And the two angels came to Sodom at even. And Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. And Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and he bowed down, the face toward the ground,
Genesis 19 opens with Abraham still interceding with God for the city. His nephew Lot is sitting in the gateway of that same city, and God is about to destroy it. That one detail — where Lot is sitting — raises the question commentators keep coming back to. What has this believer's chosen place cost him?
In the chapter before, the Lord Himself was among the visitors who came to Abraham. Here the group is smaller. One writer sees every detail of the arrival marking a contrast:
How every circumstance seems designed to bring out the contrast! Two angels come, not men: there is distance, not familiarity; and the Lord Himself does not come near. So communion there is not and cannot be. Evening, too, has fallen; they come in gloom, and as if not to be seen.
Another writer links the hour to their errand:
While the Lord came to Abraham in the full light of day, the two angels come to Sodom "in the evening." They come, not to give a public witness to Sodom, but, as it were, in the secrecy of the evening gloom to pull a falling saint out of the fire of judgment (Gen. 18:1; Gen. 19:1).
In an ancient city the gate was where elders sat to judge and to govern. So the phrase is not describing a man resting by the roadside:
As they approached, Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. That means, of course, that he had accepted the office of a magistrate in that extremely wicked city. He not only saw and heard terrible evils as a private person, but came into contact with it all as a magistrate.
More than one writer takes Lot's motive kindly. He settled in Sodom hoping to improve it. But one writer questions the method:
Lot was sitting in the gate, the place of a judge.
Lot rises, bows, and urges his guests to come home with him. Yet they refuse at first, and one writer weighs both facts:
The Lord no longer stoops to accompany His messengers, nor visits Lot as He visited Abraham. At last they yield to his pressure, enter his house, and accept his unleavened bread.
One writer opens this chapter by looking ahead:
The history that now opens before us is one of contrast, and it is full of instruction for us, who stand on the eve of a judgment far larger in scale. Our Lord Himself applies it, as He applies the disaster in the days of Noah, as a warning for the present… It will be a judgment of God… and as none of the wicked will understand, so none will escape.
This is also where the visitors are first called angels. One writer links that name to the reason Lot is saved at all:
Those who appear in Genesis 18 as "men" to Abraham go on to Sodom as "angels" in Genesis 19. They go there to deliver Lot, but they cannot show him the closeness they show to Abraham. Righteous as he is, and "greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked," he is still one who is "saved, but only as through fire." He is found, not in his tent door at Mamre, but in the "gate of Sodom." He is one of those righteous men in an evil place, for whom Abraham intercedes with God. When he is delivered, it is said of him: "God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived." (Gen. 19:29.)
- Place decides everything. Abraham is at his tent door outside; Lot sits in the city gate. The same day brings one man communion and the other a warning.
- The gate is an office. Lot had taken a seat of authority in Sodom, so he met its evil not just as a neighbour but as a magistrate.
- Position replaced testimony. Settled in Sodom hoping to improve it, he made himself unable to warn it of the judgment coming.
- Distance shows in the details. Two angels came, not the Lord. Evening, not full daylight. They refused Lot's invitation before accepting it. Courtesy survived; nearness did not.
- Grace reaches even there. God pulled Lot out of the fire of judgment because He remembered Abraham, who was interceding while Lot sat in the gate. Jesus later used that day as a warning.
and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and lodge, and wash your feet; and ye shall rise up early, and go on your way. And they said, No; but we will pass the night in the open place.
Two angels reach Sodom in the evening, and Lot presses them to spend the night at his house. They refuse, and their answer raises a sharp question: why is Lot met so differently from Abraham, who welcomed heavenly guests one chapter earlier?
Lot's welcome is real, but it is stiffer than Abraham's, and he already suggests an early start for his guests.
Lot met the angels with great respect, though not with Abraham's refreshing warmth. Abraham had run to meet his visitors and bowed to the ground. Lot rose and bowed with his face toward the earth — a stiffer, more formal greeting. As a believer, he invited the men into his house for the night. He suggested they rise early and go on their way. Perhaps he felt it would not be very safe for the men to stay long... Lot urged them strongly. No doubt he realized the danger they would be in if they were outside.
The word "house" carries weight. Abraham lived in a tent, ready to move; Lot's address had become a fixed one inside the city he once only camped near.
Poor, selfish Lot! He had gone down to Sodom. From the tent pitched toward Sodom, he had ended up living in Sodom. There he no longer had a tent — he had a house. He had settled down and given up his character as pilgrim. His daughters were fully at home in Sodom, and they married unbelieving men of Sodom. More than that, Lot had taken a position in Sodom. He "was sitting in the gate of Sodom," and the mob said, "This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge!"
The angels' answer is more than a polite decline.
The angels' word to Lot is an outright condemnation of his position in Sodom. They would rather spend the night in the town square than enter under the roof of one in a wrong position. Indeed, their only object in coming to Sodom seems to have been to rescue Lot, and that because of Abraham.
Commentators differ on where the fault lies. Mackintosh points to Lot's position in the city. Another writer points to the house itself.
They would not enter Lot's house. You say, Why not? I think the reason is very simple. They did not think Lot's house was of good repute. The behaviour in his house made the two messengers prefer to stay outside rather than go in. Christians, what a lesson for you and me. What is the atmosphere of your house and mine? Is the atmosphere of your house such that God would like to come into it?
Small details in this scene mark the distance between the guests and their host.
How every circumstance seems designed to bring out the contrast! Two angels come, not men: there is distance, not familiarity; and the Lord Himself does not come near. So there is no communion, and there cannot be. Evening has fallen too; they come in gloom, as if not to be seen. And although Lot's hospitality is as ready as Abraham's, there is no such readiness in the response... Off the path of faith, he does not master his circumstances; they master him.
