The Globe-republican., 1894-02-16
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.

| A0tefn9ts002l Lesson Tor February Is
1s9A-Gods Judgment Sodom Gem
| 18:ee-33.
Especially Arranged from Pelcubet's Notes 4
GOLDEN TExr-Shal' not the Judge OF all the
earth do right:-Gen 1875
THE SECTION OF HISTORY includes chapters
( Is and 10
PLAcE-Abraham was In Hebron at the oaks
Of Mamre. Lot was at Sodom
TrNE-B c 1897. not long after the last les
son
ABRAHAM ninety-nire years old Ishmaei
t thirteen years old
LESSON NOTES
! The Three Strangers.-Chap Is:
1:19. One day. not long after Gods re-
( newal of His covenant with him,
! Abraham (now ninety-nine years old)
was sitting in his tent door in the
heat of the day. when suddenly. look
| ing up, he saw three strangers near
him He Immediately went to them
and welcomed them in the Oriental
manner. and entertained them with
the utmost hospitality. 1t was not
! long before he perceived. by what they
said and did, that they were angels,
and one of them was no less than
Jehovah Himself, in bodily form, the
God who had in some way appeared to
him five times before. The whole
scene is primitive and Oriental, and
presents perfect picture of the man
ner in which a modern Bedawee
Sheykh receives travellers arriving at
his encampment
These three strangers had two mes
sages to Abraham. One was that soon
would be born to him the expected
heir of the promises. The other that
his nephew Lot was in great danger,
because Sodom, where he lived, must be
destroyed for its wickedness.
For Whom He Observation-Disclosures
intercedes first for Lot, the righteous
man in Sodom, and then for
the whole city, that the entire
population may be saved from impend-
ing doom. 1t was for his friend and
relative, who still persisted in living
in Sodom. 1t was for the vile men
who veXed the righteous soul of Lot,
and whose life and conduct was re-
voting to the moral sense Of the
patriarch. for those who hated his re-
Egion and his God.
The Answer.-His prayer was an
swered, though not in the way Abraham
expected.
~ The righteous were delivered
from the city. (a) The prayer was an
swered in the destruction of the city.
By that destruction righteousness was
promoted. Sin was bringing forth
death. Such vile cities would contain
mate and corrupt the race. The can
Ger must be cut out, lest the whole be-
ing be destroyed. Wild beasts and
serpents must be exterminated in Or
der that the children of God may live.
The Escape from Sodom.-St. Peter
tells us that Lot was righteous man.
Let US not SANDER Lot and make him
out worse than he was because of his
many imperfections The fact that he
''veXed his righteous SOUL concerning
the deeds Of the Sodomites shows that
he was still alive to goodness. Pain is
a sign of life. When any part of the
body cannot feel, then it is dead. But
Lot was a very imperfect good man.
No one seems to have been converted
to Righteousness by him. He failed in
his power even over his own family.
He had so lived that when he began to
warn the Sodomites they did not be-
lieve him. Even his prayer (19:19,
20) was vast contrast to Abraham's
prayer.
But he was so much better than the
others, he had resisted SO many evil
influences, that the two angels, from
Abraham at Hebron, came and warned |
him of his danger. He fingered, and
they pressed him more urgently. His |
wife and two daughters accompanied |
him. The angels commanded them |
not to stop long enough even to look |
back, nor to stay in all the plain, for the
whole region was devoted to ruin.
Lots Escape.-Lot was saved so as
by fire, but he lost everything for the
sake of which he had gone to Sodom.
His wife and some of his children were
destroyed; the others were contain
mated. And yet no doubt it was
largely for their sakes that he pitched
his tent toward the fertile fields of
Sodom. He lost his home, his flock
and herds and all his property. He es-
capped. poor, forlorn. seemingly
vestment he ever made was in proper
ty in Sodom.
The Destruction of Sodom.-The To-
cation of Sodom is still undecided. 1t
was formerly thought to be at the
southern part of the Dead sea. The
main sea is thirteen hundred feet deep,
indicating a vast chasm which must
have existed from a very early period.
But south of the eastern peninsula,
which projects into the sea. the bot
tom forms plateau on very differ
ent level, where the water is but few
feet deep. and in some places is capable
OF being forded. This is, in all proba-
bility, the site of the buried city,
The Physical Cause of It's Destruc-
destruction of Sodom was
Gods act, apparently using, as the
agencies in the very nature Of
Sodom and the plain. which was full
Of slime, or bitumen pits (Gen. 14:10).
The whole region abounds, in a pc