The gate of the city was normally the place where they conducted business, where court cases were heard, and where public forums were held. Now why was he there? There is an indication there of his involvement within the community. Was he there just to conduct business? Well, we have to ask, how much business is conducted in the evening? When the sun goes down, I think generally at that time business would stop. But it was a place where public forums were held where a person could possibly preach. Maybe he was doing that there.
Now by contrast, where was Abraham when his spiritual guests showed up? He was sitting in the doorway of his tent, apparently minding his own business, maybe contemplating things, meditating, maybe even judging himself. I bring up the word judging because of what it says there in verse 9.
They are referring here to Lot. Now what in the world was Lot doing there acting as a judge? Again, I bring this up to show indication of how deep his involvement was in the community. Was he sitting as a judge in terms of judging appeals in court? Or was he sitting as a judge in terms of preaching about the circumstances that were going on in the community? Either one would apply. I think verse 9 seems to indicate that they felt a measure of anger, at the very least, of resentment toward him standing there in judgment of them. This outsider who came in and condemns them about their lifestyle, the things that they were practicing.
Lot is not saying that to the angels, he is saying that to those evil men who are outside the door. On the one hand, we might judge that by saying, well, what he meant was his fellow townsmen. He might, if there was not so much indication otherwise in the rest of the story that the fellowship was fairly close. Again, I do not mean that he was involved in what they were doing, but rather there was a closeness of spirit in the way that he was thinking. If there was not a closeness of spirit in the way that he was thinking, he would have never chosen to go in there.
So, the contrast between Abraham and Lot is very distinctive, and there are quite a number, and we are just beginning to scratch the surface here. Notice also the contrast between Abraham and Lot in regard of their reception of the guests. I drew a bit of attention to this when we were in Genesis 18. When Abraham became aware that the three spirit beings were coming toward him, what did he do? He got up and he ran to meet them. What did Lot do? Well, his respect went as far as him rising.
Now there is an indication here that Abraham immediately recognized someone of a kindred spirit, and was very happy to have fellowship with them and ran to serve them. Lot on the other hand did not recognize. See, that is an indication his spirit and attitude was not on the same plain, or level, or he was not having the same vibes as these two spirit beings who came to see him.
When Abraham ran to meet these men, the three spirit beings, he invited them and come in and eat with them, and his request was immediately granted, which is an indication that a fellowship was immediately established and entered into. On the other hand, when Lot asked these men to turn in, they refused. They said, we will spend the night in the open square. But Lot insisted strongly, he had to press quite hard apparently until the spirit beings were able to ascertain a little bit more of his attitude.
So we see a contrast. In Abraham’s case the fellowship is quickly established. In Lot’s case it was reached only through a great deal of struggle. What you are seeing here is the difference of one who was close to God and is attuned to Him, another is far from God and he was having trouble getting through. It is like someone whose prayers are bouncing off the ceiling and they cannot seem to get through. You really have to fight it through.
There is something interesting here in regard to the women as well. Abraham, when asked where Sarah was, can confidently … . . .
I think we can say in regard to his righteousness is that he had at least not joined in the sin of sodomy, the most vile of sins, but apparently he had joined in a great deal of their way of life. And indeed, it is quite possible that he spent a great deal of time preaching about their sin.
You might remember back there in verse 9, it mentioned that the men of Sodom said, “this one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge.” They were talking about Lot standing in judgment of them. This indicates to me that he was probably preaching, or if he was not preaching, they at least knew very well that he was not practicing the kind of lifestyle that they were practicing.
At least you have to say for what the Bible says about Lot that he was troubled, vexed, tormented, tortured by what was going on around him, even though he chose unwisely, foolishly to live within it. So Lot appears to have had a measure of faith, but his approach to living was quite a bit different from Abraham's.
