Genesis Bible Study: Chapter 18–19
Chapter 18
God appeared to Abraham again, this time He seems to have taken the physical appearance of a man.
He comes with 2 other men that are actually angels.
Abraham sees them from afar and immediately recognizes God.
Abraham had spent so much time in the presence of God that he was able to recognize God even when He took a different form.
Abraham greets them and invites them into his home, and he requests for the best meals to be prepared for them.
As the men were eating, God asked for Sarah and then reminds Abraham of His promise that she would be pregnant and would give birth the following year.
Sarah, in the tent nearby overhears the conversation and laughs. She thinks about her age and that of Abraham and says she doesn’t think she would even have time or energy to find pleasure in such activities, not to talk of being pregnant.
God hears her laugh and says:
“And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.””
Genesis 18:13–14 NKJV
God and the 2 angels finish their meal and go on their way to Sodom and Gomorrah.
Abraham follows closely behind to see them off, then God speaks again
“And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.””
Genesis 18:17–19 NKJV
There are levels to this walk with God. Imagine God saying ‘How can I hide what I’m doing from this my child. I know him/her’
The 2 angels continued on the journey to Sodom and Gomorrah while the Lord stayed with Abraham.
God tells Abraham that He has heard of the evil going on in Sodom and Gomorrah and He came to see for Himself. If truly they were as evil as they were reported to be, He had plans of destroying them all.
Abraham intercedes on their behalf, saying that God shouldn’t destroy the entire nation if there were at least 10 people that were righteous and God agreed.
Chapter 19
Lot, Abraham’s nephew is living his best life in Sodom and Gomorrah.
The 2 angels that just left Abraham then entered the city. Lot sees them and recognizes them and invites them into his house to stay the night and rest from their long journey.
These angels as well as Lot and his family were chilling at home when suddenly they heard bangs on the door.
Confused, Lot goes to see what is going on.
“But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!””
Genesis 19:4–5 NLT
Shuuuuuuuuuuu
I’m confused….. ALL THE MEN??? What was their plan?? Were they jobless? Unmarried? Like what was the issue?? That they all gathered and requested to have 2 strangers that just entered into their city…just like that.
Men have been having audacity since the beginning.
Lot, obviously confused and slightly frightened asks them to take his daughters instead, but they insist on the men.
The angels, now tired of hearing the rabbish that these men were saying, turn them blind and lead them to confusion. So they eventually left Lot’s door.
I’m sure the angels have seen all they needed to see to know how corrupt this nation was.
The angels rally Lot and his family and tell them to pack their bags and leave that the nation was going to be destroyed.
Lot had apparently also gone to meet the Fiancee’s of his 2 daughters to follow them, but they refused to come along.
Lot was still very hesitant to leave, but the angels paid no attention to him, they dragged him and his family with their belongings out of the city.
“When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the Lord was merciful.”
Genesis 19:16 NLT
The Lord was truly merciful, because typically, God doesn’t ‘force’ people to do what He commands. God decided to have mercy on Lot because He is merciful and possibly also for the sake of Abraham
As they were leaving the city, the angels gave them instructions
“When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, “Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!””
Genesis 19:17 NLT
Lot was afraid and a bit reluctant, giving excuses about how he was afraid of the people in the mountains, so he asked to go to another small village instead of the mountains and he was granted permission.
So him and his family escaped to the village, but Lot’s wife looked back and was turned to a pillar of salt.
Wild huh?
After a while, Lot left that village that he asked to go to, because he was afraid of the people there and went to the mountains.
It was here that his daughters committed a grave sin.
They got their father drunk and committed incest. The two got pregnant and their children became the Moabites and the Ammonites. Another generation of problematic individuals.
Makes me wonder what kind of bad character those 2 daughters learned in that village. Maybe Lot should have just listened to the initial instructions and gone to the mountains first.
What I learned from these chapters:
1- It is a person that has spent time with God that would be able to recognize Him in whatever form He decides to take
2- One way to know that a word is from God is that He would repeat it many times and in many ways.
3- God is willing and able to prevent the destruction of an unholy nation for the sake of a few righteous people
4- The Lord will do what He can to rescue His own from evil
5- Fear is a very strong and a very wrong motivator. It can lead you to making the wrong decisions.
6- God is always merciful.
