Sodom Was Destroyed Because a Righteous Man Disobeyed

When God told Abraham that He intended to destroy Sodom, Abraham pleaded with God that the city would be spared. Abraham knew that his nephew Lot lived in Sodom and that God would end up destroying him with the rest of the city! Abraham said, “Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?” (Genesis 18:24)

The LORD said He would surely spare Sodom if there were fifty righteous people in the city. Abraham then asked, “What about 45, 40, 30, 20, or 10?” God was willing to spare the entire wicked city if there were only 10 righteous people who lived there!

I’m sure you’re all wondering where I’m going with this. You’re all familiar with the story. So, I’ll get to the point.

Lot had one wife and only two daughters. However, God commands that married couples “be fruitful and multiply”. (Genesis 1:28, 9:1)

“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.” (Psalm 127:3-4)

“Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them...” (vs. 5)

If Lot would have been obedient by having a multitude of children, Sodom would have been spared (assuming that Lot raised righteous children, of course). Even if Lot wasn’t fruitful in that way, he could have evangelized his neighbors and the city would have had ten righteous people. God would have spared the city and Lot’s wife wouldn’t have been turned into a pillar of salt!

Imagine this – if Lot was obedient to God’s commands, God would have spared the city of Sodom, and the wicked would have had more time to repent of their sin before Judgment Day.