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah from that hill, He knew it was time to destroy the evil people and even their cities. Because God is Holy, He must judge and destroy evil people for their wickedness. 

God did not keep anything from Abraham and He told Abraham what He was about to do.

Abraham was shocked and after thinking he asked God: “Will you kill the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city?”

So God said, “If you can find fifty good people there, I won’t destroy the city. I will save the whole city for the sake of the fifty good people.”

Abraham took another deep breath and said: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”

“If I find forty-five good people there,” God said, “I will not destroy the city.”

Once again Abraham spoke to Him, “What if only forty are found there?”

And God answered: “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”

Then Abraham said, “Please don’t be angry with me, Lord. But what if there are only thirty good people there?”

God said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”

He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”

Then once more Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”

He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, He left, and Abraham returned home.

 

The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city.  Remember the angels looked like ordinary men.

When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground and said: “Please come to my house and have dinner with us and stay the night.”

The angels said, “No. We will spend the night in the city square.”

But Lot insisted, “No, please, come and stay with us.” Lot knew how evil the people in Sodom were, and that they would try to hurt the angels if they spent the night in the square.

 

So the angels went to Lot’s house. They washed their hands and feet while Lot’s wife made dinner for them.

Later that evening when they were ready to go to bed, the people of Sodom began to surround Lot’s house.

“Lot! Where are the men who came to your house tonight?” They shouted from outside. “Bring them out to us so that we can molest them.”

Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. Please go away and leave us alone.”

 “Get out of our way,” they replied. They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door. They pressed so hard against the house; they were about to break down the door.

The angels reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. Then they struck the wicked men who were at the door with blindness so that they couldn’t find the door.

The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here, sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”

So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were promised to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

 

Early the next morning, before the sun had risen, the angels said to Lot, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters and leave this place, or you will die with everyone else!”

But Lot was so afraid he couldn’t move. So the angels grabbed him by the hand, and they grabbed the hands of his wife and of his two daughters, and they led them out of the city.

 

As soon as they were safely out of the city, one of the angels said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of the heavens. And He destroyed all those living in the cities and also the vegetation in the land.

 

But Lot’s wife did not obey and looked back, even though the angels warned her not to, and she was turned into a pillar of salt.

Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord.

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.

And so God wiped out the sin of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. But God saved Lot and his two daughters. 

Sin is a terrible thing, and sooner or later, if we don’t behave, we must answer to God also.

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Goodbye, until next time; when we will learn more about Isaac as he is growing up.

Until then, remember to say your prayers obey your mom and dad and do not forget to go to church and Sunday school next week.  

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