All verses are quoted from the NASB anything in [square brackets] is added by me for clarity.

"Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. And he said, `Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.' They said however, `No, but we shall spend the night in the square.' Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; and they called to Lot and said to him, `Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.' But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, and said, `Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof.' " Genesis 19:1-8

In this historical account, 2 angels come to destroy the wicked city of Sodom. Lot convinces them to stay the night at his house. And that night the wicked men of the city of Sodom come to harass Lot and his guests. Lot then offers his 2 virgin daughters to the mob, to protect the 2 angels, who look like men.

Is Lot an exceptionally wicked man? How could a loving father even think of doing this?

I contend that the story is not as it seems. Lot was a righteous man (cf. Genesis 18:23 & 2 Peter 2:7-8). In fact, that was the reason that the angels spared Lot and his daughters, because they fled the wickedness of the wicked city of Sodom.

So since Lot is a righteous man. We can assume that more is happening here than initially meets the eye. The truth is, that Lot had moved to Sodom. He had lived their a while and he must have know what the men of the city were like. That is why Lot insists that the angels stay the night with him and not in the town square. Lot knows that they will be raped if they stayed out in the open square. So this means that Lot knows that the men of Sodom are homosexuals.

Notice that the men of the city say, `Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.' Even though we know that these men are actually angels. These angels look like normal human males. So the men of the city have mistaken them to be normal men. Since Lot knows the wicked men of Sodom are homosexuals, he knows that they will not accept his offer of his 2 female daughters! In fact it seems that Lot is mocking the men of Sodom in this "offer" of his daughters. Notice what their response is -

"But they [the men of Sodom] said, `Stand aside.' Furthermore, they said, `This one [Lot] came in as an alien, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.' So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door." Genesis 19:9

Their response to accuse Lot as "judging" them, is a strange one, unless we understand that Lot is not making a genuine offer to hand over his 2 daughters. So again, it appears that Lot is not offering his daughter to the mob. This story cannot be used as an example to be followed.

Now let us consider another similar story in the book of judges, many, many years later.

"Now it came about in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite staying in the remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, who took a concubine for himself from Bethlehem in Judah. But his concubine played the harlot against him, and she went away from him to her father's house in Bethlehem in Judah, and was there for a period of four months. Then her husband arose and went after her to speak tenderly to her in order to bring her back, taking with him his servant and a pair of donkeys. So she brought him into her father's house, and when the girl's father saw him, he was glad to meet him. His father-in-law, the girl's father, detained him; and he remained with him three days. So they ate and drank and lodged there. Now on the fourth day they got up early in the morning, and he prepared to go; and the girl's father said to his son-in-law, `Sustain yourself with a piece of bread, and afterward you may go.' So both of them sat down and ate and drank together; and the girl's father said to the man, `Please be willing to spend the night, and let your heart be merry.' Then the man arose to go, but his father-in-law urged him so that he spent the night there again. On the fifth day he arose to go early in the morning, and the girl's father said, `Please sustain yourself, and wait until afternoon'; so both of them ate. When the man arose to go along with his concubine and servant, his father-in-law, the girl's father, said to him, `Behold now, the day has drawn to a close; please spend the night. Lo, the day is coming to an end; spend the night here that your heart may be merry. Then tomorrow you may arise early for your journey so that you may go home.' But the man was not willing to spend the night, so he arose and departed and came to a place opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). And there were with him a pair of saddled donkeys; his concubine also was with him. When they were near Jebus, the day was almost gone; and the servant said to his master, `Please come, and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it.' However, his master said to him, `We will not turn aside into the city of foreigners who are not of the sons of Israel; but we will go on as far as Gibeah.' He said to his servant, `Come and let us approach one of these places; and we will spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.' So they passed along and went their way, and the sun set on them near Gibeah which belongs to Benjamin. They turned aside there in order to enter and lodge in Gibeah. When they entered, they sat down in the open square of the city, for no one took them into his house to spend the night. Then behold, an old man was coming out of the field from his work at evening. Now the man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he was staying in Gibeah, but the men of the place were Benjamites. And he lifted up his eyes and saw the traveler in the open square of the city; and the old man said, `Where are you going, and where do you come from?' He said to him, `We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, for I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem in Judah. But I am now going to my house, and no man will take me into his house. Yet there is both straw and fodder for our donkeys, and also bread and wine for me, your maidservant, and the young man who is with your servants; there is no lack of anything.' The old man said, `Peace to you. Only let me take care of all your needs; however, do not spend the night in the open square.' So he took him into his house and gave the donkeys fodder, and they washed their feet and ate and drank. While they were celebrating, behold, the men of the city, certain worthless fellows, surrounded the house, pounding the door; and they spoke to the owner of the house, the old man, saying, `Bring out the man who came into your house that we may have relations with him.' Then the man, the owner of the house, went out to them and said to them, `No, my fellows, please do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not commit this act of folly. Here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. Please let me bring them out that you may ravish them and do to them whatever you wish. But do not commit such an act of folly against this man.' " Judges 19:1-24

You'll notice the similarities in the ending part of the quoted passage, above, with the story about Lot and the 2 angels.

We see in verse 1 that this man is a Levite. This means he would have been familiar with the writings of Moses. Moses wrote the first 5 books of the bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). Presumably this man knew of the story we just read above about Lot and his daughters. I suspect that he knew that story and read it at face value and then concluded that it is ok to offer women to appease a mob if it gets guests out of trouble (or something along those lines). This Levite does not know the people of the city of Gibeah. And the bible never describes this Levite as righteous.

Here is how this story turns out

"But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and brought her out to them; and they raped her and abused her all night until morning, then let her go at the approach of dawn. As the day began to dawn, the woman came and fell down at the doorway of the man's house where her master was, until full daylight. When her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, then behold, his concubine was lying at the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold. He said to her, `Get up and let us go,' but there was no answer. Then he placed her on the donkey; and the man arose and went to his home." Judges 19:25-28

So the men of Gibeah raped the concubine until morning and she died not long after! So the Levite probably assumed that they were homosexuals, when in fact they were bi-sexual.

This is how serious it is to misunderstand and to misuse the Scriptures. Lot did the right thing, but one has to think and take the passage in context. Drawing in all the relevant information. The Levite did a wicked thing, presumably from misunderstanding the story about Lot!

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