The Lord justly destroys Sodom for its grievous wickedness, yet mercifully rescues Lot for Abraham’s sake, showing both the terror of judgment and the preserving grace of God amid the wreckage caused by compromise.
The Lord Judges Sodom, Delivers Lot, and Reveals the Horror of Sin and the Mercy of God
The Lord justly destroys Sodom for its grievous wickedness, yet mercifully rescues Lot for Abraham’s sake, showing both the terror of judgment and the preserving grace of God amid the wreckage caused by compromise.
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The Lord justly destroys Sodom for its grievous wickedness, yet mercifully rescues Lot for Abraham’s sake, showing both the terror of judgment and the preserving grace of God amid the wreckage caused by compromise.
Genesis 19 teaches that God’s judgment falls righteously upon entrenched, public, and violent wickedness, while His mercy still rescues those He purposes to preserve. The chapter exposes Sodom not merely as generally corrupt, but as a city marked by predatory depravity, communal hardness, and complete resistance to moral restraint. The attempted violation of the angelic visitors makes visible what Genesis 18 only announced by outcry.
The city’s sin is both individual and social, personal and collective. Lot, meanwhile, is portrayed as a compromised righteous man. He recognizes danger, shows hospitality, and is distressed by evil, yet His moral instincts have been deformed by long residence in Sodom, as seen in His shocking offer of His daughters and His lingering reluctance to leave. The angels’ intervention and their physical grasp of Lot’s family emphasize that His deliverance is mercy, not merit.
The destruction of the cities by sulfur and fire confirms that God’s judgment is real, catastrophic, and historically enacted. Lot’s wife then becomes a warning figure, showing that attachment to the judged world can prove deadly even in the moment of deliverance. The final cave scene reveals that escape from Sodom does not automatically erase Sodom’s moral influence; the corruption of the city echoes in Lot’s daughters and in the origins of future hostile nations.
Thus Genesis 19 argues that God judges wickedness with terrifying justice, rescues by mercy, and shows that compromise with evil leaves scars even where grace delivers.
Genesis 19 brings to execution the judgment announced in Genesis 18 and stands as one of the most sobering chapters in Scripture. The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah has already risen before the Lord, Abraham has interceded, and now the reader sees the moral reality of the cities of the plain exposed in concrete detail. Within the Abraham cycle, this chapter also continues the contrast between Abraham and Lot.
Abraham dwells in covenant communion before the Lord, while Lot sits in the gate of Sodom, compromised by proximity to wickedness and entangled in a doomed society. In the wider flow of Genesis, Genesis 19 shows that divine judgment is never arbitrary, for the corruption of Sodom is shown to be deep, public, violent, and unashamed. At the same time, the chapter also demonstrates that God remembers His covenant servant Abraham and, for Abraham’s sake, delivers Lot from destruction.
The narrative therefore holds together justice, mercy, judgment, rescue, warning, and the lingering effects of compromise.
The two angels arrive at Sodom in the evening, Lot receives them at the gate, bows before them, and urges them strongly to stay in His house rather than spend the night in the square.
Before they lie down, the men of Sodom surround the house and demand the visitors for wicked purposes; Lot pleads with them, offers His daughters in a shocking and sinful attempt to protect the guests, and the angels strike the mob with blindness.
The angels urge Lot to gather His household because the city is about to be destroyed, but His sons-in-law think He is joking.
At dawn the angels press Lot, His wife, and His daughters to flee; as Lot lingers, they seize them by the hand because of the Lord’s mercy, command them to escape without looking back, and permit Lot to flee to Zoar.
The Lord rains sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, overthrowing the cities and the plain, but Lot’s wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt; Abraham rises early, looks toward the region, and sees the smoke of the land ascending, while the text notes that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the catastrophe.
Lot leaves Zoar for the hills and dwells in a cave with His two daughters; in fear and moral confusion, the daughters intoxicate Lot and bear sons by Him, producing Moab and Ben-ammi, ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites.
- 19:1–3: The two angels arrive at Sodom in the evening, Lot receives them at the gate, bows before them, and urges them strongly to stay in His house rather than spend the night in the square.
- 19:4–11: Before they lie down, the men of Sodom surround the house and demand the visitors for wicked purposes · Lot pleads with them, offers His daughters in a shocking and sinful attempt to protect the guests, and the angels strike the mob with blindness.
- 19:12–14: The angels urge Lot to gather His household because the city is about to be destroyed, but His sons-in-law think He is joking.
- 19:15–22: At dawn the angels press Lot, His wife, and His daughters to flee · as Lot lingers, they seize them by the hand because of the Lord’s mercy, command them to escape without looking back, and permit Lot to flee to Zoar.
- 19:23–29: The Lord rains sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, overthrowing the cities and the plain, but Lot’s wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt · Abraham rises early, looks toward the region, and sees the smoke of the land ascending, while the text notes that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the catastrophe.
- 19:30–38: Lot leaves Zoar for the hills and dwells in a cave with His two daughters · in fear and moral confusion, the daughters intoxicate Lot and bear sons by Him, producing Moab and Ben-ammi, ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites.
Theological Focus
- Judgment
- Mercy
- Divine Justice
- Deliverance
- Hospitality
- Moral Corruption
- Compromise
- Covenant Remembrance
- Providence
- Covenant Theology
- Hamartiology
- Intercession
- Christology Preparation
Covenant Significance
Genesis 19 is covenantally significant because it explicitly states that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the overthrow. Lot’s rescue is therefore tied not merely to Lot Himself, but to Abraham’s covenant relationship with the Lord. The chapter also reinforces the moral seriousness of covenant life by contrasting Abraham’s communion and intercession with Sodom’s corruption and Lot’s compromised position.
In the wider covenant storyline, the destruction of Sodom becomes a lasting benchmark of judgment, while Lot’s rescue demonstrates that God’s covenant dealings overflow in preserving mercy toward those connected to His chosen servant.
Canonical Connections
Genesis 19 is covenantally significant because it explicitly states that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the overthrow. Lot’s rescue is therefore tied not merely to Lot Himself, but to Abraham’s covenant relationship with the Lord. The chapter also reinforces the moral seriousness of covenant life by contrasting Abraham’s communion and intercession with Sodom’s corruption and Lot’s compromised position.
In the wider covenant storyline, the destruction of Sodom becomes a lasting benchmark of judgment, while Lot’s rescue demonstrates that God’s covenant dealings overflow in preserving mercy toward those connected to His chosen servant.
Genesis 18:16-33
Deuteronomy 29:23
Isaiah 1:9-10
Jeremiah 23:14
Ezekiel 16:48-50
Genesis 18:16-33
Genesis 13:12-13
Genesis 14:12-16
Revelation 18:1-8
Cross References
For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into Yahweh’s assembly; even to the tenth generation shall no one belonging to them enter into Yahweh’s assembly forever,
that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath.
“ ‘ “Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She also didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. They were arrogant, and committed...
Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh.
Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil.
Yahweh smelled the pleasant aroma. Yahweh said in his heart, “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake because the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth. I will never again strike every living thing, as I have...
Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain wicked fellows, surrounded the house, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your...
The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and Yahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight. He gathered the children of Ammon and...
“ ‘You shall not lie with a man as with a woman. That is detestable.
Genesis 19 intensifies the gospel by showing both the certainty of judgment and the necessity of rescue. Sodom is destroyed because its wickedness is grievous before God. Lot is not saved because He is strong, clear-minded, or morally unblemished, but because God shows mercy and remembers Abraham. This helps explain the gospel: sinners need more than advice, they need deliverance from coming judgment.
In the fullness of Scripture, Christ is the greater mediator whose saving work secures rescue for those who deserve wrath, and whose people are called to flee the world under judgment and not look back.
Primary Emphasis
Genesis 19 contributes to Christology by deepening the biblical categories of judgment, rescue, and remembered mercy. The righteous rescue of Lot out of catastrophic judgment anticipates the broader pattern of God delivering His own from wrath. Abraham’s intercessory role also continues to prepare for a greater mediator whose plea and standing secure deliverance for others.
In later biblical theology, the destruction of Sodom becomes a major paradigm for final judgment, while the rescue of the righteous from that judgment anticipates the salvation accomplished and applied through Christ.
Chapter Contribution
Genesis 19 teaches that God’s judgment falls righteously upon entrenched, public, and violent wickedness, while His mercy still rescues those He purposes to preserve. The chapter exposes Sodom not merely as generally corrupt, but as a city marked by predatory depravity, communal hardness, and complete resistance to moral restraint. The attempted violation of the angelic visitors makes visible what Genesis 18 only announced by outcry.
The city’s sin is both individual and social, personal and collective. Lot, meanwhile, is portrayed as a compromised righteous man. He recognizes danger, shows hospitality, and is distressed by evil, yet His moral instincts have been deformed by long residence in Sodom, as seen in His shocking offer of His daughters and His lingering reluctance to leave. The angels’ intervention and their physical grasp of Lot’s family emphasize that His deliverance is mercy, not merit.
