Now, when they came to the town, there was Lot sitting by the gate, and he was glad to see them, and took them to his house and was very nice to them. But that night, when Lot’s neighbors found that he had company, they came about the house, a great crowd of them, hooting and throwing stones, and tried to break in the door to kill them. So the strangers saw with their own eyes and heard with their own ears.
Then, early in the morning before the sun was up, the visitors wakened Lot. “Come,” they cried, “get up and escape out of this place, for this very day it shall be destroyed.” And the visitors hurried them, pointing to the sky, and crying that the storm was coming and the time was short. “Quick!” they said; “run for your lives! Do not even look back. Go to the mountain.” And as they came out of the house, the sky was of the color of copper and of iron, and a fearful wind began to blow, and the lightning flashed and the thunder roared. And, as they came out of the town, the earth quaked, and the springs of salt and of oil were broken, and salt and oil and pitch burst up into the air in the great swamp, and the lightning set them on fire, and the wind blew them on the town.
So Lot ran and his daughters ran, and at first his wife ran with them. But Lot’s wife was very fond of Sodom. Bad as it was, she liked it. She could not bear to leave it. She stopped and looked back, only for a moment, but in that moment the storm of fire and brimstone overtook her. There she fell, and the drifting sand and whirling salt of the tempest buried her.
The next day, as soon as it was light, Abraham arose and looked toward Sodom, and all the sky was black with smoke. As for Lot’s wife, nothing was left of her but a pillar of salt.
IV
ISAAC AND REBEKAH
BRAHAM had a son named Isaac. One time, when Isaac was but a little lad, he had a strange adventure in which he very nearly lost his life.
The people of that land believed that God wishes us to give Him the very best we have. And that is right, if we give Him our best by using it so as to please Him. But they said that the thing to do with our best is to burn it. So they would make a heap of stones, and put wood upon it, and place their best on the wood, and set fire to it, and the flame and smoke would rise into the sky. That was called a sacrifice. When they were very glad and wished to thank God, and when they were in great trouble and desired God to help them, they offered a sacrifice.
Now there was nothing in the world for which Abraham and Sarah cared so much as they did for their little boy Isaac. He was their very best. And so it came into Abraham’s heart that there was no way by which he could so plainly show God the greatness of his faith and love as to give Him Isaac. And early one morning Abraham wakened Isaac, and said, “We are going on a long journey to-day, my son.” And Isaac was glad, because he loved to go on journeys with his father.
So off they went, along the green road, and Isaac was very happy, but Abraham was very sad, and Sarah in her tent was crying as if her heart would break. At last they came to a hill, and Abraham cut a bundle of wood, and let Isaac carry it on his back; but Abraham carried a knife. Now Isaac had often seen the sacrifice of lambs, so as they climbed the hill he said, “Father, here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb?”