Who was Lot in the Bible?

Son of Haran the brother of Abraham. He seems to have accompanied Abraham. without having a like faith in Abraham's God. When their flocks and herds had so increased that they could no longer dwell together, Abraham bade his nephew choose whither he would turn. Lot looked on the well-watered plain of the Jordan, and went toward Sodom, notwithstanding that the men of that city were exceedingly wicked. The next record of Lot is that he dwelt in Sodom, and from thence was carried away by the four kings who made war against that city.

Lot and his family were loathe to leave the city, but the angels hastened them out, and bade them flee to the mountains. Lot begged to be allowed to go to Zoar, and was permitted; but, fearing to stay there, he left with his two daughters and abode in a cave, where, alas, he became the father of Moab and Ben-ammi, the ancestors of the Moabites and the Ammonites, who are afterwards alluded to as the children of Lot.

From his history in the O.T. it could not have been discovered that he was a righteous man; but this testimony is given of him in 2 Peter 2:7-8, where he is called 'just Lot,' who, as a righteous man, was daily vexed in his soul by the unlawful deeds of those among whom he dwelt. Though God delivered him, he is a solemn instance of a righteous man dwelling needlessly amid gross wickedness; his course being the strongest contrast to that of Abraham. Gen. 11 — Gen. 14, Gen. 19; Ps. 83:8; Luke 17:28-29.

LOT'S WIFE, on leaving Sodom, looked back and became a pillar of salt! and is held up as a warning not to linger but to flee from coming judgements. Luke 17:32.

Take first the case of Abram's nephew, Lot. Here was a man who came out with Abram: a true saint at the bottom, for in the New Testament he is called "just [or, righteous] Lot;" though without that measure of faith that characterized his uncle. Hence, presently he drifted into the wicked city of Sodom, where their evil ways vexed his righteous soul from day to day. How different from Abram, yet when the hour came for the destruction of the city the angel's word was, "Hast thou here any besides? … bring them OUT of this places" So Lot had to say to them, "Up get you OUT of this place" (Gen. 19:12, 14). They heeded him not, yet out he himself came, though like Job he might have to say, "I am escaped with the skin of my teeth" (Job 19:20).

And now the true character of Lot comes out. His story (one of the saddest in Genesis) is most important to be noticed in a day when, God having revealed to us the truth of our heavenly calling, it is but even too plain that there are many Lots. The word "Lot" means "covering," and under a covering he is ever found. With Abraham outwardly, he is not at heart what Abraham is; and with the men of Sodom outwardly, he is not after all a Sodomite either. He is a saint, and therefore not a Sodomite, though in Sodom. He is a saint untrue to his saintship, and herein Abraham's contrast, even of his companion. His is, however, on a downward course. First, with Abraham, a pilgrim; then, a dweller in Sodom; finally, he falls under deeper personal reproach, and his life ends as it began - under a covering. There is no revival, no effort even upward, throughout nothing but mere gravitation, dragging down into still deeper ruin lives associated with his. His wife's memorial is a pillar of salt; his daughters', a more abiding and perpetual infamy, linked with his own shame forever. How terrible this record! How emphatic an admonition to remember, in him, how near two roads may be at the beginning which at the end lie far indeed apart! Reader, may none who read this trace this by-path, save here where God has marked out for us the end from the beginning, that with Him we may see it; not, as having trod it, the beginning from the end. The beginning is found here "And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son's son to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there." Nature, taking in hand to follow a divine call, which it had never understood nor heard for itself; leading without being led; settling down short altogether of the point for which it started, to dwell in a scene of death to which it clings spite of dissatisfaction: - these are the moral elements amid which many a Lot is nurtured. Terah shines out in him when, having undertaken to walk with Abram, the plain of Jordan fixes his eyes and heart; once again, when in the presence of judgment, the messengers of it laid hold upon his hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and brought him forth and set him without the city, - because "he lingered." But there is another beginning, after this; for now - "Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came."

Not nature now, but the man of faith leads, and they no longer linger on the road; but Lot merely follows Abram, as before he had followed Terah. Abram walks with God; Lot only with Abram. How easy even for a believer to walk where another's bolder faith leads and makes the way practicable, without exercise of conscience or reality of faith as to the way itself! How many such there are, practically but the camp-followers of the Lord's host, adherents of a cause for which they have no thought of being martyrs, nearly balanced between what they know as truth and a world which has never been seen by them in the light of it. For such, as with Lot, a time of sifting comes, and like dead leaves they drop off from the stem that holds them. Egypt had acted thus for Lot. The attraction it had for him comes out very plainly there where the coveted plain of Jordan seems in his eyes "like the land of Egypt." But beside this, it is easy to understand how Abram's failure there had loosened the moral hold he had hitherto retained upon his nephew. Yet still true to the weakness of his character, Lot does not propose separation, but Abram does, after it was plain they could no longer happily walk together. Their possessions, increased largely in Egypt, separate them, but Abram manifests his own restoration of soul by the magnanimity of his offer. Lot, though the younger, and dependent, shall choose for himself his portion; and he, not imitating the unselfishness by which he profits, lifts up his eyes and beholds the fertility of the plain of Jordan, and he chooses there. The names unmistakably reveal what is before us here. Jordan ("descending") is the river of death, flowing in rapid course ever down to the sea of judgment, from which there is no outlet - no escape.*

