(Genesis) Genesis 18-19 — Joe Focht

The Lord Appears to Abraham at Mamre

Genesis 18, Abram is sitting in his tent door, 99 years old after the Lord has come to him again. Remember back in chapter 17, verse 1, that Jehovah, the Lord God Almighty, it says, appeared to Abraham.

What an incredible experience. And here he is now, Abram, sitting in the door of his tent. He's been in the promised land for 24 years now. And he's no longer a city slicker. He has learned how to live in tents.

He's learned to be a Bedouin, as it were. He's learned the ropes. And here is Abram sitting in his tent, in the door of his tent. And verse 1 tells us that the Lord, Yahweh, appears to him. Then it will go on to say, three strangers came.

So it's making it clear right off the bat that one of them is the Lord. And it says, the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre. And he, Abram, sat in the tent door in the heat of the day, probably sitting there thinking, this is the year the Lord promised that this program would finally get on the road with Sarah and I, this promised son that we've been hearing of for so long.

And as he sat there, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, or consider, three men stood by him. When he saw them, he ran. So he's pretty spry for 99. He ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself to the ground and said, my Lord.

Now, this is a term of respect. Bible scholars are not sure at this particular point if he realizes who exactly it is. I personally get the sense that he does, but he certainly will as the chapter goes on.

My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched. Wash your feet. Rest yourselves under the tree. And I will fetch a morsel of bread and comfort you, your hearts.

After that, you shall pass on. For therefore are you come to your servant. He senses there's a purpose. They've come. He's going to extend that hospitality to them. And they said, so do as thou hast said.

Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah and said, make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. Now, she's 89 years old, so she's got to jump to it here too.

And grind the grain. They didn't buy it in the store then. And Abraham, now he's still running. This is pretty remarkable. Abraham ran under the herd and fetched a calf, tender and good, and gave it unto a young man, one of his servants, and he hasted to dress it, to slaughter the animal, to trim it, to cook it.

And he took butter and milk and the calf, which he had dressed, and set it before them. And notice, this is not kosher. He's putting the milk and the animal and the butter before them. Well, this is pre-law.

Set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree and they did eat. Now, it's interesting because two of them are angels and they're eating, not that they have to. The Lord here eating. Hebrews 13 .2 tells us that we should take heed to entertain strangers because some have entertained angels unaware.

Wouldn't it be interesting when we get to heaven to find out if any of the folks we pulled over helped change their tire on the side of the road or somebody that looked down and out that you may have given five or 10 or 20 bucks to or somebody that you helped out or somebody that you showed hospitality to?

Wouldn't it be fun to get there, see them stand there with wings? And, hey, remember me? I'm just kidding. I don't think angels have wings, but the idea is it'd be interesting to get there and see if we've entertained any of God's angels.

These actually sit down and eat there. Now, Jesus, you remember, after his resurrection, he was passing evidently through the locked doors. He was appearing and disappearing. And finally, he would say to the disciples, do you have anything to eat?

And they said, yes, we have some fish and a honeycomb. And he did eat with his resurrected body, with the spirit drive. So, and I imagine in heaven the food is no cow, by the way. You can help yourselves without worrying about any of the things we worry about here.

But these angels sit down to eat. Now, it tells us that Abraham stood by and watched. That is the culture over there. Today, even in Israel, if you are involved with any of the Bedouins and you come into their tent, their hospitality is extended to you and you are safe as long as you were there.

When you first enter their tent, and there's a whole unspoken language that will take place, they will make an extremely bitter cup of tea and give that to you first. And as you drink that tea, you're remembering all of your bitter memories.

They want that all out of the way so they can open fellowship with you. And as you drink the bitter tea, all of the bitter things of your past, you're supposed to roll them through your mind and settle them once and all so they don't have to be the center part of your fellowship with them as you're there in their tent.

After you're done that bitter tea, then they give you a small, extremely sweet and powerful cup of coffee, which will help you have conversation. And that is the extension then of hospitality. Then they will set the meal before you and they won't eat.

