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 on his hand, and upon the
hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being
merciful unto him: 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.  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.
    The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.  Then the
Lord rained upon Sodom and 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 which Lot dwelt.
    And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two
daughters with him: for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he

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and his two daughters.  And the first born said unto the younger, Our father
is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the
manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will
lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.  And they made their
father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her
father: and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.  And it
came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold I
lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also;
and go thou in, and lie with him, that we might preserve seed of our father.
And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose,
and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
Thus were both daughters of Lot with child by their father.  And the firstborn
bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites
unto this day.  And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name
Benammi the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day."
    This passage tells us that God sent Lot out of Sodom because of Abram's
request, but Lot acted only in his own self interest and was not really
following God.  Even at the time to leave, Lot didn't leave of his own accord
but had to be taken out by the hand.  Also, when outside Sodom, he still
bargained to stay in the plain at Zoar.  Zoar is Tsoar a place east of the
Jordan River, the name comes from the root tsaar, which means to be small,
ignoble, to be brought low.  Lot was married spiritually to the material
things, and wanted to salvage anything he could.  Lot appears to have been
dichotomous.  When I stated this conclusion to one preacher, a few years ago,
he countered by saying that he felt Lot was trichotomous based on II Peter 2:7
which indicates that he was a just man.  II Peter 2:6-8 says: "And turning the
cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow,
making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And
delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For
that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his

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