Noah is an example of the separate saint bearing testimony to the world. We read that “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). Peter tells us that he bore witness for God as a “preacher of righteousness”. Lot is a picture of that large class of believers who, without faith for the separate path, settle down in the world and, though ultimately saved, are no testimony to God while passing through it. The Apostle Peter tells us indeed that Lot was a “righteous man”, yet, through “dwelling among” the wicked, he “vexed his righteous soul from day to day” hearing their filthy conversation and seeing their unlawful deeds. He knew nothing of a walk in peace and nearness to God.

Lot was associated with the call of God. Like Abram, his uncle, he left Mesopotamia, and then after the death of Terah, his grandfather, he came with Abram into Canaan, and he was a righteous man, there was no palpable blot upon him. Abram betrayed the way of nature, again and again recovering himself, with shame too, from the snare of Egypt and of Abimelech. But Lot was not so rebuked all the time he sojourned in Sodom. We only read of him that his righteous soul was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. But withal, he was sadly of the generation I am now speaking of.

Lot, who accompanied Abraham when he left Ur of the Chaldees, was a just man, but his eye was on the things of this present world, and he was attracted by that which appealed to the natural senses. At first it was the beauty and fertility of the plain of Jordan that he admired, and that drew him, for it "was well watered every where … as the garden of the Lord," but he was eventually allured into Sodom to dwell there, but learned to his cost that the cities of men are not only centres of pleasure, but dens of iniquity that draw upon them the righteous judgment of a holy God.

You know the sad end of Lot’s world-bordering. He fled from the city with his wife and unmarried daughters. His wife looked back to the city which her husband had taught her to love, and she became a pillar of salt. In a cave, drunk and deceived, Lot became the father by his own daughters of children, who in their turn were the progenitors of two of Israel’s bitterest foes—the Moabites and Ammonites.

Lot's character is brought out in his selfish choice. He had not so much followed the Lord as he followed Abram. He is Self-centered, and unlike Abram looking to the things unseen, he is occupied with the things which are seen, with the earth and earthly possession. Lot is a type of the world-bordering, carnally minded, professing Christian. He lifts up his eyes and beholds a well-watered plain, beautiful as the garden of the Lord. He chooses all the plain of Jordan and pitched his tent toward Sodom. That Sodom and Gomorrah were fast ripening for the day of burning and destruction, that the men in Sodom were wicked and sinners well known in the day when Lot made his choice, is not taken into consideration by him. There was no prayer, no consultation with the Lord from the side of Lot. His eyes behold only the beautiful and well-watered Plain; there must have been a feverish haste to make his decision. Nor did Lot go at once into Sodom. He nears Sodom gradually. Perhaps at first he had no thought of having fellowship with the wicked men of Sodom, but he got there all the same. All is written for our learning. Decline begins gradually, but always leads into the world.

Lot's story (one of the saddest in Genesis) is important to be noticed in a day when God having revealed to us the truth of our heavenly calling, it is plain that there are many Lots. With Abraham outwardly, he was not at heart what Abraham was; later with the men of Sodom outwardly, yet not a Sodomite either. He corresponds to a saint untrue to his saintship! His was a downward course. Lot merely followed Abram. Abram walked with God; Lot only with Abram. How easy it is to walk where another's faith leads without exercise of conscience! How many such there are, practically but camp followers, adherents of a cause for which they have no thought of being martyrs, balanced between what they know as truth and a world which has never been seen by them in the light of truth. Egypt had acted thus for Lot. The attraction it had for him came out plainly where the coveted plain of Jordan seemed in his eyes "like the land of Egypt." Abram's failure in going there had loosened the moral hold he had hitherto retained on his nephew. Still true to the weakness of his character, Lot did not propose separation; but Abram did, after it was plain they could no longer happily walk together. Their possessions, increased largely in Egypt, separated them; but Abram manifested his own restoration by the magnanimity of his offer. Lot beheld the fertility of the plain of Jordan and he chose to be there. He covered the choice with a veil of piety! The plain of Jordan was "like the garden of the Lord," like paradise: Why should he not enjoy God's gifts in it? He forgot the fall and that paradise was barred from man, argued religiously while under all the real secret was found in this: "it is like the land of Egypt."