The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth, and he said, “See now, my lords, please come into your servant’s house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early, and go on your way.” They said, “No, but we will stay in the street all night.”
He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. They called to Lot, and said to him, “Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them.”
Lot went out to them through the door, and shut the door after himself. He said, “Please, my brothers, don’t act so wickedly. See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don’t do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof.”
They said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them!” They pressed hard on the man Lot, and came near to break the door. But the men reached out their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 1. And there came two angels to Sodom. The…
1. And there came two angels to Sodom. The question occurs, why one of the three angels has suddenly disappeared, and two only are come to Sodom? The Jews (with their wonted audacity in introducing fables) pretend that one came to destroy Sodom, the other to preserve Lot. But from the discourse of Moses, this appears to be frivolous: because we shall see that they both assisted in the liberation of Lot. What I have before adduced is more simple; namely, that it was granted to Abraham, as a peculiar favor, that God would not only send him two messengers from the angelic host, but that, in a more familiar manner, he would manifest himself to him, in his own Son. For (as we have seen) one of the messengers held the principal place, as being superior to the others in dignity. Now, although Christ was always the Mediator, yet, because he manifested himself more obscurely to Lot than he did to Abraham, the two angels only came to Sodom. Since Moses relates, that Lot sat in the gate of the city about evening, many contend that he did so, according to daily custom, for the purpose of receiving guests into his house; yet, as Moses is silent respecting the cause, it would be rash to affirm this as certain. I grant, indeed, that he did not sit as idle persons are wont to do; but the conjecture is not less probable, that he had come forth to meet his shepherds, in order to be present when his sheep were folded. That he was hospitable, the courteous invitation which is mentioned by Moses clearly demonstrates; yet, why he then remained in the gate of the city is uncertain; unless it were, that he was unwilling to omit any opportunity of doing an act of kindness, when strangers presented themselves on whom he might bestow his services. What remains, on this point, may be found in the preceding chapter Genesis 17:1
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 8, 11 Wherein we see God’s provident care in preserving his:…
Wherein we see God’s provident care in preserving his: albeit he revealeth not himself to all alike: for Lot had but two Angels, and Abraham three.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–11 Gen 19:1 And there came two angels to Sodom…
Gen 19:1 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing [them] rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
Ver. 1. Lot sat in the gate.] Not as a judge (as the Hebrews will have it), nor as a merchant; much less as a noveller; but as a good householder, looking for his herds, and as a good housekeeper, looking for guests.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11 And there came two angels, even those two which…
And there came two angels, even those two which departed from Abraham, Gen 18:22, and now were come to Lot, the third yet staying and communing with Abraham. Angels they truly were, though they be called men, Gen 18:1-33.
At even of the same day on which they departed from Abraham.
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In the gate of Sodom, where he sat either to observe the administration or corruption of justice there; for the seats of judicature were in the gates: or rather to wait for strangers, to whom he might exercise kindness and hospitality.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 4 These angels, it is likely, were two of the…
These angels, it is likely, were two of the three that had just before been with Abraham, the two created angels that were sent to execute God's purpose concerning Sodom. Observe here, 1. There was but one good man in Sodom, and these heavenly messengers soon found him out. Wherever we are, we should enquire out those of the place that live in the fear of God, and should choose to associate ourselves with them. Mat 10:11, Enquire who is worthy, and there abide. Those of the same country, when they are in a foreign country, love to be together. 2. Lot sufficiently distinguished himself from the rest of his neighbours, at this time, which plainly set a mark upon him. He that did not act like the rest must not fare like the rest. (1.) Lot sat in the gate of Sodom at even. When the rest, it is likely, were tippling and drinking, he sat alone, waiting for an opportunity to do good. (2.) He was extremely respectful to men whose mien and aspect were sober and serious, though they did not come in state. He bowed himself to the ground, when he met them, as if, upon the first view, he discerned something divine in them. (3.) He was hospitable, and very free and generous in his invitations and entertainments. He courted these strangers to his house, and to the best accommodations he had, and gave them all the evidences that he could of his sincerity; for, [1.] When the angels, to try whether he was hearty in the invitation, declined the acceptance of it, at first (which is the common usage of modesty, and no reproach at all to truth and honesty), their refusal did not make him more importunate; for he pressed upon them greatly (Gen 19:3), partly because he would be no means have them to expose themselves to the inconveniences and perils of lodging in the street of Sodom, and partly because he was desirous of their company and converse. He had not seen two such honest faces in Sodom this great while. Note, Those that live in bad places should know how to value the society of those that are wise and good, and earnestly desire it. [2.] When the angels accepted his invitation, he treated them nobly; he made a feast for them, and thought it well-bestowed on such guests. Note, Good people should be (with prudence) generous people.
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John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–11 And there came two angels to Sodom at even,....…
And there came two angels to Sodom at even,.... Or "the two angels" (h), the two men who were angels in the likeness of men, that had been with Abraham in the heat of the day at Hebron, on the evening of the same day came to Sodom:
and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: not as a civil magistrate to try causes there, being appointed a judge over them, as Jarchi relates; yea, the Jews say (i): that that day five judges were appointed by the men of Sodom, and Lot was the chief of them; but this is not likely, and seems to be contradicted, Gen 19:9; but he sat there to observe strangers that might pass by, and invite them into his house, and that they might not fall into the hands of the wicked Sodomites, who might abuse them; this being a time when not only travellers would be glad to put up and take refreshment, but his wicked neighbours lay in wait for them to satisfy their lusts on them: he had learnt this hospitality from Abraham:
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and Lot seeing them, rose up to meet them: he arose from his seat and went forward to meet them, which showed his readiness and heartiness to receive them:
and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; not in a religious way, as paying worship to angels, for as yet he did not know them to be such, and if he had, would not have given them divine adoration; but in a civil way, as was the custom of the eastern countries to bow very low in their civil respects to men, especially to great personages; and such Lot took these to be by their goodly looks and by their dress, as appears by his salutation of them in Gen 19:2.
(h) "duo illi angeli", Tigurine version, Cocceius; so Ar. "duobus illis angelis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (i) Bereshit Rabba, sect. 50. fol. 44. 4.
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John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 8, 11 We read, chap. 18. of God's coming to take…
We read, chap. 18. of God's coming to take a view of the state of Sodom, what its wickedness was, and what righteous there were in it: here we have the result of that enquiry.
I. It was found upon trial that Lot was very good, ver. 1, 2, 3. and it did not appear that there were any more of the same character.
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II. It was found that the Sodomites were very wicked, ver. 4-11.
III. Special care was therefore taken for the securing of Lot and his family, ver, 12-23.
IV. The ruin of Sodom, and of Lot's wife, ver. 24-26. with a general repetition of the story, ver. 27-29.
V. A foul sin that Lot was guilty of, in committing incest with his two daughters, ver. 30-38.
And there came two - Probably two of the three that had just before been with Abraham, the two created angels who were sent to execute God's purpose concerning Sodom.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 11 The two angels mentioned in the preceding chapter, come…
CHAPTER XIX
The two angels mentioned in the preceding chapter, come in
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the evening to Sodom, 1.
Lot, who was sitting at the gate, invites them to enter his
house, take some refreshment, and tarry all night; which they
at first refuse, 2;
but on being pressingly solicited, they at last comply, 3.
The abominable conduct of the men of Sodom, 4, 5.
Lot's deep concern for the honour and safely of his guests, which leads
him to make a most exceptionable proposal to those wicked men, 6-8.
The violent proceedings of the Sodomites, 9.
Lot rescued from their barbarity by the angels, who smite them with
blindness, 10, 11.
The angels exhort Lot and his family to flee from that wicked place,
as God was about to destroy it, 12, 13.
Lot's fruitless exhortation to his sons-in-law, 14.
The angels hasten Lot and his family to depart, 15, 16.
Their exhortation, 17.
Lot's request, 18-20.
He is permitted to escape to Zoar, 21-23.
Fire and brimstone are rained down from heaven upon all the cities
of the plain, by which they are entirely destroyed, 24, 25.
Lot's wife, looking behind, becomes a pillar of salt, 26.
Abraham, early in the morning, discovers the desolation of those
iniquitous cities, 27-29.
Lot, fearing to continue in Zoar, went with his two daughters
to the mountain, and dwelt in a cave, 30.
The strange conduct of his daughters, and his unhappy
deception, 31-36.
Moab and Ammon born, from whom sprang the Moabites and
Ammonites, 37, 38.
NOTES ON CHAP. XIX
Verse 1. Two angels] The two referred to Ge 18:22.
Sat in the gate] Probably, in order to prevent unwary travellers from being entrapped by his wicked townsmen, he waited at the gate of the city to bring the strangers he might meet with to his own house, as well as to transact his own business. Or, as the gate was the place of judgment, he might have been sitting there as magistrate to hear and determine disputes.
Bowed himself] Not through religious reverence, for he did not know the quality of his guests; but through the customary form of civility. See on verses Ge 18:3-5 of the preceding chapter.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 11 Gen 19:1. There came two angels — Probably two…
Gen 19:1. There came two angels — Probably two of the three that had just before been with Abraham, the two created angels, who were now sent to execute God’s purpose concerning Sodom. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom — Waiting for an opportunity of entertaining strangers, in which he imitated Abraham, and set an example of hospitality in the midst of the reigning and abominable vices of the place. For though he was influenced to go thither by improper motives, and continued there with unjustifiable obstinacy, when every dictate of religion and morality cried aloud, — “Come out from among them;” yet, on the whole, as St. Peter observes, (2Pe 2:8,) he was a righteous man, and his righteous soul was vexed from day to day with the filthy conversation of that most abandoned place, in seeing and hearing of their unlawful deeds.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v1 - The Destruction of Sodom and Amorah
- The Destruction of Sodom and Amorah
9. גשׁ־הלאה gesh-hāl'âh, “approach to a distant point,” stand back.
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11. סנורים sanevērı̂ym, “blindness,” affecting the mental more than the ocular vision.
37. מואב mô'āb, Moab; מאב mē'āb, “from a father.” בן־עמי ben-‛amı̂y, Ben-‘ammi, “son of my people.” עמון ‛amôn, ‘Ammon, “of the people.”
This chapter is the continuation and conclusion of the former. It records a part of God’s strange work - strange, because it consists in punishment, and because it is foreign to the covenant of grace. Yet it is closely connected with Abraham’s history, inasmuch as it is a signal chastisement of wickedness in his neighborhood, a memorial of the righteous judgment of God to all his posterity, and at the same time a remarkable answer to the spirit, if not to the letter, of his intercessory prayer. His kinsman Lot, the only righteous man in Sodom, with his wife and two daughters, is delivered from destruction in accordance with his earnest appeal on behalf of the righteous.
Gen 19:1-3
The two angels. - These are the two men who left Abraham standing before the Lord Gen 18:22. “Lot sat in the gate,” the place of public resort for news and for business. He courteously rises to meet them, does obeisance to them, and invites them to spend the night in his house. “Nay, but in the street will we lodge.” This is the disposition of those who come to inquire, and, it may be, to condemn and to punish. They are twice in this chapter called angels, being sent to perform a delegated duty. This term, however, defines their office, not their nature. Lot, in the first instance, calls them “my lords,” which is a term of respect that may be addressed to men Gen 31:35. He afterward styled one of them Adonai, with the special vowel pointing which limits it to the Supreme Being. He at the same time calls himself his servant, appeals to his grace and mercy, and ascribes to him his deliverance. The person thus addressed replies, in a tone of independence and authority, “I have accepted thee.” “I will not overthrow this city for which thou hast spoken.” “I cannot do anything until thou go thither.” All these circumstances point to a divine personage, and are not so easily explained of a mere delegate. He is pre-eminently the Saviour, as he who communed with Abraham was the hearer of prayer. And he who hears prayer and saves life, appears also as the executor of his purpose in the overthrow of Sodom and the other cities of the vale. It is remarkable that only two of the three who appeared to Abraham are called angels. Of the persons in the divine essence two might be the angels or deputies of the primary in the discharge of the divine purpose. These three men, then, either immediately represent, or, if created angels, mediately shadow forth persons in the Godhead. Their number indicates that the persons in the divine unity are three.
Lot seems to have recognized something extraordinary in their appearance, for he made a lowly obeisance to them. The Sodomites heed not the strangers. Lot’s invitation; at first declined, is at length accepted, because Lot is approved of God as righteous, and excepted from the doom of the city.
Gen 19:4-11
The wicked violence of the citizens displays itself. They compass the house, and demand the men for the vilest ends. How familiar Lot had become with vice, when any necessity whatever could induce him to offer his daughters to the lust of these Sodomites! We may suppose it was spoken rashly, in the heat of the moment, and with the expectation that he would not be taken at his word. So it turned out. “Stand back.” This seems to be a menace to frighten Lot out of the way of their perverse will. It is probable, indeed, that he and his family would not have been so long safe in this wicked place, had he not been the occasion of a great deliverance to the whole city when they were carried away by the four kings. The threat is followed by a taunt, when the sorely vexed host hesitated to give up the strangers. “He will needs be a judge.” It is evident Lot had been in the habit of remonstrating with them. From threats and taunts they soon proceed to violence. His guests now interfere. They rescue Lot, and smite the rioters with blindness, or a wandering of the senses, so that they cannot find the door. This ebullition of the vilest passion seals the doom of the city.
Gen 19:12-23
The visitors now take steps for the deliverance of Lot and his kindred before the destruction of the cities. All that are related to him are included in the offer of deliverance. There is a blessing in being connected with the righteous, if men will but avail themselves of it. Lot seems bewildered by the contemptuous refusal of his connections to leave the place. His early choice and his growing habits have attached him to the place, notwithstanding its temptations. His married daughters, or at least the intended husbands of the two who were at home (“who are here”), are to be left behind. But though these thoughts make him linger, the mercy of the Lord prevails. The angels use a little violence to hasten their escape. The mountain was preserved by its elevation from the flood of rain, sulphur, and fire which descended on the low ground on which the cities were built. Lot begs for a small town to which he may retreat, as he shrinks from the perils of a mountain dwelling, and his request is mercifully granted.
Gen 19:24-26
Then follows the overthrow of the cities. “The Lord rained brimstone and fire from the Lord from the skies.” Here the Lord is represented as present in the skies, whence the storm of desolation comes, and on the earth where it falls. The dale of Siddim, in which the cities were, appears to have abounded in asphalt and other combustible materials Gen 14:10. The district was liable to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions from the earliest to the latest times. We read of an earthquake in the days of king Uzziah Amo 1:1. An earthquake in 1759 destroyed many thousands of persons in the valley of Baalbec. Josephus (De Bell. Jud. iii. 10, 7) reports that the Salt Sea sends up in many places black masses of asphalt, which are not unlike headless bulls in shape and size. After an earthquake in 1834, masses of asphalt were thrown up from the bottom, and in 1837 a similar cause was attended with similar effects.
The lake lies in the lowest part of the valley of the Jordan, and its surface is about thirteen hundred feet below the level of the sea. In such a hollow, exposed to the burning rays of an unclouded sun, its waters evaporate as much as it receives by the influx of the Jordan. Its present area is about forty-five miles by eight miles. A peninsula pushes into it from the east called the Lisan, or tongue, the north point of which is about twenty miles from the south end of the lake. North of this point the depth is from forty to two hundred and eighteen fathoms. This southern part of the lake seems to have been the original dale of Siddim, in which were the cities of the vale. The remarkable salt hills lying on the south of the lake are still called Khashm Usdum (Sodom). A tremendous storm, accompanied with flashes of lightning, and torrents of rain, impregnated with sulphur, descended upon the doomed cities.
From the injunction to Lot to “flee to the mountain,” as well as from the nature of the soil, we may infer that at the same time with the awful conflagration there was a subsidence of the ground, so that the waters of the upper and original lake flowed in upon the former fertile and populous dale, and formed the shallow southern part of the present Salt Sea. In this pool of melting asphalt and sweltering, seething waters, the cities seem to have sunk forever, and left behind them no vestiges of their existence. Lot’s wife lingering behind her husband, and looking back, contrary to the express command of the Lord, is caught in the sweeping tempest, and becomes a pillar of salt: so narrow was the escape of Lot. The dashing spray of the salt sulphurous rain seems to have suffocated her, and then encrusted her whole body. She may have burned to a cinder in the furious conflagration. She is a memorable example of the indignation and wrath that overtakes the halting and the backsliding.