The destruction of the cities by sulfur and fire confirms that God’s judgment is real, catastrophic, and historically enacted. Lot’s wife then becomes a warning figure, showing that attachment to the judged world can prove deadly even in the moment of deliverance. The final cave scene reveals that escape from Sodom does not automatically erase Sodom’s moral influence; the corruption of the city echoes in Lot’s daughters and in the origins of future hostile nations.
Thus Genesis 19 argues that God judges wickedness with terrifying justice, rescues by mercy, and shows that compromise with evil leaves scars even where grace delivers.
God’s judgment is a righteous response to persistent and grievous sin.
God shows mercy by rescuing individuals from judgment.
God actively protects those who belong to Him.
God’s covenant relationship with Abraham results in the deliverance of Lot.
Fear can distort judgment and lead to sinful decisions when trust in God is absent.
Human sin can become pervasive and communal when unchecked.
Sin remains active in the human heart even after deliverance from external judgment.
Living in sinful environments can influence and distort moral judgment.
Sinful actions have lasting generational and historical consequences.
Failure to trust God’s provision results in human-driven, sinful solutions.
God restrains evil through direct and indirect intervention.
Rescue from judgment is ultimately accomplished by God’s action, not human effort.
God calls His people to separate decisively from sin and judgment.
Physical separation from sin does not equal spiritual transformation.
8 Imperatives
- Turn aside and stay within refuge
- Arise and take Your family
- Escape for Your life
- Do not look back
- Do not stay anywhere in the plain
- Hurry and flee to the appointed refuge
Sense outcry
Definition outcry
Why it matters The outcry behind Sodom’s judgment signals that the city’s evil is not hidden or trivial, but morally weighty before God.
Sense messenger, angel
Definition messenger, angel
Why it matters The angels serve as agents of both rescue and judgment, showing that God’s intervention in the chapter is personal, active, and judicial.
Sense turn aside
Definition turn aside
Why it matters Lot’s urging the visitors to turn aside into His house reflects His awareness of Sodom’s danger and the urgency of protective hospitality.
Sense destroy, bring to ruin
Definition destroy, bring to ruin
Why it matters The destruction language emphasizes that the overthrow of Sodom is a divine act of judgment, not an accident of history.
Sense spare, pity, show compassion
Definition spare, pity, show compassion
Why it matters The rescue of Lot is explicitly tied to the Lord’s mercy, underscoring that deliverance is compassionate and gracious.
Sense hurry
Definition hurry
Why it matters The repeated urgency to flee shows that divine warning must be answered without delay when judgment is imminent.
Sense look, gaze
Definition look, gaze
Why it matters The prohibition against looking back and Lot’s wife’s action highlight the danger of lingering attachment to the condemned city.
Sense sulfur and fire
Definition sulfur and fire
Why it matters The sulfur-and-fire imagery marks the overthrow of Sodom as a fearsome act of divine judgment and becomes a canonical paradigm for final judgment.
Sense overthrow, overturn
Definition overthrow, overturn
Why it matters The overthrow language presents Sodom’s destruction as total reversal under divine wrath.
Sense remember
Definition remember
Why it matters God’s remembering Abraham explains Lot’s rescue in covenantal terms and ties deliverance to God’s relationship with His chosen servant.
Sense Moab / Ben-Ammi
Definition Moab / Ben-Ammi
Why it matters The naming of Moab and Ben-Ammi shows that the moral confusion of the cave episode will echo into future national histories significant in the canon.
Lexicon data: MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML (CC0) · Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (CC BY 4.0) · Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon (CC BY 4.0) · STEPBible Data (CC BY 4.0) · Full details
C.F. Keil & F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–91) — public domain
- Genesis 19 warns that entrenched wickedness invites catastrophic judgment, that compromise with evil deforms the soul, and that longing for the condemned world can destroy even those near the path of rescue.
- Reducing Sodom’s sin to one isolated category while ignoring the chapter’s broader portrait of violent, communal, aggressive, and shameless wickedness.
- Treating Lot as either wholly righteous or wholly identical to Sodom, instead of seeing Him as a compromised man delivered by mercy.
- Overlooking the statement that God remembered Abraham and thus missing the covenantal connection between intercession and rescue.
- Reading Lot’s wife as merely curious rather than as a warning about divided allegiance and attachment to a judged order.
- Ignoring the final scene with Lot’s daughters, as though rescue from judgment automatically erased the moral damage of prolonged compromise.
- Treating the destruction language as symbolic only, when the narrative presents it as real and devastating divine judgment in history.
- Have You grown too comfortable near spiritual danger, as Lot did near Sodom?
- Where might compromise be dulling Your judgment so that what should horrify You has become familiar?
- Do You treat God’s warnings as urgent reality, or like Lot’s sons-in-law, as though they are a joke?
- What does Lot’s wife teach You about the danger of longing for what God is judging?
- How does this chapter deepen Your gratitude that rescue from judgment depends ultimately on the mercy of God?
- Preach Genesis 19 with full moral seriousness, showing that God’s judgment is not vague sentiment but real opposition to wickedness.
- Use Lot’s compromised condition to warn believers that living too near corrupt systems can deform instincts even when some measure of righteousness remains.
- Teach clearly that deliverance often comes through God’s urgent mercy rather than through human decisiveness, as seen when the angels seize Lot by the hand.
- Use Lot’s wife as a pastoral warning against nostalgic attachment to the world God calls His people to leave behind.
- Help congregations see that judgment upon societies is not incompatible with mercy toward individuals whom God purposes to rescue.
- Address the final cave episode honestly, showing that the effects of worldliness and moral confusion can continue even after external deliverance.
- Point to God’s remembrance of Abraham to encourage prayerful intercession on behalf of others living near destruction.
Genesis 19 intensifies the gospel by showing both the certainty of judgment and the necessity of rescue. Sodom is destroyed because its wickedness is grievous before God. Lot is not saved because He is strong, clear-minded, or morally unblemished, but because God shows mercy and remembers Abraham. This helps explain the gospel: sinners need more than advice, they need deliverance from coming judgment.
In the fullness of Scripture, Christ is the greater mediator whose saving work secures rescue for those who deserve wrath, and whose people are called to flee the world under judgment and not look back.
Genesis 19 intensifies the gospel by showing both the certainty of judgment and the necessity of rescue. Sodom is destroyed because its wickedness is grievous before God. Lot is not saved because He is strong, clear-minded, or morally unblemished, but because God shows mercy and remembers Abraham. This helps explain the gospel: sinners need more than advice, they need deliverance from coming judgment.
In the fullness of Scripture, Christ is the greater mediator whose saving work secures rescue for those who deserve wrath, and whose people are called to flee the world under judgment and not look back.
Genesis 19 intensifies the gospel by showing both the certainty of judgment and the necessity of rescue. Sodom is destroyed because its wickedness is grievous before God. Lot is not saved because He is strong, clear-minded, or morally unblemished, but because God shows mercy and remembers Abraham. This helps explain the gospel: sinners need more than advice, they need deliverance from coming judgment.
In the fullness of Scripture, Christ is the greater mediator whose saving work secures rescue for those who deserve wrath, and whose people are called to flee the world under judgment and not look back.
Genesis 19 intensifies the gospel by showing both the certainty of judgment and the necessity of rescue. Sodom is destroyed because its wickedness is grievous before God. Lot is not saved because He is strong, clear-minded, or morally unblemished, but because God shows mercy and remembers Abraham. This helps explain the gospel: sinners need more than advice, they need deliverance from coming judgment.
In the fullness of Scripture, Christ is the greater mediator whose saving work secures rescue for those who deserve wrath, and whose people are called to flee the world under judgment and not look back.
Genesis 19 intensifies the gospel by showing both the certainty of judgment and the necessity of rescue. Sodom is destroyed because its wickedness is grievous before God. Lot is not saved because He is strong, clear-minded, or morally unblemished, but because God shows mercy and remembers Abraham. This helps explain the gospel: sinners need more than advice, they need deliverance from coming judgment.
In the fullness of Scripture, Christ is the greater mediator whose saving work secures rescue for those who deserve wrath, and whose people are called to flee the world under judgment and not look back.
8
Very high
- Turn aside and stay within refuge
- Arise and take Your family
- Escape for Your life
- Do not look back
- Do not stay anywhere in the plain
- Hurry and flee to the appointed refuge
Track judgment as covenant accountability, divine justice, and eschatological reckoning.
Trace remnant preservation, covenant continuity, and mercy under judgment across Scripture.
The Biblical World
Chapter At A Glance
Genesis 19 is covenantally significant because it explicitly states that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the overthrow. Lot’s rescue is therefore tied not merely to Lot Himself, but to Abraham’s covenant relationship with the Lord. The chapter also reinforces the moral seriousness of covenant life by contrasting Abraham’s communion and intercession with Sodom’s corruption and Lot’s compromised position.
