The Adventures of Abraham (Part 2): The Story of Abraham and Lot-Genesis 13, 14

Preparing for Lesson 16

First of all, I need to apologize for the length of this lesson; it’s much longer than I like for each lesson to be. But I wanted to include everything about Lot and there is (sorry about this) “a Lot” to cover.

I have not been able to find a consensus among the commentators about the length of time Abraham lived in Egypt during the famine. We know it was long enough for both Abraham and Lot to accumulate enough wealth as to make it necessary for them to separate when they returned to Canaan. 

We know that Pharaoh gave Abraham “sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels” (Genesis 12:16). So material wealth is what he gained. But what did he lose? For one thing, Abraham temporarily lost his connection to God. During his time in Egypt, God did not communicate with him at all. In fact, it was only after Lot separated from Abraham that God spoke to him again. Abraham most likely lost the respect of his household. They knew Abraham had lied about his relationship with Sarah by saying she was his sister. Surely this diminished Abraham’s standing in their eyes and made them wonder what kind of man he really was.

But perhaps their faith in Abraham was restored when the members of his household witnessed the way in which he dealt with Lot when they separated from one another.  Let’s look now at the relationship between Abraham and Lot.

LESSON 16: The Adventures of Abraham (Part 2): The Story of Abraham and Lot.

This Explains a Lot

We’ve heard Lot’s name before. He was the grandson of Terah, the son of Haran and the nephew of Abraham. But what kind of man was he? Like the rest of his family, Lot was a pagan and idol worshipper. He was selfish, short-sighted and seemingly had no respect for Abraham (Genesis 13:9-11). Not only was he comfortable living among the sinful and wicked people of Sodom (Genesis 13:12-13), we have reason to believe that he was actually some type of government official there (Genesis 19:1). While he insisted that the strangers (God’s angels) spend the night in the safety of his home (Genesis 19:2-3), he did offer up his two virgin daughters to appease the lustful and wicked demands of the men of the city (Genesis 19:8). If that were not enough, Lot fathered children with his two daughters after the destruction of the city (Genesis 19:36).

But Peter gives us a new perspective on Lot: “…and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men, for by what he saw and heard, that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds…” (2 Peter 2:7-8) Three times in these two verses, Peter refers to Lot as righteous. The word righteous just doesn’t seem like the right word to describe Lot. But we find the answer in Genesis 19:29. “God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow.”  So it appears that the righteousness credited to Lot had less to do with Lot’s righteousness and a great deal to do with God’s faithfulness to Abraham.

Abraham and Lot Separate

This part of Lot’s story is found in Genesis 13.

Upon their return to Canaan, Abraham and Lot found it necessary to separate from one another due to the vastness of their combined wealth which they acquired in Egypt. As the leader of the expedition and the person to whom the promises were made, Abraham had every right to claim the better land for himself. But he did not. His actions toward Lot were selfless and generous. Abraham allowed Lot to choose his land first, saying that he would take whatever was left over. If Abraham was expecting Lot to say, “No, Uncle, please keep the best land for yourself,” then he was mighty disappointed. 

What caused such a transformation in Abraham? Lot was living by sight and not by faith, and he selfishly chose the best land for himself. But Abraham was living by faith and not by sight. 

Think About This: R. Kent Hughes says, “Amidst this miserable conflict with Lot, Abraham’s total trust had catapulted him to the likeness of his ultimate seed and heir, the Lord Jesus Christ, who did not look out for His own interests but the interest of others; Abraham foreshadowed the very spirit of Christ.”

Lot immediately selected the area that looked “like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar.” (Genesis 13:10). Either Lot did not know or he did not care that the city of Sodom was very wicked. Maybe he thought he could rise above the wickedness, or maybe he wanted to see how close he could get to the edge of the cesspool of sin without falling in. In any case, moving to Sodom was one of the worst decisions of his life. 

Abraham Rescues Lot

This part of Lot’s story is found in Genesis 14:1-16

The story of the war between the kings as described in Genesis 14 seems unnecessarily confusing. The story contains a lot of characters, the pronoun “they” is way overused, and the good guys are hard to distinguish from the bad guys. But then again, maybe there weren’t any good guys.

An article titled The Battle of Siddim on an internet source describes the Genesis 14 battle and this is a synopsis:

The dispute was over a major trade route with Egypt. Four kings from the east (Mesopotamia) arrived to put down a rebellion by five kings from the cities around the Dead Sea, including Sodom and Gomorrah. We’ll call these the Five Kings of the West. Apparently the battle raged on for over two years and finally, the Four Kings of the East were victorious. Apparently, after the war ended, the army of Chedorlaomer, one of the Kings of the East, decided to sack the city of Sodom, looting its possessions and kidnapping some of its citizens, one of whom was Lot. A fugitive from the battle came to find Abraham and told him that his nephew Lot had been kidnapped (Genesis 14:11-13)

Abraham had become allies with the extended family of Mamre and his two brothers, Eshcol and Aner, who were living in the same area as Abraham. This alliance would have included military obligations to help one another should a need arise. In addition to any military assistance received from his allies, Abraham had his own fighting men who were well trained soldiers. These were not “acquired” men; all were born in Abraham’s household. R. Kent Hughes points out that in the original Hebrew, the language used is dynamic. “He led forth 318 of them” is literally “drew out 318 men” as you would draw out a sword from its sheath (Genesis 14:14, ESV).

Abraham and his men pursued Chedorlaomer’s army as far as Damascus, about 120 miles. A non-biblical account states that in the battle that ensued, three of the four kings were killed. Lot, along with all of the possessions and people that were taken during the war, were returned to Abraham (Genesis 14:15-16).

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

This part of Lot’s story is found in Genesis 19:1-29

Chapter 19 opens about twenty years after Lot pitched his tent outside the city of Sodom. At some point during that time, Lot apparently moved into a house inside the city itself.

In Genesis 19:1, we are told that Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. Why is this significant? In addition to its obvious use as protection against invaders, in Old Testament times, city gates were places of central activities. They were places where business was conducted, court was convened and public announcements were made. You can find evidence of this in Proverbs 1:21, Deuteronomy 21:18-21; Ruth 4:1-11, 1 Samuel 4:18 and 2 Samuel 18:4. In our story of Lot, the fact that he was sitting in the gate indicates that he was very likely some sort of government official of the city.

When two strangers appeared at the city gate, Lot was unaware of their true identity, but knowing they would surely be in danger if they remained in the town square, he insisted they spend the night in the safety of his home. However, before long, the wicked men of the city were at Lot’s door and in fact, they actually surrounded his house. They demanded that the two strangers be brought out to them so they could…well, you know. And as inconceivable as this sounds, instead of sending out the two strangers, Lot offered up his two virgin daughters in order to appease these wicked men. Fortunately for the daughters, those men just weren’t in to women.

The men were very angry and they threatened to do worse to Lot than they planned to do to the strangers. And while Lot thought he was saving the strangers by inviting them to stay with him, they ended up saving him! They opened the door, grabbed Lot and pulled him inside the house. Then they struck all of the men with blindness so they could not find their way back to Lot’s door. By this time, Lot was fairly certain these were not just two ordinary travelers, and by their words and actions, the angels revealed their mission to him. At their direction, Lot ran to his future sons-in-law to warn them to get up and leave the city, but they thought he was joking.

Think About This: Lot had lived among these wicked people of Sodom for years. Although he did not participate in their depraved activities, neither did he rebuke them. Why did his daughters’ fiancés refuse to take him seriously? It was because in all the time they had known him, Lot had apparently never spoken about his faith and about the God of Abraham. He had never verbally condemned the depravity that surrounded them continually. He had never warned them of a coming judgment because of their sins. When he finally did warn his future sons-in-law, they thought it was so out of character for him, they just laughed it off.

Even with all of this going on, Lot still hesitated to leave the city. The angels literally had to drag him and his family outside of the city in order to save  them (Genesis 19:16). They warned the family to run for their lives and to not look back. When Lot expressed his concern about escaping to the mountains, the angels graciously agreed to spare the small city of Zoar so Lot could take refuge there.

Think About This: What was it about Sodom that Lot found so appealing? He apparently did not participate in their depraved activities and the men of the city still considered him an alien (Genesis 19:9). How could a righteous man feel comfortable enough to remain in their midst? Whatever the attraction was, his wife must have felt it even more strongly. She could not resist the urge to look back at her beloved city one final time and that was her doom. Her body may have walked out of the city, but her heart was still there.

You Can Take The Man Out of Sodom But…

This part of Lot’s story is found in Genesis 19:30-38

The story of Lot and his daughters is so sordid that J. Vernon McGee refused to include it in his Thru the Bible Commentary on Genesis. He did say however that living in Sodom just didn’t work out too well for Lot. He ultimately lost everything including his wife and his wealth, his herds and his household. Everything that is, except for his very soul. And although Lot and his daughters sought refuge in Zoar, they apparently did not stay there too long. In verse 30, they left Zoar to go live in a cave in the mountains.

I wonder why Lot’s daughters felt the need to devise a plan to deceive their father into impregnating them. Based on what they could see from their cave window, maybe they thought the entire world had been destroyed and it was up to them to repopulate the world. Or maybe they had seen the eligible bachelors in Zoar and decided to pass on that. But it seems they knew their father would not cooperate with them in a sober state. Did Lot draw the line at incest? Surely that is a sin that was happening in Sodom and he turned a blind eye to it. In any case, the girls put their plan into action and achieved their ultimate goal, because the older daughter gave birth to a son whom she named Moab and the younger daughter gave birth to a son whom she named Ben-ammi.

What did Lot recall about the incident(s)? Should we give him a pass and just say he was not responsible for his actions because he was drunk? 

R. Kent Hughes says, “Unconscious drunks cannot do what Lot did. In Genesis 19:33, the words “he did not know” do not affirm that he was in an unconscious state. They merely mean that in his intoxicated state, though not entirely unconscious, yet he lay with his daughters without clearly knowing what he was doing…Lot’s drunkenness simply facilitated the working out of the dark side of his own heart.”

The end of this sad story in Genesis 19 is the last mention of Lot in the Old Testament. His death is not mentioned, nor are his daughters’ names recorded in Scripture. What a sad end of a man who had great opportunities to learn about and follow Abraham’s God. So though Lot may have had, as Peter declared, a righteous soul, he lived as close to worldliness as he possibly could. It attracted him in a way that was seemingly irresistible to him. And although God spared Lot and his daughters from Sodom’s destruction, the spirit of Sodom lived on in them and in their descendants up to our present day. Thanks to God that we have been gifted with the indwelling Holy Spirit, giving us the real ability to turn away from the world and to spread the truth of a better way.

Think About It, Talk About It

All the while Abraham and Lot were traveling together (approximately 800 miles from the city of Ur), do you think Abraham ever spoke to Lot about God? Could it be said that when they separated from one another, Lot lost his connection to God?

Have you ever turned a blind eye to sin rather than speaking out against it? Thinking back on those occasions, how do you feel about it now? Would you do anything differently in a similar situation today?

Why do you think Peter said three different times that Lot was righteous? What good qualities, if any, did Lot possess that may have led Peter to that conclusion?

Sources

Chaignot, Mary Jane: Abraham and the Four Kings (www.biblewise.com)

Bruno, Chris: How Could Sinful Lot Have Been Righteous? (www.thegospelcoalition.org)

Deffinbaugh, Bob: From City Councilman to Caveman: What a Difference a Day Makes from the series Genesis-From Paradise to Patriarchs (www.bible.org)

Deffinbaugh, Bob: The Rescue of Lot from the series Genesis-From Paradise to Patriarchs (www.bible.org)

Hughes, R. Kent: Preaching The Word – Genesis (Crossway Books, 2004)

MacArthur, John: The MacArthur Bible Commentary (Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee-Genesis (Thomas Nelson Publishers)

Posner, Freidi: Abraham’s Miraculous Battle to Save Lot (www.chabad.org)

The Battle of Siddim (www.wikipedia.org)

What is the Significance of a City Gate in the Bible? (www.gotquestions.com)

Vasility, Vladimir: Come Out of the Tent (www.hungrygen.com)