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When Abram
listened and obeyed God's call to leave his home and
GO,
he took with him his nephew,
Lot.
One day when Abram's men who tended Abram's cattle were
quarrelling
with Lot's men who tended Lot's cattle,
Abram suggested that they part ways because Abram hated
quarrels.
Abram
asked Lot which direction he would like to go, even
though Abram had the right to choose first.
But Abram hated quarrels so if Lot chose east he would
go west,
and if Lot chose west, then Abram would go east.
Lot looked
toward the east and saw the fertile plains of the
Jordan.
This land also had the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah.
This looked so good to Lot that Lot chose to go east; so
Abram traveled west toward the land of Canaan.
One day,
after men of God had
visited Abram to tell him about Isaac's birth,
Abraham learned about God's plan to destroy Sodom and
Gomorrah because they had very wicked people living
there.
Genesis chapter 18 says that Abraham pleaded,
"Will You also destroy the
righteous with the wicked?"
Abraham begged God to not destroy the city if there be
found 50 righteous people.
Because God loved Abraham so much, God agreed to check
the city for 50 righteous people and not destroy Sodom
if He could find 50
good people.
Then Abraham bravely spoke again, "I
know that I am but dust and ashes, but let me ask that
you not destroy the city if there be
45
righteous people!"
God agreed.
Then Abraham said, "Please
don't be angry with me, Lord; but would you please not
destroy the city if there be found
40
righteous people?"
God agreed.
"What about
30
righteous people?"
God agreed.
"20
good people?"
God agreed.
"10
good?"
God agreed.
But when
the angels entered Sodom, they only found 4 good
people, Lot and his wife, and their two daughters.
Angels were sent
into the town of Sodom to get Lot and his family out.
But Lot was hesitant to leave because he and his family
loved the town of Sodom. Then angels even had to pull
at their arms and drag them out of the city. They were
told to run for their lives and to 'not look back'.
But Lot's wife did
not obey God. She turned and looked at Sodom burning,
sorrowfully. She turned into a pillar of salt.
In the Gospel of
Luke, when Jesus is talking about the time that He will
come to rescue us from this burning earth, He says in
chapter 17, "Remember Lot's wife."
Why
does Jesus compare Lot's wife to someone who might love
his life on earth more than an eternity with Jesus?
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Lot and his
two daughters flee from the burning city after his wife
turns to look back.
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Melchizedek,
priest of the most high God and the king of
Salem (Jerusalem) |
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Once when an army
fought with the people of Sodom, this army
carried away the city's inhabitants along with
Lot and his family. Abraham gathered up
318 of his best fighting men and they went and
rescued Lot and the other people and brought
them back home. Melchizedek came to meet
Abraham; he brought him bread and wine and
tithes. He tried to get Abraham to keep all the
goods that were rescued; but Abraham would take
no gifts. |
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Isaac was the
promised son of Abraham and Sarah. Because
Sarah lost patience and faith in God to fulfill
his promise, Ishmael was born to Abraham and
Hagar; Ishmael was not the promised son of the
covenant.
Isaac married Rebekah and they had twins, Esau
(the oldest) and Jacob (the younger).
Isaac favored Esau and Rebekah favored Jacob.
Genesis chapter 27 tells the story of how Jacob
tricked Esau out of his birthright. After
Jacob fooled Isaac into blessing him instead of
Esau, and Jacob found out that Esau was
threatening to kill Jacob, Jacob fled to his
mother's brother's house. Rebekah's
brother was Laban, the father of Rachel and Leah
who Jacob would take as wives. |
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