Remember the two guys who had lunch with Abraham in the last chapter? They left while Abraham was bargaining with God. It seems like perhaps they left Abraham in late afternoon because they arrive at Sodom at dusk.

Which kind of makes me wonder- where did YHWH go? Abraham went back home. The angels went to Sodom. Do you suppose the Almighty wandered off to enjoy an evening stroll under the stars He made? Or maybe He simply stepped back into Heaven.

The angel-men find Lot “sitting in the gate.”(By the way, Lot is actually pronounced lowt– and I think it’s going to be quite impossible for me to not spell his name like that from now on. I’m sorry if this drives you crazy.) For the ancient near-East, to be “sitting at the gate” is basically like saying they found him at city hall. The gate of a city was like a combo bank, real estate office, notary, city hall, and chamber of commerce. It was the business district.

Remember that Lowt was a wealthy rancher. But now he has a house in town too. And based on the snide comments later in the story, the locals thought he was a bit high in the instep.

Like Abraham in the last story, Lowt presses them to come to his home and he serves them a meal. And also like in the last story, there is someone at the door. Only instead of Sarah eavesdropping, it’s the entire population of Sodom. We don’t know how many that was but it’s probably not a stretch to image several thousands.

You already know what these original Sodomites wanted. The angels didn’t look like blonde guys in white robes with wings like the Marvel character the Falcon. They looked like men. Perhaps hunky men. And hot men in a gay town are going to attract attention. So now Sodom is at Lowt’s door. And I’m sure that like me, you find it absolutely shocking and repulsive that Lowt would offer a depraved mob of men his two virgin daughters. I can’t even…

(When Jesus returns, if the saints get to help Him… um… “dispatch” the wicked, I will sign up to help with the sexual predators. I’m the kind of person that apologizes to bugs before I have to squash them. And sometimes I just catch them and toss them out the back door with a “good luck out there.” But that kind of low life scum? If I can’t help wipe them off the face of the earth, I’ll be as close to Jesus as I can get, cheering Him on.)

Do you suppose that living in Sodom has normalized behavior that Lowt wouldn’t have been ok with before? Me too.

The men get mad at Lowt and the text suggests that they are about to do some kinky gang-rape when the angels pull him back inside, bolt the door, and strike the mob blind.

I guess I always assumed that it was a temporary blindness but that’s not what the text says or implies. They were blind. Permanently. The next day when the fire is falling- they never saw it coming.

We can see what kind of influence Lowt had with the future sons-in-law. To them, he was Chicken Little. A joke. They never lived to marry the two daughters. In the end, the angels had to physically drag the family out of town. Verse 16 says this was “on account of the YHWH’s mercy upon him.”

Think of it. They didn’t want to leave the lovely bunch of sex perverts who just tried to rape and/or murder Lowt just 12 hours ago. (What is with you people?! 😵‍💫)

The angels tell them to run for their lives to the mountains. ⛰️⛰️⛰️ And whatever you do, don’t look back. (I bet Mrs. Lowt never saw Raiders of the Lost Ark. When you’re told not to look. Don’t look!)

Lowt whines. (Read this in your best little kid whiny voice) “But I don’t wanna go to the mountains. It’s too faaaar. The mountains are scary. We’re all gonna die!! I just wanna go to that little town over there. Puhleeeze?”

Somebody call the waaaamublance. 🚑

Funnily enough, the town’s name – Zoar – actually means “little.”

“Where do you live?”

“In the Little Town.”

“Which little town?”

“THE Little Town.”

“Lots of little towns around here.”

“But mine is actually called Little.”

“How little?”

“I give up.”

Speaking of town names… Because we don’t read through Deuteronomy very often, it’s easy to forget that Sodom & Gomorrah weren’t the only cities destroyed. In Deut. 29 Moses warns Israel of the dire consequences of abandoning God’s Law. And in verse 23 he compares what might happen to their land in the future to what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, Adman and Zeboiim. Zoar would’ve been on that list too had not Lowt whined to be allowed to go there. Those are the same 5 cities we just read about in Genesis 14. They rebelled against Chedorlaomer. Remember? And who rescued them? Abraham. And why did he bother? Lowt. They have Lowt to thank that they weren’t all made slaves. But now they’re all gonna be toast so maybe slavery would’ve been better.

