Bible Readers Nave Long Struggled with their understanding and assessment of the character of Lot in the Book of Genesis. He seems to have been strong and yet weak — godly yet unwise — a man of God, yet perhaps too involved with the world. We must read the record carefully lest we be too unkind to Lot. We do not read about him drifting anywhere. There is no condemnation whatsoever of Lot in the Bible. Unlike his wife, Lot is presented as an example to be followed.
How does Peter describe him? Lot, a righteous man… that righteous man… [with a] righteous soul.
A threefold cord is not quickly broken. Beware: do not run down someone God has so plainly commended. Take care how you expound the word of truth. Moreover, he was not only righteous before he settled in Sodom. Peter says he had a righteous soul when he was deep inside the unlovely city, when he had friends who were lawless and unrighteous. So, as far as his day to day life was concerned, he really was very much like most of us.
Lot is not condemned for selecting the whole plain of the Jordan nor for pitching his tents towards Sodom, or for finally migrating inside its gates, even though the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.
The Bible does not say that they made Lot into a wicked man, or endangered his salvation. In fact it says exactly the opposite:
God rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men, living among them day after day, [and] was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard — if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials.
Remarkable hospitality
The story of Lot is an example of how God helps loving people when they are being grievously tried by an unloving world, and sometimes dramatically brings them out from the midst of it.
There is one marvellous thing that Lot did which can easily escape our notice. But the writer to the Hebrews in his Bible reading did not fail to notice it: Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Lot was one of those people, perhaps the one that first came to the writer’s mind.
Lot’s courtesy and generous hospitality are quite extraordinary. Two complete strangers approached the gate of Sodom. Lot was there, presumably in some sort of official municipal capacity. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.
Preliminary greetings over, he got down to practicalities. Please come to your servant’s house, wash your feet and spend the night. He did a lot more than that. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast (to save time) and they ate. And it was not just an ordinary meal. The word in fact means a royal banquet, such as those described in the book of Esther! And whereas, in a similar situation with the very same visitors, Abraham called on Sarah to prepare the meal, Lot did the cooking himself.
Sodom not unique
Some say that if Lot had avoided Sodom altogether he would have been better off. But that is man’s faulty evaluation of the situation, not God’s. There are many places like Sodom in our world today, towns where people are arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. God’s prophet Ezekiel says that this was the sin of Sodom. I know lots of places today that would fit into that category perfectly.
Personally, I certainly cannot choose where I live, Sodom or not. The example of Lot’s experiences can be a helpful guide to living faithfully in an ungodly environment. He tried by example to express his godly love for people practically. He must have tried to wean them away from materialism toward concern for one another. He tried to introduce some godly standards into this ungodly society, and is never blamed for having failed.
Lot was horrified at the way his Sodomite neighbours behaved, but he loved them nevertheless. When a gang of loutish sexual predators had surrounded the house, Lot did not lack courage. He went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him. He pleaded with them. No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing Don’t do anything to these visitors, for they have come under the protection of my roof
Lot vexed his righteous soul over the sins of his fellow citizens. He called them his friends and pleaded with them to prevent a judgement that was inevitable. Jesus Christ vexed his righteous soul over the sins of his contemporaries. As he approached Jerusalem on the final journey of his mortal life, he broke down and he wept over it at the unconcern of its heartless and complacent people. Through his tears he pleaded with them to avoid a judgement that was otherwise inevitable.
We have two great examples in these two men of loving an unlovely world.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One