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As we concluded in part one, with the second defeat of the kings of the five cities of the plain at the Vale of Siddim, not only did the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah lose their own lives, but the four kings from Babylon to the east likewise took a great spoil from the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. But something else happened as well. Following the first war with the Babylonian kings, one would be inclined to think that Lot might start to wonder if perhaps it wasn't so safe to pitch his tents so close to Sodom. But not Lot. Despite the obvious danger, he apparently remained right where he was. Perhaps it was because the wicked people of Sodom were a good source of revenue for Lot. We really don't know. But whatever the case may be, that is when Lot's real trouble began, as we read in the very next verse:

"And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed."


As you can see, Lot, his family, and all of their possessions were part of the great spoil that was taken by the Babylonian kings. Lot wanted the best part of the land, so old Abraham acquiesced and let him have it. We can imagine that Lot must have worked rather hard to obtain all his material wealth. He even purposely decided to pitch his tents near an exceedingly wicked group of cities. Now, just like that, God allowed him to lose it all. Well, at least temporarily. You see, Abraham, his uncle, had heard what had happened to Lot and his family, and this is what happened next:

"And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram. And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people."


Imagine that! Abram was over seventy-five years old by that time, and yet with a little more than three hundred men, he traveled as far as Damascus, where he managed to pull off a surprise attack at night, and rescue Lot and his family, and regain all of Lot's possessions as well. Of course, he also had the help of Mamre, Eshcol and Aner, and whatever men came along with those three men. What happened next strikes me as interesting, because I think it reveals something regarding Abram's character. Even though the king of Sodom offered to let Abram keep the spoils of war -- that is, all of the goods which Abram had recovered from the Babylonian kings -- Abram absolutely refused. While Abram says that it is because he does not want to give the king of Sodom a reason to boast, I suspect that the real reason why Abram made such a vow before the Lord, may have been because he knew how wicked the people of the five cities were, and he did not want to have anything to do with them. But that is just personal speculation, so you can take it or leave it. The Scriptures state as follows:

"And the king of Sodom went out to meet him [Abram] after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale . . . And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion."


Being as this article is about Sodom and Gomorrah, at this point in our discussion, while they contain some important information, we are going to skip Genesis chapters fifteen through seventeen, and jump to chapter eighteen. This is where what we can term "the main event" begins. In other words, the complete destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other cities of the plain.

As many of you will recall, Sarai, Abram's wife, was barren. This was of great concern to Abram, being as he and his wife were now both advanced in age, and it appeared as if Abram would have no biological heir, despite God's earlier promise to greatly multiply his seed. So one hot day Abram is sitting in the door of his tent in the plains of Mamre, when lo and behold, the Lord Himself and two of His Angels arrive. It is what is stated after the discussion regarding Sarai's coming pregnancy that is of concern to us insofar as this current article is concerned. Following is exactly what transpired:

"And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? . . . And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place."


Once again we get a peek at Abram's inner character. Think about this. Despite the trouble which Lot had been to Abram, -- fighting between their herdsmen, and having to rescue Lot and his family from the Babylonian kings -- Abram still very much cared for Lot. I suspect that this is why he questioned the Lord's decision regarding the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and brought up the issue concerning the righteous. But we also see the Lord's character as well, because He was willing to listen to Abram's pleas. Thus, He promised that He would not destroy Sodom if any righteous remained in that wicked city.

As we soon discover, even though Lot and his family lived in that terrible city of sin known as Sodom, God still desired to save them. Thus, He sent the two Angels to escort them by force out of that abominable, wicked place, just prior to its fiery destruction. As I mentioned in part one, from reading about Lot, personally, I get the impression that he was a bit self-centered, always looking out for what was in it for him, and being most concerned with his own well-being and survival first. We get another glimpse of Lot's questionable character when the homosexuals in Sodom discover that Lot is hosting the two Angels in his home. Of course, the men of Sodom did not know that they were Angels at that time, but there should be no doubt that they certainly found out soon enough.

However, what I would like to call to your attention is that when those homosexuals came pounding on Lot's door, because they wanted him to turn over his two visitors to them, so that they could "know" them -- in other words, meaning to engage in homosexual sex -- Lot offered his own two virgin daughters to those wicked people instead. Personally, that a man would betray his very own daughters, and willingly turn them over, knowing that they are going to be sexually abused, is very hard to digest. Yet that is exactly what Lot offered to do. Whether Lot did this to protect his Angelic Visitors -- who even he may not yet have realized were Angels -- or merely to protect himself, I am really not certain. Consider this group of verses:

"But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof."