They will stand by and watch you pig out. And that is, spin with a Bedouin. That is their pleasure. In that particular culture, they will watch you eat until you can't eat anymore. When you go, oh, and they see you loosening your belt and you can't fit anymore in, then they'll eat what's left, but they will stand by and watch you eat as much as you can.

After the dinner, the Bedouin then will extend to you, again, a small cup of coffee. If he gives it to you with his right hand, that means he's been pleased with your company and you are free to stay.

If he gives it to you with your left hand, it means it was nice, but you can go now. If after he gives you this cup of coffee with his right hand and you drink that, he extends a second cup of coffee, you then can stay as long as you want.

A year, two years, you are welcome to be a partaker of his hospitality. So it is something that is still in the culture today. Abraham prepared the meal, and as he did, he stood by and he watched them dine and eat until they were full.

He stood by. It's exactly the way the culture is today amongst the Bedouins. Of course, today when you go to Israel, and you'll see some of the black Bedouin tents with a TV antenna sticking out of the top.

They have a Honda generator and they like to watch whatever they watch, I'm not sure. And they said unto him, where is Sarah, thy wife? Now, Abraham says, behold, she's in the tent. Now, the culture was she would be in another part of the tent.

It wasn't the proper thing for her to sit with the men as they talked about important things. She would be in another part of the tent, and no doubt they're talking loud enough for Sarah to hear. Where is thy wife?

Abraham says, behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life, and lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door. No doubt she's eavesdropping.

She's got a glass with her that's against the tent. Sarah heard it in the tent door which was behind him. Now, Abraham and Sarah were old, and I like this. Well stricken in age. When the Bible says that, you know.

Well stricken, that's what they were. And it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. She is through menopause. Those years are gone. Therefore, because of her age, because she was well stricken, because the manner of women has ceased with her, when she hears this, therefore Sarah laughed within herself saying, after I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure?

And she didn't just laugh at herself. And my Lord being old also, it was as much a joke to think about Abraham as it was of her, evidently. Now, God has been waiting. And it says that, look down in verse 14.

Is anything too hard for the Lord at the appointed time? And there's an appointed time for everything that goes on in our lives. I think sometimes we are discouraged waiting for God. He is not doing things the way we think He should do them.

Then too often we will jump in like Abraham and Sarah did to try to help God. We will lend ourselves to the program with our Hagar's, with whatever, and we produce a problem. And yet in God's timetable, there is an appointed time.

And God will do things in such a way that when they finally roll out, we will know in our hearts that we have nothing to contribute to that which God is about to do. Because sometimes in a very specific way, God wants us to understand that it is all Him and it has nothing to do with us.

So now He has waited until they are beyond their own abilities. They're no longer, Abraham's no longer veral. She's no longer able to bear children. Their springs are dried up. And it is impossible for them at this time to have children.

That is what God wanted to happen. Because this is the son of promise. This will be a miraculous birth. It will be representative of another miraculous birth that will come, another son of promise, the Messiah.

It is a resurrection, as it were, from dead bodies that life would come. And there will be remarkable things that happen in the life of this son, Isaac. So, God now has waited until it is impossible. Now, believe me, she has this son a year later.

She lives 27 more years. Abraham lives 75 more years. That's what I say. He remarries when he's over 160 and has six more sons. So when God fixes things, God fixes things. And evidently at 160, Abraham realizes it's better to marry than to burn.

And he takes a second wife who will come there, Keturah. And as we come in the chapters, those sons and their lineages are listed. It's remarkable. So at this point, it is impossible. God rejuvenates them and blesses them.

And it's remarkable to see the process. So Sarah laughs. Now, the important phrase in verse 12 is within herself. She didn't laugh out loud. She laughs to herself. And the Lord said unto Abraham, now, why did your wife laugh?

Now, that upset Sarah a little bit because how did the guy on the other side of the tent flap know that she laughed? You see, she laughed to herself, very important. Within herself, it wasn't out loud.

And she's hearing, you know, Abraham's been telling her these stories for years. Oh, these, you know, the Lord comes to me, he appears to me, he talks to me. We're gonna, our seed's gonna be like the sand of the seashore, like the stars of heaven.

