Bible Knowledge Project: Genesis 19

Read: Genesis 19

After Abram pleaded with the LORD for the well-being of Sodom (and his nephew), we arrive at the answer to the prayer. You recall that God promised to spare the city if he found ten righteous people. The chapter opens with the arrival of the angels at the city who promptly meet Lot, are welcomed into his home, and protect his family. Though they are protected and brought to safety, Lot’s wife fails to heed the instruction of the angels and is destroyed.

Two lessons can be learned from this chapter. First, God punishes sin. That may seem obvious, but the destruction of Sodom is a paradigm for how God will deal with wickedness and evil in the days to come (See Is. 1:9, 10; Ezek. 14:14, 16, 18, 20). Unlike Noah’s day, when the LORD destroyed the inhabitants of the whole earth, God here acts in a specific manner against those who would rebel against him. Second, God is gracious. Lot was not innocent, but due to the nature of the covenant, God determined to rescue him and his family. Yet, like Noah, his family line is mingled with good and evil (See 19:30-38. Cp. with 9:18-29).