**The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah**
The sun had just begun to set over the plains of Sodom, casting long shadows across the city. The air was thick with the stench of sin, for the people of Sodom were wicked and their deeds were an abomination before the Lord. Yet, in the midst of this depravity, two angels arrived at the city gates, their forms radiant with divine light, though they appeared as ordinary men to the untrained eye. They had come on a mission from the Lord, and their presence would soon shake the foundations of the city.
Lot, the nephew of Abraham, was sitting at the gate of Sodom, a place where the elders and leaders of the city gathered to conduct business and settle disputes. When he saw the two strangers approaching, he rose quickly and bowed low to the ground, sensing something extraordinary about them. “My lords,” he said, his voice filled with reverence, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. Wash your feet and spend the night, and then you can rise early and go on your way.”
The angels hesitated, for they had intended to spend the night in the open square of the city. But Lot insisted, his hospitality driven by a deep sense of duty and a desire to protect these holy visitors from the wickedness of Sodom. Finally, the angels agreed and followed Lot to his home.
Lot prepared a feast for them, baking unleavened bread and roasting a tender lamb. As they ate, the sound of voices grew louder outside the house. The men of Sodom, young and old, had gathered around Lot’s dwelling, their faces twisted with malice. They called out to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have relations with them!”
Lot’s heart sank as he stepped outside, closing the door behind him. He pleaded with the mob, “My friends, please don’t do such a wicked thing! Look, I have two daughters who have never been with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”
The crowd roared with anger, pressing closer to Lot. “Get out of our way!” they shouted. “This man came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them!” They lunged at Lot, trying to break down the door, but the two angels reached out, pulled Lot inside, and struck the mob with blindness. The men stumbled around, unable to find the door.
Inside the house, the angels turned to Lot and said, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it.”
Lot hurried to the homes of his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. “Hurry and get out of this place,” he urged them, “because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking and refused to leave.
As dawn approached, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” When Lot hesitated, the angels took him by the hand, along with his wife and daughters, and led them safely out of the city. “Flee for your lives!” they commanded. “Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
Lot, trembling with fear, replied, “No, my lords, please! Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it?—and my life will be spared.”
The angel agreed, saying, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar, which means “small.”)
By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. He overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot’s wife, unable to resist the temptation, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Early the next morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
Lot and his two daughters settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. They lived in a cave, and the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.”
That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. Lot was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.
Thus, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah serves as a sobering reminder of God’s judgment against sin and His mercy toward those who are faithful. Though Lot was spared, the consequences of his choices and the wickedness of the cities left a lasting mark on his family and the generations to come. Yet, even in the midst of judgment, God’s faithfulness to His promises and His people remained unwavering.