And she's going, no, like they, you know, come on, Abraham, what the story, you know? And now she hears his voice again. You're gonna, you know, you're gonna, next year, you're coming, I'm gonna bless and the child's gonna be born.

And she's going, but in quietly in her heart, now she hears the voice on the other side of the tent flap say, why did your wife laugh? Saying, shall I? Now, he even says what she said in her heart, see?

Shall I of a surety bear a child which am old? And Sarah's thinking, how'd he know that? She's still listening. Who is this guy? And she hears, is anything too hard for the Lord? Now, King James is too hard.

The Hebrew is, is anything too marvelous or is anything too wonderful? Or is anything too wondrous for God? Is there any thing that is too spectacular for God to do? At the appointed time, and there is for all of us, God's appointments.

I will return unto thee according to the time of life and Sarah shall have a son. Then Sarah denied saying, I didn't laugh. Now, I don't know if she says this out loud or she forgets that she's eavesdropping and not supposed to be listening.

From the other side of the tent flap, you hear, uh-uh, not me, I didn't laugh. Sarah denied saying, I laugh not, for she was afraid. She's getting the picture now. And he, the Lord said, no, you did laugh.

In fact, this son will be named Laughter and that will be a reminder for the rest of her life that she didn't laugh. And Abram laughed in a different way. So itzhak means laughter. And the men rose up from there and they looked toward Sodom and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.

Abraham as the Friend of God

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 for I know him that he will command his children and his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord and do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him.

Now, very interesting, the Lord says, shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I am about to do? I'm gonna read a few verses, you don't have to follow. 2 Chronicles 20, just so it'll be on the tape.

Verse seven says, Art not thou our God who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever? Again, in Isaiah 41, it says this, But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.

And again, in James, and I won't turn there, in chapter two, verse 23, it speaks of Abraham as the friend of God. So this is the handle that this man is handed by the Holy Spirit as the Scripture is written, that Abraham was the friend of God.

That's an incredible thing. Imagine that being put upon you, the friend of God. And, you know, the amazing thing is it's the Holy Spirit that inspired that. Isn't it amazing for God to write that about a human being?

You know, for a human being just to say, you know, God's my friend, kind of my buddy kind of thing is almost blasphemous. It's almost, you would never think to do that. You'd be afraid of being struck by lightning.

But God has the right to look at any one of us and say, that's my friend. It's pretty remarkable. Now, Jesus in John 15, 15 says, I no longer call you my servants, but my friends. Because a servant doesn't know what his master is doing, but Jesus says, I'm going to make all things known to you.

Isn't it remarkable that Jesus tells us that through him, through the atonement, through the death and resurrection of Christ, we have the same relationship with God Almighty that Abraham did, that God is not ashamed to be called our God because we seek a better place, the place he's promised us, and that he also sees us as his friends.

Now, lots of times we don't see ourselves as the friend of God, no doubt, but there is a remarkable familiarity in the Bible that God in his sovereignty reveals the right to show us. It is wrong for us to be so familiar with God that there is a disrespect of his majesty and of his power and of his kingship.

But there is the prerogative, because he is sovereign, he is the king, for God to let us know that it is his spirit in our hearts crying, Abba, Daddy, that we now also are friends of God. He is the one who is allowed to tell us that we can actually wound his heart or put his heart in turmoil.

There's a number of places in the Old Testament, in Hosea, in Ezekiel, and that we can grieve the Holy Spirit of God, that God has chosen, again, in some remarkable way to make himself that vulnerable to us because that is the cost of love, vulnerability.

And to the degree that you love someone is to the same degree they can hurt you if you haven't noticed yet. You will. And here, shall I hide from Abraham? There's a wonderful familiarity. I'm able to entrust my heart, my purposes to Abraham.

Shall I hide from him this thing I'm going to do? And he says, because Abraham, he's going to become a great nation. And I know that he's going to instruct his children. He's going to instruct his lineage about who I am and the way that I work.

And you see, Abraham will raise a question. Shall not the God of all the earth do what is right? The judge of all the earth? Are you going to judge the wicked along with the righteous? This is the very point that God is pushing towards because this question has to be answered.