In the wider covenant storyline, the destruction of Sodom becomes a lasting benchmark of judgment, while Lot’s rescue demonstrates that God’s covenant dealings overflow in preserving mercy toward those connected to His chosen servant.
Genesis 19 intensifies the gospel by showing both the certainty of judgment and the necessity of rescue. Sodom is destroyed because its wickedness is grievous before God. Lot is not saved because He is strong, clear-minded, or morally unblemished, but because God shows mercy and remembers Abraham. This helps explain the gospel: sinners need more than advice, they need deliverance from coming judgment.
In the fullness of Scripture, Christ is the greater mediator whose saving work secures rescue for those who deserve wrath, and whose people are called to flee the world under judgment and not look back.
Focus Points
- Judgment
- Mercy
- Divine Justice
- Deliverance
- Hospitality
- Moral Corruption
- Compromise
- Covenant Remembrance
- Providence
- Covenant Theology
- Hamartiology
- Intercession
- Christology Preparation
Cross References
Passages
Chapter opening: Genesis 19:1-11
Gen 19:1-5 The messengers (angels) sent by Jehovah to Sodom, arrived there in the evening, when Lot, who was sitting at the gate, pressed them to pass the night in his house. The gate, generally an arched entrance with deep recesses and seats on either side, was a place of meeting in the ancient towns of the East, where the inhabitants assembled either for social intercourse or to transact public business (vid.
, Gen 34:20; Deu 21:19; Deu 22:15, etc.) The two travellers, however (for such Lot supposed them to be, and only recognised them as angels when they had smitten the Sodomites miraculously with blindness), said that they would spend the night in the street - בּרחוב the broad open space within the gate - as they had been sent to inquire into the state of the town.
But they yielded to Lot’s entreaty to enter his house; for the deliverance of Lot, after having ascertained his state of mind, formed part of their commission, and entering into his house might only serve to manifest the sin of Sodom in all its heinousness. While Lot was entertaining his guests with the greatest hospitality, the people of Sodom gathered round his house, “ both old and young, all people from every quarter ” (of the town, as in Jer 51:31), and demanded, with the basest violation of the sacred rite of hospitality and the most shameless proclamation of their sin (Isa 3:9), that the strangers should be brought out, that they might know them.
ידע is applied, as in Jdg 19:22, to the carnal sin of paederastia , a crime very prevalent among the Canaanites (Lev 18:22. , Lev 20:23), and according to Rom 1:27, a curse of heathenism generally.
Gen 19:1-5 The messengers (angels) sent by Jehovah to Sodom, arrived there in the evening, when Lot, who was sitting at the gate, pressed them to pass the night in his house. The gate, generally an arched entrance with deep recesses and seats on either side, was a place of meeting in the ancient towns of the East, where the inhabitants assembled either for social intercourse or to transact public business (vid.
, Gen 34:20; Deu 21:19; Deu 22:15, etc.) The two travellers, however (for such Lot supposed them to be, and only recognised them as angels when they had smitten the Sodomites miraculously with blindness), said that they would spend the night in the street - בּרחוב the broad open space within the gate - as they had been sent to inquire into the state of the town.
But they yielded to Lot’s entreaty to enter his house; for the deliverance of Lot, after having ascertained his state of mind, formed part of their commission, and entering into his house might only serve to manifest the sin of Sodom in all its heinousness. While Lot was entertaining his guests with the greatest hospitality, the people of Sodom gathered round his house, “ both old and young, all people from every quarter ” (of the town, as in Jer 51:31), and demanded, with the basest violation of the sacred rite of hospitality and the most shameless proclamation of their sin (Isa 3:9), that the strangers should be brought out, that they might know them.
ידע is applied, as in Jdg 19:22, to the carnal sin of paederastia , a crime very prevalent among the Canaanites (Lev 18:22. , Lev 20:23), and according to Rom 1:27, a curse of heathenism generally.
Gen 19:1-5 The messengers (angels) sent by Jehovah to Sodom, arrived there in the evening, when Lot, who was sitting at the gate, pressed them to pass the night in his house. The gate, generally an arched entrance with deep recesses and seats on either side, was a place of meeting in the ancient towns of the East, where the inhabitants assembled either for social intercourse or to transact public business (vid.
, Gen 34:20; Deu 21:19; Deu 22:15, etc.) The two travellers, however (for such Lot supposed them to be, and only recognised them as angels when they had smitten the Sodomites miraculously with blindness), said that they would spend the night in the street - בּרחוב the broad open space within the gate - as they had been sent to inquire into the state of the town.
But they yielded to Lot’s entreaty to enter his house; for the deliverance of Lot, after having ascertained his state of mind, formed part of their commission, and entering into his house might only serve to manifest the sin of Sodom in all its heinousness. While Lot was entertaining his guests with the greatest hospitality, the people of Sodom gathered round his house, “ both old and young, all people from every quarter ” (of the town, as in Jer 51:31), and demanded, with the basest violation of the sacred rite of hospitality and the most shameless proclamation of their sin (Isa 3:9), that the strangers should be brought out, that they might know them.
ידע is applied, as in Jdg 19:22, to the carnal sin of paederastia , a crime very prevalent among the Canaanites (Lev 18:22. , Lev 20:23), and according to Rom 1:27, a curse of heathenism generally.
Gen 19:1-5 The messengers (angels) sent by Jehovah to Sodom, arrived there in the evening, when Lot, who was sitting at the gate, pressed them to pass the night in his house. The gate, generally an arched entrance with deep recesses and seats on either side, was a place of meeting in the ancient towns of the East, where the inhabitants assembled either for social intercourse or to transact public business (vid.
, Gen 34:20; Deu 21:19; Deu 22:15, etc.) The two travellers, however (for such Lot supposed them to be, and only recognised them as angels when they had smitten the Sodomites miraculously with blindness), said that they would spend the night in the street - בּרחוב the broad open space within the gate - as they had been sent to inquire into the state of the town.
But they yielded to Lot’s entreaty to enter his house; for the deliverance of Lot, after having ascertained his state of mind, formed part of their commission, and entering into his house might only serve to manifest the sin of Sodom in all its heinousness. While Lot was entertaining his guests with the greatest hospitality, the people of Sodom gathered round his house, “ both old and young, all people from every quarter ” (of the town, as in Jer 51:31), and demanded, with the basest violation of the sacred rite of hospitality and the most shameless proclamation of their sin (Isa 3:9), that the strangers should be brought out, that they might know them.
ידע is applied, as in Jdg 19:22, to the carnal sin of paederastia , a crime very prevalent among the Canaanites (Lev 18:22. , Lev 20:23), and according to Rom 1:27, a curse of heathenism generally.
Gen 19:1-5 The messengers (angels) sent by Jehovah to Sodom, arrived there in the evening, when Lot, who was sitting at the gate, pressed them to pass the night in his house. The gate, generally an arched entrance with deep recesses and seats on either side, was a place of meeting in the ancient towns of the East, where the inhabitants assembled either for social intercourse or to transact public business (vid.
, Gen 34:20; Deu 21:19; Deu 22:15, etc.) The two travellers, however (for such Lot supposed them to be, and only recognised them as angels when they had smitten the Sodomites miraculously with blindness), said that they would spend the night in the street - בּרחוב the broad open space within the gate - as they had been sent to inquire into the state of the town.
But they yielded to Lot’s entreaty to enter his house; for the deliverance of Lot, after having ascertained his state of mind, formed part of their commission, and entering into his house might only serve to manifest the sin of Sodom in all its heinousness. While Lot was entertaining his guests with the greatest hospitality, the people of Sodom gathered round his house, “ both old and young, all people from every quarter ” (of the town, as in Jer 51:31), and demanded, with the basest violation of the sacred rite of hospitality and the most shameless proclamation of their sin (Isa 3:9), that the strangers should be brought out, that they might know them.
ידע is applied, as in Jdg 19:22, to the carnal sin of paederastia , a crime very prevalent among the Canaanites (Lev 18:22. , Lev 20:23), and according to Rom 1:27, a curse of heathenism generally.
Gen 19:6-11 Lot went out to them, shut the door behind him to protect his guests, and offered to give his virgin daughters up to them. “ Only to these men (האל, an archaism for האלּה rof, occurs also in Gen 19:25; Gen 26:3-4; Lev 18:27, and Deu 4:42; Deu 7:22; Deu 19:11; and אל for אלּה in 1Ch 20:8) do nothing, for therefore (viz. , to be protected from injury) have they come under the shadow of my roof .
” In his anxiety, Lot was willing to sacrifice to the sanctity of hospitality his duty as a father, which ought to have been still more sacred, “and committed the sin of seeking to avert sin by sin. ” Even if he expected that his daughters would suffer no harm, as they were betrothed to Sodomites (Gen 19:14), the offer was a grievous violation of his paternal duty.
But this offer only heightened the brutality of the mob. “ Stand back ” (make way, Isa 49:20), they said; “ the man, who came as a foreigner, is always wanting to play the judge ” (probably because Lot had frequently reproved them for their licentious conduct, 2Pe 2:7, 2Pe 2:8): “ not will we deal worse with thee than with them . ” With these words they pressed upon him, and approached the door to break it in.
