2008-04-20
04/20/08 - Genesis 19:10-38
Genesis 19:10-11 (ESV)
10 But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door.
11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.
1.) Review - How have we gotten to this part of the story?
2.) Once blinded, the mend still tried to find the door. At first sin is easy, but once we’ve given ourselves over to it completely, we go to extreme measures to fulfill our lusts. What are some examples where we might sin, even when we have to work especially hard at it?
Genesis 19:12-16 (ESV)
12 Then the men said to Lot, "Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place.
13 For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it."
14 So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, "Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
15 As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city."
16 But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
3.) What importance does God place on family?
4.) What role or responsibility do you have in the salvation of your family?
5.) Will your family members be saved because of your faith or their own?
6.) Why did Lot linger when he knew the city was about to be destroyed?
7.) How do we linger when it comes to doing God’s will?
Genesis 19:17-22 (ESV)
17 And as they brought them out, one said, "Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away."
18 And Lot said to them, "Oh, no, my lords.
19 Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die.
20 Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!"
21 He said to him, "Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.
22 Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
8.) Why did Lot not want to flee to the hills but to a small city instead?
Genesis 19:23-29 (ESV)
23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven.
25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
26 But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
28 And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.
29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
9.) Doesn’t it seem like a harsh punishment for Lot’s wife to be killed just for looking back? After all, there was quite a commotion happening behind her and she had already made it to their safe harbor.
Genesis 19:30-38 (ESV)
30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters.
31 And the firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth.
32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father."
33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
34 The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father."
35 So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father.
37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day.
38 The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.
10.) Originally, Lot begged to be allowed to run to Zoar instead of the mountains. However, after the actual destruction of Sodom he decides to leave this city to go live a cave. What changed Lot’s attitude?
11.) Why didn’t Lot seek out Abraham?
12.) How did the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah affect Lot’s daughters?
13.) What had a bigger influence on Lot’s daughters, their Father, witnessing God’s wrath, or the culture in which they were raised?
14.) What warning should we heed from this?
15.) How many generations can be affected by our sins today?
