LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Lot’s Tragedy
The figure of Lot, Abraham's nephew, is paradigmatic in the Bible. It has a broad symbolic meaning that we should review. Lot joined Abraham’s exodus from Ur of the Chaldeans. Subsequent events will tell us that Lot did not follow Abraham guided by a personal faith or by an appeal, but by a simple family affection because he had a worldly heart.
This became evident the day on which his herdsmen argued with those of Abraham’s. This dispute did nothing but bring forth the worldliness that was in Lot and the faith that was in Abraham. When choosing, Lot chose the plain, apparently the best part; however, this brought pain to his heart and in the long run endangered his own life. As someone said: "At first, Lot looked towards Sodom. Later, he lived in Sodom. These were the steps by which this man and his family went to an undeniable degeneration and to destruction."
Lot was not one who had been called, but one who had volunteered; and all who run without being called, eventually fall. The Lots are very common figures in the midst of the people of God. When the tide of faith rises, they unite and receive the benefits of true believers, but sooner or later their hearts are exposed. So it was with the foreigners who came out of Egypt with the Israelites and who instigated them to sin (Num. 11: 4), so it happened with Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5: 1-11), and with Simon the Magician (Acts 8: 9-24).
Abraham, on the other hand, let Lot choose because he trusted that God would take care of him. One biblical commentator wrote: "Perhaps Lot had better land, but Abraham had a better title. Lot seemed to have the paradise, but Abraham had the promise."
A little later, Lot is in trouble because he is taken captive along with the other sodomites. Here, Lot represents the Christians who have been mixed up with the world. Although they do not want it, they are involved in difficulties because they are part of a system ruled by Satan, and as he knows them, he waves the waters around them. It is painful for a child of God to get mixed with the children of this age. But when Lot was in trouble, Abraham intervened to help him.
Abraham could help him because he was separated from the world and was in fellowship with God. Although Abraham did not approve of his nephew's behavior, in the hour of need, his love remained intact. In the same way, when the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by the judgment of God, Lot was saved. But, it is noteworthy that his salvation was not due to his own faith, but to that of his uncle Abraham. Again, a borrowed faith.
Lot's fate had a tragic end when he became the father and grandfather of his children because he fathered them from his own daughters. A tragic end for a man who never walked with a faith of his own, who loved the world, who became entangled in it, and received the painful consequences.