Gen 19:27-29
Abraham rises early on the following morning, to see what had become of the city for which he had interceded so earnestly, and views from afar the scene of smoking desolation. Remembering Abraham, who was Lot’s uncle, and had him probably in mind in his importunate pleading, God delivered Lot from this awful overthrow. The Eternal is here designated by the name Elohim, the Everlasting, because in the war of elements in which the cities were overwhelmed, the eternal potencies of his nature were signally displayed.
Gen 19:30-38
The descendants of Lot. Bewildered by the narrowness of his escape, and the awful death of his wife, Lot seems to have left Zoar, and taken to the mountain west of the Salt Sea, in terror of impending ruin. It is not improbable that all the inhabitants of Zoar, panic-struck, may have fled from the region of danger, and dispersed themselves for a time through the adjacent mountains. He was now far from the habitations of people, with his two daughters as his only companions. The manners of Sodom here obtrude themselves upon our view. Lot’s daughters might seem to have been led to this unnatural project, first, because they thought the human race extinct with the exception of themselves, in which case their conduct may have seemed a work of justifiable necessity; and next, because the degrees of kindred within which it was unlawful to marry had not been determined by an express law. But they must have seen some of the inhabitants of Zoar after the destruction of the cities; and carnal intercourse between parent and offspring must have been always repugnant to nature. “Unto this day.” This phrase indicates a variable period, from a few years to a few centuries: a few years; not more than seven, as Jos 22:3; part of a lifetime, as Num 22:30; Jos 6:25; Gen 48:15; and some centuries, as Exo 10:6. This passage may therefore have been written by one much earlier than Moses. Moab afterward occupied the district south of the Arnon, and east of the Salt Sea. Ammon dwelt to the northeast of Moab, where they had a capital called Rabbah. They both ultimately merged into the more general class of the Arabs, as a second Palgite element.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 Ground. Thus shewing himself a true relation and imitator…
Ground. Thus shewing himself a true relation and imitator of Abraham.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 See Gen_18:1 ff for the passage quote with footnotes.
See Gen_18:1 ff for the passage quote with footnotes.
3. The entrance and sojourn of the two angels in Sodom, and the completed manifestation of its corruption in opposition to the better conduct of Lot (Gen_19:1-11).—And there came two angels.—Stier: מַלְאָכים without the article; the peculiar personal angels who here first appear definitely in the history of the kingdom of God, although the idea of the angel, in its wider sense, had been in existence since Genesis 3. They arrive at Sodom at evening, having left Hebron after midday. The idea of an actual human journey from place to place is thus complete; but the inmost central points of the narrative are the two great manifestations, of which the first was given to Abraham about midday, and now Lot shares the second at evening. But here the objective character of the manifestation is far more prominent than the possession and extent of the power to perceive the vision, for Lot did not recognize them at first as angels, and they appear to have been seen by the Sodomites, unless we prefer the supposition that they had learned from Lot’s household of the two shining youthful forms who had turned in there for the night. [The term which Lot uses in his address, אֲדנַי, shows that he regarded them as men.—A. G.]—And Lot sat in the gate of Sodom.—Knobel well says: “Jehovah, as the most holy, will not enter the unholy city,” while Delitzsch asserts “that Jehovah came in them to Sodom.” That Lot sat in the gate of Sodom, is mentioned rather to his reproach than to praise his hospitality. [It is a reproach to him that he is in Sodom at all, but his sitting in the gate is not mentioned here as his reproach.—A. G.] He sits at the gate in order to invite approaching travellers to a lodging for the night, and is thus hospitable like his uncle. Knobel remarks, Gen_19:1 : “This polite hospitality is still practised among the Arabians; they count it an honor to entertain the approaching stranger, and often contend with each other who shall have the honor. Tavernier, ‘Travels,’ i. p. 125; Burckhardt, ‘Bedouins,’ p. 280, and ‘Travels in Syria,’ p. 641 ff.; Buckingham, ‘Syria,’ i. p. 285; Seetzen, ‘Travels,’ i. p. 400.” “The gate in the East is usually an arched entrance, with deep recesses upon both sides, which furnish an undisturbed seat for the observer; here below and at the gate they gather, to transact business, as there are usually also stands for merchandise in these recesses, and to address narrower or wider circles upon the affairs of the city (Gen_34:20; Deu_21:19).” Delitzsch.—Behold now, my lords (אֲדנַי).—He does not recognize them immediately as angels, which is the less remarkable since the doctrine of angels must first make its way into the world through such experiences, and which is not excluded by the disposition or fitness to perceive visions (comp. Heb_13:2).—Nay, but we will abide in the street [i.e., the open, wide place in the gate.—A. G.] (comp. Luk_24:29).—It appears to have been the object of the angels to ascertain the state of the city from the street; but Lot’s hospitable conduct seems, on the other hand, to them a favorable sign for the city, which they will follow.—But before they lay down.—The wickedness of the city immediately develops itself in all its greatness. That the old and young should come; that they should come from every quarter of the city [literally the end; see Jer_51:31. Keil: “As we say, to the very last man.”—A. G.]; that they assault the house, notwithstanding the sacred rights of guests; that they so shamelessly avow their pederastic purpose; that they will not even be appeased by Lot, to whom they once owed their salvation (Genesis 14), and (as one may say, preferred their demonic, raging, unnatural lusts, to natural offences) that they did not cease to grope for the door, after they were stricken with blindness; this is the complete portraiture of a people ripe for the fiery judgment.—That we may know them.—A well-known euphemism, but, therefore, here an expression of shameless effrontery. It is the mark of their depravity that they seek pleasure in the violation of nature, and have their vile passions excited by the look or thought of heavenly beauty (see Göthe’s “Faust,” ii. division, at the close). “The lustful abomination, according to Rom_1:27 the curse of heathenism, according to Judges 7. a copy of demonic error, according to the Mosaic law (Lev_18:22; Lev_20:13) an abomination punishable with death, here had no mask, not even the æsthetic glory with which it was surrounded in Greece.” Delitzsch. The vice of pederasty was reckoned among the abominations of Canaan, and even the Israelites were sometimes stained with it (Jdg_19:22).—Behold now, I have two daughters.—“The Arab holds his guest who lodges with him as sacred and inviolable, and if necessary defends him with his life (see Russel, ‘Natural History of Aleppo,’ i. p. 334, etc).” Knobel. “He commits sin, seeking to prevent sin through sin.” Delitzsch. Keil remarks, “his duty as a father should have been held more sacred.” But it may be questioned whether there is not to be brought into account in Lot an element of cunning—a kind of irony—since he could reckon with certainty upon the taste for unnatural lust in the Sodomites (he so speaks because he knew his people); or whether, rather, the important thing is not found in the supposition that he acted in the confusion of the greatest amazement and anxiety. [Which would naturally be increased if he had discovered by this time that they were heavenly visitors.—A. G.] We must take into account, in this whole history, that a premonitory feeling of the destruction of Sodom rested upon their minds, which had released in Lot the spiritually awakened disposition or preparedness for desperate acts of virtue, as it had in the Sodomites the demonic rage in wickedness; as the same influence has elsewhere appeared during earthquakes and similar events. In any case Lot could not have miscalculated in the thought of a stratagem in which he relied not only upon the opposition of his sons-in-law, but much more upon the unnatural lusts of the Sodomites.1—He will needs be a Judge (Judge and Judge).—See the original text. “We may thus see that there is a sting in the words of Lot, because he would now reprove their unnatural passions, as he had indeed done before (see 2Pe_2:7).2—We will deal worse with thee than with them.—“They would smite and kill him, but abuse his guests.” Knobel. In the words, they pressed sore upon the man, the narrator intimates more than lies upon the face of the words. They at the same time attempt to break through the door. The angels interfered, and the Sodomites were stricken with blindness. It is not natural blindness which is meant, but the blinding in which the spiritual power of the angels works together with the demonic fury of the Sodomites. [סַנְוֵרִים, a blindness produced by dazzling light, probably combining total privation of sight and a confusion or wandering of mind.—A. G.] It marks the excess of their wickedness, the continuance of their abomination until the very midst of the judgment, that they do not, even in this condition, cease from seeking the door.
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4. Lot’s comparative unfitness for salvation, his salvation with difficulty, and the entrance of the judgment (Gen_19:12-29).—And the men said unto Lot.—They reveal themselves now as heavenly messengers; and no less distinctly their calling to destroy the city and their mission to save him and his household (any one related by marriage—son-in-law). We regard the usual construction, hast thou here any besides? son-in-law and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast, etc., as incorrect. 1. Because then son-in-law would precede the sons and daughters, and is used in the singular. 2. Because in the words “whatsoever thou hast,” sons-in-law, as well as sons and daughters are included. [The probable reference is to those in the city and not in the house—any one related to him.—A. G.]—And the Lord hath sent us.—The Angel of the Lord never speaks in this way.—And Lot went out and spake, etc.—There are two explanations: 1. Those taking his daughters, i.e., who had taken his daughters to wife. Thus the Septuagint, the Targums, Jonathan, Jewish interpreters, Schumann, Knobel, Delitzsch. According to this explanation, Lot had, besides his married daughters in the city, two unmarried daughters. 2. לֹקְחִים, those about to accept or take, bridegrooms. Thus Josephus, the Vulgate, Clericus, Ewald, Keil, and others. Knobel quotes (חַנִּמְצָֹאת) Gen_19:15 in favor of the first explanation; but Keil remarks that this does not designate an opposition between the unmarried and married daughters, but between these and the sons-in-law who remained behind. We may add, moreover, that there is no intimation that Lot had warned married daughters to rise up.—The angels hastened Lot.3—Since they were sent to execute the destruction, there does not seem any occasion for the haste, as if it proceeded from some fate—from an agency beyond themselves. But there is a threefold reason for their haste: 1. The zeal of the righteousness of God, since the measure of the iniquity of Sodom was full; 2. their own holy affection; 3. the connection of their mission with the preparation of the judgment in the natural relations of Sodom.—And while he lingered.—It is clear in every way that Lot, from his spiritless, half-hearted nature, which made it difficult to part from his location and possessions, was rescued with the greatest difficulty. [The Lord being merciful to him, literally, by the mercy of Jehovah upon him, i.e., which was exercised towards him.—A. G.]—And set him down.—This completes the work of the two angels in saving Lot, and their work of destruction now begins.—That he said (see the remarks upon the Angel of the Lord, Genesis 12)—It is “Jehovah speaking through the angel,” says Delitzsch. But why then does this form occur first here? Before, the angels had said, Jehovah has sent us. Because the approach of Jehovah is not expressly mentioned, Keil also admits here “that the angel speaking, speaks, as the messenger of Jehovah, in the name of God.” Upon the ground of the miraculous help given to him, Jehovah calls him now to personal activity in his own salvation. But Lot, on the contrary, clings to the receding forms of the two angels, and it cannot surprise us, that in his agitation he should confound their appearance and the voice of Jehovah.—For thy life.—Life and soul are here one, not merely according to the verbal expression, but in the very idea of the situation; it includes the thought: “Save thy soul.”—Look not behind thee.—The cause is given in Lot’s wife. It is the religious expression for the desire to return, the hesitation, the lingering, as if one could easily hasten from the divine judgment (see Luk_9:62). Knobel draws analogies from the sphere of heathen religions. “In order not to see the divine providence, or working, which is not permitted the eye of mortals. For similar reasons the ancients in completing certain religious usages did not look around them (p. 173).” Certainly the Lord might take into account the holy horror in Lot at the spectacle of the fiery judgment. Still the first word is explained by the second: Neither stay thou in all the plain; and the second by the third: Escape to the mountain.—It is the mountains of Moab, on the other side of the Dead Sea, which are intended.—And Lot said unto them: Oh, not so, my Lord.—He could not distinguish the miraculous vision of the appearance of the angels and the miraculous report of the voice of Jehovah which now came to him. He pleads in excuse for his want of energy that fear presses heavily upon him; and fear weighs upon him because, while he was free from the abominations of Sodom, he was not free from its worldly mind. [The evil, i.e., the destruction which was to come upon Sodom. He feared that he could not reach the mountain.—A. G.] Lot also now becomes, in his own interest, an intercessor for others. He points to the little Bela, the smallest of the cities of the pentapolis, and thinks it is a small matter for the Lord to grant him this as a place of refuge, because it is so small, and therefore exempt it from destruction. The name Zoar was derived from these events. “Zoar is not to be sought in the Ghor el Mezráah, i.e., upon the peninsula which here stretches into the Dead Sea (see Isa_15:5), but rather in the Ghor el Szaphia, at the south-eastern end of the Sea, in the outlet of the Wady el Ahhsa. This locality is well watered and covered with shrubs and trees at the present time, but is unhealthy. It is inhabited and well cultivated by the Bedouins, who have here a permanent settlement; and in the winter it is the gathering place for more than ten tribes. Thus Seetzen, Burckhardt, Robinson.” Knobel. For further references to Zoar, see in Knobel, p. 174; Keil, p. 165; and the Bible-Dictionaries. [Robinson, “Researches,” ii. p. 480, 648, 661.—A. G.]—The sun was risen upon the earth.—According to Keil, Lot was now just on the way, but the text says expressly, that he had entered Zoar. For the distances in the vale of Siddim see Knobel, p. 175.—Then the Lord rained [Heb. caused it to rain.—A. G.] fire from the Lord.—The antithesis which lies in this expression, between the manifestation of Jehovah upon the earth, and the being and providence of Jehovah in heaven, is opposed by Keil. The מֵאֵת יְהוָֹה is according to Calvin an emphatic repetition. This does not agree with Keil’s explanation of the Angel of the Lord. Delitzsch remarks here: There is certainly in all such passages a distinction between the historically revealed, and the concealed, or unrevealed God (comp. Hos_1:7), and thus a support to the position of the Council of Sirmium: “the Son of God rains it down from God the Father.” The decisive execution of the judgment proceeds from the manifestation of Jehovah upon the earth, in company with the two angels; but the source of the decree of judgment lies in Jehovah in heaven. The moral stages of the development of the kingdom of God upon the earth, correspond with the providence of the Almighty in the heavens, and from the heavens reaching down into the depths of cosmical nature.—Brimstone and fire.—Keil, in the interest of the literal interpretation, misses here the religious and symbolical expression. “The rain of brimstone and fire was no mere thunder-storm, which kindled into a fire the ground already saturated with naphtha. [Whatever may be the explanation of this catastrophe, whether we suppose, as seems most probable, that God used natural agencies, or make more prominent and exclusive the storm from heaven, it is clear on either supposition that the event was miraculous, the result of the direct interposition of God. Upon the Dead Sea, the ‘Notes’ of Bush and Jacobus; the ‘Dictionaries’ of Smith and Kitto; Robinson: ‘Researches’; Stanley on ‘Palestine’; and the numerous books of travels may be consulted.—A. G.] For it cannot be proved from such passages as Psa_11:6 and Eze_38:22 that lightning is ever called in the Scriptures brimstone and fire, since these passages evidently refer to the event narrated here. The words must be understood in an entirely peculiar sense, that brimstone with fire, i.e., the burning brimstone, fell from heaven, etc.” But the words are not thus peculiarly understood, brimstone with fire, i.e., burning brimstone, but brimstone and fire. Brimstone cannot mix with fire, in the air, without becoming fire. We might, indeed, think of burning meteors, which stood in reciprocal relations and efficiency with the burning ground. Knobel adopts the explanation of Josephus: “Antiq.” i. 11, 4; “Bell Jud.” iv. 8, 4; and Tacit.: “History,” v. 7. Fire and brimstone appear also elsewhere as the instruments of divine punishment (Psa_11:6; Eze_38:22). The author does not point out more fully what was the concern of the two angels in the destruction. But in analogous cases, when God was about to send evil diseases or pestilences, he used the angels as his instruments (2Sa_24:16; Isa_37:36). Delitzsch: “Not only Sodom and Gomorrah, but, with the exception of Zoar, the other cities of the pentapolis (Gen_14:2), as is stated Deu_29:23 (comp. Hos_11:8), or as it is here, the whole circle, all the plain, was submerged in fire and brimstone; a catastrophe which also Strabo, Tacitus, and Solinus Polyhistor, fully attest, and which is constantly referred to in the later literature, e.g., Psa_11:6 (see Hupfield upon this passage), even down to the Revelation.”—But his wife looked back from behind him.4—Some conclude from this expression, that she went behind Lot, and thus looked back. But the looking back is plainly not more to be understood in a strict literal sense than the account that she became a pillar of salt. Female curiosity, and the longing for her home at Sodom, led her to remain behind Lot, and delay, so that she was overtaken in the destruction (see Luk_17:31-32). Keil even departs from the literal interpretation in the term, pillar of salt, when he explains: she was encrusted with salt; resembled a pillar of salt, just as now objects in the neighborhood of the Dead Sea, are soon encrusted from its salty evaporations. This salt-pillar is mentioned as still existing in the “Book of Wisdom,” Gen_11:7, and in Clemens of Rome to the “Cor.” 11; Josephus:“Antiq.” i. 11, 4, as that which they had seen. The biblical tradition has here passed into a mere legend, which points out a pillar-like salt-cone, about forty feet high, at the lower end of the Dead Sea, as this pillar of salt (see Knobel, p. 176, Seetzen: “Travels,” ii. p. 240; Lynch: “Report,” p. 183 ff.). This salt-cone is connected with the salt-mountain of Usdum (Sodom). Robinson: “Researches,” ii. p. 481–485. [Also Grove’s article on the “Salt Sea,” in Smith’s Dictionary.—A. G.]—And Abraham gat up early in the morning. [That is, the morning of the destruction.—A. G.]—The catastrophe of the judgment was soon completed. The destruction, viewed from its universal aspect and relations, is ascribed to Elohim. But it is God, as Elohim also, who saves Lot, for Abraham’s sake (see the remarks upon his intercession).—Out of the midst of the destruction.—A vivid description of the salvation of Lot from the extremest peril, in a place which itself lay in the skirts of the overthrow,—a statement which Knobel, without the least ground, attempts to prove differs from the earlier account.
