The Destruction Of Sodom

Lot’s arguing and holding back had delayed God’s plans because he would not do anything until they were safe.  As soon as Lot entered the city, God cause fire and brimstone to rain down on Sodom and Gomorrah, much like the flaming gases, molten rock, and ash from a volcanic eruption, according to Genesis 19:24-25.   “Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.”  Sodom and Gomorrah, and the surrounding area was completely wiped out, except for Zoar, at the southern edge of the Dead Sea. 

Even Zoar experienced a deadly blast of heat, although those inside were protected by the walls.  Lot’s wife was upset about losing their home and stopped to look back, as Genesis 19:26 tells us. “But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.”  Because she was not protected by the walls, she was killed, and the heat and molten minerals in the air left only lump of mineral salts of her body.   

The eruption took place shortly after sunrise.  Abraham was camped about thirty miles west of the Dead Sea.  Genesis 19:27-28 tells us, “And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.”  The cloud of smoke and ash caught Abraham’s attention.   It is quite possible that the eruption ultimately resulted in the valley subsiding below sea level and leading to the formation of what is known as the Dead Sea today. 

Though Lot knew the Lord and still had a moral standard, he had deliberately chosen to Go to Sodom and go along with the wickedness of the people there.  Abraham’s prayers and intercession were the main reason he was not destroyed along with the rest of the people in the area, according to Genesis 19:29.  “And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.”   Sometimes we feel that there is no point in praying for some people because they have gone too far.  James 5:16 commands, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”  Even though lot had gotten that far from God, God still answered Abraham’s prayer for him and still answers our prayers for others.  Ephesians 6:18 instructs us to be “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”

After seeing the effects of the eruption that destroyed Sodom, Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, for fear there might be another eruption.  He decided to Go to where God had originally told him to go, as Genesis 19:30 tells us.  “And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.” 

Unfortunately, his daughters moral attitudes and standards had been shaped by the standards and sexual attitudes of the Sodomites.   Since there were no other guys around, they decided to have incestuous sex with their father with the deliberate intention of getting pregnant, According to Genesis 19:31-38.   “And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.  And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.  And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.  And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.  Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.  And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.” 

Lot’s willingness to overlook the wickedness of the people of Sodom to further his own goals had destroyed his own testimony and corrupted his morals, resulting in the deaths of his wife and some of his daughters and their families.   Even the ones who were not killed had little concern for what was right or wrong, and their children would reject God for centuries.  The Moabites and Ammonites would become some of Israel’s most implacable enemies.

Even Lot and his family had not taken God’s warning seriously, and the Sodomites ignored it completely.  Nevertheless, God did exactly what he had said.  He is able to do it again if people will not listen.  II Peter 2:9-10 warns, “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.”  II Peter 3:10 warns that what happened I Sodom is just a small sample of God’s final Judgment.  “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”  Unfortunately, Like Lot’s family, many of those who consider themselves Christians don’t take the warnings seriously.