Chapter
19
1 ¶
And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of
Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his
face toward the ground; 2 And he said,
Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry
all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways.
And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. 3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they
turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and
did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
The two angels that were with the Lord went on to the
city. Angels are not a strange manlike creature with wings. They look like men
when not representing the church or something else.
Revelation
21:17 And he measured the wall thereof,
an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
Daniel
9:21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in
prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I
had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched
me about the time of the evening oblation.
Luke
1:26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God
unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
Lot sat in the
gate indicating that he had become a judge in Sodom to judge disputes and help
manage the city’s affairs. Sitting in the gate as a position of judgment is
defined in the Bible. It was a place to meet with the elders of a city.
Deuteronomy
21:19 Then shall his father and his
mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto
the gate of his place;
It was a place of the king’s authority.
2Samuel
15:2 And Absalom rose up early, and stood
beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man that had a
controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and
said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes
of Israel.
2Samuel
19:8 Then the king arose, and sat in the
gate. And they told unto all the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in
the gate. And all the people came before the king: for Israel had fled every
man to his tent.
1Kings
22:10 And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat
the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void
place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied
before them.
The mention of the gate is equivalent to the deciding
of judgment.
Amos
5:15 Hate the evil, and love the good,
and establish judgment in the gate:
it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of
Joseph.
So, in the following, often misunderstood verses
because Christians are not taught to cross-reference verses anymore due to the
proliferation of humanistic Bible versions that eliminate cross-references, the
gates of hell is a reference to the
judgment that casts one into perdition. This judgment will not affect the true
church of Christ. The church is established upon Peter’s confession of faith,
upon Jesus Christ, the Rock (1Corinthians 10:4).
Matthew
16:15 He saith unto them, But whom say
ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter
answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven.18 And
I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
church; and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it.
Lot’s concern for these foreigners is quite apparent.
They must not lodge in the street, for we know that it was a dangerous place,
probably no less dangerous than a street in Baltimore, The Bronx, or Chicago
today. This type of thing is shown again in Gibeah in Judges 19 as I’ve already
mentioned.
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