Abraham tried to bargain with God to spare the city, which means Abraham did not want to see Sodom destroyed. God agreed to spare Sodom if ten righteous men could be found. The story then shifts to the destruction of the city, but there is no indication that the destruction immediately followed the warning.
Knowing that Sodom was going to be destroyed, Abraham would surely get word to his nephew Lot who lived in Sodom. It would fall upon Lot to find ten righteous men.
Lot Didn’t Leave
One problem with the traditional view of Sodom is that there would have to people entering and leaving Sodom all the time. Did the people of Sodom rape them all? If so, the city would not have survived. If they didn’t rape everyone, why did they want to rape these two strangers.
Lot was the nephew of Abraham. He was a righteous man, but Lot remained in Sodom until the very end. Many of Lot’s actions indicate that he, like Abraham, was trying to save the city.
Genesis 19:1 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
When the angels came to destroy the city, Lot was expecting them. Lot bowed before them, knowing they were angels. He was waiting at the gates, because he knew they were coming. Knowing that the destruction was coming, but hoping to save Sodom, Lot had already warned the people of Sodom. The people of Sodom were too arrogant to believe Lot. They were angered by Lot’s claim that they were unworthy in the eyes of God.
Lot was able to recognize that these visitors were angels, which means that these strangers must have stood out in some way. It wasn’t obvious that they were angels, that would have caused people to believe Lot’s warning. Other people must have also seen the angels, and the arrival of these unusual strangers would have triggered conversations across the city.
The Anger of Sodom
As word spread, and the people talked about the strangers, the people of Sodom would have been angry and curious as to who these strangers were. A crowd gathered at Lot’s house to question Lot about the strangers. The angry mob wanted to see if Lot would claim them to be angelic. What kind of stunt was Lot trying to pull? The people of Sodom were very arrogant and cleaver. They would not dignify the strangers by asking if they were angels. They asked the question in a very clever way.
Genesis 19:4-5 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
The people of Sodom asked, “do they have sex?” The question had been asked in a clever way, and Lot responded in a clever way.
Genesis 19:6-8 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
Lot was Righteous
Lot was a righteous man, meaning he was a very good man, and he must have loved his daughters greatly. Even if he lived in an honor/shame culture, a righteous man would have overcome the pressure to save his honor by sacrificing his daughters. Lot was not actually going to send his daughters out to the mob. This mob was not interested in sex, and Lot knew this. What Lot basically said was, “You can rape and kill my own daughters, but whatever you do, don’t mess with these strangers”! Lot was telling the crowd that these were angels of God who were sent to destroy them. The people of Sodom became more hostile.
Notice that Lot went outside to speak to the mob. He even shut the door as if he was going to speak with them privately, away from the angels. Clearly, Lot wasn’t afraid of these people, in fact, he was trying to save them. Lot was trying to convince his friends and neighbors to back off. He wanted to do so without the angels hearing what he said to the crowd, and what the crowd said to him.
The people of Sodom were too arrogant to believe that they were worthless in eyes of God. They did not believe these men were angels. Notice that when the mob threatened Lot, it had nothing to do with sex.
Genesis 19:9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.
It was Arrogance not Lust
This mob wasn’t after sex. They were angry because they were being judged. They were angry by the claim of Lot that they were worthless.
Sodom was like Hollywood. People do not want to see Hollywood destroyed just as Abraham and Lot did not want to see Sodom destroyed. Abraham may not have known about all the abominations that some of the people of Sodom were committing privately just as we do not know what some Hollywood celebrities are doing behind closed doors. The universal sin in Sodom was arrogance. Like Hollywood, Sodom was the greatest city and the greatest people who ever lived, and they knew it.