The men inside, that is to say, the angels, then pulled Lot into the house, shut the door, and by miraculous power smote the people without with blindness (סנורים here and 2Ki 6:18 for mental blindness, in which the eye sees, but does not see the right object), as a punishment for their utter moral blindness, and an omen of the coming judgment.
Gen 19:6-11 Lot went out to them, shut the door behind him to protect his guests, and offered to give his virgin daughters up to them. “ Only to these men (האל, an archaism for האלּה rof, occurs also in Gen 19:25; Gen 26:3-4; Lev 18:27, and Deu 4:42; Deu 7:22; Deu 19:11; and אל for אלּה in 1Ch 20:8) do nothing, for therefore (viz. , to be protected from injury) have they come under the shadow of my roof .
” In his anxiety, Lot was willing to sacrifice to the sanctity of hospitality his duty as a father, which ought to have been still more sacred, “and committed the sin of seeking to avert sin by sin. ” Even if he expected that his daughters would suffer no harm, as they were betrothed to Sodomites (Gen 19:14), the offer was a grievous violation of his paternal duty.
But this offer only heightened the brutality of the mob. “ Stand back ” (make way, Isa 49:20), they said; “ the man, who came as a foreigner, is always wanting to play the judge ” (probably because Lot had frequently reproved them for their licentious conduct, 2Pe 2:7, 2Pe 2:8): “ not will we deal worse with thee than with them . ” With these words they pressed upon him, and approached the door to break it in.
The men inside, that is to say, the angels, then pulled Lot into the house, shut the door, and by miraculous power smote the people without with blindness (סנורים here and 2Ki 6:18 for mental blindness, in which the eye sees, but does not see the right object), as a punishment for their utter moral blindness, and an omen of the coming judgment.
Gen 19:6-11 Lot went out to them, shut the door behind him to protect his guests, and offered to give his virgin daughters up to them. “ Only to these men (האל, an archaism for האלּה rof, occurs also in Gen 19:25; Gen 26:3-4; Lev 18:27, and Deu 4:42; Deu 7:22; Deu 19:11; and אל for אלּה in 1Ch 20:8) do nothing, for therefore (viz. , to be protected from injury) have they come under the shadow of my roof .
” In his anxiety, Lot was willing to sacrifice to the sanctity of hospitality his duty as a father, which ought to have been still more sacred, “and committed the sin of seeking to avert sin by sin. ” Even if he expected that his daughters would suffer no harm, as they were betrothed to Sodomites (Gen 19:14), the offer was a grievous violation of his paternal duty.
But this offer only heightened the brutality of the mob. “ Stand back ” (make way, Isa 49:20), they said; “ the man, who came as a foreigner, is always wanting to play the judge ” (probably because Lot had frequently reproved them for their licentious conduct, 2Pe 2:7, 2Pe 2:8): “ not will we deal worse with thee than with them . ” With these words they pressed upon him, and approached the door to break it in.
The men inside, that is to say, the angels, then pulled Lot into the house, shut the door, and by miraculous power smote the people without with blindness (סנורים here and 2Ki 6:18 for mental blindness, in which the eye sees, but does not see the right object), as a punishment for their utter moral blindness, and an omen of the coming judgment.
Gen 19:6-11 Lot went out to them, shut the door behind him to protect his guests, and offered to give his virgin daughters up to them. “ Only to these men (האל, an archaism for האלּה rof, occurs also in Gen 19:25; Gen 26:3-4; Lev 18:27, and Deu 4:42; Deu 7:22; Deu 19:11; and אל for אלּה in 1Ch 20:8) do nothing, for therefore (viz. , to be protected from injury) have they come under the shadow of my roof .
” In his anxiety, Lot was willing to sacrifice to the sanctity of hospitality his duty as a father, which ought to have been still more sacred, “and committed the sin of seeking to avert sin by sin. ” Even if he expected that his daughters would suffer no harm, as they were betrothed to Sodomites (Gen 19:14), the offer was a grievous violation of his paternal duty.
But this offer only heightened the brutality of the mob. “ Stand back ” (make way, Isa 49:20), they said; “ the man, who came as a foreigner, is always wanting to play the judge ” (probably because Lot had frequently reproved them for their licentious conduct, 2Pe 2:7, 2Pe 2:8): “ not will we deal worse with thee than with them . ” With these words they pressed upon him, and approached the door to break it in.
The men inside, that is to say, the angels, then pulled Lot into the house, shut the door, and by miraculous power smote the people without with blindness (סנורים here and 2Ki 6:18 for mental blindness, in which the eye sees, but does not see the right object), as a punishment for their utter moral blindness, and an omen of the coming judgment.
Gen 19:6-11 Lot went out to them, shut the door behind him to protect his guests, and offered to give his virgin daughters up to them. “ Only to these men (האל, an archaism for האלּה rof, occurs also in Gen 19:25; Gen 26:3-4; Lev 18:27, and Deu 4:42; Deu 7:22; Deu 19:11; and אל for אלּה in 1Ch 20:8) do nothing, for therefore (viz. , to be protected from injury) have they come under the shadow of my roof .
” In his anxiety, Lot was willing to sacrifice to the sanctity of hospitality his duty as a father, which ought to have been still more sacred, “and committed the sin of seeking to avert sin by sin. ” Even if he expected that his daughters would suffer no harm, as they were betrothed to Sodomites (Gen 19:14), the offer was a grievous violation of his paternal duty.
But this offer only heightened the brutality of the mob. “ Stand back ” (make way, Isa 49:20), they said; “ the man, who came as a foreigner, is always wanting to play the judge ” (probably because Lot had frequently reproved them for their licentious conduct, 2Pe 2:7, 2Pe 2:8): “ not will we deal worse with thee than with them . ” With these words they pressed upon him, and approached the door to break it in.
The men inside, that is to say, the angels, then pulled Lot into the house, shut the door, and by miraculous power smote the people without with blindness (סנורים here and 2Ki 6:18 for mental blindness, in which the eye sees, but does not see the right object), as a punishment for their utter moral blindness, and an omen of the coming judgment.
Gen 19:6-11 Lot went out to them, shut the door behind him to protect his guests, and offered to give his virgin daughters up to them. “ Only to these men (האל, an archaism for האלּה rof, occurs also in Gen 19:25; Gen 26:3-4; Lev 18:27, and Deu 4:42; Deu 7:22; Deu 19:11; and אל for אלּה in 1Ch 20:8) do nothing, for therefore (viz. , to be protected from injury) have they come under the shadow of my roof .
” In his anxiety, Lot was willing to sacrifice to the sanctity of hospitality his duty as a father, which ought to have been still more sacred, “and committed the sin of seeking to avert sin by sin. ” Even if he expected that his daughters would suffer no harm, as they were betrothed to Sodomites (Gen 19:14), the offer was a grievous violation of his paternal duty.
But this offer only heightened the brutality of the mob. “ Stand back ” (make way, Isa 49:20), they said; “ the man, who came as a foreigner, is always wanting to play the judge ” (probably because Lot had frequently reproved them for their licentious conduct, 2Pe 2:7, 2Pe 2:8): “ not will we deal worse with thee than with them . ” With these words they pressed upon him, and approached the door to break it in.
The men inside, that is to say, the angels, then pulled Lot into the house, shut the door, and by miraculous power smote the people without with blindness (סנורים here and 2Ki 6:18 for mental blindness, in which the eye sees, but does not see the right object), as a punishment for their utter moral blindness, and an omen of the coming judgment.
Gen 19:12-14 The sin of Sodom had now become manifest. The men, Lot’s guests, made themselves known to him as the messengers of judgment sent by Jehovah , and ordered him to remove any one that belonged to him out of the city. “ Son-in-law (the singular without the article, because it is only assumed as a possible circumstance that he may have sons-in-law), and thy sons, and thy daughters, and all that belongs to thee ” (sc.
, of persons, not of things). Sons Lot does not appear to have had, as we read nothing more about them, but only “ sons-in-law (בנתיו לקחי) who were about to take his daughters, ” as Josephus, the Vulgate , Ewald , and many others correctly render it. The lxx, Targums , Knobel , and Delitzsch adopt the rendering “who had taken his daughters,” in proof of which the last two adduce הנּמצאת in Gen 19:15 as decisive.
But without reason; for this refers not to the daughters who were still in the father’s house, as distinguished form those who were married, but to his wife and two daughters who were to be found with him in the house, in distinction from the bridegrooms, who also belonged to him, but were not yet living with him, and who had received his summons in scorn, because in their carnal security they did not believe in any judgment of God (Luk 17:28-29). If Lot had had married daughters, he would undoubtedly have called upon them to escape along with their husbands, his sons-in-law.
