A Special Visit

Genesis 19:1-11

While living in Houston, Texas, I would have business associates who would travel from all parts of the world to Houston.  While helping them plan the trip to my area, the question of where to stay was always the issue, and I would put them in an area close to the customers they were going to see, unless that area was not safe.  As we look into chapter 19, Lot sees what others who did not have a knowledge of God could not see, Lot sees two righteous men entering the gate of Sodom.  When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet.  Then you may rise up early and go on your way.”

It is of importance to note that Abraham bowed and called them, lords, lords was used as a title of respect for men.  Lot was sitting at the city “gate” where the business and commercial activities took place, and he had become someone of importance in Sodom. The angels were going to stay in the city square and after a strong argument on why it was not the thing to do, they agreed to spend the night with Lot and his family.  We see that Lot made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.  Henry M. Morris has this nugget for us on page 346 of “The Genesis Record”, “When the men enter his home, Lot prepared them a feast.  It is significant, however, that the only ingredient of this feast which is specifically mentioned is “unleavened bread.”   The fact that Lot baked it, rather than his wife, may suggest that his wife did not at all welcome these strangers in her home.  In any case, this is the first mention of leaven in the Bible, and is in accord with all of its later usages.  In Scripture, leaven is generally symbolic of evil doctrine or practice corrupting God’s people.”

Lot knew the people of Sodom and what they would try to do to these two men; it was not long before the men of the city both young and old surrounded his house and demanded that Lot bring the men out so they could have sex with them. The men of the city were about to break down the door, when the angels struck them with blindness. Yes, Lot knew the hearts of the men of Sodom, but he had forgot that God nor His angels needed Lot to protect them; it was just the reverse, Lot needed the hand of God, and God provided a way of escape. 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice