January 16 Daily Devotional

Genesis 19

The shadows of night were falling when the two angels entered Sodom. It was the last night for that city, for the time of its destruction had come. Lot was sitting in the gate. He invited the angels to come into his home, treated them kindly, and made a supper for them. Soon the news spread all over the city that Lot had two strange-looking visitors in his house. Men came from every part of the city to see them and to do them harm. So cruel and wicked were they. But the men of Sodom could not do anything against them, for when they tried to break open the door, the two angels struck them all with blindness, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

Then the angels said to Lot, “Hast thou here any besides thy son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place; for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord.” And Lot went out and spoke to the two young men that were engaged to his daughters, and told them that the Lord intended to destroy their city. But they would not believe it. They laughed at him and could not be persuaded to leave the city.

When the morning came, the angels told Lot to hasten and said, “Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.” How hard it was for Lot and his family to leave everything behind. When they lingered, the angels took hold of their hands and hastened them out of the city. Then one of them said to Lot, “Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.”

Lot begged to be allowed to go to the small city of Zoar, because he feared the mountain was too far away for him. This request was granted. So Lot and his family left Sodom. But Lot’s wife did not obey the angel’s words. She looked back; she hesitated to get out of the danger zone, and her body became changed into a pillar of salt. When Lot and his daughters arrived at Zoar and the sun arose over the eastern hills, the judgment came: fire and brim­stone came down upon Sodom, Gomorrah and the neighboring cities. The cities with all the wicked people were overthrown and destroyed. In the course of time the valley of Siddim was filled with water, the Dead Sea. No fish can live in this sea, and no plants grow on its shore.

In the morning Abraham looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and he saw the smoke go up as the smoke of a furnace. Lot and his daughters feared that their lives might not be safe at Zoar, so they came to the mountains and lived in a cave. The Moabites and Ammonites are descendants of Lot.