The destination of this judgment, whose preconditions lay in the terrestrial volcanic character of the vale of Siddim (see Gen_14:10), for an eternal warning to the descendants of Abraham, i.e., all the members of the kingdom of God, appears clearly in the constant quotation in the Holy Scriptures. Sodom is alone named, as the most important city (Isa_3:9; Lam_4:6; Eze_16:48; Mat_11:23), Sodom and Gomorrah as the two greatest (Isa_1:9; Isa_1:13; Isa_1:19, and in other passages), Admah and Zeboim (Hos_11:8), and in the “Book of Wisdom” the five cities are named in a vague and general way.
The catastrophe, conditioned through the nature of the ground, corresponds with the divine decree of judgment. The fundamental idea is the burning of the earth, through the fire from heaven; but that an earthquake, which are frequent in Palestine, may have been in action, and that volcanic eruptions might have wrought together with this, is intimated in the expression: All the plain was overthrown. The Dead Sea was formed through the flowing in of the Jordan, in connection with the sinking of the ground.
But there are two views concerning the Dead Sea. According to one (Leake, Hoff, and others), the Jordan before this flowed through the vale of Siddim to the Ailanitic gulf of the Red Sea. In the other view (Robinson and others), there was an inland sea, before the catastrophe of Sodom, which forms part of the Dead Sea. For the reasons in favor of the latter view, see Knobel, p. 177. A principal reason is found in the fact that the northern part of the Dead Sea has a depth throughout of nearly 1300 feet, while the southern is only 15 feet deep, is rich in asphaltum, has hot places, and is hot at the bottom. Bunsen: “That northern basin, according to Ritter’s statement (xv. 767, 778), is due to the falling in of the ground; the local elevation of the southern part, to the peculiar character of the ground.” Upon the Dead Sea, see Knobel, p. 177; Keil, p. 165; Delitzsch, p. 398; and the Dictionaries, especially the article “Salt Sea,” in the “Bible Dictionary for Christian People.” [“The earlier view is now abandoned, and it has no decisive ground in the sacred history.” Delitzsch, p. 289. See also Grove, in S. D. p. 1339.—A. G.]
5. Lot’s departure, and his descendants (Gen_19:30-38).—And Lot went out of Zoar.—[“Lot’s rescue is ascribed to Elohim, as the judge of the whole earth, not to the covenant God, Jehovah, because Lot in his separation from Abraham was removed from the special leading and providence of Jehovah.” Keil, p. 166.—A. G.] After he had recovered from the paralyzing terrors which fettered him in Zoar, a calculating fear took possession of him and drove him from Zoar further into the mountains of Moab, in the east. It was an unbelieving fear, for the Lord had granted Zoar to him as an asylum; he could not trust that divine promise further. The result is, that, poor and lonely, he must dwell with his two daughters in a cave in those cavernous chalk mountains. Lot is thus now a poor troglodyte. “There are in that region now those who dwell in caves and grottoes (Buckingham and Lynch).” Knobel, p. 178.—And the first-born said to the younger.—[Our father is old. This confirms the assertion of St. Stephen, in which it is implied that Abraham was not the oldest son of Terah; for Lot was now old, and he was the son of Haran, and Haran was Abraham’s brother. Thus one part of Scripture confirms another, when perhaps we least expect it. Wordsworth, p. 89.—A. G.] The desire for posterity led her to the iniquitous thought of incest, which she believes excusable because there is not a man in the earth, etc. According to Keil and Knobel, they did not think that the human race had perished, but only that there was no man who would unite himself with them, the remnant of a region stricken with the curse. Their idea of the world, according to the terms of the narrative, appears to have been sad and gloomy. What did they know of the world, in their mountain solitude? This deed was worthy of Sodom, says Keil. But there is a distinction and a wide difference between incest and pederasty (see introduction). Knobel thinks that they were represented by the writer as moulded by the mother, who was probably a Sodomite; and, on the other hand, that Lot, as the nephew of Abraham, was more favorably (i.e., partially) represented. Every one of these points is fiction! The narrative, Knobel remarks, lacks probability. It assumes that Lot was so intoxicated both times that he should know nothing of what took place, and still, an old man should, with all this, be capable of begetting seed. Keil, on the contrary, says it does not follow from the text that Lot was in an unconscious state during the whole interval, as the Rabbins have, according to Jerome, described this as an incredible thing, taken in connection with the issue of the event. Indeed, the narrative says only that Lot was in an unconscious state, both when his daughters lay down, and when they rose up; in the evening perhaps through intoxication, in the morning through profound, heavy sleep. In any view, a certain measure of voluntariness must be assumed, according to the degree in which he was conscious, and therefore his intoxication can only be urged as an excuse, and this a wretched excuse, since the intoxication was, like the deed itself, immediately repeated. Psychologically, the reaction from great mental effort and tension is to be taken into account in pronouncing upon the pleasures of rest in an indolent and sensual nature.—Moab.—There are two derivations: מֵאָב, from the father, or מוֹ, water (as the semen virile is euphemistically called in Arabic), for semen and אָב. Keil decides in favor of the first derivation, from a reference to the explanatory expressions (Gen_19:32; Gen_19:34; Gen_19:36). [And also the analogy of the בֶּנ־עַמִּי.—A. G.]—Ammon.—בֶּנ־עַמִּי, son of my people. According to Delitzsch, the form עַמּוֹן designates simply the descendants of the people. For the character of the Moabites and Ammonites, especially in reference to their origin, see Knobel, p. 178, who, however, in his usual method, draws the inference as above remarked, that this narrative has its origin in Jewish animosity. Besides the reply of Keil [See Deu_2:9; Deu_2:19; Deu_23:4. Lot here disappears from the history, and, as Kurtz remarks, it is the design of this narrative to give a support for the later records of the relation of these tribes with the Israelites.—A. G.] Delitzsch also may be consulted (p. 401). Knobel himself recognizes the fact of the descent of both of these peoples from Lot. The nomadic hordes of Lot gradually extended themselves east and northeast, and partly subdued and destroyed, and partly incorporated among themselves, the original tribes of the Emim and Susim.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
See the preliminary and Exegetical remarks.
1. Upon the manifestation in the oak grove of Mamre compare Genesis 12. We observe, however, that the manifestation which was given to Abraham, was complex, because it had reference in part to him and the birth of Isaac, and in part to Lot and Sodom. Hence it resolves itself, in the course of the history, into two manifestations.
2. The connection of the promise of redemption and the announcement of judgment, which is peculiar to this section, runs throughout the whole sacred Scripture.
3. The oriental virtue of hospitality appears here in the light of the theocratic faith, and so likewise its blessing, which is proclaimed throughout the whole Scripture, down even to the epistle to the Hebrews (Heb_13:2.) It is a contradiction in the natural custom of the Arabs, that they will rob the pilgrim in the desert before he enters their tents, but receive him with the greatest hospitality, as it is generally true that the natural virtues of people are tainted by contradictions. Hospitality, however, is the specific virtue of the Arab, his inheritance from his father Abraham. But in Abraham himself this virtue is consecrated to be the spiritual fruit of faith.
4. The feast of God with Abraham. [How true it is that Abraham has now become the friend of God, Jam_2:23. And what light this history casts upon the meaning of that term.—A. G.] A New Testament and heavenly sign, whose later reflection is the table of shew-bread in the temple, the Lord’s Supper in the New Covenant, and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in the new world.
5. The distinction between the laughing of Abraham and Sarah (see above). In Gen_26:6 there appears still another, a third laugh, in order to determine the name Isaac (comp. Gen_5:9). The laughter of a joyful faith, the laughter of a doubting little faith, and the laughter of astonishment or even of the animosity of the world, appear and participate in the name of the son of promise, as indeed at that of every child of the promise.
6. The initiation of Abraham into the purposes of God. In Gen_18:17, “the Scripture has the addition of τοῦ παιδός μου (עבדי) to ἀπὸ ’Αβραὰμ, for which Philo reads τοῦ φίλου μου (comp. Jam_2:23). There is scarcely any passage in which this עַבְדִּי or אֹהֲבִי (Isa_41:8; 2Ch_20:7), would be more fitting than in this. Abraham is the friend of Jehovah (among the Moslems it has become a surname; chalíl Allah, or merely el-chalil, from which Hebron is also called Beit-el-chalîl, or simply El-chalîl), and we have no secrets from a friend.” Delitzsch (comp. Joh_15:15 ff.). The first reason is, that God has chosen Abraham, and that he, as the chosen, has the destination to found in his race for all time, a tradition and school of the revelation of God, of righteousness and judgment. The doctrine of the election first appears here in its more definite form. [God says, I know him, but also that he will command, &c. We ought not to overlook how early family relations, instructions and discipline, assume an important place in the progress of the kingdom of God; and what a blessing descends upon those who are faithful as parents. “Family religion is God’s method for propagating his church. This would lead him to exercise a careful parental authority for controlling his house in the name of God.” Jacobus.—A. G.]
7. A further and more peculiar reason, why God reveals to Abraham the impending judgment upon Sodom, lies in this, that not only the history of Sodom, but also the Dead Sea, should be for all time a constituent part of the sacred history, a solemn warning for the people of God, and for all the world. At the same time this history should make illustrious the justice of God, according to which a people are ripe for judgment, when a cry of its iniquity ascends to heaven.
8. Abraham’s intercession, in its strength and in its self-limitation, is an eternal example of the true position of the believer to the corruption of the world. Upon the self-limitation of intercession see 1Jn_5:16. Intercession even falls away from faith and becomes mere fanaticism or frenzy, when it oversteps the limits of truth. Abraham’s excuses in his intercession, his prudent progress in his petitions, his final silence, prove that even the boldest intercourse is morally conditioned. On the other hand, the whole power of intercession and the full certainty that prayer will be answered, appear here most clearly. [See the 29th verse, which makes it clear that Araham’s intercession was not fruitless.—A. G.]
9. It is evident from the intercession of Abraham, that the father of the faithful had a very different idea of righteousness from that which regards it as consisting only in the non plus ultra of punishment. See upon the idea of δίκαιος, Mat_1:19. Moreover, in the reflection, the prudence, and the constancy of the intercession, the Abrahamic or even the Israelitish character appears here in its true worth and in its sanctified form, as it enters afterward in the life of Jacob at first less sanctified, but at the same fitted for sanctification. But in regard to the thought of Abraham’s intercession, we would make the following remarks: 1. His intercession takes more and more the form of a question. 2. He does not pray that the godless should be freed from punishment, but for the sparing of the righteous, and the turning away of the destructive judgment from all, in case there should be found a sufficient salt of the righteous among them. 3. His prayer includes the thought that God would not destroy any single righteous one with the wicked, although the number of the righteous should be too small to preserve the whole. [The righteous, of course, are not destroyed, although they are often involved in the punishment of the wicked.—A. G.]
10. This history makes the truth conspicuous for all time, that the whole depraved world is preserved through a seed of believing and pious men, and that indeed, not according to a numerical, but according to their dynamic majority. Ten righteous would have saved Sodom. But when even the salt of the earth (Mat_5:13) does not avail to save a people or a community, then still God cares for the salvation of his chosen, as is seen in the history of Noah, the history of Lot, and the history of the destruction of Jerusalem. But the relative mediators who are given to the world in the “salt of the earth,” point to the absolute mediator, Christ, who is the central saving pivot in the history of the world. [We stand here on the verge of a most striking type of the judgment. We know that the storm is gathering and ready to burst, but in the awful silence which precedes it we hear the voice of the intercessor. Thus while the final judgment is preparing, the voice of the true intercessor is heard.—A. G.]
11. The Angels in Sodom. In all such cases there must come a last final decision. See above.
12. The manifestation which was given to Lot, corresponds with that which was given to Abraham, in a way similar to that in which the vision of the centurion, Cornelius, at Cæsarea, corresponds to the vision of Peter, at Joppa (Acts 10). The precondition for this connection of the revelations was, doubtless, in both cases, the mysterious bond of a common premonition or presentiment of great events.
13. The sin of Sodom runs, as a general characteristic, through the heathen world (see Rom_1:24); still, in this aspect some nations are far more innocent or guilty than others. Church history also, in this connection, preserves sad remembrances. Among the causes of the ruin of the Osmanic kingdom, this sin stands prominent whose analogue is found in the sin of Onan (Gen_38:8).
14. The description of the night scene in Sodom is a night piece of terrible aspect and impressiveness. It is plain (from the little prospect of the mass for the gratification of personal lusts, and from the probability that the inhabitants of the city only knew indirectly of Lot’s mysterious guests), that the uproar of the Sodomites was more than half an uprising against the judgment of Lot which they had already experienced, and a tumultuous manifestation that their abominable immorality must be held as a public custom, of which we have a purely analogous event in the uproar of the heathen at Ephesus (Act_19:28 ff). All the spirits of villainy, wantonness, and scoffing unbelief are to be regarded as unfettered. The ripeness of the city for destruction, however, is not to be viewed directly as a ripeness of the Sodomites for damnation (see Mat_11:23).
15. The demonic and bestial nature of sin appears in this history in frightful, full life, or rather death size. [So, also, its corrupting power. Lot felt its influence, even though he resisted and condemned their vile practices. The offer which he makes to save his guests, although made under great confusion, anxiety and terror, shows its influence.—A. G.]
16. Lot’s salvation is an image of salvation with the utmost difficulty. But the delay of his faint heartedness is raised to its highest power of double heartedness in the history of his wife. She is the example of a worldly mind, which turns back from the way of salvation, and through its seeking after the world falls into the fire of judgment.5 In this sense the Lord has set Lot’s wife as a warning example (Luk_17:32). We may perceive that even Lot was sensibly depressed as to the earnestness of his faith, through the ridicule of his sons-in-law, who regarded him as a jester.