Gen 19:12-14 The sin of Sodom had now become manifest. The men, Lot’s guests, made themselves known to him as the messengers of judgment sent by Jehovah , and ordered him to remove any one that belonged to him out of the city. “ Son-in-law (the singular without the article, because it is only assumed as a possible circumstance that he may have sons-in-law), and thy sons, and thy daughters, and all that belongs to thee ” (sc.
, of persons, not of things). Sons Lot does not appear to have had, as we read nothing more about them, but only “ sons-in-law (בנתיו לקחי) who were about to take his daughters, ” as Josephus, the Vulgate , Ewald , and many others correctly render it. The lxx, Targums , Knobel , and Delitzsch adopt the rendering “who had taken his daughters,” in proof of which the last two adduce הנּמצאת in Gen 19:15 as decisive.
But without reason; for this refers not to the daughters who were still in the father’s house, as distinguished form those who were married, but to his wife and two daughters who were to be found with him in the house, in distinction from the bridegrooms, who also belonged to him, but were not yet living with him, and who had received his summons in scorn, because in their carnal security they did not believe in any judgment of God (Luk 17:28-29). If Lot had had married daughters, he would undoubtedly have called upon them to escape along with their husbands, his sons-in-law.
Gen 19:12-14 The sin of Sodom had now become manifest. The men, Lot’s guests, made themselves known to him as the messengers of judgment sent by Jehovah , and ordered him to remove any one that belonged to him out of the city. “ Son-in-law (the singular without the article, because it is only assumed as a possible circumstance that he may have sons-in-law), and thy sons, and thy daughters, and all that belongs to thee ” (sc.
, of persons, not of things). Sons Lot does not appear to have had, as we read nothing more about them, but only “ sons-in-law (בנתיו לקחי) who were about to take his daughters, ” as Josephus, the Vulgate , Ewald , and many others correctly render it. The lxx, Targums , Knobel , and Delitzsch adopt the rendering “who had taken his daughters,” in proof of which the last two adduce הנּמצאת in Gen 19:15 as decisive.
But without reason; for this refers not to the daughters who were still in the father’s house, as distinguished form those who were married, but to his wife and two daughters who were to be found with him in the house, in distinction from the bridegrooms, who also belonged to him, but were not yet living with him, and who had received his summons in scorn, because in their carnal security they did not believe in any judgment of God (Luk 17:28-29). If Lot had had married daughters, he would undoubtedly have called upon them to escape along with their husbands, his sons-in-law.
Gen 19:15-16 As soon as it was dawn, the angels urged Lot to hasten away with his family; and when he still delayed, his heart evidently clinging to the earthly home and possessions which he was obliged to leave, they laid hold of him, with his wife and his two daughters, עליו יהוה בּחמלת, “ by virtue of the sparing mercy of Jehovah (which operated) upon him,” and led him out of the city.
Gen 19:15-16 As soon as it was dawn, the angels urged Lot to hasten away with his family; and when he still delayed, his heart evidently clinging to the earthly home and possessions which he was obliged to leave, they laid hold of him, with his wife and his two daughters, עליו יהוה בּחמלת, “ by virtue of the sparing mercy of Jehovah (which operated) upon him,” and led him out of the city.
Gen 19:17-22 When they left him here (הנּיח, to let loose, and leave, to leave to one’s self), the Lord commanded him, for the sake of his life, not to look behind him, and not to stand still in all the plain (כּכּר, Gen 13:10), but to flee to the mountains (afterwards called the mountains of Moab). In Gen 19:17 we are struck by the change from the plural to the singular: “when they brought them forth, he said.
” To think of one of the two angels - the one, for example, who led the conversation - seems out of place, not only because Lot addressed him by the name of God, “ Adonai ” (Gen 19:18), but also because the speaker attributed to himself the judgment upon the cities (Gen 19:21, Gen 19:22), which is described in Gen 19:24 as executed by Jehovah . Yet there is nothing to indicate that Jehovah suddenly joined the angels.
The only supposition that remains, therefore, is that Lot recognised in the two angels a manifestation of God, and so addressed them (Gen 19:18) as Adonai (my Lord), and that the angel who spoke addressed him as the messenger of Jehovah in the name of God, without its following from this, that Jehovah was present in the two angels. Lot, instead of cheerfully obeying the commandment of the Lord, appealed to the great mercy shown to him in the preservation of his life, and to the impossibility of his escaping to the mountains, without the evil overtaking him, and entreated therefore that he might be allowed to take refuge in the small and neighbouring city, i.
e. , in Bela , which received the name of Zoar (Gen 14:2) on account of Lot’s calling it little. Zoar , the Σηγωìρ of the lxx, and Segor of the crusaders, is hardly to be sought for on the peninsula which projects a long way into the southern half of the Dead Sea, in the Ghor of el Mezraa , as Irby and Robinson ( Pal. iii. p. 481) suppose; it is much more probably to be found on the south-eastern point of the Dead Sea, in the Ghor of el Szaphia , at the opening of the Wady el Ahsa (vid.
, v . Raumer , Pal. p. 273, Anm. 14).
Gen 19:17-22 When they left him here (הנּיח, to let loose, and leave, to leave to one’s self), the Lord commanded him, for the sake of his life, not to look behind him, and not to stand still in all the plain (כּכּר, Gen 13:10), but to flee to the mountains (afterwards called the mountains of Moab). In Gen 19:17 we are struck by the change from the plural to the singular: “when they brought them forth, he said.
” To think of one of the two angels - the one, for example, who led the conversation - seems out of place, not only because Lot addressed him by the name of God, “ Adonai ” (Gen 19:18), but also because the speaker attributed to himself the judgment upon the cities (Gen 19:21, Gen 19:22), which is described in Gen 19:24 as executed by Jehovah . Yet there is nothing to indicate that Jehovah suddenly joined the angels.
The only supposition that remains, therefore, is that Lot recognised in the two angels a manifestation of God, and so addressed them (Gen 19:18) as Adonai (my Lord), and that the angel who spoke addressed him as the messenger of Jehovah in the name of God, without its following from this, that Jehovah was present in the two angels. Lot, instead of cheerfully obeying the commandment of the Lord, appealed to the great mercy shown to him in the preservation of his life, and to the impossibility of his escaping to the mountains, without the evil overtaking him, and entreated therefore that he might be allowed to take refuge in the small and neighbouring city, i.
e. , in Bela , which received the name of Zoar (Gen 14:2) on account of Lot’s calling it little. Zoar , the Σηγωìρ of the lxx, and Segor of the crusaders, is hardly to be sought for on the peninsula which projects a long way into the southern half of the Dead Sea, in the Ghor of el Mezraa , as Irby and Robinson ( Pal. iii. p. 481) suppose; it is much more probably to be found on the south-eastern point of the Dead Sea, in the Ghor of el Szaphia , at the opening of the Wady el Ahsa (vid.
, v . Raumer , Pal. p. 273, Anm. 14).
Gen 19:17-22 When they left him here (הנּיח, to let loose, and leave, to leave to one’s self), the Lord commanded him, for the sake of his life, not to look behind him, and not to stand still in all the plain (כּכּר, Gen 13:10), but to flee to the mountains (afterwards called the mountains of Moab). In Gen 19:17 we are struck by the change from the plural to the singular: “when they brought them forth, he said.
” To think of one of the two angels - the one, for example, who led the conversation - seems out of place, not only because Lot addressed him by the name of God, “ Adonai ” (Gen 19:18), but also because the speaker attributed to himself the judgment upon the cities (Gen 19:21, Gen 19:22), which is described in Gen 19:24 as executed by Jehovah . Yet there is nothing to indicate that Jehovah suddenly joined the angels.
The only supposition that remains, therefore, is that Lot recognised in the two angels a manifestation of God, and so addressed them (Gen 19:18) as Adonai (my Lord), and that the angel who spoke addressed him as the messenger of Jehovah in the name of God, without its following from this, that Jehovah was present in the two angels. Lot, instead of cheerfully obeying the commandment of the Lord, appealed to the great mercy shown to him in the preservation of his life, and to the impossibility of his escaping to the mountains, without the evil overtaking him, and entreated therefore that he might be allowed to take refuge in the small and neighbouring city, i.
e. , in Bela , which received the name of Zoar (Gen 14:2) on account of Lot’s calling it little. Zoar , the Σηγωìρ of the lxx, and Segor of the crusaders, is hardly to be sought for on the peninsula which projects a long way into the southern half of the Dead Sea, in the Ghor of el Mezraa , as Irby and Robinson ( Pal. iii. p. 481) suppose; it is much more probably to be found on the south-eastern point of the Dead Sea, in the Ghor of el Szaphia , at the opening of the Wady el Ahsa (vid.
, v . Raumer , Pal. p. 273, Anm. 14).
Gen 19:17-22 When they left him here (הנּיח, to let loose, and leave, to leave to one’s self), the Lord commanded him, for the sake of his life, not to look behind him, and not to stand still in all the plain (כּכּר, Gen 13:10), but to flee to the mountains (afterwards called the mountains of Moab). In Gen 19:17 we are struck by the change from the plural to the singular: “when they brought them forth, he said.
