*Genesis 19:15-29
Two angels urge Lot to flee Sodom with his family before it’s destroyed by God, but Lot’s wife disobeys and is turned into a pillar of salt.
- Urgent Departure from Sodom:
- As dawn breaks, the angels urge Lot to take his wife and two daughters out of Sodom to escape the impending destruction.
- Lot hesitates, prompting the angels to grasp his hand, along with the hands of his wife and daughters, and lead them out of the city for safety, showing mercy on them.
- Divine Instructions and Lot’s Plea:
- Once outside, the angels instruct Lot to flee to the mountains and not look back, warning that he should not stop anywhere in the plain to avoid being swept away in the catastrophe.
- Lot pleads with the angels, fearing he cannot make it to the mountains in time and requests permission to flee to a small nearby town (Zoar) instead.
- Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah:
- After the angels consent to Lot’s request to flee to Zoar, the Lord rains sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the sky.
- The cities and the entire plain, including all the inhabitants and vegetation, are completely destroyed.
- Lot’s Wife’s Disobedience and Fate:
- Despite the angels’ warnings, Lot’s wife looks back at the destruction and becomes a pillar of salt.
- Abraham’s Perspective:
- The next morning, Abraham goes to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
- From there, he looks down upon Sodom and Gomorrah and sees dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
19:15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
19:16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
19:17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
19:18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my LORD: 19:19 Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: 19:20 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.
19:21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.
19:22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
19:23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.
19:24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 19:25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
19:26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
19:27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: 19:28 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.
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.