If God would have just walked away from Abraham and rained down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham forever would have been left wondering, why did he do that? What is going on? But God now begins to share his heart with Abraham because he says, Abraham will be, of all the men on the face of the earth right now, the earth covered with idolaters, this is the man that the promises have been made to.

The promised seed will come through his loins and he will pass from generation to generation the truth amongst men in regards to who I am. And that will then be entrusted to a nation and that will ultimately be revealed through the incarnation Christ and given to us.

So God says, I'm not going to do this thing without letting Abraham see perfectly clear how I am and who I am and my heart and my mercy and my justice and how all of this measures out. Now it tells us that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was very grievous.

Sodom’s Sin and Abraham’s Intercession

Look at verse 20. The Lord said, because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great because their sin is very grievous. Now, what makes it more grievous is their sinning against light. Remember that Abraham with 318 armed servants in a miraculous battle, much like Gideon with only 300 against the Midianites had overturned the armies of these four kings from Persia, from Elam, and Shadr-le-Amor at the head and they had defeated the five kings of the plain.

Here goes Abraham with just 318 armed servants and puts them to flight. God, no doubt, as the Old Testament says, disconfitted them, put fear in them. They headed for the hills. But Abraham had returned the men and the women of Sodom with the goods and the riches and so forth.

And the king of Sodom had come. His name was Beeran and said to Abraham, Abraham, you know, give me the souls. Give me the men and women back. You take the goods. You take the spoils. And Abraham had said, no, there isn't anything you have that I want attached to me.

There is no thing of your wealth that I would touch to give anybody any sense that I approve of who you are. You already have my nephew locked in your clutches. There is no thing because of the God I worship is the God who is the possessor of heaven and earth.

There is no thing that you can add to me. But the one thing that Sodom and Gomorrah had from Abraham was a clear testimony of the living God, the possessor of heaven and earth, who in his grace, though they were sinful, had delivered them.

Years now have gone on and the perversion of Sodom and Gomorrah just grew worse and worse and worse. And the fact that they were singing against great light and a great testimony and a great deliverance where all five cities of the plain had been delivered makes their sin even more grievous.

I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which has come up unto me. If not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from there and went towards Sodom, the two angels.

But Abraham stood yet by the Lord. And look, isn't this beautiful? Abraham drew near and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? So the picture is this. God doesn't come down because he needs information.

He knows everything. He comes down and says to Abraham, I am not one who judges by the seeing of the eye or the hearing of the ear, as Isaiah says. I judge righteous judgment. I judge inequity and injustice.

And he says, Abraham, I'm the one who sees this thing and knows whether it's right or wrong. And for Abraham's sake, he says, and we know we're gonna measure all this out. Not for his own, he already knows.

And the two angels head towards Sodom. And just imagine the Lord there in human form stays there and stands there. And Abraham somehow watches these two angels walk off into the distance down into the valley towards Sodom.

And then Abraham comes up alongside of the Lord and says, he drew near. And what a wonderful experience to how Yahweh God stand there and to draw near and to talk in a soft voice, to look into his face and say, certainly you won't judge the righteous along with the wicked.

And he will not. Second Peter chapter two, beginning of verse seven tells us that, that God knows how to judge the wicked and to spare the righteous. And that is in context of Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot.

By the way, that's very relative to us, isn't it? He's gonna say, Lord, if there's 50 righteous people in Sodom, won't you spare it for the 50 that are righteous? And God says, I will. That's a great consolation, because I know again that there's at least 50 righteous in Philly, because there's 6 ,000 of you guys here on Sundays.

Look over in verse 22, chapter nine, the angels finally say to Lot, escape from here. I cannot do anything till you come out. I like that. I like that. Because God won't judge the righteous with the wicked.

He abhors unjust scales and unjust balances. We'll find out all through the law. Verse 24 says, peradventure, there's 50 righteous within the city. Abraham talking to God. Wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the 50 righteous that are therein?

That be far from thee to do after this matter, to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous and the, that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee, shall not the judge of all the earth do what is right?

And of course, he will. But this is the very point that he wanted to bring Abraham to, recorded for us. And the Lord said, if I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

You know, that's why it tells us that we are the salt of the earth, the church. In fact, Jesus says it, it's emphatic in the Greek. You alone are the salt of the earth. Mormons are not the salt of the earth.

