After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his daughters had to start over again. This devotional reading looks at how God used a disturbing situation to create two new nations.
Nuggets
- Though Lot had been saved from the destruction of Sodom, that really didn’t help him after that.
- While we go ewwww at the incest, Jehovah made nations out of the offspring.
- The nations that descended from Lot’s sons were enemies of God’s covenant people.
After the horror of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his two daughter must start over. They had a rough start.
But that led to a bad decision.
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Devotions in the Abraham the Patriarch series
After Zoar
“Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters" (Gen. 19: 30 NLT)
Though Lot had been saved from the destruction of Sodom, that really didn’t help him much after that.
We saw that Lot didn’t save himself. Only Jehovah did. It was only through Jehovah’s grace that he was saved.
But even after lot reached Zoar, he didn’t turned his life over to Jehovah. He didn’t live in worship and praise.
Why was Lot afraid of the residents of Zoar? Wasn’t he the one who requested to go there?
Leale had an interesting thought about that. He wrote, “Lot could not trust God fully, and therefore the infinite charity of God stooped to his infirmity.”
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Did Lot think that the destruction would follow him? Was he having survivor guilt? Did he just never get over the death of Mrs. Lot?
Did Lot prescribe to the better-late-than-never theory because he did end up in the mountains where God told him to go in the first place? We really don’t know if Jehovah prescribes to that.
But we think that could be the case. Look at the Parable of the Two Sons.
“But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he changed his mind and went anyway. Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go. ‘Which of the two obeyed his father?’ They replied, ‘The first’” (Mt. 21: 28-31 NLT).
Jehovah would prefer immediate obedience. There are times when He accepts delayed obedience.
Bottom line is Lot put himself in a worse position by not trusting Jehovah completely.
Well, don’t we do that sometimes? God saves us, but we are so focused on the horror that we keep focused on the sin rather than on Him.
Probably worse than that is when we won’t do what Jehovah says. We ask for Plan B instead.
We think we know better than Jehovah.
Why didn’t Lot go back to Abraham? He didn’t take anything with him, so it wasn’t because they would be competing for resources anymore.
Surely, Lot knew about the promised child. Did he think he shouldn’t/couldn’t go back because he was no longer the heir apparent?
That isn’t addressed. It has to go into our UNR book – understanding not required.
The best thing Lot could have done was follow Jehovah’s directions. Next best would be to go to Abraham.
Lot did not choose wisely. And things went downhill from there.
The Older Daughter’s Plan
“One day the older daughter said to her sister, ‘There are no men left anywhere in this entire area, so we can’t get married like everyone else. And our father will soon be too old to have children. Come, let’s get him drunk with wine, and then we will have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.’ So that night they got him drunk with wine, and the older daughter went in and had intercourse with her father. He was unaware of her lying down or getting up again. The next morning the older daughter said to her younger sister, ‘I had sex with our father last night. Let’s get him drunk with wine again tonight, and you go in and have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.’ So that night they got him drunk with wine again, and the younger daughter went in and had intercourse with him. As before, he was unaware of her lying down or getting up again" (Gen. 19: 31-35 NLT)
While we go ewwww at the incest, Jehovah made nations out of the offspring.
After Lot and his daughters head to the mountains, the oldest daughter became concerned about their situation. I get that. Their society had one job for women – get married and have babies, sons preferably.
Once the family got to the mountains, the oldest daughter was concerned that there no men in the area. I keep reading sermons and articles that said the girls probably thought they were the only ones left on earth.
I just don’t see that. Yeah, they probably knew the story about the flood. They may have thought Jehovah judged the whole earth again and wiped out all but one family.
But they lived in Zoar for a while — we aren’t told how long. Moses said Lot was afraid of them (Gen. 19: 30), so they knew they were there. Plus, the angel said Zoar would not be destroyed (Gen. 19: 21).
The older daughter hatched a plan for both girls to become pregnant by their father. She was concerned about preserving the family line.
Where was Lot in all of this? Well, they didn’t ask him. In fact, they got him drunk so that the plan could work. (I know. We usually think of incest as being instigated by the parent/adult.)
But then, this was the man who was ready to hand his daughters over to be raped by the townspeople.