So… You wanna see something neat?

I copied this right outa the Strong’s Concordance:

Sodom: from an unused root meaning to scorch; burnt (i.e. volcanic or bituminous) district; Sedom, a place near the Dead Sea.

Also- recall the tar/bitumen pits in Gen. 14 that the kings of Sodom & Gomorrah fell into.

Gomorrah: a (ruined) heap; Amorah, a place in Palestine.

Admah/Adman: earthy; Admah, a place near the Dead Sea.

Admah is basically a deviant of Adam- as in the first man made of earth.

Zeboiim is the plural of tsebee: in the sense of prominence; splendor (as conspicuous); also a gazelle (as beautiful):–beautiful(-ty), glorious (-ry), goodly, pleasant, roe(-buck).

Some scholars would say that the names of Sodom & Gomorrah were not the original names of the cities but were the names given to them after the destruction. Perhaps. But perhaps not. In other places, Moses (the writer of Genesis) does this:

“And he called the name of that place Bethel; however, the name of the city was formerly Luz.” Genesis‬ ‭28‬:‭19‬ ‭LEB‬‬

If the cities had other names before the destruction, no one knew them anymore. If those were the original names, their destiny was encoded in the name of the city at its founding.

And look what accompanied Scorched and A-Heap-Of-Ruin. Earthiness and Prominent Beauty. These four together make me feel like I’m looking at the tabloids in the checkout line.

Well, Lowt and the daughters made it Zoar. Mrs. Lowt looked back. (Should’ve listened to Indie.) We usually say she became a “pillar” of salt; which always made me picture a white marble pillar. (She was a real pillar of the community. 😏) Actually, she became a ntsiyb. [netseeb- something stationary] It’s most often translated “garrison” because a garrison is a military post that is stationary. It’s also translated “officer” or “statue” which makes me think of the guards at Buckingham Palace.

💂🏰🇬🇧☕️

The irony of this chapter is that Lowt ends up in the mountains where he did not want to go. I’m guessing that wherever all those sheep and cattle were that he had before- they were all barbecued.

His daughters seem to genuinely believe they and their father are the last 3 human beings on the face of the earth. They get their father drunk and each become pregnant from the incestuous scheme. They each have a boy. And the descendants that will come from them… well, only God could get anything good out of that mess.

Genesis 20 is a repeat of the incident in chapter 12 where Pharaoh took Sarai into his harem. This time it is Abimelech, king of Gerar.

Stop. Hebrew time. 😎

You learned the Hebrew words for father (Ab) and king (melek). Notice anything about Abimelech? I bet you can figure out what his name means. If you guessed “king of father” or “father king” you are correct. Good job. Abimelech may have actually been a title rather than a name. Like Pharaoh.

And speaking of Pharaoh, when he cast his eyes on Sarai she was 65. But get this, y’all… Sarah is now eighty-freakin-nine years old. 😳 She must’ve had some incredible genes. Abimelech didn’t take her into his home so she could knit sweaters if ya know what I’m sayin’.

But God intervenes. And it’s super cool because this (most likely) pagan Abimelech and God have a conversation via a dream.

Ever heard a tough guy in a movie say the threatening line, “You’re a dead man.” God said it first.

The next morning Father-King calls in Father-of-Multitude and they have a chat.

“And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What were you thinking that you did this thing?” And Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place; they will kill me on account of the matter of my wife.” Genesis‬ ‭20‬:‭10‬-‭11‬ ‭LEB‬‬

Abraham assumed. 🫏

Turns out, Abimelech and his whole staff had an appropriate fear of God.

Now- why is this in here? Was one story about Sarah being a hottie in her old age not enough?

God is protecting His promise. Because in the next chapter Sarah is having a baby. And the Lord needed to make sure this baby had the right father. It couldn’t be Father-King. It had to be Father-of-Multitude.