17. The Dead Sea serves to complete the symbolic meaning which is peculiar to the whole land of Canaan. The whole land is an illustration of the divine word, and of sacred history, and thus the Dead Sea in particular, is the glass of the divine judgment. As a monument of the miraculous judgment it stands opposed to the Red Sea, which is the monument of the miraculous deliverance. So, likewise, as the sea of the old covenant, it stands opposed to Genessaret, the sea of the new covenant. In the description of the Dead Sea, however, we must guard against those ancient assumptions, of the apples of Sodom, etc., although some one-sided apologies for these traditions of the Dead Sea have appeared again in recent times. [It is interesting to note how often this event is referred to in the New Testament, not only directly but incidentally. The phrases flee from the wrath to come, unquenchable fire, the description of the suddenness and completeness of the judgment, and its eternal duration in the smoke of their torment, which ascendeth for ever and ever. All have a more or less direct reference to this event.—A. G.]
18. The early rising of Abraham, his hastening to the place where he stood before Jehovah, and his silent look to the smoking vale of Siddim, is a sublime and impressive picture. There stands the mourning priest, lonely and silent in the morning light, as Jeremiah sat upon the ruins of Jerusalem. Now he saw that there were not ten righteous in Sodom, but knew from the rescue of Noah from the flood, and felt confident indeed that his intercession had not been in vain.
19. In the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, as in the primitive miracles in Egypt, and in the biblical miracles generally, the correspondence between the miraculous divine providence and the intellectual and natural conditions upon the earth must not be mistaken.
20. Lot and his daughters. It is a psychological fact that, in human nature, especially in beginners in the age of faith or those whose sensuous nature is strong, after a great tension of the life of faith, of spiritual elevation, great and dangerous reactions occur, during which temptation may easily prove corrupting to the man.
21. Moab and Ammon. See the Bible Dictionaries. “De Wette, Tuch, Knobel, explain the narrative as a fiction of Israelitish national animosity, &c. (See above.) When, however, later debauchery (Num_2:25) and impiety (e.g. 2Ki_3:26 ff) appear as fundamental traits in the character and cultus of both people, we can at least hold with equal justice, that these inherited sins came with them from their origin, as that the tradition of their origin has moulded their character.”
22. Lot’s disappearance. The chastising hand of God is seen in the gravest form, in the fact that Lot is lost in the darkness of the mountains of Moab, as a dweller in the caves. But it may be questioned whether one is justified by this, in saying that he came to a bad end, as Delitzsch does in a detailed description, after a characteristic outline by F. C. V. Mosers (p. 400, comp. Kiel, p. 167). His not returning poor and shipwrecked can be explained upon better grounds. In any case the testimony for him, 2Pe_2:7-8, must not be overlooked. There remains one light point in his life, since he sustained the assaults of all Sodom upon his house, in the most extreme danger of his life. [It may be said, moreover, that his leaving home and property at the divine warning, and when there were yet no visible signs of the judgment, and his flight without looking back, indicate the reality and genuineness of his faith.—A. G.] His two-fold intoxication certainly has greater guilt than the one intoxication of Noah. His two-fold sin with his daughters may involve greater difficulty than the act of Judah. Both analogies show, however, that in judging so ancient a character we may easily place them too strictly in modern points of view. True, he appears, in comparison with Abraham, with whom he once entered upon the path of the faith of the promise, in a light similar to that in which Esau appears in relation to Jacob. He might have sufficient piety to save his soul, but he was no man of the future, who could found a line of blessing; he was too much like the mass, too much under the senses, and too much involved in respect to worldly things for such a calling. “With the history of Lot,” Delitzsch remarks, “the side line from Haran is completed, and the origin of two people who are interwoven in the history of Israel is related.”
23. The destruction of Sodom an example of the later destruction of the Canaanites.
24. The prudence which, in the life of Abraham, appears as a sinful prudence, and yet susceptible of being sanctified, appears in the lives of his kindred as a family trait of the children of Therah, in Lot and his daughters, as well as in Laban. But it takes on in them the expression of refined cunning, and thus becomes manifoldly and positively ungodly. Thus Lot himself chose the region of Sodom; thus he flatteringly addressed the Sodomites as brethren; thus he offers them his daughters as a substitute, probably from an ironical expression of a prudent foresight that they, controlled by their demonic and unnatural lusts, would reject his proposal: but his daughters use criminal cunning to obtain offspring. This incest, however, appears in a milder light when set in contrast with the sin of Sodom.
25. Passavant. These cities are represented throughout the old covenant as types of the most severe judgments of God (Jer_41:11; Jer_50:40, etc.) And there is again another word in the old covenant, a wonderful, mysterious promise, spoken concerning these places, which, at the very least, alleviates the eternity of the pain, and for the sake of Jesus Christ, the only redeemer of all mankind, abbreviates the endurance of the heavy judgments of the poor heathen (see Eze_39:25; Jer_29:14; Jer_48:47; Ezekiel 16). [The passages quoted by no means sustain the inference which is here drawn from them; and the inference lies in the face of the general and constant testimony of the Scriptures. The words of our Lord, Mat_11:24, place the destiny of these places and of the heathen in its true light.—A. G.] That farther prophetic vision of the seer appears to cast new light upon the farther fate of Sodom, when he says: This water flows out towards the east and down into the plain, and goes into the sea (salt sea), and when it comes into the sea its waters shall become healthful (Gen_47:8 ff.; 1Pe_3:19 f.; Gen_4:6). [The following learned and impressive note on the destruction of Sodom, kindly furnished me by its author, will be read with the deepest interest.—A. G.]
Note on the Destruction of Sodom—Its Suddenness—The Deep Impression it made on the Ancient Mind—Its Frequent Mention in the Scriptures—Tacitus—The Arabian Tradition.—“As the subversion by God of Sodom and Gomorrah.” Such is the constant style of reference in the Bible. See Deu_29:22; Isa_13:19; Jer_49:18; Jer_50:40; Lam_4:6; Amo_4:11. Its ever occurring in the same form of words, shows that it was a proverbial or traditional saying; and this reveals to us how vividly the awful event had stamped itself upon the human memory. It is always described in language of its own. The peculiar Hebrew word is used in the same way of no other catastrophe. The word מַהְפֵכָה denotes utter subversion or reversal,—the bringing of a thing, and all that belongs to it, in the direct opposite of its former condition. Land has become water, fertility barrenness and salt, beauty deformity, fragrance and freshness a vile and loathsome putridity. It is not simply decay and ruin, but an overthrow total and remediless.
These cities are thus referred to as a standing warning—a judgment of God visible from generation to generation. It is a region cursed by the Almighty,—doomed ever to bear the marks of its dreadful visitation, to which Peter refers, 2Pe_2:6, καὶ πόλεις Σοδόμων καὶ Γομόῤῥας τεφρώσας ΚΑΤΑΣΤΡΟΦΗ κατέκρινεν, ὑπόδειγμα τεθεικώς: “the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah he condemned with an overthrow, when he reduced them to ashes and set them forth as an example.” The Greek word katastrophe is the exact counterpart of the Hebrew מהפכה, having the same peculiar intensity of meaning as used in this connection. In Judges 7. the language is still stronger—πρόκεινται δεῖγμα πυρὸς αἰωνίου: “they are set forth as an example, undergoing (ὑπέχουσαι) the sentence of eternal fire.” This eternal fire does not mean the punishment of the inhabitants in another world (though the event itself may be regarded as the first type of Hell, the first suggestive glimpse to the human mind of that awful doctrine), but has primary reference to their long earthly desolation. The language most graphically expresses the condition of those doomed plains, as showing the signs of their fearful burning, age after age, ἀπ’ αἰῶνος εἰς αἰῶνα.
These regions were very near to Jerusalem, almost if not quite visible from the highest places; and this accounts for the prophet’s frequent appeal to them, εἰς δεῖγμα, et in terrorem. How fearful is the allusion to it made by Eze_16:46; where the adulterous Judah is told to remember the startling proximity of this her younger or smaller sister, so early buried in volcanic fires: “Thine elder sister, Samaria, that dwelleth on thy left (the N. W.), and thy smaller6 sister, Sodom, and her daughters (the other cities of the plain), that lie upon thy right.” How awful the reminiscence of this lost sister Sodom lying for so many ages under the sulphurous waters of the Dead Sea, with all the burnt district a short distance to the right of Jerusalem, and ever presenting that terrific warning, the δεῖγμα πυρὸς αἰωνίου, to the oft rebellious city.
We find elsewhere evidence of the deep impression this early divine judgment made upon the ancient mind. The language of Tacitus, Hist. v. 7, could only have come from some vivid tradition prevailing in the East and brought thence to Rome: Haud procul inde campi, quos ferunt olim uberes, magnis que urbibus habitatos, fulminum jactu arsisse, et manere vestigia terramque ipsam specie torridam vim frugiferam perdidisse; nam cuncta atra et inania velut in cinerem vanescunt. Ego, sicut inclitas quondam urbes igne cœlesti flagrasse concesserim, etc. There is something in the language strikingly resembling that of Peter and Jude. Compare Tacitus’ fulminum jactu arsisse—igne cœlesti flagrasse—manere vestigia, with the δεῖγμα πυρὸς αἰωνίου, and in cinerem with τεφρώσας. They appear to be the set terms in all descriptions. Nothing but an early, most vivid impression could have produced such fixedness and vividness in the language of the tradition.
The same feature of constancy in terms for which no others could be an adequate substitute, appears remarkably in the notices of the Koran, which strong internal evidence shows must have come from tradition independent of the O. T. scriptures. It manifests itself especially in one word ever found in connection. It is the Arabic ַבُזٌ ַַََ , which is, etymologically, the same with the Hebrew מַהִפֵּכָה, and used in a similar manner as a participial noun. The peculiarity, however, is, that in the Arabic the primary sense which belongs to it in this connection had long ceased, so that no traces of it are anywhere else found, even in the remains which we have of ante-Mohammedan writing. Both the form and the peculiar sense have become obsolete in all other applications of the root. In this recurring phrase, as used of these ancient cities, it has acquired something like the force of a proper name as a well known appellative, taking its place along with Midian, Egypt, Hud, Thamud, and other names of places that tradition gives as having been specially visited with the divine vengeance. Thus Sodom and Gomorrah are ever called Al-mow-ta-fe-kat, “the overturned.” As in Koran Surat, liii. 51–55, where it occurs with others given as proper names: “And that he destroyed Ad, and Thamud, and left no remainder; and also the people of Noah before them, and the Mow-ta-fe-kat (the overturned) he cast down, and that which covered them covered them.” The last clause of this passage is meant to be intense in its repetition: that is, there is no conceiving the horrors under which they lay; “ that which covered them covered them,”—no tongue can tell it. So, also, Koran lxix. Genesis 9 : “thus went on Pharoah and those who were before him, the Mow-ta-fe-kat (the overturned), in their sin.” Thamud and Ad, as usual, had been mentioned just before. The constant introducing of the Mow-ta-fe-kat along with these, which are peculiar Arabic traditions, shows that the story of the “overturned” cities had a common origin with them, and was not derived from the Hebrew scriptures.
The usage appears still more clearly, Koran ix. 71, where the term in question occurs in connection with the people of Ad, and the wicked in the days of Abraham, who is the peculiar Mohammedan patriarch: “Did there not come to them the story of those who were before them—the people of Noah and of Ad, and of the people of Abraham, and of the inhabitants of Midian, and of ‘the Overturned’ (the Mow-ta-fe-kat), whose messengers came unto them with their prophecies?” Now what makes this the more striking is the fact (as before indicated) that although the Arabic root, ַَ, or ֿَ, is, in all other cases (and these are quite frequent), used solely in its secondary meaning of falsehood (coming from the primary sense of subversion, turning upside down, through the intermediate ideas of contrariness or opposition, ab invertendo, pervertendo), in these special usages from the Koran, and others like them, the word ever goes back to its primitive Hebrew sense, being taken precisely as הפך and מהפכה in the Bible. If the Hebrew verb had had a hoth-pa-hel form, its participle, מָתְהַפֵּךְ, moth-hap-pek = motaffek, would be almost identical with the Arabic word so constantly used for this purpose (in this sense) and for no other. Evidently it was an archaism in the days of Mohammed, and this accounts for its being used as a proper name, in which form it had become fixed against change and substitution. The root is used in the same manner throughout the Syriac version, but in this branch of the Shemitic it had, in all its applications, kept nearer to its old primary sense preserved in the Hebrew.
What shows that it was an antique phrase in Arabic, or that ַَ (or הפך) had lost the sense of subversion in all other applications, and that its employment as a proper name in this particular connection came from traditional preservation, is the fact that even in translating the Old Testament, the Jewish Arabic interpreters never use it,—not even in those places where the Hebrew הפך and מהפכה would have immediately suggested it as the more fitting word; and this, too, notwithstanding that they frequently give to an Arabic term a rarer Hebrew sense. Thus Rabbi Saad does not employ it in this very passage, Isa_13:19, but uses, instead, the more common Arabic verb, בָ, to express the sense of overturning which is given by מתפכה: ַָ בָ ַבבו ׃ב זד זזזֹ. Now in the Arabic verb ַَ, the letter ה (or ו) of the Hebrew has been softened into א, but there can be no doubt of the two words being etymologically identical. So, too, in the Koran, sometimes, the Hebrew sense of the antique Arabic ַבז ֹٌ , is clearly given in different and more common Arabic words. As in Surat xv. 73, 74, where, speaking again of this very judgment, and the manner of it, it says: “And a sudden storm took them at sunrise, and we made the highest parts of it to be the lowest, בהַ ַבםוַ ׃ַ׀ַ וַ (that is, we turned it upside down), and we rained upon them stones of burning marl”—a volcanic earthquake and a lava shower.
This standing epithet occurs, Lam_4:6, in the same connection and in the same way; that is, in the nature of a proper name, though there it has the form of the participle perfect of הפך. It is סְדֹם הַהֲפוּכָה, “Sodom the overturned.” Our English translation of the whole passage is far from being clear: “Greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom which was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her”: לֹא חָלוּ בָהּ יָדָיִם. In this passage there is an uncertainty as to the etymology and meaning of the word חָלוּ, but that interpretation is to be preferred which is most in keeping with the ideas of suddenness, or quick alarm, that make so graphic a feature in all allusions to the event, whether Hebrew or Arabic. Gesenius makes חלו from חול (torquere), and gives it the sense: non immissæ sunt manus, “no hands were sent upon, or against her”—meaning, hands of the enemy. Rabbi Tanchum’s Arabic commentary is to the same effect: “Of Sodom it is said here, that there did not come upon her the hand of man, but she was overturned, at one blow, by the divine command; the word being the same as that in Jer_23:19, ‘on the head of the wicked shall rush (יָחוּל) a rushing tempest, סַעַר מִתְחוֹלֵל (a whirlwind slung or hurled), and also as found Ecc_5:12; Ecc_5:15. יֵשׁ רָעָה חוֹלָה, there is a sore evil (an impending or threatening evil) that I have seen under the sun.”
It may be a question here, however, whether ידים refers to the hands of the enemy, or to the hands of the inhabitants of the doomed city. If we place the accent on the ultimate, חָלוּ may be from חלה, and this would give us the rendering, “when no hands were weak in her”—that is, suddenly, when they were in their full strength and security. Or the same general idea may be obtained from חול, if we advert to its primary sense, which we find very clearly in the Arabic ַֿב. It is a curving motion combined with the spiral or oblique. Hence the sense of pain as expressed by twisting, wringing (torquere). It is used to denote the most intense anguish, the wringing of the hands in despair; which is the language employed by the Peschito Syriac version to render ἀπορία (distress or perplexity), Luk_21:25. No hands were wrung in her. So sudden was the storm that there was no time for lamenting over their doom.
All this, too, is expressed by the way in which the frequent Koranic word, ױَםֹَ, is used when sudden judgments are described, and especially this particular event. It is rendered sometimes, punishment, or pain. It is also used of the crash of the thunder, fragor tonitru; but in its most literal sense it denotes one sharp cry or shriek. Or it may be rendered, a shock. Thus in the passage before quoted, Surat xv. Genesis 73: “a sudden storm or shock took them at sunrise” (comp. Gen_19:23). The same, verse 83 of the same Surat, “took them early in the morning.” Though literally denoting one sudden scream of terror, it is taken for the cause, the thunderstorm or earthquake that produces it. Thus is it most impressively employed to represent the suddenness and surprise of the judgment that came upon those people of Lot, as the Sodomites are styled, וַ ַבַٌ ױםֹ זַֽבֹ וַ בוַ וה ׀זַ, “only one shock; there was in it no waiting,” no recovery. Or it may be rendered, “only one cry, and all was over.” The remedilessness, as well as the suddenness, is still more graphically set forth in the use of similar language, Surat xxxvi. Genesis 25 : “Lo, one cry, and they are all still”—literally, burnt out, ־ַוב זה, extinguished, dead. So, again, Surat liv. Genesis 31 : “Lo, we sent upon them one shock (one shriek) and they are all burnt stubble.” In the same manner is it used of the day of judgment, xxxvi. Genesis 53: “One shock, or one cry, and they (the risen dead) are all before us.” For other similar passages with similar applications, see Koran, xi. 70, 97; xxiii. 43; xxix. 39; l. 41; xv. 73, 83; lxiii. 3.