” To think of one of the two angels - the one, for example, who led the conversation - seems out of place, not only because Lot addressed him by the name of God, “ Adonai ” (Gen 19:18), but also because the speaker attributed to himself the judgment upon the cities (Gen 19:21, Gen 19:22), which is described in Gen 19:24 as executed by Jehovah . Yet there is nothing to indicate that Jehovah suddenly joined the angels.
The only supposition that remains, therefore, is that Lot recognised in the two angels a manifestation of God, and so addressed them (Gen 19:18) as Adonai (my Lord), and that the angel who spoke addressed him as the messenger of Jehovah in the name of God, without its following from this, that Jehovah was present in the two angels. Lot, instead of cheerfully obeying the commandment of the Lord, appealed to the great mercy shown to him in the preservation of his life, and to the impossibility of his escaping to the mountains, without the evil overtaking him, and entreated therefore that he might be allowed to take refuge in the small and neighbouring city, i.
e. , in Bela , which received the name of Zoar (Gen 14:2) on account of Lot’s calling it little. Zoar , the Σηγωìρ of the lxx, and Segor of the crusaders, is hardly to be sought for on the peninsula which projects a long way into the southern half of the Dead Sea, in the Ghor of el Mezraa , as Irby and Robinson ( Pal. iii. p. 481) suppose; it is much more probably to be found on the south-eastern point of the Dead Sea, in the Ghor of el Szaphia , at the opening of the Wady el Ahsa (vid.
, v . Raumer , Pal. p. 273, Anm. 14).
Gen 19:17-22 When they left him here (הנּיח, to let loose, and leave, to leave to one’s self), the Lord commanded him, for the sake of his life, not to look behind him, and not to stand still in all the plain (כּכּר, Gen 13:10), but to flee to the mountains (afterwards called the mountains of Moab). In Gen 19:17 we are struck by the change from the plural to the singular: “when they brought them forth, he said.
” To think of one of the two angels - the one, for example, who led the conversation - seems out of place, not only because Lot addressed him by the name of God, “ Adonai ” (Gen 19:18), but also because the speaker attributed to himself the judgment upon the cities (Gen 19:21, Gen 19:22), which is described in Gen 19:24 as executed by Jehovah . Yet there is nothing to indicate that Jehovah suddenly joined the angels.
The only supposition that remains, therefore, is that Lot recognised in the two angels a manifestation of God, and so addressed them (Gen 19:18) as Adonai (my Lord), and that the angel who spoke addressed him as the messenger of Jehovah in the name of God, without its following from this, that Jehovah was present in the two angels. Lot, instead of cheerfully obeying the commandment of the Lord, appealed to the great mercy shown to him in the preservation of his life, and to the impossibility of his escaping to the mountains, without the evil overtaking him, and entreated therefore that he might be allowed to take refuge in the small and neighbouring city, i.
e. , in Bela , which received the name of Zoar (Gen 14:2) on account of Lot’s calling it little. Zoar , the Σηγωìρ of the lxx, and Segor of the crusaders, is hardly to be sought for on the peninsula which projects a long way into the southern half of the Dead Sea, in the Ghor of el Mezraa , as Irby and Robinson ( Pal. iii. p. 481) suppose; it is much more probably to be found on the south-eastern point of the Dead Sea, in the Ghor of el Szaphia , at the opening of the Wady el Ahsa (vid.
, v . Raumer , Pal. p. 273, Anm. 14).
Gen 19:17-22 When they left him here (הנּיח, to let loose, and leave, to leave to one’s self), the Lord commanded him, for the sake of his life, not to look behind him, and not to stand still in all the plain (כּכּר, Gen 13:10), but to flee to the mountains (afterwards called the mountains of Moab). In Gen 19:17 we are struck by the change from the plural to the singular: “when they brought them forth, he said.
” To think of one of the two angels - the one, for example, who led the conversation - seems out of place, not only because Lot addressed him by the name of God, “ Adonai ” (Gen 19:18), but also because the speaker attributed to himself the judgment upon the cities (Gen 19:21, Gen 19:22), which is described in Gen 19:24 as executed by Jehovah . Yet there is nothing to indicate that Jehovah suddenly joined the angels.
The only supposition that remains, therefore, is that Lot recognised in the two angels a manifestation of God, and so addressed them (Gen 19:18) as Adonai (my Lord), and that the angel who spoke addressed him as the messenger of Jehovah in the name of God, without its following from this, that Jehovah was present in the two angels. Lot, instead of cheerfully obeying the commandment of the Lord, appealed to the great mercy shown to him in the preservation of his life, and to the impossibility of his escaping to the mountains, without the evil overtaking him, and entreated therefore that he might be allowed to take refuge in the small and neighbouring city, i.
e. , in Bela , which received the name of Zoar (Gen 14:2) on account of Lot’s calling it little. Zoar , the Σηγωìρ of the lxx, and Segor of the crusaders, is hardly to be sought for on the peninsula which projects a long way into the southern half of the Dead Sea, in the Ghor of el Mezraa , as Irby and Robinson ( Pal. iii. p. 481) suppose; it is much more probably to be found on the south-eastern point of the Dead Sea, in the Ghor of el Szaphia , at the opening of the Wady el Ahsa (vid.
, v . Raumer , Pal. p. 273, Anm. 14).
Gen 19:23-25 “ When the sun had risen and Lot had come towards Zoar (i. e. , was on the way thither, but had not yet arrived), Jehovah caused it to rain brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven, and overthrew those cities, and the whole plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and the produce of the earth . ” In the words “ Jehovah caused it to rain from Jehovah ” there is no distinction implied between the hidden and the manifested God, between the Jehovah present upon earth in His angels who called down the judgment, and the Jehovah enthroned in heaven who sent it down; but the expression “from Jehovah ” is emphatica repetitio, quod non usitato naturae ordine tunc Deus pluerit, sed tanquam exerta manu palam fulminaverit praeter solitum morem: ut satis constaret nullis causis naturalibus conflatam fuisse pluviam illam ex igne et sulphure ( Calvin ).
The rain of fire and brimstone was not a mere storm with lightning, which set on fire the soil already overcharged with naphtha and sulphur. The two passages, Psa 11:6 and Eze 38:22, cannot be adduced as proofs that lightning is ever called fire and brimstone in the Scriptures, for in both passages there is an allusion to the event recorded here. The words are to be understood quite literally, as meaning that brimstone and fire, i.
e. , burning brimstone, fell from the sky, even though the examples of burning bituminous matter falling upon the earth which are given in Oedmann’s vermischte Sammlungen (iii. 120) may be called in question by historical criticism. By this rain of fire and brimstone not only were the cities and their inhabitants consumed, but even the soil, which abounded in asphalt, was set on fire, so that the entire valley was burned out and sank, or was overthrown (הפך) i.
e. , utterly destroyed, and the Dead Sea took its place. In addition to Sodom, which was probably the chief city of the valley of Siddim, Gomorrah and the whole valley (i. e. , the valley of Siddim, Gen 14:3) are mentioned; and along with these the cities of Admah and Zeboim, which were situated in the valley (Deu 29:23, cf. Hos 11:8), also perished, Zoar alone, which is at the south-eastern end of the valley, being spared for Lot’s sake.
Even to the present day the Dead Sea, with the sulphureous vapour which hangs about it, the great blocks of saltpetre and sulphur which lie on every hand, and the utter absence of the slightest trace of animal and vegetable life in its waters, are a striking testimony to this catastrophe, which is held up in both the Old and New Testaments as a fearfully solemn judgment of God for the warning of self-secure and presumptuous sinners.
Gen 19:23-25 “ When the sun had risen and Lot had come towards Zoar (i. e. , was on the way thither, but had not yet arrived), Jehovah caused it to rain brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven, and overthrew those cities, and the whole plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and the produce of the earth . ” In the words “ Jehovah caused it to rain from Jehovah ” there is no distinction implied between the hidden and the manifested God, between the Jehovah present upon earth in His angels who called down the judgment, and the Jehovah enthroned in heaven who sent it down; but the expression “from Jehovah ” is emphatica repetitio, quod non usitato naturae ordine tunc Deus pluerit, sed tanquam exerta manu palam fulminaverit praeter solitum morem: ut satis constaret nullis causis naturalibus conflatam fuisse pluviam illam ex igne et sulphure ( Calvin ).
