I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 19-20.

When God’s angels arrived in Sodom, Lot immediately invited them to stay at his house.  When they demurred by saying that they would just stay in the town square for the night and be on their way in the morning, Lot refused to take “No” for an answer.  That exchange suggests to me that Lot know that the men of Sodom would abuse strangers who spent the night in the town square.  Then when the men of Sodom came to Lot’s door demanding that Lot turn his guests over to them so that they could rape them, Lot tried to convince them to leave the angels alone because they were his guests.  The response of the men of Sodom was to threaten Lot and to complain that he was judging them.  I find that interesting because Lot did not tell them not to abuse the strangers because it was wrong, but because they were under his protection.  That suggests to me that Lot had previously spoken out against abusing visitors who spent the night in the town square and been told they were fair game.  The fact that he extended his protection to strangers who would have otherwise been vulnerable meant that he was judging those who wished to take advantage of those strangers.