In the most express terms do the Scriptures assign this catastrophe of Sodom and Gomorrah to the judicial action of God, the Lord of nature. No language can be clearer: “Jehovah rained upon them fire from Jehovah out of heaven,” Gen_19:24. And yet, in perfect consistency with this, may we regard it as brought about by natural causes, though belonging to those great movements in nature which marked the primitive period of our present earth, or before its constitution became settled in that comparative calm which leads the scoffer to say that “all things continue as they were from the beginning.” This fearful מַהְפֵּכָה, or overthrow, has impressed indelible “vestigia” (to use the language of Tacitus) on the region in which it took place; but no less sharp and incisive are the marks it has left in the Oriental traditions, and the peculiar language to which it has given rise in them all. It sent one sharp cry through the ancient Eastern world, and that cry has echoed down to us through other channels than the Hebrew Scriptures. On this account has the peculiar language employed been so minutely traced, as furnishing evidence of the minute credibility of an event so ancient, and of the strong impression it must have made at the time. It was a divine judgment, a divine revelation in the earth, too awful and too unmistakable to allow much diversity of language in describing it, and it is this constant manner of telling the fearful story which separates it widely from the shadowy and changing mythical, with which some would compare it.—T. L.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
See the Doctrinal and Ethical paragraphs.
The xviiith ch. Abraham, the xixth Lot. Prominent points in Abraham’s life: 1. the great vision; 2. the feast of the angels; 3. the faith in the promise; 4. the intercession for Sodom. Prominent points in the life of Lot: 1. the entertaining of the angels; 2. the moral resistance of the assault of the whole city of Sodom; 3. his faith, and his mission to his two sons-in-law; 4. his emigration with his family in distress, before the judgment. The revelation of grace and of wrath.—The connection of the announcement of salvation with the announcement of judgment.—The oak grove of Mamre, and the burning Sodom.—As Abraham saved Lot the first time through war, so the second time through his intercessory prayer.—Abraham and Lot in their different positions.—In their last position with respect to each other (Abraham the friend of God, Lot the fugitive from Sodom, etc.).—The connection of the manifestation to Abraham and Lot.—The great manifestation of God, in the life of Abraham, in its great significance: 1. A revelation of the incarnation of God, of the future Christ, and at the same time of the angelic world; 2. a revelation of the great sign of the coming redemption, and of the coming judgment.
1. Section. The appearance of Jehovah in the oak grove of Mamre, and the promise of the birth of Isaac (Gen_18:1-15). The great manifestation of God, in the life of Abraham, is the most striking sign in the old covenant of the incarnation of God.—The feast in the oak grove of Mamre; a sign of the incarnation of God.—Abraham in the oak grove of Mamre; great in his power of intuition, and great in his activity—Herein, also, a type of Christ.—As in all great characters, the contrasts of nature are here reconciled and removed.—Abraham’s hospitality as to its peculiar traits.—The real method and spirit of hospitality consists alone in this, that in or with the stranger we receive the Lord himself.—How well love and humility qualify Abraham to be the giver of the feast, the one who makes ready the meal and then stands and serves.—Sarah as the housewife.—Sarah’s doubting laughter, and believing astonishment.
Gen_19:10, The promise of Isaac: 1. a promise; 2. an endless fulness and succession of promises.—Sacred oak grove: sign of the sacred temples, especially of the Gothic Cathedral,—the sacred feast, sign of the most sacred meals.—Abraham’s friendship with God as hospitality: 1. God as the guest of Abraham in this world; 2. Abraham as the guest of God in the other world (to sit down with Abraham, Abraham’s bosom).—Starke: Gen_19:1 (The manifestation of the Son of God, at first, is not through a natural nor even through a personal union, but through a voluntary and casual union, since he took from his free love a body, or rather the form of a body, for a time).—To this person are ascribed divine works, omnipotence (Gen_19:10; Gen_19:14), omnipresence (Gen_19:13), the power to execute judgment (Gen_19:25).—The virtue of hospitality is becoming to Christians, and should be practised especially by believers and the pious (Heb_13:2; Isa_58:7; 1Pe_4:9; Job_31:32; Rom_12:13; Gal_6:10); but still they must use circumspection here also.—We should not permit strangers to rest in the streets, but receive them and show them kindness and help (Rom_12:13), to which now innkeepers are in a peculiar sense obliged (Luk_10:34-35).
Gen_19:15. From the fact that Sarah makes no further reply, but receives her rebuke patiently, we may see that she recognizes her fault, and that God had rebuked it, hence she also is graciously preserved, that she should be at the same time the type of the free New Testament Church (Gal_4:22; Gal_4:27; Gal_4:31) and the mother of believers (1Pe_3:6). How severely, on the other hand, Zacharias was chastised for his unbelief (see Luk_1:20.)—A Christian must never measure the promises of God by what seems good to him, but give to the power of God the preference over his reason (Zec_8:6; Luk_1:37; 1Pe_3:6).—Gerlach: In regard to Sarah. Even her unbelief which lay concealed within her, must be brought out into the light, since it was now designed to confirm her confidence in the promise, which should not be fulfilled without her faith.—Schröder, (Luther): Now there is hospitality in all places where the church is. She has always a common purse and storehouse, according to Mat_5:42, and we should all so serve her, and furnish her, not only with doctrine but also with kindness, and that the spirit and the flesh may here at the same time find refreshment and consolation (Mat_25:35; Mat_25:40).—Rambach: Gen_19:8. As Abraham’s tent is here the house in which the Son of God and his angels are entertained, so is his bosom the common place of rest for the blessed in the other world (Luk_16:22).—The power and susceptibility for intuition, and the absorbing and even careful attention to business, which were separated in Mary and Martha (Luk_10:39), are here seen united in the same person.—That they must necessarily eat, would be in opposition to their spiritual nature, but the power to eat was given with the human form.
Gen_19:9. Now follows, as Luther says, the table talk, that nothing might be wanting in this description, and that the whole world might know that this feast was not so passed as among the monks, who must keep silence at the table.
2. Section. The revelation of God concerning Sodom, and Abraham’s intercessory prayer (Gen_19:16-33).—1. The communing of God with himself before the revelation (Gen_19:18), or the revelation of God throughout the fruit of the highest divine purpose, as the creation of Man_1:2. the reason for this revelation (Gen_19:19); 3. its contents (Gen_19:20-21); 4. its results: a. the departure of the men to the judgment (Gen_19:22); b. the intercession of Abraham (Gen_19:23-30).—Abraham the friend of God (child of God, servant of God, the intimate confidant of God).—The cry of the sin of Sodom.—The intercession of Abraham for Sodom as the first long prayer and intercession communicated to us: 1. awakened or animated by the consciousness of salvation which was given to him; 2. as a pattern for all intercessory prayers.—The great importance of intercession.—Its features: 1. The boldness of faith; 2. caution in the fear of God; 3. truthfulness of love.—Even the apparently unavailing intercessions are not in vain.—Starke: Gen_19:20. They (the Sodomites) went so far that the greatness of their sin had become a proverb (Isa_1:9 ff.), and therefore they were destroyed 400 years earlier than the Canaanites.—The sins crying to heaven are especially, in the Holy Scriptures: 1. the shedding of innocent blood (Gen_4:10; Job_16:18); 2. the sin of Sodom; 3. the oppression of the people of God (Exo_3:7), especially of widows and orphans. (Exo_22:22; Exo_22:27; Sir_35:19); 4. the withholding of the hire of the laborer (Jam_5:4).—Therefore he could not understand by the righteous little children; for, although they are not righteous in their natural state, they could not have committed sins crying to the heavens.—They were, however, included with those destroyed, without, it may be hoped, any injury to their blessedness, or (so will it be added by some in an uncertain way) because God saw that they would tread in the footpaths of their fathers. [But the Scriptures never allude to this knowledge of God as the ground of his acts, either saving or destructive.—The same event bears a very different aspect and meaning as sent to the wicked and the good, e.g., death. So with these judgments.—A. G.] The nearer Abraham comes to God in his prayers and intercession, the more clearly he recognizes his nothingness and entire unworthiness. A glorious fruit of faith.—The people of Sodom, indeed, could not think what was determined in the purpose of the watchers concerning them, and how Abraham stood in the breach.
Gen_19:32. This I will is here repeated six times, to intimate the truth of God, his earnest will, that he does not will the death of the sinner, but rather that he should turn unto him and live (Eze_18:11; Eze_18:32).—Bib. Tub.: Intercession for a brother believer, even for the godless, a Christian duty.—Mark this, ye godless, that ye and the world stand only for the sake of the righteous.—We must come before God with the greatest reverence, and in the deepest humility of heart bow ourselves before his sacred majesty.—The righteous are highly esteemed in the sight of God.—Gerlach: Gen_19:19. Abraham, I have known him, i.e., chosen in my love. As Amo_3:2; Joh_17:3. Gen_19:23. The righteous who dwell together with the godless in any place, restrain the judgments of God.—Zinzendorf: I cannot tell in terms strong enough the blessed privilege of speaking with our Lord.—Calwer Handbuch: But in this prayer lie concealed deep mysteries, which render conspicuous to us the worth and importance, in the sight of God, of the righteous in the world, and on the other hand helps to explain the wonderful patience and long suffering of God towards the evil, and even towards heaven crying sinners.—Schröder: Calvin: If, therefore, oftentimes temptations contend in our hearts, and things meet us, in the providence of God, which seem to involve a contradiction, let the conviction of his righteousness still be unshaken in us. We must pour into his bosom the cares which give us pain and anxiety, that he may solve for us the difficulties which we cannot solve.—Passavant: When I otherwise can do nothing, when I am without any influence, and free access, without any means or any power, then still I may do something through the intercessory prayer.
3. Section. The entrance and sojourn of the angels in Sodom, and the final manifestation of its depravity, in contrast with the better conduct of Lot (Gen_19:1-11). There are parts of this section which do not seem fitted for public reading and homiletical treatment. But the examination of the whole history may be joined, by practical and homiletical wisdom, to the section, Gen_19:1-3.—How sin is radically a beginning of the most extreme corruption: 1. it is against nature, and tends to the most unnatural abominations; 2. a delusion, which tends to fury and madness; 3. an act of disobedience, which issues in rebellion against God; 4. an impudence and falsehood, tending even to blasphemy.—Hellish night-scenes in the earliest antiquity.—The blinding of the godless that they could not find what they sought.—Starke: (It is incredible that Lot, as the Rabbins think, sat in the gate to judge (Deu_16:18) and had been a judge in Sodom.)—A Christian must behave towards every one, especially towards the pious, with humility and reverence (Rom_12:10).—The holy angels dwell cheerfully with the pious.
Gen_19:5. (Lev_18:22; Lev_18:24; Lev_20:13.) Has not experience shown, that if here and there songs and prayers have been offered in a home at evening by devout persons, there have been those who have run together before the windows and made them the matter of sport and ridicule, while on the other hand, in other homes every kind of night revel has been endured and approved.
Gen_19:8. The offer of Lot did not spring from evil, but from the greatest confusion and alarm; still he did wrong (Rom_3:8 ff.). We see from this: 1. that Lot is not to be praised as some have thought (Ambrose, Chrysostom); 2. that he was not guilty of a sin which removes him beyond the grace of God.
Gen_19:9. An unreasonable reproach. Had there been now ten such strangers in Sodom, they would not yet have been destroyed.—The gracious requital. Lot ventured all to preserve his guests; now he experiences how he is saved by them.7 It belongs to no man to prevent a greater sin by a lesser.—Whoever will judge and punish the rough world, must be a disturber and excite an uproar.—Godless people are only hardened the more, through kind and gracious warnings.—Woe to him whom God strikes with spiritual blindness.8—Gerlach: The very nature of the trial which God adopts consists in this, that he honors to the very last the liberty lent by him to the creature, and does not punish to destruction until the most extreme abuse of freedom has been made evident.—Calwer Handbuch: Sins and shameful vices appear in their fullest disgracefulness in the night.—Lot appears, also, to have before rebuked their sinful movements, wherefore they reproach him, the stranger, with a lust of power—The nearer the judgments of God, the greater the security of sinners. [The scriptural signs that the judgment is near are: 1. that God abandons men or communities to out-breaking and presumptuous sins; 2. that warnings and chastisements fail to produce their effect, and especially when the person grows harder under them; 3. that God removes the good from any community—so before the flood, so before the destruction of Jerusalem; and, 4. the deep, undisturbed security of those over whom it is suspended.—A. G.]
4. Section. Lot’s salvation. Sodom’s destruction (Gen_19:12-29). Lot’s rescue from Sodom: 1. his obedience. The first message of deliverance (Gen_19:12-14). 2. Then, even, scarcely saved, on account of his delay and fears (Gen_19:15-22).—The test of Lot in the judgment of Sodom: 1. Saved, indeed, but, 2. scarcely saved, and that with difficulty. Urged, importuned by the angels. Paralyzed by his terror in the way. His wife lost. [Almost saved, and yet lost.—A. G.] His daughters.—In the history of Lot, also, the unity of the family is again illustrated: 1. In its great importance; 2. in its final extent.
Gen_19:15. The danger in delaying the flight out of Sodom, i.e., of conversion, or also of separation from the society of the wicked.—Starke: (Gen_19:12. It may be what belongs to thee, and could therefore relate to his possessions, especially his herds. Still, some doubt, and think that he bore away as a gain or spoil only his own life and the lives of his family, while he must have left the herds behind in his haste.)
Gen_19:14. Act_17:18.—Sodom a type of the spiritual Babylon (Rev_11:8).—Whoever will not be borne away and crushed with the godless, he must early and cheerfully separate himself from them, while he has time and leisure9 (Rev_18:4).
Gen_19:16. God shows his goodness not only to the pious, but to those who belong to them.—Upon Gen_19:21. How God excuses the weakness of the believer, if he walks with God in uprightness.10—As Zoar was spared at the intercession of Lot, so afterwards the house of Laban was blessed for Jacob’s sake, and Potiphar for the sake of Joseph, the widow’s meal-chest and cruse of oil for the sake of Elijah.—That Zoar was made better by the recollection of the terrible overthrow of the cities may be inferred from the fact that it was still standing at the time of Isaiah (Isa_15:5).—(A comparison between Sodom and Rome in eight particulars: beautiful region; security; iniquities; crying to the heavens; the true faith persecuted; announcement of its judgment (Rev.); the rescuing of the pious; punishment by fire; the rising of the sun; the enlightening of the Jews, etc. H. C. Rambach.)—(The Dead Sea: Troilo and others say: I could compare it only with the jaws of hell.)—The fearful judgment upon Lot’s wife: 1. She died immediately; 2. in her sins; 3. an unusual death; 4. remained unburied, an example of the vengeance of God.—Luk_7:32-33; Luk_9:62.
Gen_19:28. It is calm, pleasant weather with the children of God, when it storms with the godless (Exo_10:22-23; Psa_32:10).—Gerlach: A living type of those whom the messenger of the Lord warns before the future punishment (Luk_17:28-29).—The word: haste and escape for thy life; this is the deep undertone which must be heard through all preaching of the gospel.—Calw. Hand.: The mercy of the Lord saves Lot and his family, as a brand plucked from the burning. Until Lot is saved the Lord himself restrains his hand.—Schwenke: Gen_19:15. The deep impression which the declaration of the near judgment made upon him was greatly weakened by the mocking words of his sons-in-law; he delays, waits, puts off. Flesh and blood, and the clinging to the beautiful city, struggle with obedience to the revelation from God.—Schröder: The entrance of Lot into the vale of Siddim corresponds to his exodus (Baumgarten).11—How the first universal judgment of the flood, like the partial judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah, serves in the Scriptures as an example and type of all the divine judgments, and especially of the last judgment (Luk_17:28 ff.; 2Pe_2:6, etc.).—Heuser: Destruction of Sodom: 1. A judgment from heaven; 2. a sign for the earth.—Taube: The eternal righteousness of God in the judgment upon Sodom and Lot’s wife. The free mercy of God in saving Lot and his family.
