The Expositor's Bible: The Book of GenesisDods, Marcus
Religion
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Genesis
Dods, Marcus
Bible. Genesis -- Commentaries
Many of the errors of worldly men only reveal their most disastrous
consequences in the second generation. Like some virulent diseases they
have a period of incubation. Lot's family grew up in a very different
atmosphere from that which had nourished his own youth in Abram's tents.
An adult and robust Englishman can withstand the climate of India; but
his children who are born in it cannot. And the position in society
which has been gained in middle life by the carefully and hardily
trained child of a God-fearing household, may not very visibly damage
his own character, but may yet be absolutely fatal to the morality of
his children. Lot may have persuaded himself he chose the dangerous
prosperity of Sodom mainly for the sake of his children; but in point of
fact he had better have seen them die of starvation in the most barren
and parched desolation. And the parent who disregards conscience and
chooses wealth or position, fancying that thus he benefits his children,
will find to his life-long sorrow that he has entangled them in
unimagined temptations.
But the man who makes Lot's choice not only does a great injury to his
children, but cuts himself off from all that is best in life. We are
safe to say that after leaving Abram's tents Lot never again enjoyed
unconstrainedly happy days. The men born and brought up in Sodom were
possibly happy after their kind and in their fashion; but Lot was not.
His soul was daily vexed. Many a time while hearing the talk of the men
his daughters had married, must Lot have gone out with a sore heart, and
looked to the distant hills that hid the tents of Abram, and longed for
an hour of the company he used to enjoy. And the society to which you
are tempted to join yourself may not be unhappy, but you can take no
surer means of beclouding, embittering, and ruining your whole life than
by joining it. You cannot forget the thoughts you once had, the
friendships you once delighted in, the hopes that shed brightness
through all your life. You cannot blot out the ideal that once you
cherished as the most animating element of your life. Every day there
will be that rising in your mind which is in the sharpest contrast to
the thoughts of those with whom you are associated. You will despise
them for their shallow, worldly ideas and ways; but you will despise
yourself still more, being conscious that what they are through
ignorance and upbringing, you are in virtue of your own foolish and mean
choice. There is that in you which rebels against the superficial and
external measure by which they judge things, and yet you have
deliberately chosen these as your associates, and can only think with
heart-broken regret of the high thoughts that once visited you and the
hopes you have now no means of fulfilling. Your life is taken out of
your own hands; you find yourself in bondage to the circumstances you
have chosen; and you are learning in bitterness, disappointment, and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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