The Nations Are Born
“As a result, both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their own father. When the older daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Moab. He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Moabites. When the younger daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Ben-ammi. He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Ammonites" (Gen. 19: 36-38 NLT)
The nations that descended from Lot’s sons were enemies of God’s covenant people.
Moabites
Moab was the son born to Lot and the oldest of Lot’s two daughters mentioned in Genesis 19.
The land of Moab lay east of the Dead Sea, starting at the southeastern boarder of the Sea. Sauter gave us a specific location. She wrote, “The kingdom of Moab stretched ‘north and south of the Arnon River’ with its capital at Dibon.”
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Notable Moabites were Ruth and King Balak. Ruth was the widow who remained with her mother-in-law (Ruth 1). King Balak hired Balaam to curse the Israelites as they returned from slavery in Egypt to capture the Promised Land (Num. 22).
The Moabites were a sinful nation. They worshiped a god named Chemosh.
They were driven from their land by the Amorites shortly before the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. It was in this land that the Israelites’ made their last encampment before entering the Promised Land (Num. 22: 1: Josh. 13: 32).
As punishment for their sins, they were destroyed by David.
Ammonites
Ben-ammi was the son born to Lot and the youngest of Lot’s two daughters mentioned in Genesis 19. The Ammonites were a nomadic people, roaming the land of Amon (present-day Jordan).
From the time of the judges down to King David, the Ammonites were enemies of Israel. Even before that, the Ammonites refused to aid the Israelites heading to the Promised Land.
The Ammonites were a sinful nation. They primarily worshiped a god named Milcom. They also worshiped Molech, causing Jehovah to forbid intermarriage between them and Israelites.
Making the Connections #1
I hadn’t thought of it before I read Robertson’s sermon. He said the daughters were the only ones who obediently left Sodom.
Ooo, baby. It had to be hard for them. They were suddenly expected to leave their home, the promise of their future home.
Those two are the only ones who weren’t specifically called out for hesitating or looking back. (Yeah, the angel did take their hands and move them along, but it doesn’t say they were hesitating.)
Robertson noted their condition. He wrote, “His sons and daughters left it in apparent obedience, but with the spirit of the inhabitants of the plain; it was not so with Lot’s wife.”
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I don’t know where the sons came from. But the daughters still had the spirit of the inhabitants of the plains. That reared it’s head in verse 32.
Roberson questioned whether Lot’s hesitation was from the concern over having to start over yet again. Thinking it through, I don’t know.
I know in a previous devotion, I said this would be the second time Lot lost everything.
But Lot really didn’t lose everything to King Elam. Yeah, he was taken prisoner and his stuff taken.
Didn’t Abraham get everyone and everything back (Gen. 14: #). Lot only lost everything for a while.
That might have made an impact. Why did Jehovah allow this bad thing to happen to me?
If we already have a shaky faith, that can make it worse.
Making the Connections #2
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah remind us to be vigilant in our interactions with the world.
Look what it says in the sermon entitled The Lessons of the Day. The author wrote,
“Lot went to Sodom because he thought it a secularly desirable place. (Genesis 13:10.) He went there, and there his own piety was injured, his own children contaminated, and the partner of his own bosom became a victim of Divine judgment. The beauty of his home was his curse. The spirit of Lot is still common.”
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We may think we are immune to the world. We may believe our faith or our will is able to withstand Satan’s warfare.
We are not.
Making the Connections #3
The story the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities of the plains reminds us that – one day – we will be judged for our sins.
But we are slow to admit our sins, aren’t we? We drag our feet. We rationalize why we think we didn’t disobey God.
The problem is we are mired in sin. It is like we have stepped into quicksand and just keep sinking – especially when we are fighting to get out.
In short, we procrastinate. We think there will always be time to get right with God.
One day there won’t be.
How Do We Apply This?
Don’t linger in sin — run away from it.
Don’t return to sin or even look back for former friends.
Don’t move ahead of Jehovah, rather follow His every direction.
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Father God. We know You know all of our steps before we even walk the path. We know You allow sinful things to happen to grow us or to further Your plan. Help us to understand and accept You perfect Will. Amen.
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