5. Section. Lot’s disappearance and his descendants (Gen_19:30-38). The 30th verse is alone fitted for public use. But from this a faint light may be thrown upon the whole night-scene. Lot’s disappearance as a dweller in caves.—Lot’s history illustrates the truth, that whoever will build a house, must count the cost: 1. His inspired exodus from Haran with Abraham, and journey through Canaan to Egypt, with ever-increasing wealth; 2. his settlement in the valley of Sodom; 3. his asylum in Zoar; 4. his disappearance from the scene in the caves of the mountains.—How should the pious fear temptations when the mind is unbent after extreme spiritual tension.—Man falls easily into the sins of the flesh when the ideals of his intellectual life are dissolved and lose their power.12—Ruth a Moabitess.—Starke: Lot’s daughters. The reason which moved them was rather a groundless prejudice than wantonness of the flesh. (Anxiety lest the human race should perish. It may be, also, that they were only Lot’s step-daughters, if he had married in Sodom a widow who was the mother of two daughters).—Cramer: Loneliness in retired places allures not only to good, but also, and much more, to great sins (Ecc_4:10).—Whoever will avoid sin must avoid the occasions which lead to it.—[Strong drink the fruitful source of untold degradation and sins.—A. G.]—Gregory I.: There was a moral sense in Lot, but it was confused and disturbed. Intoxication deceived Lot, who was not deceived in Sodom; the flames of lust burn him, whom the flames of sulphur did not burn.—Luther: Some think that Lot died soon after, from distress and sorrow, before his daughters were delivered, because otherwise he would not have consented that names should be given them which should constantly remind him of his incest.—He who was not deceived in Sodom, drunkenness deceived; who in Sodom, the very school of unchastity, had lived chastely, in the cave was guilty of incest; suffered shipwreck in the harbor.—Ruth a Moabitess. We may infer from Isa_11:14; Jer_48:47; Dan_11:41, that there-will be, besides, some conversions from the Moabites to Christ.—The children of Ammon were characterized by similar sins with those of their brother Moab, and therefore have a similar future.—Drunkenness is the way to all bestial lusts and acts.—(Holy descendants from polluted beds. Jdg_11:1; Heb_11:32.)—Schröder: The thought that they should remain alone in case of their father’s early death was one to them very hard to bear. Then, indeed, they would be entirely helpless and without protection in the wide world. If no husband was granted to them, they would at least have children, sons, who could give protection and help.—(Berl. Bibel.: The following riddle has been constructed from the history: My father, thy father, our children’s grandfather; my husband, thy husband, the husband of our mother, and yet one and the same man.)—Baumgarten: This is the crime of Lot’s daughters, that to secure descendants, and those of pure blood, they thought incest a small offence.—Herberger: For one evil hour, one must bear the sword at his side a whole year.—The same: Still even such children (illegitimate and springing from incest) should not despair. God can do great things even through the illegitimate Jephtha (Jdg_11:1 ff.). True repentance makes all well. [But true repentance is never separated from true faith. Faith in Christ and repentance make all well.—A. G.]
Footnotes:
[1][Only to these men do nothing. The form of the pronoun used, הָאֵל, is archaic, and is used also in Gen_19:25; Gen_26:3-4; Lev_18:27; Deu_4:42; Deu_7:22; Deu_19:11. Keil, p. 163. Therefore came they under my roof; viz., for the purpose of security.—A. G.]
[2][Baumgarten urges that גֶשׁ הָלְאָהִ should be rendered “come hither,” instead of “stand back,” on the ground that this is the usual meaning of the verb, and that it gives an equally good sense, p. 211—A. G.]
[3][At the morning. The dawn, since the sun rose as Lot entered Zoar. Jacobus: “Notes,” vol. ii. p. 23.—A. G.]
[4][The word here used for look implies a deliberate contemplation, steady regard, consideration, and desire; see Isa_63:5. The Sept. has ἐπέβλεψεν, looked wistfully. Wordsworth, p. 89. She became, lit., she was a pillar of salt. “The dashing spray of the salt, sulphureous rain, seems to have suffocated her, and then encrusted her whole body.” Murphy.—A. G.]
[5][The looking back shows, on the one hand, her doubt and unbelief of the divine warning, and on the other, that her heart was still clinging to the lusts of Sodom, and that she was an unwilling follower of the rescuing angels. Kurtz, p. 195.—A. G.]
[6] אחותך הקטנה. The term generally denotes juniority, and it may be so literally taken here, since the origin of Jerusalem may have been historically older than that of Sodom.—T. L.]
[7][God’s people are safe when angels stand sentries at the doors. Bush.—A. G.]
[8][It is the use of God, to blind and besot those whom he means to destroy. Bp. Hall; Bush.—A. G.]
[9][“The man who will not consult for his own safety, and who, even being warned to beware, yet exposes himself by his sloth to ruin, deserves to perish.” Calvin.—A. G.]
[10][It is no new thing for the Lord to grant sometimes, as an indulgence, what he does not approve. Calvin. See Jacobus.—A. G.]
[11][The beauty and fruitfulness of nature attracted him, and he chose it without thinking whether it would work injury to his soul. The same power now prevents him from earnestly heeding the salvation of his soul. Baumgarten, p. 213.—A. G.]
[12][“Those who have been wondrously preserved from temporal destruction, may shamefully fall into sin.” Jacobus.—A. G.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–4 turn in, I pray you . . . tarry…
turn in, I pray you . . . tarry all night--offer of the same generous hospitalities as described in Gen 18:2-8, and which are still spontaneously practised in the small towns.
And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night--Where there are no inns and no acquaintance, it is not uncommon for travellers to sleep in the street wrapped up in their cloaks.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11 LOT RESCUED BY THE ANGELS, Gen_19:1-23.
LOT RESCUED BY THE ANGELS, Gen_19:1-23.
In this chapter we have another picture of the life and character of Lot. After his rescue from the eastern kings by Abraham, he went back again to his coveted Sodom. His daughters married men of the city, and his family appear to have become damagingly affected by the vices of the place. Lot himself lost not the uprightness of character developed by his long residence with Abraham, and he was often “vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. For that righteous man, dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.” 2Pe_2:8. But his moral force was altogether insufficient to stem the tide of evil which was against him. He was wont to sit in the gate of Sodom as one of the judges of the city, (comp. Rth_4:1,) and thus became familiar with the commerce and conversation of the inhabitants. All this would tend to blunt his moral sense, and lower him from the simplicity and purity of the shepherd life he had led among the hills with Abraham.
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1. Two angels — Hebrews, the two angels, evidently the two who left Abraham on the heights. Gen_18:22. Knobel suggests that Jehovah, the most holy, sent his angels, but would not himself enter the wicked city.
At even — They dined with Abraham in the heat of the day; they will sup with Lot.
Sat in the gate of Sodom — “The gate of the city was, in the ancient towns of the East, the common place of public resort, both for social intercourse and for public business. This gate of the city nearly corresponded with the forum, or market-place of Greece and Rome.
Not only was it the place of public sale, but judges and even kings held courts of justice there. The gate itself was probably an arch, with deep recesses, in which were placed the seats of the judges, and benches on either side were arranged for public convenience. Comp. Gen_34:20; Deu_21:19; Deu_21:22; Deu_21:15; Rth_4:1.” — Speaker’s Com.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 11 1. the two angels] See Gen_18:22. It has been…
1. the two angels] See Gen_18:22. It has been conjectured that the original text had here, as in Gen_19:5; Gen_19:8; Gen_19:10; Gen_19:12, “the men” (i.e. the “three men” of Gen_18:2); and that the substitution of the words “the two angels” has been made from motives of reverence, in order (1) to harmonize the action of this chapter with the scene of Abraham’s pleading with Jehovah in chap. 18, and (2) to separate Jehovah from contact with the evil of Sodom.
at even] They had visited Abraham at noon: see Gen_18:1.
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in the gate of Sodom] The wide arches of ancient Oriental city gates, contained recesses which were the resort of leading citizens; and in which business was transacted, bargains made, and justice administered, cf. Gen_23:10; Gen_23:18, Gen_34:20; Deu_21:19; Rth_4:1.
bowed himself] See Gen_18:2.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 11 (1) And there came two angels.—Heb., And the two…
XIX.
(1) And there came two angels.—Heb., And the two angels came. It is a continuation of the preceding narrative, and takes up the history from Gen_18:22.
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Lot sat in the gate of Sodom.—He had therefore become a citizen of Sodom, probably after the deliverance from the Elamite invasion, when, as a relative of Abraham, he would be treated with great honour. This personal respect had made him close his eyes to the sinfulness of the people, and he had consented to live inside the town, and even to let its citizens marry his daughters. Meanwhile all intercourse between him and Abraham apparently had ceased, and he had lost all share in the covenant of circumcision.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. H. Mackintosh 1880 · Public Domain On v1 Genesis 19
Genesis 19
There are two methods which the Lord graciously adopts, in order to draw the heart away from this present world. The first is, by setting before it the attractiveness and stability of "things above." The second is, by faithfully declaring the evanescent and shakeable nature of "things on the earth." The close of Hebrews 12 furnishes a beautiful example of each of these methods. After stating the truth, that we are come unto mount Zion, with all its attendant joys and privileges, the apostle goes on to say, "see that ye refuse not him that speaketh: for if they escaped not, who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven; whose voice then shook the earth, but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once I shake, not only the earth, but also heaven. Now this word Once signifieth the removal of the shakeable things, as of things that are made, that the unshakeable things may remain." Now it is much better to be drawn by the joys of heaven, than driven by the sorrows of earth.. The believer should not wait to be shaken out of present things. He should not wait for the world to give him up, before he gives up the world. He should give it up in the power of communion with heavenly things. There is no difficulty in giving up the world when we have, by faith, laid hold of Christ; the difficulty would then be to hold it. If a scavenger were left an estate of ten thousand a year, he would not long continue to sweep the streets. Thus, if we are realising our portion amid the unshakeable realities of heaven, we shall find little difficulty in resigning the delusive joys of earth. Let us now look at the solemn section of inspired history here set before us.
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In it we find Lot "sitting in the gate of Sodom," the place of authority. He has evidently made progress. He has "got on in the world." Looked at from a worldly point of view, his course has been a successful one. He, at first, "pitched his tent toward Sodom." Then, no doubt, he found his way into it; and now we find him sitting in the gate - a prominent, influential post. How different is all this from the scene with which the preceding chapter opens! But, ah! my reader, the reason is obvious. "By faith Abram sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles." We have no such statement, in reference to Lot.* It could not be said, "By faith Lot sat in the gate of Sodom." Alas! no; he gets no place among the noble army of confessors - the great cloud of witnesses to the power of faith. The world was his snare, present things his bane. He did not "endure as seeing him who is invisible." He looked at "the things which are seen, and temporal:" whereas Abram looked at "the things which are unseen and eternal." There was a most material difference between those two men, who, though they started together on their course, reached a very different goal, so far as their "public testimony was concerned. No doubt Lot was saved, yet it was "So as by fire," for, truly, "his work was burned up." On the other hand, Abraham had "an abundant entrance ministered unto him into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
{*It would furnish a very searching question for the heart, in reference to every undertaking, were we to ask, "Am I doing this by faith?" "Whatever is not of faith is sin;" and, "Without faith it is impossible to please God.}
Further, we do not find that Lot is permitted to enjoy any of the high distinctions and privileges with which Abraham was favoured. Instead of refreshing the Lord, Lot gets his righteous soul vexed; instead of enjoying communion with the Lord, he is at a lamentable distance from the Lord; and, lastly, instead of interceding for others, he finds enough to do to intercede for himself. The Lord remained to commune with Abraham, and merely sent His angels to Sodom; and these angels could, with difficulty, be induced to enter into Lot’s house, or partake of his hospitality: "they said, Nay, but we will abide in the street all night." What a rebuke! How different from the willing acceptance of Abraham’s invitation, as expressed in the words, "So do as thou hast said."
There is a great deal involved in the act of partaking of any one’s hospitality. It expresses, when intelligently looked at, full fellowship with him. "I will come in unto him, and sup with him, and he with me." "If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide." If they had not so judged her, they would not have accepted her invitation.
Hence, the angels’ word to Lot contains a most unqualified condemnation of his position in Sodom. They would rather abide in the street all night, than enter under the roof of one in a wrong position. Indeed, their only object in coming to Sodom seems to have been to deliver Lot, and that, too, because of Abraham; as we read: "And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt." This is strongly marked. It was simply for Abraham’s sake that Lot was suffered to escape: the Lord has no sympathy with a worldly mind; and such a mind it was that had led Lot to settle down amid the defilement of that guilty city. Faith never put him there; a spiritual mind never put him there; "his righteous soul" never put him there. It was simple love for this present evil world that led him, first, to "choose," then to "pitch his tent toward," and, finally, to "sit in the gate of Sodom." And, oh! what a portion he chose. Truly it was a broken cistern which could hold no water; a broken reed which pierced his hand. It is a bitter thing to seek, in any wise, to manage for ourselves; we are sure to make the most grievous mistakes. It is infinitely better to allow God to order all our ways for us, to commit them all, in the spirit of a little child, to Him, who is so willing and so able to manage for us; to put the pen, as it were, into His blessed hand, and allow Him to sketch out our entire course, according to His own unerring wisdom and infinite love.
No doubt, Lot thought he was doing well for himself and his family, when he moved to Sodom; but the sequel shows how entirely he erred; and it also sounds in our ears a voice of deepest solemnity - a voice telling us to beware how we yield to the incipient workings of a worldly spirit. "Be content with such things as ye have." Why? Is it because you are so well off in the world? Because you have all that your poor rambling hearts would seek after? Because there is not so much as a single chink in your circumstances, through which vain desire might make its escape? Is this to be the ground of our contentment By no means. What then? "For he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Blessed portion! Had Lot been content therewith, he never would have sought the well watered plains of Sodom.
And, then, if we need any further ground of inducement to the exercise of a contented spirit, truly we have it in this chapter, What did Lot gain in the way of happiness and contentment Little indeed. The people of Sodom surround his house, and threaten to break into it; he seeks to appease them by a most humiliating proposition, but all in vain. If a man will mingle with the world, for the purpose of self-aggrandisement, he must make up his mind to endure the sad consequences. We cannot profit by the world, and, at the same time, bear effectual testimony against its wickedness. "This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge." This will never do. The true way to judge is to stand apart, in the moral power of grace, not in the supercilious spirit of Pharisaism. To attempt to reprove the world’s ways, while me profit by association with it, is vanity; the world will attach very little weight to such reproof and such testimony. Thus it was, too, with Lot’s testimony to his sons-in law;" he seemed as one that mocked." It is vain to speak of approaching judgement, while finding our place, our portion, and our enjoyment, in the very scene which is to be judged.
Abraham was in a far better position to speak of judgement, inasmuch as he was entirely outside of the sphere thereof. The tent of the stranger at Mamre was in no danger, though Sodom were in flames. Oh! that our hearts longed more after the precious fruits of a realised strangership, so that instead of having, like poor Lot, to be dragged, by main force, out of the world, and casting a lingering look behind, we might, with holy alacrity, bound forward, like a racer, towards the goal.
