Son of Haran the brother of Abraham. He seems to have accompanied Abraham without having a like faith in Abraham’s God. When their flocks and herds had so increased that they could no longer dwell together, Abraham bade his nephew choose where he would turn. Lot looked on the well-watered plain of the Jordan, and went toward Sodom, notwithstanding that the men of that city were exceedingly wicked. The next record of Lot is that he dwelt in Sodom, and from thence was carried away by the four kings who made war against that city.
Though rescued by Abraham he did not profit by the discipline, but returned to dwell in the guilty city; whereas Abraham would not accept so much as a shoe latchet from its king. Lot is next seen sitting in the gate of Sodom, the place of power and judgment, when the two angels arrived to destroy the city. He acted hospitably towards them, but had to be rescued by them from the enmity of the inhabitants.
Lot and his family were loth to leave the city, but the angels hastened them out, and bade them flee to the mountains. Lot begged to be allowed to go to Zoar, and was permitted; but, fearing to stay there, he left with his two daughters and abode in a cave, where, alas, he became the father of Moab and Ben-ammi, the ancestors of the Moabites and the Ammonites, who are afterward alluded to as the children of Lot.
From his history in the Old Testament it could not have been discovered that he was a righteous man; but this testimony is given of him in 2 Peter 2:7-87And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8(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), where he is called “just Lot,” who, as a righteous man, was daily vexed in his soul by the unlawful deeds of those among whom he dwelt. Though God delivered him, he is a solemn instance of a righteous man dwelling needlessly amid gross wickedness; his course being the strongest contrast to that of Abraham (Gen. 11-14, 19; Psa. 83:88Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah. (Psalm 83:8); Luke 17:28-2928Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:28‑29)).
LOT’S WIFE, on leaving Sodom, looked back and became a pillar of salt and is held up as a warning not to linger but to flee from coming judgments (Luke 17:3232Remember Lot's wife. (Luke 17:32)).