The rain of fire and brimstone was not a mere storm with lightning, which set on fire the soil already overcharged with naphtha and sulphur. The two passages, Psa 11:6 and Eze 38:22, cannot be adduced as proofs that lightning is ever called fire and brimstone in the Scriptures, for in both passages there is an allusion to the event recorded here. The words are to be understood quite literally, as meaning that brimstone and fire, i.
e. , burning brimstone, fell from the sky, even though the examples of burning bituminous matter falling upon the earth which are given in Oedmann’s vermischte Sammlungen (iii. 120) may be called in question by historical criticism. By this rain of fire and brimstone not only were the cities and their inhabitants consumed, but even the soil, which abounded in asphalt, was set on fire, so that the entire valley was burned out and sank, or was overthrown (הפך) i.
e. , utterly destroyed, and the Dead Sea took its place. In addition to Sodom, which was probably the chief city of the valley of Siddim, Gomorrah and the whole valley (i. e. , the valley of Siddim, Gen 14:3) are mentioned; and along with these the cities of Admah and Zeboim, which were situated in the valley (Deu 29:23, cf. Hos 11:8), also perished, Zoar alone, which is at the south-eastern end of the valley, being spared for Lot’s sake.
Even to the present day the Dead Sea, with the sulphureous vapour which hangs about it, the great blocks of saltpetre and sulphur which lie on every hand, and the utter absence of the slightest trace of animal and vegetable life in its waters, are a striking testimony to this catastrophe, which is held up in both the Old and New Testaments as a fearfully solemn judgment of God for the warning of self-secure and presumptuous sinners.
Gen 19:23-25 “ When the sun had risen and Lot had come towards Zoar (i. e. , was on the way thither, but had not yet arrived), Jehovah caused it to rain brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven, and overthrew those cities, and the whole plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and the produce of the earth . ” In the words “ Jehovah caused it to rain from Jehovah ” there is no distinction implied between the hidden and the manifested God, between the Jehovah present upon earth in His angels who called down the judgment, and the Jehovah enthroned in heaven who sent it down; but the expression “from Jehovah ” is emphatica repetitio, quod non usitato naturae ordine tunc Deus pluerit, sed tanquam exerta manu palam fulminaverit praeter solitum morem: ut satis constaret nullis causis naturalibus conflatam fuisse pluviam illam ex igne et sulphure ( Calvin ).
The rain of fire and brimstone was not a mere storm with lightning, which set on fire the soil already overcharged with naphtha and sulphur. The two passages, Psa 11:6 and Eze 38:22, cannot be adduced as proofs that lightning is ever called fire and brimstone in the Scriptures, for in both passages there is an allusion to the event recorded here. The words are to be understood quite literally, as meaning that brimstone and fire, i.
e. , burning brimstone, fell from the sky, even though the examples of burning bituminous matter falling upon the earth which are given in Oedmann’s vermischte Sammlungen (iii. 120) may be called in question by historical criticism. By this rain of fire and brimstone not only were the cities and their inhabitants consumed, but even the soil, which abounded in asphalt, was set on fire, so that the entire valley was burned out and sank, or was overthrown (הפך) i.
e. , utterly destroyed, and the Dead Sea took its place. In addition to Sodom, which was probably the chief city of the valley of Siddim, Gomorrah and the whole valley (i. e. , the valley of Siddim, Gen 14:3) are mentioned; and along with these the cities of Admah and Zeboim, which were situated in the valley (Deu 29:23, cf. Hos 11:8), also perished, Zoar alone, which is at the south-eastern end of the valley, being spared for Lot’s sake.
Even to the present day the Dead Sea, with the sulphureous vapour which hangs about it, the great blocks of saltpetre and sulphur which lie on every hand, and the utter absence of the slightest trace of animal and vegetable life in its waters, are a striking testimony to this catastrophe, which is held up in both the Old and New Testaments as a fearfully solemn judgment of God for the warning of self-secure and presumptuous sinners.
Gen 19:26-28 On the way, Lot’s wife, notwithstanding the divine command, looked “ behind him away, ” - i. e. , went behind her husband and looked backwards, probably from a longing for the house and the earthly possessions she had left with reluctance (cf. Luk 17:31-32), - and “ became a pillar of salt . ” We are not to suppose that she was actually turned into one, but having been killed by the fiery and sulphureous vapour with which the air was filled, and afterwards encrusted with salt, she resembled an actual statue of salt; just as even now, from the saline exhalation of the Dead Sea, objects near it are quickly covered with a crust of salt, so that the fact, to which Christ refers in Luk 17:32, may be understood without supposing a miracle.
- In Gen 19:27, Gen 19:28, the account closes with a remark which points back to Gen 18:17. , viz. , that Abraham went in the morning to the place where he had stood the day before, interceding with the Lord for Sodom, and saw how the judgment had fallen upon the entire plain, since the smoke of the country went up like the smoke of a furnace. Yet his intercession had not been in vain.
Gen 19:26-28 On the way, Lot’s wife, notwithstanding the divine command, looked “ behind him away, ” - i. e. , went behind her husband and looked backwards, probably from a longing for the house and the earthly possessions she had left with reluctance (cf. Luk 17:31-32), - and “ became a pillar of salt . ” We are not to suppose that she was actually turned into one, but having been killed by the fiery and sulphureous vapour with which the air was filled, and afterwards encrusted with salt, she resembled an actual statue of salt; just as even now, from the saline exhalation of the Dead Sea, objects near it are quickly covered with a crust of salt, so that the fact, to which Christ refers in Luk 17:32, may be understood without supposing a miracle.
- In Gen 19:27, Gen 19:28, the account closes with a remark which points back to Gen 18:17. , viz. , that Abraham went in the morning to the place where he had stood the day before, interceding with the Lord for Sodom, and saw how the judgment had fallen upon the entire plain, since the smoke of the country went up like the smoke of a furnace. Yet his intercession had not been in vain.
Gen 19:26-28 On the way, Lot’s wife, notwithstanding the divine command, looked “ behind him away, ” - i. e. , went behind her husband and looked backwards, probably from a longing for the house and the earthly possessions she had left with reluctance (cf. Luk 17:31-32), - and “ became a pillar of salt . ” We are not to suppose that she was actually turned into one, but having been killed by the fiery and sulphureous vapour with which the air was filled, and afterwards encrusted with salt, she resembled an actual statue of salt; just as even now, from the saline exhalation of the Dead Sea, objects near it are quickly covered with a crust of salt, so that the fact, to which Christ refers in Luk 17:32, may be understood without supposing a miracle.
- In Gen 19:27, Gen 19:28, the account closes with a remark which points back to Gen 18:17. , viz. , that Abraham went in the morning to the place where he had stood the day before, interceding with the Lord for Sodom, and saw how the judgment had fallen upon the entire plain, since the smoke of the country went up like the smoke of a furnace. Yet his intercession had not been in vain.
Gen 19:29 For on the destruction of these cities, God had thought of Abraham, and rescued Lot. This rescue is attributed to Elohim , as being the work of the Judge of the whole earth (Gen 18:25), and not to Jehovah the covenant God, because Lot was severed from His guidance and care on his separation from Abraham. The fact, however, is repeated here, for the purpose of connecting with it an event in the life of Lot of great significance to the future history of Abraham’s seed.
Gen 19:30-35 From Zoar Lot removed with his two daughters to the (Moabitish) mountains, for fear that Zoar might after all be destroyed, and dwelt in one of the caves (מערה with the generic article), in which the limestone rocks abound (vid. , Lynch ), and so became a dweller in a cave. While there, his daughters resolved to procure children through their father; and to that end on two successive evenings they made him intoxicated with wine, and then lay with him in the might, one after the other, that they might conceive seed.
To this accursed crime they were impelled by the desire to preserve their family, because they thought there was no man on the earth to come in unto them, i. e. , to marry them, “after the manner of all the earth. ” Not that they imagined the whole human race to have perished in the destruction of the valley of Siddim, but because they were afraid that no man would link himself with them, the only survivors of a country smitten by the curse of God.
If it was not lust, therefore, which impelled them to this shameful deed, their conduct was worthy of Sodom, and shows quite as much as their previous betrothal to men of Sodom, that they were deeply imbued with the sinful character of that city. The words of Gen 19:33 and Gen 19:35, “And he knew not of her lying down and of her rising up,” do not affirm that he was in an unconscious state, as the Rabbins are said by Jerome to have indicated by the point over בּקוּמה: “ quasi incredibile et quod natura rerum non capiat, coire quempiam nescientem .
” They merely mean, that in his intoxicated state, though not entirely unconscious, yet he lay with his daughters without clearly knowing what he was doing.
Gen 19:30-35 From Zoar Lot removed with his two daughters to the (Moabitish) mountains, for fear that Zoar might after all be destroyed, and dwelt in one of the caves (מערה with the generic article), in which the limestone rocks abound (vid. , Lynch ), and so became a dweller in a cave. While there, his daughters resolved to procure children through their father; and to that end on two successive evenings they made him intoxicated with wine, and then lay with him in the might, one after the other, that they might conceive seed.
To this accursed crime they were impelled by the desire to preserve their family, because they thought there was no man on the earth to come in unto them, i. e. , to marry them, “after the manner of all the earth. ” Not that they imagined the whole human race to have perished in the destruction of the valley of Siddim, but because they were afraid that no man would link himself with them, the only survivors of a country smitten by the curse of God.
