19:16: Why did Lot linger? Why would I linger? He was leaving all his possessions and the place where he was sure he would achieve prosperity. Remember how Lot chose this place when he and Uncle Abraham split up. He had made, he thought, the best business decision. And now, angels have told him it is all going to be destroyed. And he lingered. He even told them “no.” “No, my lords!” It would have been a disastrous moment had it not been for the “mercy” of the LORD. Not chesed, God’s wonderful goodness. Not the usual term for mercy. But pity! He was grabbed by the collar and taken out of the world he valued.
And yet, Lot lingered. He pled with God for a small piece of his world, that God would spare Zoar (“Zoar” means insignificance). I think he could not believe how devastating the judgment of God was going to be. When the fire of God fell, taking away even Lot’s wife, Lot didn’t stay at Zoar for long (v30). He headed for the mountains. Not all the way back up to Bethel from where he had descended to the lush and decadent Jordan Valley. Bethel was a special place for both Abraham and Jacob in terms of their faith in God. But Lot had left it behind. There was no returning, no second chance to make his choice. Likely the “mountains” to which they fled were on the east side, in what would ;ater become Ammon and Moab.
And remember: this is a righteous man. How could things have gone so wrong? The Bible tells us: he was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds (2 Pt. 2:7-8). Let us learn. We are sent into the world to preach the gospel in all the world. We must be there as soldiers of Christ, clothed in the armor of God, engaged in the battle. We certainly cannot love the world, as did Demas (2 Tim. 4:10). Lot didn’t love the world, but he was not careful. Peter says he was tormented “from day to day.” It never stopped. There was no time away, as even our Lord sought to arrange with His disciples from time to time. Perhaps Lot had imagined that he scored points from time to time with some of the people of Sodom. But on the night, when he had taken in the angels, to give them protection, he saw that the entire town was against him. There was no one who came to help. And even the sons-in-law would not listen to him.
Sadly, but what do you expect, his daughters had the same longing for what was fair, for what the world promised. “We must make a name for ourselves.” So they did what they did. It is the last of Lot in the story. There is no genealogy, except that two of Israel’s neighbor-nations came from the incest. No telling us of his long life. No burial with the righteous. Do you know, however, that they (Moab, Jer. 48:47 and Ammon, Jer. 49:6) will be around in the Kingdom of Messiah in the latter days? They will be standing before the throne of God, clothed in white, and crying out, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb (Rev. 7:9-10)! Oh such love! Oh such mercy! Oh such grace!
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