Day 7: Genesis 18-19
Today's morning devotion is Genesis 18-19, which documents the destruction of Sodom.
God could have chosen to punish or curse Sarah for her impudence, but he did neither.
God's astounding mercy
The first thing that stood out to me was God's mercy, demonstrated toward Sarah when she not only scoffed at God's statements but then immediately denied her trespass.
The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.” (Genesis 18:13-15 ESV)
God could have chosen to punish or curse Sarah for her impudence, but he did neither.
God's infinite patience
I'm about to quote a really long passage from the Bible to illustrate my point. It astonishes me that not only did God not rebuke Abraham for asking slight variations of the same question at least six times.
Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the LORD said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. (Genesis 18:23-33 ESV)
There wasn't even a hint of exasperation in God's replies. Every one of God's replies was a full sentence, whereas a human (me, for example) would probably have started shortening my answers to "yes, yes, and yes" with some annoyance mixed into the last "yes".
Was Lot's incest sexually immoral?
I have a conception that incest is sexually immoral. But yet, Lot's incest with his daughters is plainly written in Genesis, with no commentary on whether that was good or bad.
Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day. (Genesis 19:36-38 ESV)
The fact that neither Lots daughters nor his lineage were condemned seems to imply, at least, that incest is okay. Or maybe just not yet condemned at that time, as Wayne Jackson's explains in his article, "Does the Bible Conflict with Itself in the Matter of “Incest”?".