Lot, evidently, longed after the scene which he was forced, by angelic power, to abandon; for not only had the angels to lay hold of him, and hasten him away from the impending judgement, but even when exhorted to escape for his life, (which was all he could save from the wreck,) and flee to the mountain, he replies, "Oh! not so, my Lord: behold, now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me and I die: behold, now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: oh I let me escape thither, (is it not a little one) and my soul shall live." What a picture! He seems like a drowning man, ready to catch even at a floating feather. Though commanded by the angel to flee to the mountain, he refuses, and still fondly clings to the idea of "a little city," - some little shred of the world. He feared death in the place to which God was mercifully directing him - yea, he feared all manner of evil, and could only hope for safety in some little city, some spot of his own devising. Oh! let me escape thither, and my soul shall live." How sad. There is no casting himself wholly upon God. Alas! he had too long walked at a distance from Him; too long breathed the dense atmosphere of a "city," to be able to appreciate the pure air of the divine presence, or lean on the arm of the Almighty. His soul seemed completely unhinged; his worldly nest had been abruptly broken up, and he was not quite able to nestle himself, by faith, in the bosom of God. He had not been cultivating communion with the invisible world; and, now, the visible was passing away from beneath his feet with tremendous rapidity. The "fire and brimstone from heaven" were about to fall upon that in which all his hopes and all his affections were centred. The thief had broken in upon him, and he seems entirely divested of spiritual nerve and self-possession. He is at his wits’ end; but the worldly element, being strong in his heart, prevails, and he seeks his only refuge in "a little city." Yet he is not at ease even there, for he leaves it, and gets up to the mountain. He does, through fear, what he would not do at the command of God’s messenger.
And, then, see his end! His own children make him drunk, and in his drunkenness he becomes the instrument of bringing into existence the Ammonites and the Moabites - the determined enemies of the people of God. What a volume of solemn instruction is here Oh! my reader, see here what the world is! see what a fatal thing it is to allow the heart to go out after it! What a commentary is Lot’s history upon that brief but comprehensive admonition, "love not the world" This world’s Sodoms and its Zoars are all alike. There is no security, no peace, no rest, no solid satisfaction for the heart therein. The judgement of God hangs over the whole scene; and He only holds back the sword, in long-suffering mercy, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Let us, then, seek to pursue a path of holy separation from the world. Let us, while standing outside its entire range, be found cherishing the hope of the Master’s return. May its well-watered plains have no charms for our hearts. May its honours, its distinctions, and its riches, be all surveyed by us in the light of the coming glory of Christ. May we be enabled, like the holy patriarch Abraham, to get up into the presence of the Lord, and, from that elevated ground, look forth upon the scene of wide-spread ruin and desolation - to see it all, by faith’s anticipative glance, a smoking ruin. Such it will be. "The earth, also, and the things that are therein, shall be burned up." ALL that about which the children of this world are so intensely anxious-after which they are so eagerly grasping-for which they are so fiercely contending - all - all will be burned up. And who can tell how soon? Where is Sodom Where is Gomorrha? Where are the cities of the plain - those cities which were once all life, and stir, and bustle! Where are they now? All gone! swept away by the judgement of God. Consumed by His fire and brimstone. Well, His judgements now hang over this guilty world. The day is at hand; and, while judgements impend, the sweet story of grace is being told out to many an ear. Happy they, who hear and believe that story. Happy they, who fled to the strong mountain of God’s salvation! who take refuge behind the cross of the Son of God, and therein and pardon and peace!
God grant that the reader of these lines may know what it is, with a conscience purged from sin, and his heart’s affections purged from the defiling influence of the world, to wait for the Son from heaven.
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11 Ver. 1. And there came two angels literally, the…
Ver. 1. And there came two angels literally, the two angels, i.e. the two men of the preceding chapter who accompanied Jehovah to Mature; oiJ duo aggelloi (LXX)to Sodom at even (having left the tent of Abraham shortly after noon); and Lot last heard of in the narrative as captured by the Asiatic kings, and delivered by his uncle. (Gen_14:12, Gen_14:16) sat in the gate of Sodom. rv, from the idea of opening, signified the gateway or entrance of a camp, (Exo_32:26, Exo_32:27) of a palace Est_2:19 of a temple, (Eze_8:5) of a land, (Jer_15:7) or of a city. (Jos_2:7) Corresponding to the ancient forum of the Romans, or agora of the Greeks, the city gate among the Hebrews was the customary place of resort for the settlement of disputes, the transaction of business, or the enjoyment of ordinary social intercourse (cf. Gen_34:20; Deu_21:19 Deu_22:15; Rth_4:1; Pro_31:23) It was probably an arch with deep recesses, in which were placed chairs for the judges or city magistrates, and seats or benches for the citizens who had business to transact. So Homer describes the Trojan elders as sitting at the Scaean gate (3. 148). In what capacity Lot was sitting in the gate is not narrated. That he was on the outlook for travelers on whom to practice the hospitality he had learned from his uncle (Peele, Calvin, Willet, Lange) is perhaps to form too high an ideal of his piety (Kalisch); while the explanation that he had been pro-meted to the dignity of one of the city judges, though not perhaps justified as an inference from Ver. 9, is not at all unlikely, considering his relationship to Abraham. And Lot seeing them (and recognizing them to be strangers by their dress and looks) rose up to meet them; having not yet abandoned the practice of hospitality, or forgotten, through mingling with the Sodomites, the respectful courtesy which was due to strangers, since the writer addsand he bowed himself with his face toward the ground (cf. Gen_18:2)
Vers. 1-11.
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Warning lights in Sodom.
I THE FLICKERING LIGHT OF LOT"S PIETY.
1. That the light of Lot"s piety was still burning, though he had long been subjected to the moral contamination of the licentious Pentapolis, is apparent from
(1) The practice of hospitality, which he appears to have maintained, having probably learnt it while in his uncle s tent. So men often cling to the outward forms of religion when its living power is ceasing to exert an influence upon the heart; and though adherence to the former is not to be mistaken for the latter, yet it renders the decline of the latter less rapid and disastrous than it would otherwise be.
(2) The kindly reception which he extended to his celestial visitors. If scarcely so elaborate as the sumptuous entertainment of Abraham at Mamre, the banquet of Lot was at least as outwardly reverential and as unaffectedly sincere and earnest. It clearly testified that Lot had not yet become insensible to the practical duties of religion, as at that time understood. Early religious training is exceedingly difficult to eradicate.
(3) The courageous defense which he made of his threatened guests. At the risk of his personal safety he endeavored to repel the violence with which the citizens assailed them; and by the proffer of a sacrifice, the greatest surely that a parent could make, he sought to beguile the infamous designs which the townsmen cherished. Whatever may be said of Lot"s conduct in this latter action, his behavior throughout towards the angels proved that the life of grace within his soul was not quite extinct.
2. That the light of Lot"s piety, though still burning, was fast fading, may be gathered from the circumstances
(1) That he had remained so long among the Sodomites. Unless a process of moral deterioration had been going on within the soul of Lot, residence among a people so depraved would eventually have become impossible. Instead of being merely vexed in his righteous soul while in Sodom, he would have taken the earliest opportunity to escape from Sodom.
(2) That he had betrothed his daughters to two of Sodoms citizens. That his prospective sons-in-law were infected by the bad taint of the city may be inferred from their subsequent behavior, as well as from the preceding judgment of God on the universal corruption of the city"s inhabitants. Hence Lot should rather have kept his daughters virgins than have suffered them to enter into matrimonial engagements with ungodly suitors.
(3) That he actually offered to sacrifice his daughterspurity to the lust of the Sodomites. Whatever apology may be offered for so extraordinary a proposal on the part of Lot, nothing can be plainer than that it implied a strange obliquity of moral vision, and a serious deadening of fine moral feeling. It was a clear proof that the immoral contagion had begun to affect Lot, and that it was high time for him to leave Sodom.
II THE LURID LIGHT OF SODOM"S IMPIETY. Already well enough known as to its character, the wickedness of Sodom is at length unveiled in all its revolting features and frightful dimensions. The history of that last night in the doomed city proclaimed the sin of Sodom to be
1. Unnatural. In the unbridled license of their appetites they had far outstripped common sinners; even the natural brute beasts they had left behind; they had sunk to a monstrosity of wickedness of which shame forbids to speak. Paul enumerates their sin amongst the forms of impurity
2. by which the heathen world has at times defiled itself. (Rom_1:26, Rom_1:27)
3. Shameless. Disgusting and repulsive as their "wickedness was, instead of shrinking into darkness and doing it in secret, they openly proclaimed their filthiness, and would have gratified their lusts in public. It is a lower deep in moral degradation when one not only does "those things which are not convenient," but glories in his shame. (Php_3:19)
1. Violent. This marked a third degree in the wickedness of Sodom, that, rather than be baulked of their lewd design, the citizens were prepared to set at naught the laws of hospitality, which insured the safety of strangers within their city, and, if need were, the rights of property, by breaking into Lot"s house, and, still further, the liberties of the person, by laying hands on the objects of their unhallowed lusts. Ordinary sinners are satisfied if they can gratify an unholy impulse without an undue expenditure of crime; these were ready to trample on all laws of God and man to accomplish their desire, "adding sin to sin". (Isa_30:1)
2. Obdurate. Even when struck with blindness they did not discontinue their impious attempt. They wearied themselves groping about in the darkness, but it was still in an endeavor "to find the door." Common sinners pause when confronted with the just judgments of Heaven; these were only maddened into greater fury. (Psa_73:7) And, to complete the picture, this appalling wickedness was
3. Universal. From all quarters and of all ages they clustered and clamored round the door of Lot"s house. There does not seem to have been any dissension in the multitude. They were all of one mind. Could anything more signally attest Sodom"s ripeness for destruction?
Learn
1. How rapidly a good man can deteriorate in evil company.
2. How completely a nation can resist the ameliorating influences of its good men.
3. How disgustingly repulsive sin is when fully developed.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 4 And there came two angels to Sodom at even;…
Gen_19:1-3
And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom
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The eve of judgment to the righteous
I.
THE RIGHTEOUS MAN IS FOUND IN THE WAY OF DUTY.
1. The duty of his calling.
2. The duty arising from the relations of human life.
II. THE RIGHTEOUS MAN IS SEPARATE FROM SINNERS. In the world, but living above it. This separateness, which is necessarily the mark of the righteous character, involves:--
1. Sorrow for the spiritual state of men alienated from God.
2. A principle which regulates choice of companionship. A good man will avoid the contagion of evil example, and be attracted to that which is most Godlike. (T. H. Leale.)
Angel work in a bad town
I. THE REASONS WHICH JUSTIFIED THIS SUPREME ACT OF DESTRUCTING.
1. It was a merciful warning to the rest of mankind.
2. Moreover, in this terrible act, the Almighty simply hastened the result of their own actions.
3. Besides, this overthrow only happened after careful investigation.
4. There is this consideration also--that, during the delay, many a warning was sent.
5. It is worthy of notice that God saved all whom He could.
II. THE MOTIVES OF THE ANGELS VISIT.
1. The proximate or nearest cause was their own love to man.
2. The efficient cause was Abrahams prayer.
3. The ultimate cause was Gods mercy.
III. THE ANGELS WENT TO WHERE LOT WAS--to Sodom. As a ray of light may pass through the foetid atmosphere of some squalid court, and emerge without a stain on its pure texture, so may angels spend a night in Sodom, surrounded by crowds of sinners, and yet be untainted angels still. If you go to Sodom for your gains, as Lot did, you will soon show signs of moral pollution. But if you go to save men, as these angels did, you may go into a very hell of evil, where the air is laden with impurity and blasphemy, but you will not be befouled. No grain of mud shall stick.
IV. THEY WERE CONTENT TO WORK FOR VERY FEW. It has been said that the true method of soul-winning is to set the heart on some one soul; and to pursue it, until it has either definitely accepted, or finally rejected, the Gospel of the grace of God. We should not hear so many cries for larger spheres, if Christians only realized the possibilities of the humblest life. Christ found work enough in a village to keep Him there for thirty years. Philip was torn from the great revival in Samaria to go into the desert to win one seeker after God.
V. THEY HASTENED HIM. Let us hasten sinners. Let us say to each one: Escape for thy life; better lose all than lose your soul. Look not behind to past attainments or failures. Linger nowhere outside the City of Refuge, which is Jesus Christ Himself. Haste ye; habits of indecision strengthen; opportunities are closing in; the arrow of destruction has already left the bow of justice; now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)
I. THE WARNING.
1. How given. The messenger an angel! The deliverance of one man from a temporary calamity worthy of an angels powers. The great privilege of those who are permitted to save souls from eternal death. We have had many warnings. Prophets, apostles, &c., &c. If the word spoken by angels was steadfast, &c.
2. To whom given. Lot. Even he, an imperfect man, shall be saved. Not one of these little ones shall perish. None shall by any means pluck you out of My Fathers hand.
3. Its nature. Unprecedented. Startling. Life and death. Several cities to be destroyed.
4. When given. On the eve of the event predicted. No time for saving property. Life the only thing to be carried away. Presently the time will come when we can carry nothing away with us. Are we now prepared? We may have but a short warning, or none at all.
II. THE ESCAPE.
1. Lot receives the warning. Informs his sons-in-law. They ridiculed it. Scoffers. Many make a mock at sin. Still worse to make a mock of religion. Many do even this. Their day is coming. Was there any cause in Lot for their scoffs? Had they not sufficient reason, in his known character, to believe him? Imperfect piety has little influence. Probably his influence in Sodom was not very great.
2. He lingered.
(1) The time. Not a moment to be lost.
(2) The place. Sodom. Sinful and doomed.
(3) The reason. Did not doubt the warning. Not doubt, but sinful attachments. Had friends and property in this wicked place.
3. Compulsion was needful. The angels had to lead him forth. Strange that men need to be coerced into accepting a great deliverance. Yet this brand was plucked from the burning. Men have to be compelled to come in, &c.
4. Even then Lot did not wish to go as far as he could from destruction, but to remain as near as possible.
III. THE JUDGMENT.
1. The people were employed, as usual, in their pleasures, labours, or sins. Did not think their end was so near. So will it be at the judgment of the world. Death may overtake us unawares.
2. Lot being at a safe distance, the fearful tempest commenced. Fire destroyed the city, and water soon flowed over and submerged the smoking ruins.
3. Lots wife, looking back, was changed into a pillar of salt. None who are on the way to heaven can look back longing on the world they leave without injury. Old attachments are thereby strengthened, and new occupations, &c., are made distasteful. Such declension displeasing to God.
1. The wonderful mercy of God for even imperfect Christians.
2. The duty of thankfully receiving the warning He sends.
3. The duty that lays upon us of warning men to flee from the wrath to come.
4. Gods great love in providing a deliverer for us. (J. C. Gray.)
Angels word to Lot
1. Their humanity.
(1) They showed themselves susceptible of human influence.
(2) They appeared in human form.
(3) They partook of human food.
2. Their power.
I. THAT THEY HAVE A NATURE SUPERIOR TO HUMAN INFIRMITIES.
II. THAT THEY REGARD PARENTS AS ESPECIALLY BOUND TO SEEK THE WELFARE OF THEIR FAMILIES.
III. THAT THEY REGARD SIN AS TOUCHING THE HEART OF THE GREAT GOD.
1. God being omniscient is cognisant of every sin.
2. God being holy must be pained by every sin.
IV. THAT THEY REGARD THEMSELVES AS DIVINELY COMMISSIONED TO INFLICT CALAMITIES WHERE THERE IS SIN. Conclusion:
1. Life is solemn.
2. God is great.
3. Sin is ruinous. (Homilist.)
The character of Lot
Lots character is a singularly mixed one. With all his selfishness he was hospitable and public-spirited. Lover of good living, as undoubtedly he was, his courage and strength of character are yet unmistakable. His sitting at the gate in the evening to offer hospitality may fairly be taken as an indication of his desire to screen the wickedness of his townsmen, and also to shield the stranger from their brutality. From the style in which the mob addressed him it is obvious that he had made himself offensive by interfering to prevent wrongdoing. He was nick-named the Censor, and his eye was felt to carry condemnation. It is true there is no evidence that his opposition had been of the slightest avail. How could it avail with men who knew perfectly well that, with all his denunciation of their wicked ways, he preferred their money-making company to the desolation of the hills, where he would be vexed with no filthy conversation, but would also find no markets? Still it is to Lots credit that in such a city, with none to observe, none to applaud, and none to second him, he should have been able to preserve his own purity of life and steadily to resist wrong-doing. It would be cynical to say that he cultivated austerity and renounced popular vices as a salve to a conscience wounded by his own greed. That he had the courage which lies at the root of strength of character became apparent as the last dark night of Sodom wore on. To go out among a profligate, lawless mob, wild with passion and infuriated by opposition--to go out and shut the door behind him--was an act of true courage. His confidence in the influence he had gained in the town cannot have blinded him to the temper of the raging crowd at his door. To defend his unknown guests he put himself in a position in which men have frequently lost life. In the first few hours of his last night in Sodom there is much that is admirable and pathetic in Lots conduct. But when we have said that he was bold and that he hated other mens sins, we have exhausted the more attractive side of his character. The inhuman collectedness of mind with which, in the midst of a tremendous public calamity, he could scheme for his own private wen-being is the key to his whole character. He had no feeling, lie was cold-blooded, calculating, keenly alive to his own interest, with all his wits about him to reap some gain to himself out of every disaster; the kind of man out of whom wreckers are made, who can with gusto strip gold rings off the fingers of doomed corpses; out of whom are made the villains who can rifle the pockets of their dead comrades on a battle-field, or the politicians who can still ride on the top of the wave that hurls their country on the rocks. (M. Dods, D. D.)
