Unveiling Lot – The Gates of Sodom

In the opening to the key story of Lot, there is a short sentence that sets the stage and tells us quite a bit about Lot. Genesis 19:1 “and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom:“

There are generally two opinions as to why Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. We will be rebutting one, followed by a presentation of proof for the other as seen in other Scripture places.

1. Lot sat in the gate to observe strangers that might pass by and invited them to his house so they wouldn’t fall prey to the evil inhabitants of the city
2. Lot functioned in the role of a civil magistrate/elder of the city

The first one is often the one chosen by people in explaining why he was so situated, but it is poor for a number of reasons.

1. There is no basis found in Scripture for this explanation. It’s existence seems to be more because people aren’t willing to accept the second option.
2. The evidence in the story of Lot points away from that, as we will soon examine, the elders of the city would congregate at the gate, and later in verse 9, those attempting to assault the house show contempt for Lot by stating, “This one came in to sojourn (he’s not a local), and he’s acting as a judge.” That contempt seems a bit out of the blue if Lot wasn’t already functioning in that role. The fact it came on so quickly indicates that there was simmering tensions already present. More on that later.
3. Lot was a businessman. With all his wealth and assets, does it really make sense that he would simply sit around in the gate just waiting to rescue strangers from being molested at night? Why not leave a servant to do so? Why stay in such a place? (I will soon pen something about the state of Sodom. I do not believe it appeared wicked from the outside, in fact, the voice of Scripture reflects something else) It would make more sense that he is at the gate because he acts in the role of judge in the city.

Let’s now look at our second one: Lot functioned in the role of judge in the city of Sodom.

The proof is as follows:

1. Other Scriptural references indicate the gate was where elders and judges congregated for passing judgement/settling disputes. In Deu 16:18, judges were to be appointed for all the gates. In Ruth 4, Boaz goes to the gate of the city to conduct his business concerning redemption of the land, gathering elders as witness. More references can be found in the law concerning bringing matters to the gate to be judged, whilst in the prophets mentions are made of ‘judgement in the gate’ (Amos 5:15)
2. The aforementioned contempt for Lot in verse 9 insinuates strongly that Lot has regularly involved himself in matters of judgement.
3. As a man of older years (Jewish tradition makes him to be 50, considering Abraham is at least 99, 50 seems to be the lower end of the possible scale) and considerable wealth, as well as most likely holding some form of influence due to his familial connection to Abraham , Lot would have been quite an influential figure in Sodom, with all the qualifications to function in the role of judge/elder.
4. Jewish tradition apparently (I have not had the time to verify this, I quote from Gill’s commentary) states that Lot was chief of five judges in Sodom.

No doubt, as the story shows, Lot took the opportunity of being in the gate to show hospitality, but to presuppose that’s all as to why he sat in the gate ignores the body of evidence, a realistic appraisal of the situation, and greatly subtracts from the character of Lot.

The Takeaway

If Lot really was a judge in the city of Sodom, and as the Scripture relates, Lot was righteous. Imagine the courage he possessed. We’ll examine the contempt towards him later, but it’s clear he was not afraid to reprove those around him. The fact he is called righteous indicates to us that Lot was behaving right. And if that was while functioning as a judge in Sodom, then that should give some measure as to the sheer weight of Lot’s character.

It speaks to the high possibility that Lot didn’t sit around twiddling his thumbs while Sodom hurtled towards damnation, but was actively doing his best to be a light in the darkness.

The evidence of Scripture clearly points towards Lot being a judge. If that was true, then it speaks to the character and heart of Lot who managed to get into the upper echelons of Sodom’s society and maintain his right standing before God.

Such a position is not unheard of in Scripture, one need only look to Joseph, Daniel and Nehemiah, men who would found themselves in important positions in their times and places and did their job whilst maintain their righteousness before God. May we aspire to do the same.

With all that has been, one cannot say 100% that Lot was a judge in Sodom. All this has been to say that the evidence points that way, and instead of downplaying Lot’s character, perhaps we should look at the possible reasons as to why the Scripture declares him righteous!

And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) 
2 Peter 2:7-8