Would you care to know just how far a righteous person can fall?
He chose the best of the land in the valley before him, and then eventually set his tent facing Sodom. After a period of time unbeknownst to us, he folded up his tents and moved into town, actually becoming so well known as to be one who sat in the gate, a man of wisdom and understanding.
One must wonder what the cities of that valley were like when he moved into town, were they slowly becoming depraved, or were they like that when he moved there? And then, one must question, in either case, why did he stay? He had the means and financial wherewithal to go almost anywhere, but he stayed. In fact, after Abraham rescued him in the war of the Five Kings, he went back to Sodom.
And one must wonder about the words that must have been exchanged at that meeting.
The man was cordial, and to a degree, caring, easily seen when he said to the two strangers, “Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways.” (Gen. 19:2a)
But he also knew why those two strangers should not take the chance of being out in the open all night.
So, from that encounter it can easily be seen that he knew what was going on in town, he knew, but we do not know his attitude towards it, or, and here many will become aghast at these words, if he had at times fallen himself into a sexual temptation.
I know this though for a fact, that righteous man was willing to let that sexually charged perverted crowd have their way with his own daughters, and that because of two complete strangers. And to top it off, they were either betrothed or married when he did so.
Why were their husbands not there? Why did they laugh at him, mock him when he went to warn them? Because they did not see him as a man of God, in a close relationship with the Almighty.
Why not, I leave to your thoughts.
Yet he sat in the gate, as a judge, and here I will use my own conjecture as to why. Because he was wealthy, extremely wealthy, and he did not “push his religion” upon those there.
His wife loved that place so much that she turned around, missing it dearly. He did not want to go to the mountains, but to one of the other cities, where apparently, they sold liquor. And he decided that getting drunk was a good way to forget his problems, and thanks to his two daughters, and this tells you a lot about their upbringing, decided getting him drunk to have sex with their own father was a good idea.
Why go to the other city? Why go to the cave in the mountain? Why not go back to Abraham?
This is how far a righteous man can fall.
“For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;” (2nd Peter 2:8)
Peter was shown something that none of us knew, that was not recorded in the Scriptures for us, and the Holy Spirit told him to write down that Lot was a righteous man.
We who are hid in Christ are the righteousness of God in Christ.
Even when we fall that far.