Notice that Lot tells the men of Sodom "do not so wickedly". You see, while some supporters of the gay and lesbian agenda erroneously claim that the reason why God destroyed the evil people of Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities of the plain is simply because they were an "inhospitable" group of folks -- which I find absolutely ludicrous -- by the mere fact that Lot says those words, we know that he fully understands that those vile homosexuals want to engage in sex with the Angels. That, in my view, is another reason why he probably offered them his two virgin daughters instead. Clearly, Lot was not trusting God for the outcome of this terrible situation. Look at it this way. If God wiped out the five cities of the plain simply because they were "inhospitable", as the gays claim, then we are all in very serious trouble with the Lord.

In fact, if you require additional proof that this claim by the gays regarding "inhospitality" is totally bogus, let me remind you of an incident which occurred in the New Testament. We find the story in the Gospel of Luke, as we see here:

"And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village."


While we may not fully understand what is being said there -- verse fifty-three is somewhat obscure -- it does appear that the people of this particular Samaritan village were acting in an inhospitable manner towards Jesus and His followers. As you can see, in their haste, the Apostles wanted to be judge, jury and executioner, and call fire down from Heaven in order to destroy the people of that village. I am sure you can see the similarities with what the gays are claiming. However, in total contrast to their false belief, Jesus did not destroy that village. Instead, He rebuked His own followers due to their lack of compassion and own hardness of heart. So, just being inhospitable is not a justifiable reason for destroying four entire cities, as occurred in the Book of Genesis.

We find additional, clear evidence that the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were sexual in nature in two verses which are found in the Epistle of Jude. I shared one of these verses with you in part one. In his Epistle, Jude writes as follows:

"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."


As I mentioned in part one, this warning regarding Sodom and Gomorrah is shared by various authors throughout the pages of the Bible. This admonition by Jude is the final warning to be found in the Scriptures. I will be discussing other verses a bit later in this series.

There is something else I would like for you to notice about Lot's situation. Please notice where they are at. At the very beginning of our story, we were told that Lot had pitched his tents near Sodom. However, now, years later, look where they are at. They are apparently living in a house within the city limits itself. In other words, Lot and his family have become even more embroiled in the affairs of that wicked city than before. At least that is my personal impression. They are now living thick in the middle of vile perverts and degenerates. They appear to be living a totally compromised lifestyle, all for the sake of wealth and comfort.

This reminds me so much of the sickening compromise that we see in a growing number of churches and denominations today. As I point out in related articles, it is one thing to try to be inclusive, and to have compassion, patience and mercy with members of the LGBTQ community, in the hope that perhaps we can encourage some of them to repent, to accept the Lord, and to have a real change in their lives. But it is quite another to ordain gay and lesbian bishops, priests, ministers and pastors; and then to even have them marry these sinful people who openly defy God's holy Laws. As I have said before, in my view, this is clearly sending the wrong message. Such people don't need for the churches to marry them. They need for them to tell them "Go, and sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee", exactly as Jesus did, as we see by these verses:

"Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee."


"She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more."


In contrast to Lot's apparent compromise and entrenched, easy life in the city, smart, old Abraham was still keeping a safe distance from that sinful city, and living in his tent with Sarah. That is why God blessed Abraham. He was still a free nomad for the Lord. He could easily pick up his roots and go anywhere at anytime the Lord told Him to. So again, I must question Lot's character, and I suspect that he was rather backslidden from the Lord. Yet in spite of this, just like us sinners today, God still chose to have mercy on Lot, and to deliver him and his family from that evil place before His righteous judgments fell upon it. Thus, after blinding the men of Sodom, we read the following in the Book of Genesis:

"And the men [Angelic Messengers] said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law."


How tragic! It turns out that Lot's sons-in-law were just as wicked and unbelieving as the rest of the people of Sodom. In fact, it appears that they thought that Lot was simply joking or jesting with them. As a result, they apparently chose to remain in Sodom -- and were destroyed -- because there is no further discussion of them anywhere in the Book of Genesis.

Aside from the main lesson regarding the perverse nature of homosexuality, and how much God hates it, as I point out in "Remember Lot's Wife: What Was Her Fate?", another very important lesson which we can learn from this story, is that when God says it is time to go, it is time to go, and we had better not drag our feet. Once again, we see that this was Lot's sin. Apparently, he was having a rather difficult time forsaking all of his material wealth. As the group of verses below state, Lot was lingering. He was procrastinating. He was trying to avoid the inevitable loss of everything he had worked so hard to obtain. In these verses, "lingered" is translated from the Hebrew word "mahahh". According to the Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Hebrew Aramaic English Lexicon, this word means to linger, tarry, wait or delay:

"And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed."


