Summary of passage: The angels are urging Lot to hurry to leave Sodom with his family before it’s too late. Lot hesitated so the angels had to pull Lot and his family out of the city since the Lord was merciful. The angels warned them to flee to the mountains and not to look back or they would be swept away.
Lot pleads to flee to the small town of Zoar at least instead of the mountains and this request is granted. The Lord rained down sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot’s wife disobeyed God and looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. The next morning Abraham saw smoke but God remembered Abraham and saved Lot because of him.
Lot and his daughters left Zoar out of fear and settled in the mountains after all. They lived in a cave. The older daughter convinced her sister to get Lot drunk and sleep with him so that they could conceive since there was no other man around. They did so unbeknownst to Lot and both became pregnant.
They boar two sons named Moab and Ben-Ammi, who became the father of the Moabites and the Ammonites respectively. These cities fought with Israel for centuries.
Questions:
13) Everything. The wife died. They didn’t take any of their wealth or livestock with them–only the clothes on their backs it seems. They lost their moral compass with the incest. Tragic.
14a) He rescued Lot. He had the angels pull Lot out of the city and then God agreed to let them move to Zoar.
b) What Lot built up did not survive the fire test. Nothing he built survived. He suffered loss and Lot will be saved but only as one escaping through the flames. In other words, Lot has no works to show for his faith. Lot has done nothing worthy with his life. (Please read from 1 Corinthians 3:10 to understand the passage. We also discussed this passage last year. Click HERE to review especially question 8b).
15) Moab and Ammon. While the Israelites are wandering the desert, God instruct Moses to not harass the Moabites because He has given them Ar and to not harass the Ammonites for God has given them land. However, the Moabites and the Ammonites did not help the Israelites when they were passing through their land out of Egypt and instead pronounced a curse upon the Israelites. As a result, God banned them from entering the assembly of the Lord and forbade the Israelites to be friends or allies with them. God also turned the curse into a blessing.
Jesus was descended from Ruth who was a Moabite.
Conclusions: Interesting to me how sin leads to curses and blessings. How the Moabites and the Ammonites were sworn enemies to the Israelites for most of history; yet, God chose Ruth to be in the line of Jesus. God can turn the hearts of individuals despite the sin of their ancestors. Man can overcome his inherit sin and his circumstances and culture and environment to do God’s will. Encouragement for us all that indeed good can come out of evil.
Interesting how God blessed the Moabites and the Ammonites with land even though they are sinful and ungrateful and treat their relatives, the Israelites, horrible. God blesses them but then He punishes them when they don’t turn from their ways (Zephaniah 2:8-11). God will turn their land into a wasteland and take back His blessings (the land) and give it to the Israelites.
Interesting Thought: Some scholars believe Sodom and Gomorrah lie at the bottom of the Red Sea. However, the Red Sea has receded in modern times and archaeologists are not convinced of this. Some even claim to have found Lot’s cave, Zoar, Sodom, and Gomorrah on dry ground. Google if interested to find this research.
Map Work:
Good maps of Sodom, Gomorrah, and Zoar were hard to find. This is the clearest I could find:
http://www.wyattnewsletters.com/sodom/PICS/sodom.gif
Another one: http://www.israel-a-history-of.com/sodom-and-gomorrah.html#Map%20of%20Possible%20Locations
This one shows where the Moabites and Ammonites were eventually located in addition to Sodom, Gomorrah, and Zoar. This site also goes over the passage. You have to scroll a bit to see this one:
Thanks so much for the sodom and g possible sites. Just read it, wow. It is frightening when you put it with the notes on p 5 lesson 17 about Jesus end times comparison with that wicked place