10. Divine Descends, Heavenly Fire Extinguishes the Second City. Why did she risk her life to glance back?

“The people of Sodom, Gomorrah, and their nearby towns suffered the punishment of eternal fire for their debauchery and indulgence in perverse lust. All these things have become our warnings. ”‭【犹 1 : 7 】

As dawn broke, Sodom’s broad and solid city walls revealed their black outlines, like giant beasts lurking and guarding the entire city. The air was fresh and silent; since the city was established hundreds of years ago, every morning seemed to be the same. Most of the stars in the sky had disappeared, and the rest blinked with their sleepy eyes, soon to disappear as well.

Yet on the distant horizon, there is a floating bright spot, like a drifting thread of fire, flying toward the predetermined destination. The whole city was sound asleep, except for Lot’s family, who stayed awake all night. The angel urged Lot to flee with his family quickly, because God’s judgment was imminent. But Lot hesitated and remained silent, unable to decide.

He looked around—was he really just going to let go of most of his life’s savings? No one could change the time God had predetermined. The angel knew the situation was dire and urgent. Seeing that Lot was still hesitant, he resolutely held them back and hurried out of the room, heading toward the southeast city gate. One angel dragged Lot and his wife, and another angel dragged Lot’s two daughters. The two daughters were attentive, already carrying rations and wine.

The whole family was dragged out of the city by a strong angel, panting but not daring to complain. Everything that had happened from last night until now made them realize how severe and terrifying the angel’s warning was.

At the moment of farewell, an angel pointed to the mountains to the southeast and said to Lot’s family, “Run for your lives quickly!” Quick, escape to that mountain! When you arrive there, immediately hide in the cave; do not come out, do not climb high to look back, and never linger on the plain, or you will be destroyed.

Lot was panting and troubled, and said to the angel, “My lord, please do not do this.” The servant was kindly saved by your kindness, but I am old, my wife is in poor health, and my two daughters are weak. The mountain is too far from here, and we are too strong to climb the mountain path. It will probably take us a whole day to get there, and we absolutely cannot escape to the mountain before God’s disaster strikes.

The disaster of God’s coming will catch up with us halfway, and my whole family will surely die! Look, that city isn’t far from here, it’s easy to reach, and it’s a small city. Please let me escape to that small city to survive! “Alright, I promise you I won’t destroy that small town.

But you should run away quickly. Because God loves you, I must not act before you arrive. After saying this, the angel strode away. [From then on, the city was called Zoar, meaning ‘small town,’ located on the southeastern shore of the Dead Sea in Israel. Lot led his wife and two daughters to flee to Zour, and when they arrived two or three hours later, the sun had already risen.

They didn’t dare delay and quickly found a cave to hide. Moments later, a tearing screech echoed from the sky, sharp as a group of women screaming desperately, making one’s hair stand on end. The scream seemed right beside their ears, as if it would pierce their eardrums. The whole family instinctively covered their ears with both hands.

In an instant, the sound of explosions first rumbled like rolling thunder, then densely packed like massive hail hitting the ground.

The earth shook violently, like the drumhead of a giant drum being struck by an angel, the mountain swayed like a drunkard swinging in swing, or as if riding on the back of a raging giant elephant. At this terrifying moment, Mrs. Lot suddenly ran out of the cave, climbed up a high slope outside, leaned against a huge rock, and looked toward Sodom with her hands. Maybe she was just too curious and wanted to see what was really happening.

Perhaps she was too anxious, worried about whether her family business could escape God’s wrath. Or maybe she was too stubborn, disregarding the angel’s warning, thinking that leaving so far would mean no danger. She looked far and saw the sky filled with meteor chunks burning like rockets, emitting blue, almost transparent flames, as large as houses and as small as stone mills, crashing down toward Sodom and Omorah.

The ground was engulfed in flames, with no trace of the city as before. This was the last scene she saw in the human world. In an instant, the shockwave roared like invisible giant waves. The sudden heat was like molten steel being fired, compressed air like a cannonball, filled with the pungent smell of sulfur, and the dust it carried was like a white tsunami on the ground.

Mrs. Lot died instantly; the heat scorched her body, the shockwaves pressed her tightly against the stones behind her, dust wrapping her, and she froze into a statue like a pillar of salt.

That same morning, northwest of Sodom, in the land of Hebron, in the oak grove where Abraham had received the angel the day before, Abraham also saw sulfur meteors shooting from the sky and heard terrifying tremors coming from far away Sodom.

He stood on a high vantage point and looked out, seeing thick smoke billowing like black smoke from a kiln. Thinking of his conversation with God yesterday, Abraham feared God even more, and remembered that his nephew Lot was still alive and dead, so he sighed and shook his head to leave.

He did not expect that Lot’s two daughters would soon get their father drunk and commit incest with him, becoming pregnant one after another, and each bore a son named Moab and Ammon. So, how will Moab, Ammon, and Isaac, the son God promised Abraham to bear, treat each other in the future?