"We Have a Righteous Intercessor"

Genesis 19:12-29

We are reading through the book of Genesis. We are using the Literary Design for Genesis to guide us in our reading. At this point in the narrative we are with Lot, Abraham’s nephew getting ready for another flood. Not a flood with water, but this time a flood of fire. 

We left off last week with Lot being dragged into the house, or ark, of safety. Remember the time markers. We are still at night and the two men reveal to Lot that they have been sent to destroy the city. They question Lot regarding others in the city who may belong to his family that he can warn and help them get out of the city before the destruction. Remember the conversation these men had heard between God and Abraham? The magic number was ten righteous people. At this point the men could count four, Lot, his wife and two daughters. 

Were there any others? Turns out Lot did have some sons-in-laws,  who were pledged to marry his daughters, in the city. The mob must have left because Lot goes out to tell them the news of God’s plan to destroy the city. The sons-in-law thought he was joking. Does this remind you of another instance where people were warned of a flood and the person proclaiming the disaster was laughed at? 

The coming of dawn has the angels urging Lot to hurry up and take his family and get out. We read that Lot hesitates. This is such a human response, isn’t it? Considering what has just occurred in the past twelve hours Lot’s response makes this story seem realistic. Think about it. Lot must have been thinking, here we go again! Messengers from the Lord show up, and my life is turned upside down and I am forced to flee. 

The last time this happened was when Lot was in Egypt, at least that time he was traveling with his uncle and he was able to take all of his belongings with him. This time, in the course of an evening, with not a lot of sleep, Lot was having to flee for his life and take nothing with him except his family.

The angels don’t give Lot much time to wallow in sorrow, they grasp his hands along with the hands of his wife and daughters and lead them safely out of the city, verse 16, 

“...for the Lord was merciful to them.” 

 No sooner do they get out of the city gate when one of the angels says, verse 17,

“Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

Now what would you have done if an angel of the Lord told you to flee for your life, run to the hills? This is where you want to knock Lot in the head. Come on! An angel of the Lord tells you to run for your life and you choose to ask for another plan? But that’s exactly what Lot does. God has a plan to save Lot’s life and the lives of his family and Lot has a different idea. Lot doesn’t want to go to the mountains, he has his eye on a small town nearby. Maybe Lot is lazy and the mountains seem too far away to get to before being burned up. Or maybe this small town is where a friend of his lives? We are told in parentheses the name of this small town, it’s Zoar. We have heard of this town before. It is during the story of the previous flood story where Abraham saved Lot from the five kings of the Canaanites. One of those kings, the king of Bela, whose name means, “devoured” or “consumed” was from Zoar. Lot is such a poor chooser. 

He chose the city of Sodom, remember? When he and Abraham decided to part ways and Abraham gave him first choice? In Lot’s eyes the valley of Sodom looked like Eden. Here God provides a means of escape and Lot has his own idea about how his salvation should work out. We can guess how this choice will work out.

Yet, Lot gets what he wants, the messenger proclaims his hands are tied, he can’t do a thing until Lot is safe. Not because of Lot, mind you, but because of his uncle Abraham’s bargain with God. It’s almost like the angel gives in so he can do what God has sent him to do. 

Notice the timing. By the time Lot reaches the small town of Zoar, the sun is rising. Then the LORD brought the rain. This time it’s not water, it’s raining sulfur and fire, from the heavens. The cities get turned upside down. 

The entire plain was destroyed, right down to all of the vegetation. 

Do you remember the warning the angels gave Lot and his family about not looking back, not to look longingly after where you’ve come, not to stop? Well, that’s exactly what Lot’s wife did. Results? She became a pillar of salt. 

So that’s the escape. Lot manages to get to the little city that he wanted to get to. Just like Cain, he didn’t want to accept God’s type of protection, he wanted to follow his own plan. Lot too thinks he has a better plan that involves a city, bringing in another motif of the narrative. 

Lot no sooner escapes then the narrative turns to Abraham, back on the hilltop, there in the morning, looking down, over the place where he stood with God. 