I have nothing against Mormons. Muslims are not the salt of the earth. I have nothing against Muslims. Buddhists are not the salt of the earth. I have nothing against Buddhists. Jesus talking to those who believe in him, emphatically says, you alone are the salt of the earth.

It is because of our presence that judgment has not fallen on this world. If we were not here, all that would remain would be a Christ-rejecting throng, and God would rain his fire down immediately. But because we are here, and because we are sown as seed amongst a lost generation, God is enduring, and God is merciful, and God is allowing us to be the vehicle whereby a generation will hear of his love and of his goodness before judgment comes.

So God says in Sodom, hey, if there's 50 there, I'll spare. Abram answered and said, behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes. Perhaps there shall lack five of the 50.

What if you get there and find out there's only 45, and we bargained, bargained over 50, he says. Wilt thou destroy all the city for the lack of five? And he said, if I find there 40 and five, I will not destroy it.

Now, I don't know if Abram's getting closer and closer as this conversation is going on. And he spake to him yet again and said, well, perhaps there shall be only 40 there. The Lord doesn't wait for him to finish this time.

He says, I will not destroy for the 40's sake. And he said unto him, oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Perhaps there shall be 30 that are found there. And he said, I will not do it if I find 30 there.

And he said, behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord. Perhaps there shall be 20 found there. Do I hear 10? You know, this is an amazing conversation. He said, I will not destroy it for the 20's sake.

And he said, oh, let not, don't let the Lord be angry. I'm gonna speak just one more time. Perhaps 10 shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for the 10's sake. Or, by the way, for the four that he finds and leads out.

Abram had enough faith to go down to 10. God delivered four. And the Lord went his way as soon as he had left off from communing. Isn't it interesting God's perspective of this conversation was not Abraham trying to beat the price down.

God's perspective was communing because he met a friend, a like-hearted soul who was concerned about the life of the righteous. And as God records that conversation, he calls it communing. When he had left off communing with Abraham, Abraham returned to his place.

Bargaining Customs and the Arrival at Sodom

You know, those of you who have been on the trip with us to Israel, it's part of the culture there. When you go into a shop to buy something, there is an unspoken code where, I remember the last $60 shirt I bought, I bought for $15.

Because you go in and the shop owner understands, you're gonna see something you like, and you're gonna say, how much is that shirt? He's gonna say to you, that shirt is $60. Now, he expects you to say, that is ridiculous.

And then you're supposed, he just gave you a ridiculously high price, then you're supposed to give him a ridiculously low price. I'll give you two bucks for it. Two bucks, and he's supposed to scream, you must be crazy, I'll sell it to you for 40.

I can't pay 40, you know, I'll give you five. $5, you must be crazy, I can sell it for 35. I'm not buying it for 35, I'll give you 10, you know. And now, if you leave before you have this argument, they're offended.

Because this is the way it's supposed to be. Don McClure told me that he, in one of the streets in the old city in Jerusalem, figured, you know, I'm gonna go in, and I'm gonna argue with two or three of these guys, and see how low, and he said, after the third argument, he said he would talk with one, and he got them down to $21.

It was a rock, they started out around 100 bucks. And he said, I went to the next place, and he said, when I left, this guy was yelling at me, screaming, I went to the next place, got them down to 21, and he said, I got the next guy down to 22, so he said, I realized, you know, this area here of 21, 22 bucks, they're all coming at the same price, is about as low as they can go, and still make something on it.

So he figured I'd give it one more shot, and he said, as I walked out and started walking down, he said, the shop owner ran out behind me to the top of his lung, screamed, look out, there's a Scotsman.

That's pretty commendable for a Scotsman. To freak out the shop owners in the old city. Chapter 19, verse 1 says, there came the two angels to Sodom at evening, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Now, it contrasts interestingly with 18 .1, where God comes and Abram is sitting in the tent, in the tent door, in the door of his tent.

He comes here, and Lot is sitting in the gate of Sodom. The gate of the city was the place where strangers, where news was spread, it was the place where decisions were made, it was where the elders of the city would sit.

