Genesis 19:12-22, Thoughts from Genesis (3)

·       Gen. 17:1: “walk before Me and be blameless.”  Here is the first reference to God as “El Shaddai.”  Chapter 17 is pivotal for Abraham and the nations that will eventually come from him.  God reiterates His covenant, gives Abram and Sarai new names, promises to make Ishmael fruitful while reasserting His promise that Sarah will have a son, and establishes the “sign of the covenant” (circumcision).  On the last matter, and this might not be a significant devotional thought, but I have been in the room for the 8^th-day circumcision of one of my sons (I decided once was enough; it was hard hearing his cry).  It is a painful event.  So that much can be said about Ishmael, circumcised at age 13 (17:23).   The only thing worse I can think of is to have the procedure at age 99 (17:24).  One possible point of redeeming value of these thoughts is to give strength to Paul’s already strong statement in Gal. 5:12.

·       Gen. 18:1: Abraham is in the area of Hebron, which is on the same latitude as the middle of the Dead Sea.  Sodom and Gomorrah could be seen from where Abraham stood before the LORD and made intercession (19:27).  That doesn’t necessarily indicate whether the cities were at the north or south end of the Sea.

·       Gen. 18:1: The LORD is said to have appeared to Abraham in Gen. 12:7 (at Shechem where the covenant is repeated), in 17:1 (the significant occasion referred to above), and here (when Abraham showed hospitality to the LORD and two angels).  It is a very common word, the term for looking at something, used over 1300 times in the OT.  God spoke with Abraham on other occasions (e.g. Gen. 12:1-3) that may or may not have involved His appearing.  Think about this, and then consider the wonder of the Incarnation.

·       Gen. 18:17-19: Abraham is a prophet (20:7).  The term is fairly common in the OT and means a “spokesman.”  Abraham’s special calling was to exercise this office on behalf of his descendants (his children and his household after him).

·       Gen. 18:33: There were not even ten righteous people in Sodom.  But the LORD was gracious and spared Lot and his family of three.  That was Abraham’s intent in making intercession.  God knows how to spare the righteous (the LORD being merciful to Lot, Gen. 19:16).

·       Gen. 19:8: Perhaps you struggle with this verse, especially given the Bible’s description of Lot as “righteous.”  The proper, and only, understanding of this is that Lot made a choice that immersed him and his family in the extreme wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah.  It’s all in 2 Peter 2:7, how God delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked.  Think about it.  Like his uncle Abraham, Lot’s faith had been counted as righteousness.  But his seemingly good business decision (to take the productive land down by the Jordan) was a disastrous spiritual decision.  Again I say, think about this!!

·       Gen. 19:16: This is a perfect story of God’s justice and wrath.  It declares the “value” of sin as well as God’s compassion.  The LORD being merciful to him, the angels drug him and his family outside the city.  There are two references to “mercy” in the NKJV.  In this verse, it is the term that means “compassion.”  That’s what God had on this man who could not break free from the world.  In response, Lot speaks of God’s mercy in 19:19 using the well-known term checed (often translated goodness, lovingkindness, mercy).  What is interesting is that it is the first use of this Hebrew term in Scripture.  We have noted how first uses are often significant in the meaning or context of a Hebrew word.  So checed (as in the famous phrase, His mercy endures forever) gets its start in God’s treatment of Lot.  He was merciful and full of goodness toward Lot, of all people.