Just look at that! Lot and his family's procrastination was such, that the Lord's two Angels finally just had to grab all of them by the hand and literally drag them out of the place. They couldn't even begin to understand the mercy that God was having on them, because of the word He had given to Abraham. In the next group of verses, we really get to see inside of Lot's heart. He shows us plainly how attached his heart is to the cities of the plain. After all, they have afforded him an easy, comfortable life amongst all of the sin and perversity. It was bad enough that the Angels had to drag Lot's family out of that wicked city. But despite God's mercy, Lot still has the audacity to whine. He complains that he does not want to go to the mountains. Thus, a compromise is reached with the two Angels, and they agree to spare Zoar, as we see by these verses:

"And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar."


Notice that the final verse above tells us why that city was called Zoar. Interestingly enough, the Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Hebrew Aramaic English Lexicon informs us that this name means "insignificance". Finally, with Lot and his two daughters temporarily safe in Zoar, the inevitable happens, and God rains down fire and brimstone upon both Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other cities of the plain. Based on the verses we read earlier, it would seem that this catastrophe struck at least four cities in all: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim. It is not made clear whether or not Lasha was included in the total destruction, even though it too was located in proximity to Sodom and Gomorrah. Moses writes as follows:

"The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt."


Thus was the severe judgment of the four wicked cities of the plain. It was total and complete. Nothing was left alive; not even plants on the ground. It became a totally dead area, and a powerful witness of God's displeasure with the abominable sin of homosexuality. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise, don't believe them, because, in my view, and based on what we read in the Scriptures, they are just trying to water down the truth. As I noted in part one, this catastrophic event is mentioned by other individuals in the Bible as well; and each time that it is mentioned, it is used to issue a very severe warning to the listeners. For example, when Moses warned the Children of Israel of the curses which would befall them if they abandoned the Lord, he said the following. Notice how he mentions brimstone and burning and nothing growing:

"So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid upon it; And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath: Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?"


Centuries later, when pronouncing judgment against Babylon, the Prophet Isaiah likewise referred back to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, as we see by the following verse. It seems that when these Prophets -- including Moses -- mention Sodom and Gomorrah, the intent is to use the event as a clear device to convey total and complete destruction; that is, so complete, that absolutely nothing is left alive. Using the destruction of these cities is clearly a tool to impress upon the listener or reader the severity of God's coming judgment, unless they choose to repent:

"And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah."


In prophesying judgment against Edom -- which is now a part of modern Jordan -- the Lord also used the Prophet Jeremiah to compare the desolation which would befall that land to the great destruction which likewise befell Sodom and Gomorrah centuries earlier, as we see by the following verse. Notice again that the emphasis is on leaving Edom totally lifeless:

"Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof. As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it."


In the very next chapter, the Lord again has Jeremiah compare the coming destruction of Babylon to what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, as we see by the following verse. Once again, we are given the understanding that the judgement and destruction will be so severe, that no man will be able to abide there anymore. The place just won't be able to support any form of life:

"As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there [in Babylon], neither shall any son of man dwell therein."


Turning to the Book of Amos, similar to his predecessors, we likewise find the Prophet Amos making a reference to Sodom and Gomorrah, as he -- and the Lord -- lament over the fact that Israel has not repented of her sins:

"I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel."


Turning to the New Testament, we have already seen how the Apostle Jude referenced the tragic events which occurred to the four cities of the plain, and wrote that they were meant to serve as a sobering example to those people who would dare to engage in sexual perversions. In his second Epistle, the Apostle Peter follows the very same line of thought, and uses the destruction of the cities of the plain as a stern warning to those people who would foolishly choose to live ungodly lives. Consider this verse:

"And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow [Greek = "katastrophe"], making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;"


As you can see by the words which I have added and enclosed in brackets, what I find particularly interesting about this verse -- besides the fact that Peter states that the cities were reduced to ashes -- is that the word "overthrow" is derived from the Greek word "katastrophe". It is obviously very easy to see how our own English word "catastrophe" is derived from that very same word.

Finally, we come to what Jesus Himself had to say in regard to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the rest of the cities of the plain. If you study the following verses very carefully, you will realize that they all have one common thread. The sin of which Jesus is accusing these people and cities is quite simply unbelief. The Lord is saying that it will be worse for people who reject Him, than for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah who had never heard of the Savior:

"And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city."


"And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee."


"And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city."


"But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city."


"Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot’s wife."


Please go to part three for the conclusion of this series.

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