All Abraham saw was dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. In the midst of the fiery flood the next verse tells us, verse 29,

“So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham,”

Why do the angels tolerate Lot and all of his selfish behaviors? Not because Lot is such a great guy. We are taken back to the scene between Abraham and Yahweh. Yahweh seeks justice, but He also shows mercy, and remembers Abraham. There was another time when Yahweh brought about a cosmic collapse and then remembers someone. Genesis 8:1,

“But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark,”

Here we have a hyperlink, reminding us that when God remembers someone in the midst of conflict, death or tragedy, it’s a pivotal moment. 

Here we are provided with the theme of the righteous intercessor, on the high place, appealing to God’s justice. There are some interesting twists because Abraham does appeal to God, not directly for his nephew Lot, but Yahweh listens to the righteous chosen one and shows mercy. Even though for all extensive purposes the mercy was given to someone who may not have actually deserved it.  Even the semi-righteous was brought out of the city. 

This is the second time it has rained in the book of Genesis. God kept His promise of not having a flood over all the earth, but when things get bad enough in small pockets of the earth sometimes justice demands that Yahweh perform a local flood. 

We are almost at the end of another section of the Abraham story. We met Abraham in Genesis 11 following the scattering of humans after the fall of Babylon. 

When Abraham’s father left Babylon it was called, “Ur Kasdim,” which  means, the fiery oven of Babylon. The fiery oven of Babylon and the scattering of Babylon was parallel to the flood, not of water, but of fire. The portrait of Sodom and Gomorrah has become the ultimate mega monster city of humans and demonstrates everything that could possibly go wrong and require a response of justice from God. From this point on, Sodom and Gomorrah become an icon of when Yahweh must respond to the injustice and evil and oppression of humanity. 

An example is in the beginning chapter of Isaiah’s book he calls Jerusalem a new Sodom and Gomorrah, Isaiah 1:10, 

“Hear the word of the Lord,

    you rulers of Sodom;

listen to the instruction of our God,

    you people of Gomorrah!”

In fact, if we combine the flood narrative with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah we are given a symbolic vocabulary that allows us to foresee what will happen. The language of violence, of sexual abuse, or an outcry against human evil should cause us to think, “Okay, God is about to do something.” Think of the Exodus story. The Israelites were enslaved and they cried out to God. We should expect the ruin of a city, something being wiped out, and some sort of rain or flood waters. And the people who are saved, they will have some sort of word play on Noah’s name. We should also expect some language of a remnant or refugees fleeing to find life or stay alive. We will also find images for these refugees that involve caves, mountains, arks, houses, shelters, or shadows. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah provides the crescendo to what will happen. 

Check in time. 

The image of God raining down fire on sin city has been understood and misunderstood in so many ways. The one thing that stands out to me in this narrative is how much effort God put in to make sure His investigation was thorough. We get an amazing picture of what kind of God, Yahweh truly is. He’s not like Zeus, who throws down lightning bolts on people when they do things that make Him upset. There were many people in this story doing things that had to have frustrated God. And yet, He was generous with them, especially Lot. For all extensive purposes it looks like Lot was taking all the blessings and not demonstrating signs of righteousness. But we read in 2 Peter 2:7,

“and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man,” 

Lot was remembered as righteous. How can that be? Well, to say someone is righteous in the Bible doesn’t mean they never fail. Take Abraham as a prime example. 

The factor that makes one righteous in God’s eyes is ultimately choosing to trust in God. When we form our own version of how things should be done and we follow our own understanding, the results are de-creation, not life. God’s mercy always seems to step in, because of or despite our choices, God is so good, and He is committed to bring life no matter what. God is committed to redemption and all He asks of us is to believe. 

We have a righteous intercessor, whether in this story of Sodom and Gomorrah or in our own story, we have a portrait of God that is way more generous and merciful than we would expect. 

Take some time today and reflect just how generous and merciful God has been towards you.

Let’s pray.