If it was not lust, therefore, which impelled them to this shameful deed, their conduct was worthy of Sodom, and shows quite as much as their previous betrothal to men of Sodom, that they were deeply imbued with the sinful character of that city. The words of Gen 19:33 and Gen 19:35, “And he knew not of her lying down and of her rising up,” do not affirm that he was in an unconscious state, as the Rabbins are said by Jerome to have indicated by the point over בּקוּמה: “ quasi incredibile et quod natura rerum non capiat, coire quempiam nescientem .
” They merely mean, that in his intoxicated state, though not entirely unconscious, yet he lay with his daughters without clearly knowing what he was doing.
Gen 19:30-35 From Zoar Lot removed with his two daughters to the (Moabitish) mountains, for fear that Zoar might after all be destroyed, and dwelt in one of the caves (מערה with the generic article), in which the limestone rocks abound (vid. , Lynch ), and so became a dweller in a cave. While there, his daughters resolved to procure children through their father; and to that end on two successive evenings they made him intoxicated with wine, and then lay with him in the might, one after the other, that they might conceive seed.
To this accursed crime they were impelled by the desire to preserve their family, because they thought there was no man on the earth to come in unto them, i. e. , to marry them, “after the manner of all the earth. ” Not that they imagined the whole human race to have perished in the destruction of the valley of Siddim, but because they were afraid that no man would link himself with them, the only survivors of a country smitten by the curse of God.
If it was not lust, therefore, which impelled them to this shameful deed, their conduct was worthy of Sodom, and shows quite as much as their previous betrothal to men of Sodom, that they were deeply imbued with the sinful character of that city. The words of Gen 19:33 and Gen 19:35, “And he knew not of her lying down and of her rising up,” do not affirm that he was in an unconscious state, as the Rabbins are said by Jerome to have indicated by the point over בּקוּמה: “ quasi incredibile et quod natura rerum non capiat, coire quempiam nescientem .
” They merely mean, that in his intoxicated state, though not entirely unconscious, yet he lay with his daughters without clearly knowing what he was doing.
Gen 19:30-35 From Zoar Lot removed with his two daughters to the (Moabitish) mountains, for fear that Zoar might after all be destroyed, and dwelt in one of the caves (מערה with the generic article), in which the limestone rocks abound (vid. , Lynch ), and so became a dweller in a cave. While there, his daughters resolved to procure children through their father; and to that end on two successive evenings they made him intoxicated with wine, and then lay with him in the might, one after the other, that they might conceive seed.
To this accursed crime they were impelled by the desire to preserve their family, because they thought there was no man on the earth to come in unto them, i. e. , to marry them, “after the manner of all the earth. ” Not that they imagined the whole human race to have perished in the destruction of the valley of Siddim, but because they were afraid that no man would link himself with them, the only survivors of a country smitten by the curse of God.
If it was not lust, therefore, which impelled them to this shameful deed, their conduct was worthy of Sodom, and shows quite as much as their previous betrothal to men of Sodom, that they were deeply imbued with the sinful character of that city. The words of Gen 19:33 and Gen 19:35, “And he knew not of her lying down and of her rising up,” do not affirm that he was in an unconscious state, as the Rabbins are said by Jerome to have indicated by the point over בּקוּמה: “ quasi incredibile et quod natura rerum non capiat, coire quempiam nescientem .
” They merely mean, that in his intoxicated state, though not entirely unconscious, yet he lay with his daughters without clearly knowing what he was doing.
Gen 19:30-35 From Zoar Lot removed with his two daughters to the (Moabitish) mountains, for fear that Zoar might after all be destroyed, and dwelt in one of the caves (מערה with the generic article), in which the limestone rocks abound (vid. , Lynch ), and so became a dweller in a cave. While there, his daughters resolved to procure children through their father; and to that end on two successive evenings they made him intoxicated with wine, and then lay with him in the might, one after the other, that they might conceive seed.
To this accursed crime they were impelled by the desire to preserve their family, because they thought there was no man on the earth to come in unto them, i. e. , to marry them, “after the manner of all the earth. ” Not that they imagined the whole human race to have perished in the destruction of the valley of Siddim, but because they were afraid that no man would link himself with them, the only survivors of a country smitten by the curse of God.
If it was not lust, therefore, which impelled them to this shameful deed, their conduct was worthy of Sodom, and shows quite as much as their previous betrothal to men of Sodom, that they were deeply imbued with the sinful character of that city. The words of Gen 19:33 and Gen 19:35, “And he knew not of her lying down and of her rising up,” do not affirm that he was in an unconscious state, as the Rabbins are said by Jerome to have indicated by the point over בּקוּמה: “ quasi incredibile et quod natura rerum non capiat, coire quempiam nescientem .
” They merely mean, that in his intoxicated state, though not entirely unconscious, yet he lay with his daughters without clearly knowing what he was doing.
Gen 19:30-35 From Zoar Lot removed with his two daughters to the (Moabitish) mountains, for fear that Zoar might after all be destroyed, and dwelt in one of the caves (מערה with the generic article), in which the limestone rocks abound (vid. , Lynch ), and so became a dweller in a cave. While there, his daughters resolved to procure children through their father; and to that end on two successive evenings they made him intoxicated with wine, and then lay with him in the might, one after the other, that they might conceive seed.
To this accursed crime they were impelled by the desire to preserve their family, because they thought there was no man on the earth to come in unto them, i. e. , to marry them, “after the manner of all the earth. ” Not that they imagined the whole human race to have perished in the destruction of the valley of Siddim, but because they were afraid that no man would link himself with them, the only survivors of a country smitten by the curse of God.
If it was not lust, therefore, which impelled them to this shameful deed, their conduct was worthy of Sodom, and shows quite as much as their previous betrothal to men of Sodom, that they were deeply imbued with the sinful character of that city. The words of Gen 19:33 and Gen 19:35, “And he knew not of her lying down and of her rising up,” do not affirm that he was in an unconscious state, as the Rabbins are said by Jerome to have indicated by the point over בּקוּמה: “ quasi incredibile et quod natura rerum non capiat, coire quempiam nescientem .
” They merely mean, that in his intoxicated state, though not entirely unconscious, yet he lay with his daughters without clearly knowing what he was doing.
Gen 19:36-38 But Lot’s daughters had so little feeling of shame in connection with their conduct, that they gave names to the sons they bore, which have immortalized their paternity. Moab , another form of מאב “from the father,” as is indicated in the clause appended in the lxx: λεìγουσα ἐκ τοῦ πατροìς μου, and also rendered probable by the reiteration of the words “of our father” and “by their father” (Gen 19:32, Gen 19:34, and Gen 19:36), as well as by the analogy of the name Ben-Ammi = Ammon , Ἀμμαìν, λεìγουσα Υἱος γεìνους μου (lxx).
For עמּון, the sprout of the nation, bears the same relation to עם, as אגמון, the rush or sprout of the marsh, to אגם Delitzsch ). - This account was neither the invention of national hatred to the Moabites and Ammonites, nor was it placed here as a brand upon those tribes. These discoveries of a criticism imbued with hostility to the Bible are overthrown by the fact, that, according to Deu 2:9, Deu 2:19, Israel was ordered not to touch the territory of either of these tribes because of their descent from Lot; and it was their unbrotherly conduct towards Israel alone which first prevented their reception into the congregation of the Lord, Deu 23:4-5.
- Lot is never mentioned again. Separated both outwardly and inwardly from Abraham, he was of no further importance in relation to the history of salvation, so that even his death is not referred to. His descendants, however, frequently came into contact with the Israelites; and the history of their descent is given here to facilitate a correct appreciation of their conduct towards Israel.
Gen 19:36-38 But Lot’s daughters had so little feeling of shame in connection with their conduct, that they gave names to the sons they bore, which have immortalized their paternity. Moab , another form of מאב “from the father,” as is indicated in the clause appended in the lxx: λεìγουσα ἐκ τοῦ πατροìς μου, and also rendered probable by the reiteration of the words “of our father” and “by their father” (Gen 19:32, Gen 19:34, and Gen 19:36), as well as by the analogy of the name Ben-Ammi = Ammon , Ἀμμαìν, λεìγουσα Υἱος γεìνους μου (lxx).
For עמּון, the sprout of the nation, bears the same relation to עם, as אגמון, the rush or sprout of the marsh, to אגם Delitzsch ). - This account was neither the invention of national hatred to the Moabites and Ammonites, nor was it placed here as a brand upon those tribes. These discoveries of a criticism imbued with hostility to the Bible are overthrown by the fact, that, according to Deu 2:9, Deu 2:19, Israel was ordered not to touch the territory of either of these tribes because of their descent from Lot; and it was their unbrotherly conduct towards Israel alone which first prevented their reception into the congregation of the Lord, Deu 23:4-5.
- Lot is never mentioned again. Separated both outwardly and inwardly from Abraham, he was of no further importance in relation to the history of salvation, so that even his death is not referred to. His descendants, however, frequently came into contact with the Israelites; and the history of their descent is given here to facilitate a correct appreciation of their conduct towards Israel.