Genesis 19

1 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 "My lords," he said, "please turn aside to your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning."
      "No," they answered, "we will spend the night in the square."

 3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodomboth young and oldsurrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can know them."

 6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof."

 9 "Get out of our way," they replied. And they said, "This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We'll treat you worse than them." They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

 10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.

 12 The two men said to Lot, "Do you have anyone else heresons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it."

 14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, "Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city!" But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

 15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished."

 16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them. 17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, "Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!"

 18 But Lot said to them, "No, my lords, please! 19 Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can't flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I'll die. 20 Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to itit is very small, isn't it? Then my life will be spared."

 21 He said to him, "Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it." (That is why the town was called Zoar. 23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrahfrom the LORD out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the citiesand also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

 27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. 28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

 29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

As we reflect on Genesis 19, we need to realize that Lot was a high-ranking official in Sodom.  Keeping watch at the gate was serious business.  He was not to allow any strangers, aliens, riff-raff, or anyone else that looked to be suspicious or a threat into the city.  To let someone in - especially in the evening as these visitors had come - would be a serious breach in security.  And also a word on verse 5: "have sex with them" should be rendered "know them."  This is an unfortunate translation error which is read into the narrative.  The Hebrew word translated "to know" does not necessarily have sexual connotations and we must not let our bias from Jude 1:7 be read back into the text of Genesis.  For a clear picture of Sodom's main sin problem, look into Ezekiel 16:49, "Now this was the sin of Sodom...(they were) arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy."

Now that we have  the context, let's go to the offending statement.  Lot says, "Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof." On the surface, this seems like such a vile thing to come out of his mouth that we don't even want to read it.  I have actually heard preachers skip these lines when reading from this section of Scripture.  It can be a bit nauseating if you don't understand the ancient underlying meaning of this.  I want to assure you; however, that Lot is not offering his virginal daughters up to sex-crazed homosexuals.  Notice how the men are described - the men, young and old."  This is significant.  This is a way of saying all the ruling men of the city are convening.  They know that securuity was breached, and they want an answer from Lot.  They are livid. Why would Lot do such a thing?  They demand an answer. Lot is supposed to know how important it is to keep the city gate secure.

So if he is not offering his daughters up for sex, then what does this cryptic statement mean? On the contrary, faithful Lot is actually saying, I value my daughters so much that I am willing to put them up as a ransom, a promissory note, if you will.   Think of it as a guarantee. He is guaranteeing Sodom's safety from these men. He knows the men he is protecting will do no harm to the city.  He is willing to risk his daughters' lives on this.  He is assured nothing bad security-wise will fall on the city; therefore, he knows nothing will happen to his daughters.  Keeping this story in context will greatly help when interpreting .  The Bible is an ancient record of ancient cultures, traditions, and sayingd.  May we always strive to remember that we are millenia away from the text we are reading.  This will help us to rightly interpret and make sense of the narratives of Scripture.

So, we see that God is faithful just as Abraham knew he was and kept confirming in chapter 18. Yahweh delivers faithful Lot and his family from sure destruction.  Hopefully, this will clear up any confusion and we will now realize that Lot was a godly man who deserves to be lauded in the NT as he is in 2 Peter.