The wording of the earlier visit sharpens the difference.
In chapter 18 we are told that when Abraham looked up, he saw three men standing near him. The true rendering of that word is "stationed themselves." It carries the sense of wanting to stay, in surroundings that suited them in every way. Is this not in sharp contrast to the two angels, who answered Lot's urgent pleading, "No; we will spend the night in the town square"?
Lot will not take no for an answer, and the refusal gives way. The messengers had their own reason for being in Sodom.
Lot's urgent pleading, however, wins the angelic messengers over. As we learn further on, God in His providence had sent them to keep Lot safe when the guilty cities were finally overthrown... Here was a man who tormented his righteous soul day after day over the lawless deeds of wicked men. He kept himself apart from the corruption around him, and could provide what suited his heavenly guests in every way. But he had no power to hold on to what pleased God, because of his unholy and defiling ties.
- Position. Lot no longer has a tent but a house, and a seat at the gate — he has traded the pilgrim's life for a settled place inside Sodom.
- Politeness. His welcome is real and respectful, yet formal, and he already wants his guests gone by daybreak.
- Refusal. Choosing the town square is rebuke, not rudeness. They would sooner sleep outdoors than under the roof of a man in a wrong position.
- Distance. Two angels instead of men, evening gloom, no visit from the Lord Himself — the setting leaves Lot no room for communion.
- Rescue. They give in to his pressing. But they came to get him out, and he had no power to hold back the evil he had settled among.
And he urged them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house. And he made them a repast, and baked unleavened cakes; and they ate.
Two angels arrive at Sodom in the evening, and Lot has to beg them to come under his roof. Their hesitation, his feast, and his flat bread all reveal the man who once travelled with Abraham.
Lot has to press them because the messengers first refused. One writer explains that refusal from what Lot's home was like.
They would not enter Lot's house. You say, Why not? I think the reason is very simple. They did not think Lot's house had a good name. The way his household lived made the two messengers feel they would rather stay outside than go in. Christians, what a lesson for you and me. What is the atmosphere of your house and mine?
The contrast with the chapter before is hard to miss. Abraham's guests came in at once; Lot had to force his.
The Lord stayed to talk with Abraham, and only sent His angels to Sodom. Lot could barely persuade these angels to enter his house or accept his hospitality: they said, "No, we will stay in the street all night." What a rebuke! How different from Abraham's invitation, which they gladly accepted with the words, "Do as you have said."
They did come in at last. One writer says that this does not soften the rebuke.
The angels of the Lord would rather stay all night in the streets of guilty Sodom than go in to a child of His who was not walking in obedience. Their later agreement to go in does not weaken the point. Their answer teaches us something most solemn and practical. They do enter Lot's house, it is true; but if they do, it is only to undo the sad effects of Lot's sin.
Another writer sees fear behind Lot's pressing, and traces the visit itself back to Abraham's prayer.
Lot no doubt offered the angels hospitality partly because he knew all too well what kind of men the Sodomites were. Angels had no need of human protection, and they were very unwilling to accept what he offered. God's messengers had not come to be entertained in the doomed city. They came to carry out divine judgment. Their entry into his house, and their eating of his meal, showed God's mercy to him because Abraham had prayed, "Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?"
Lot's table is not empty. What is missing is the Lord Himself.
The Lord no longer sees fit to accompany His messengers, nor visits Lot, as He visited Abraham. He would have been ashamed to be called the God of Lot. Lot "sat in the gate of Sodom," while his relative the pilgrim ran to meet them "from the tent door." Yet much was the same: no less courtesy, perhaps, but only a little hospitality.
Others compare the two meals.
Abraham's meal was simple, wholesome food, though he called it only "a morsel of bread." Lot clearly prepared city food, perhaps quite fancy, to make an impression.
The one detail the verse pauses on is the bread. One writer asks what it said about the man who baked it.
Leaven stands for evil, so unleavened bread in Scripture teaches separation from evil. Was Lot telling his visitors that he believed in separation from evil? If so, his lifestyle did not back it up.
Another writer looks at Israel eating unleavened bread in Egypt, and finds a warning there.
Their obedience to God's command was not, sadly, the fruit of a spirit of obedience. It came from necessity: they were forced out of Egypt… In the same way, when disaster and distress fall, men wake up to reality… There are times when even Lots become real. Yet this is only the fruit of circumstances. Nothing in it has to last, and it has no power to lift a man who is in fact so low.
For all the rebuke, Lot's kindness is not despised. Scripture later points back to this night to urge hospitality on us.
Scripture urges hospitality, and it encourages its readers by pointing them back to their own past: by welcoming strangers, some have entertained angels without knowing it. Lot showed his readiness to entertain the two angels who appeared as men at the gate of Sodom. He urged them strongly to enter his house, and they accepted. He feasted them, and then learned that his visitors were angels. Under God, he owed them his rescue the next morning (Gen. 19). Neither Abraham nor Lot had cause to regret his hospitality.
- Address — Lot lived in Sodom, and his house had Sodom's name. The messengers preferred the street to his door.
- Pressure — Abraham's guests came at once. Lot had to force the same welcome, yet it still brought his rescuers indoors.
- Mercy — They came in to undo the damage of his choices. That was an answer to Abraham's prayer, not a reward for Lot's table.
- Bread — Unleavened bread speaks of separation from evil; Lot could bake it, but his life did not match it.
- Reality — Hard times can make even a Lot real for a night. What circumstances give, circumstances take away.