Lot thought he made a good choice when he moved to Sodom. He and his uncle Abraham agreed to separate to their huge flocks wouldn’t have to compete for pasture and water. Lot chose the fertile plains of the Jordan River valley.

In time, Sodom and the neighboring city of Gomorrah grew wicked. “Sodom’s sins were pride, laziness, and gluttony, while the poor and needy suffered” (Ezekiel 16:49). Lot’s story also reveals sex sins: rape and homosexuality. In fact, sodomy- homosexual sex- takes its name from this city.

God sent two angels to warn Lot to get out of town. The men of Sodom surrounded Lot’s house, intending to rape the angels. But the angels blinded them. Before dawn, the angels took the hands of Lot, his wife, and their two daughters and rushed them out of town, telling them to run for their lives and not to look back.

At dawn, “the LORD rained down fire and burning sulfur from the heavens on Sodom and Gomorrah. He utterly destroyed them. . . Lot’s wife looked back as she was following along behind him, and she became a pillar of salt” (Genesis 19:24-26).