When you go to Israel, one of the things we get to see is an ancient gate, and it's shady all day, it's stone, it's cool there, and though it may be in the heat of the day, you can sit in the gate, it's a cool place, and you can sit there, and that is where the decisions were made about the city, that is where their strategies were made about government, and that is why Jesus said, the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church.

What he's talking about is the strategies, the decisions that are made, you know, the stratagems of darkness will not prevail against the church. It isn't a matter of a gate chasing us down the street, that's not what he's talking about.

Lot’s Compromise and the Wickedness of Sodom

Now, Lot is sitting in the gate. No doubt, when the king of Sodom had received this deliverance from Abram, that Bera, the king of Sodom, had then honored Lot because Lot was Abraham's kin. And Abraham probably said, one of the reasons I went is my nephew was taken away.

This is a blood relative. So now Lot is sitting in the gate of Sodom. No doubt, he is honored to a degree until he begins to cross them. But at some point, at least he's given favor. He's sitting there in the gate of Sodom and Lot, seeing them, these two angels, rose up to meet them.

He bowed himself with his face towards the ground. And he said, behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, unto your servants' house and tarry all night. Wash your feet. You shall rise up early and go on your ways.

And they said, no, we will abide in the street all night. Now, they're testing him. Lot is going to say in his heart, you can't stay in the street. The men of the city are wicked. They're going to destroy you.

They're putting him in the place where he is having to wrestle with that because he had compromised his life. He had been part of one of the highest callings of all humankind. When Abram was called out of Ur of the Chaldees, he was part of that.

And Abram would be set aside from all other human beings to bring the promised seed into the world and begin this lineage. He had been part of that. He had compromised it. He had turned away from it. He's sitting in the gate of Sodom now finding out that he has no power at all.

He says, turn in. They say, no, we're going to stay in the street tonight. And he pressed them. He argued with them greatly. And they finally turned in unto him and entered into his house and he made them a feast.

We don't hear anything about Mrs. Lot cooking here. Evidently, again, what she liked to make was reservations. Notice, Sarah was cooking the bread before. He makes a feast and he baked unleavened bread and they did eat.

And before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, come past or surrounded the house roundabout. Notice, both old and young, all the people from every quarter. Now, this is remarkable.

All of the men of Sodom, old and young, come to the door of Lot's house. Two new men are in town and the entire city knows about it. Incredible corruption. They called unto Lot and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night?

The angels having human form. They were perceived as men. Visitors. Bring them out to us that we may know them. The Hebrew is that we may have relations with them. They were desiring to sodomize, to have homosexual relationships, to abuse these two men.

That is why homosexuality is synonymous with sodomy and sodomites and Sodom. The name of that sin then becomes synonymous with the place. The entire town, the old men and the young men from every quarter noticed that two new young men came into town and they surrounded Lot's house and they said we want you to bring these two men out to us.

Now, before we finish next week, maybe we'll take a quick journey through Scripture and see God's perspective of this problem. Lot went out at the door under them and shut the door behind him and said, I pray you, and isn't this sad, brethren?

Do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known a man. They're virgins. Let me, I pray you, bring them out to you and do you to them whatever you want. You hear the girls going, way to go, dad.

We appreciate this. Good thing these guys don't like girls. Do unto them whichever good in your eyes. Only unto these men do nothing for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. There's that culture, the sense of I've given them hospitality.

I want you to honor that. Now, we're gonna see the anger. This is militant homosexuality. As soon as they hear the word do not so wickedly, as soon as they hear their lifestyle being judged in this scene, there is anger.

They said stand back. They said again, this fellow, speaking of Lot, came into sojourn, he's traveling through, and he will needs be a judge. Don't you judge us. Don't you call our lifestyle wicked. Now will we deal worse with you than with them.

And they pressed sore upon the man, upon Lot, even Lot, and they came near to break down the door. But the men, the angels, put forth their hand and pulled Lot into the house to them and shut the door.

And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness. Now, 2 Kings 6 .18 is the only other time we find this word. The idea is it's some kind of a confusion. It doesn't seem to be a black blindness, but they're smitten with blindness in the sense that they lose their senses.