Notice again, Lot’s approach at the very beginning, how he subtlety changed what he was told to do. The angels said, take them out! Now Lot changed that to preaching to them. I get the very distinct impression that they told him, “grabbed them by the hand and take them out.” It is a difference between come and go. That is, come with me. In the same way that the angels had to do with Lot. They did not preach to him. They grabbed him by the hand and yanked him out of town. That is what the angels expected Lot to do.
Apparently Lot thought that his preaching was going to have some good occur as a result of it, and yet there is a difference. He preaches to them “get out,” but what does he do? He lingers. Lot does not follow directions very well, does he?
You can see that Lot, though he was a man of great faith, there was not enough faith, not living faith, not faith that really trusted God, but faith that he equivocated all the time and interpreted what was said in way that he felt was best for himself.
Notice the difference in their prayers. Abraham appeals to God to spare the people of the city, Lot on the other hand, not considering the saving of his life is enough, request that he be able to continue to live in the valley, in the plain, and that they spare a small city. Would you call that trading on the mercy of God? Would you call that tempting God, pushing Him to the very limit? Well, I would. Abraham’s prayer was an appeal for mercy and grace for others. Lot’s is an appeal for self-indulgence. He pleads for his own way, right to the very end.
Now I do not know what it was that was motivating Lot. Maybe it was his feelings for his wife, because she, from every indication, was very deeply involved in the city, much more than Lot was. Whatever his motivations were, God is showing very clearly that they were not entirely devoted to God, and I think that we can say, that they were carnal.
Her sin appears to be trifling to some. It says in verse 26 that she "looked back." It may seem little, but it reveals a great deal about her character. She directly disobeyed the clear command of God's messenger just given a few verses before that. We read it. I Samuel 15:22-23 says that "to obey is better than sacrifice . . and . . . rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft." She rebelled.
Ominous - very ominous words. In terms of faith, what John said in that last paragraph puts this chapter into a very different perspective. Everyone hearing God's word is confronted with a choice: believe it and obey it, or take the chance of dying.
I wonder if you noticed in these verses, as compared with the rest of the story, that suddenly there is a change in the pronouns from plural to singular. Notice verse 17, "So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said." One of the messengers speaks. In verse 18 then Lot addresses him and it says in my Bible, "lords." Keil & Delitzsch Commentary says, "No, that word "Lord" is singular." Lord. Adonai - the name of God. Is it the name of Melchizedek? Was Melchizedek the one that was there to destroy the city? If it was not, why did he call him Lord, and why in verses 21 and 22 does He takes the authority to himself to destroy the city? "I cannot do anything until you arrive there. And then it says, "The Lord rained down . ." Is the Lord the same one who was the "I" of the previous verse?
So I ask, is our judgment of Lot righteous? We read another interesting detail. I passed over this so many times as I read through the scriptures in Genesis 19:19. Lot actually realized he was unworthy of God's forgiveness. He says, "Your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life." Now maybe I kind of dismissed that because it is right after that that Lot basically says he was not satisfied where God wanted to send him. But nonetheless, we see that Lot recognized, he realized he was unworthy of being saved, just like we are all unworthy of being saved.