Lots hospitality
Lot would fain have been as hospitable as Abraham. Deeper in his nature than any other consideration was the traditional habit of hospitality. To this he would have sacrificed everything; the rights of strangers were to him truly inviolable. Lot was a man who could as little see strangers without inviting them to his house as Abraham could. He would have treated them handsomely as his uncle; and what he could do he did. But Lot had by his choice of a dwelling made it impossible he should afford safe and agreeable lodging to any visitor, lie did his best, and it was not his reception of the angels that sealed Sodoms doom, and yet what shame he must have felt that he had put himself in circumstances in which his chief virtue could not be practised. So do men tie their own hands and cripple themselves so that even the good they would take pleasure in doing is either wholly impossible or turns to evil. (M. Dods, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Genesis 19
DESTRUCTION OF THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN
Genesis 19
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WHILE Abraham was pleading with the Lord the angels were pursuing their way to Sodom. And in doing so they apparently observed the laws of those human forms which they had assumed. They did not spread swift wings and alight early in the afternoon at the gates of the city; but taking the usual route, they descended from the hills which separated Abrahams encampment from the plain of the Jordan, and as the sun was setting reached their destination. In the deep recess which is found at either side of the gateway of an Eastern city, Lot had taken his accustomed seat. Wearied and vexed with the din of the revellers in the street, and oppressed with the sultry doom-laden atmosphere, he was looking out towards the cool and peaceful hills, purple with the sinking sun behind them, and letting his thoughts first follow and then outrun his eye; he was now picturing and longing for the unseen tents of Abraham, and almost hearing the cattle lowing round at evening and all the old sounds his youth had made familiar.
He is recalled to the actual present by the footfall of the two men, and little knowing the significance of his act, invites them to spend the night under his roof. It has been observed that the historian seems to intend to bring out the quietness and the ordinary appearance of the entire circumstances. All goes on as usual. There is nothing in the setting sun to say that for the last time it has shone oh these rich meadows, or that in twelve hours its rising will be dimmed by the smoke of the burning cities. The ministers of so appalling a justice as was here displayed enter the city as ordinary travellers. When a crisis comes, men do not suddenly acquire an intelligence and insight they have not habitually cultivated. They cannot suddenly put forth an energy nor exhibit an apt helpfulness which only character can give. When the test comes, we stand or tall not according to what we would wish to be and now see the necessity of being, but according to what former self-discipline or self-indulgence has made us.
How then shall this angelic commission of enquiry proceed? Shall it call together the elders of Sodom-or shall it take Lot outside the city and cross-examine him, setting down names and dates and seeking to come to a fair judgment. Not at all-there is a much surer way of detecting character than by any process of examination by question and answer. To each of us God says:
"Since by its fruit a tree is judged,
Show me thy fruit, the latest act of thine!
For in the last is summed the first, and all, -
What thy life last put heart and soul into,
There shall I taste thy product."
It is thus these angels proceed. They do not startle the inhabitants of Sodom into any abnormal virtue nor present opportunity for any unwonted iniquity. They give them opportunity to act in their usual way. Nothing could well be more ordinary than the entrance to the city of two strangers at sunset. There is nothing in this to excite, to throw men off their guard, to overbalance the daily habit, or give exaggerated expression to some special feature of character. It is thus we are all judged-by the insignificant circumstances in which we act without reflection, without conscious remembrance of an impending judgment, with heart and soul and full enjoyment.
First Lot is judged. Lots character is a singularly mixed one. With all his selfishness, he was hospitable and public-spirited. Lover of good living, as undoubtedly he was, his courage and strength of character are yet unmistakable. His sitting at the gate in the evening to offer hospitality may fairly be taken as an indication of his desire to screen the wickedness of his townsmen, and also to shield the stranger from their brutality. From the style in which the mob addressed him, it is obvious that he had made himself offensive by interfering to prevent wrong-doing. He was nicknamed "the Censor," and his eye was felt to carry condemnation. It is true there is no evidence that his opposition had been of the slightest avail. How could it avail with men who knew perfectly well that with all his denunciation of their wicked ways, he preferred their money-making company to the desolation of the hills, where he would be vexed with no filthy conversation, but would also find no markets? Still it is to Lots credit that in such a city, with none to observe, none to applaud, and none to second him, he should have been able to preserve his own purity of life and steadily to resist wrong-doing. It would be cynical to say that he cultivated austerity and renounced popular vices as a salve to a conscience wounded by his own greed.
That he had the courage which lies at the root of strength of character became apparent as the last dark night of Sodom wore on. To go out among a profligate, lawless mob, wild with passion and infuriated by opposition-to go out and shut the door behind him-was an act of true courage. His confidence in the influence he had gained in the town cannot have blinded him to the temper of the raging crowd at his door. To defend his unknown guests he put himself in a position in which men have frequently lost life.
In the first few hours of his last night in Sodom, there is much that is admirable and pathetic in Lots conduct. But when we have said that he was bold and that he hated other mens sins, we have exhausted the more attractive side of his character. The inhuman collectedness of mind with which, in the midst of a tremendous public calamity, he could scheme for his own private well-being is the key to his whole character. He had no feeling. He was cold-blooded, calculating, keenly alive to his own interest, with all his wits about him to reap some gain to himself out of every disaster; the kind of man out of whom wreckers are made, who can with gusto strip gold rings off the fingers of doomed corpses; out of whom are made the villains who can rifle the pockets of their dead comrades on a battlefield, or the politicians who can still ride on the top of the wave that hurls their country on the rocks. When Abraham gave him his choice of a grazing ground, no rush of feeling, no sense of gratitude, prevented him from making the most of the opportunity. When his house was assailed, he had coolness, when he went out to the mob, to shut the door behind him that those within might not hear his bargain. When the angel, one might almost say, was flurried by the impending and terrible destruction, and was hurrying him away, he was calm enough to take in at a glance the whole situation and on the spot make provision for himself. There was no need to tell him not to look back as his wife did: no deep emotion would overmaster him, no unconquerable longing to see the last of his dear friends in Sodom would make him lose one second of his time. Even the loss of his wife was not a matter of such importance as to make him forget himself and stand to mourn. In every recorded act of his life appears this same unpleasant characteristic.
Between Lot and Judas there is an instructive similarity. Both had sufficient discernment and decision of character to commit themselves to the life of faith, abandoning their original residence and ways of life. Both came to a shameful end, because the motive even of the sacrifices they made was self-interest. Neither would have had so dark a career had he more justly estimated his own character and capabilities, and not attempted a life for which he was unfit. They both put themselves into a false position; than which nothing tends more rapidly to deteriorate character. Lot was in a doubly false position, because in Sodom, as well as in Abrahams shifting camp, he was out of place. He voluntarily bound himself to men he could not love. One side of his nature was paralysed; and that the side which in him especially required development. It is the influence of home life, of kindly surroundings, of friendships, of congenial employment, of everything which evokes the free expression of what is best in us; it is this which is a chief factor in the development of every man. But instead of the genial and fertilising influence of worthy friendships, and ennobling love, Lot had to pretend good-will where he felt none, and deceit and coldness grew upon him in place of charity. Besides, a man in a false position in life, out of which he can by any sacrifice deliver himself, is never at peace with God until he does deliver himself. And any attempt to live a righteous life with an evil conscience is foredoomed to failure.
And if it still be felt that Lot was punished with extreme severity, and that if every man who chose a good grazing ground or a position in life which was likely to advance his fortune were thereby doomed to end his days in a cave and Under the darkest moral brand, society would be quite disintegrated, it must be remembered that, in order to advance his interests in life, Lot sacrificed much that a man is bound by all means to cherish; and further, it must be said that our destinies are thus determined. The whole iniquity and final consequences of our disposition are not laid before us in the mass: but to give the rein to any evil disposition is to yield control of our own life and commit ourselves to guidance which cannot result in good, and is of a nature to result in utter shame and wretchedness.
Turning from the rescued to the destroyed, we recognise how sufficient a test of their moral condition the presence of the angels was. The inhabitants of Sodom quickly afford evidence that they are ripe for judgment. They do nothing worse than their habitual conduct led them to do It is not for this one crime they are punished: its enormity is only the legible instance which of itself convicts them. They are not aware of the frightful nature of the crime they seek to commit. They fancy it is but a renewal of their constant practice. They rush headlong on destruction and do not know it. How can it be otherwise? If a man will not take warning, if he will persist in sin, then the day comes when he is betrayed into iniquity the frightful nature of which he did not perceive, but which is the natural result of the life he has led. He goes on and will not give up his sin till at last the final damning act is committed which seals his doom. Character tends to express itself in one perfectly representative act. The habitual passion, whatever it is, is always alive and seeking expression. Sometimes one consideration represses it, sometimes another; but these considerations are not constant, while the passion is, and must therefore one day find its opportunity-its opportunity not for that moderate, guarded, disguised expression which passes without notice, but for the full utterance of its very essence. So it was here: the whole city, small and great, young and old, from every quarter came together unanimous and eager in prosecuting the vilest wickedness. No further investigation or proof was needed: it has indeed passed into a proverb: "they declare their sin as Sodom."
To punish by a special commission of enquiry is quite unusual in Gods government. Nations are punished for immorality or for vicious administration of law or for neglect of sanitary principles by the operation of natural laws. That is to say, there is a distinctly traceable connection between the crime and its punishment; the one being the natural cause of the other. That nations should be weakened, depopulated, and ultimately sink into insignificance, is the natural result of a development of the military spirit of a country and the love of glory. That a population should be decimated by cholera or small-pox is the inevitable result of neglecting intelligible laws of health. It seems to me absurd to put this destruction of Sodom in the same category. The descent of meteoric stones from the sky is not the natural result of immorality. The vices of these cities have disastrous national results which are quite legibly written in some races existing in the present day. We have here to do not with what is natural but with what is miraculous. Of course it is open to any one to say, "It was merely accidental-it was a mere coincidence that a storm of lightning so violent as to set fire to the bituminous soil should rage in the valley, while on the hills a mile or two off all was serene; it was a mere coincidence that meteoric stones or some instrument of conflagration should set on fire just these cities, not only one of them but four of them, and no more." And certainly were there nothing more to go upon than the fact of their destruction, this coincidence, however extraordinary, must still be admitted as wholly natural, and having no relation to the character of the people destroyed. It might be set down as pure accident, and be classed with storms at sea, or volcanic eruptions, which are due to physical causes and have no relation to the moral character of those involved, but indiscriminately destroy all who happen to be present.
But we have to account not only for the fact of the destruction but for its prediction both to Abraham and to Lot. Surely it is only reasonable to allow that such prediction was supernatural; and the prediction being so, it is also reasonable to accept the account of the event given by the predictors of it, and understand it not as an ordinary physical catastrophe, but as an event contrived with a view to the moral character of those concerned, and intended as an infliction of punishment for moral offences. And before we object to a style of dealing with nations so different from anything we now detect, we must be sure that a quite different style of dealing was not at that time required. If there is an intelligent training of the world, it must follow the same law which requires that a parent deal in one way with his boy of ten and in another with his adult son.
Of Lots wife the end is recorded in a curt and summary fashion. "His wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt." The angel, knowing how closely on the heels of the fugitives the storm would press, had urgently enjoined haste, saying, "Look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain." Rapid in its pursuit as a prairie fire, it was only the swift who could escape it. To pause was to be lost. The command, "Look not behind thee" was not given because the scene was too awful to behold, for what men can endure men may behold, and Abraham looked upon it from the hill above. It was given simply from the necessity of the case and from no less practical and more arbitrary reason. Accordingly, when the command was neglected, the consequence was felt. Why the infatuated woman looked back one can only conjecture. The woful sounds behind her, the roar of the flame and of Jordan driven back, the crash of falling houses and the last forlorn cry of the doomed cities, all the confused and terrific din that filled her ear, may well have paralysed her and almost compelled her to turn. But the use our Lord makes of her example shows us that He ascribed her turning to a different motive. He uses her as a warning to those who seek to save out of the destruction more than they have time to save, and so lose all." He which shall be on the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away; and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lots wife." It would seem, then, as if our Lord ascribed her tragic fate to her reluctance to abandon her household stuff. She was a wife after Lots own heart, who in the midst of danger and disaster had an eye to her possessions. The smell of fire, the hot blast in her hair, the choking smoke of blazing bitumen, suggested to her only the thought of her own house decorations, her hangings, and ornaments, and stores. She felt keenly the hardship of leaving so much wealth to be the mere food of fire. The thought of such intolerable waste made her more breathless with indignation than her rapid flight. Involuntarily as she looks at the bleak, stony mountains before her, she thinks of the rich plain behind; she turns for one last look, to see if it is impossible to return, impossible to save anything from the wreck. The one look transfixes her, rivets her with dismay and horror. Nothing she looked for can be seen; all is changed in wildest confusion. Unable to move, she is overtaken and involved in the sulphurous smoke, the bitter salts rise out of the earth and stifle her and encrust around her and build her tomb where she stands.
Lots wife by her death proclaims that if we crave to make the best of both worlds, we shall probably lose both. Her disposition is not rare and exceptional as the pillar of salt which was its monument. She is not the only woman whose heart is so fixedly set upon her household possessions that she cannot listen to the angel-voices that would guide her. Are there none but Lots wife who show that to them there is nothing so important, nothing else indeed to live for at all, but the management of a house and the accumulation of possessions? If all who are of the same mind as Lots wife shared her fate the world would present as strange a spectacle as the Dead Sea presents at this day. For radically it was her divided mind which was her ruin. She had good impulses, she saw what she ought to do, but she did not do it with a mind made up. Other things divided her thoughts and diverted her efforts. What else is it ruins half the people who suppose themselves well on the way of life? The world is in their heart; they cannot pursue with undivided mind the promptings of a better wisdom. Their heart is with their treasure, and their treasure is really not in spiritual excellence, not in purity of character, not in the keen bracing air of the silent mountains where God is known, but in the comforts and gains of the luxurious plain behind.
We are to remember Lots wife that we may bear in mind how possible it is that persons who promise well and make great efforts and bid fair to reach a place of safety may be overtaken by destruction. We can perhaps tell of exhausting effort, we may have outstripped many in practical repentance, but all this may only be petrified by present carelessness into a monument recording how nearly a man may be saved and yet be destroyed. "Have ye suffered all these things in vain, if it be yet in vain? Ye have run well, what now hinders you?" The question always is, not, what have you done, but what are you now doing? Up to the site of the pillar, Lots wife had done as well as Lot, had kept pace with the angels; but her failure at that point destroyed her.
The same urgency may not be felt by all; but it should be felt by all to whose conscience it has been distinctly intimated that they have become involved in a state of matters which is ruinous. If you are conscious that in your life there are practices which may very well issue in moral disaster, an angel has taken you by the hand and bid you flee. For you to delay is madness. Yet this is what people will do. Sagacious men of the world, even when they see the probability of disaster, cannot bear to come out with loss. They will always wait a little longer to see if they cannot rescue something more, and so start on a fresh course with less inconvenience. They will not understand that it is better to live bare and stripped with a good conscience and high moral achievement, than in abundance with self-contempt. What they have always seems more to them than what they are.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 4 Gen_19:1. And there came two angels to Sodom at…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Gen_19:1. And there came two angels to Sodom at even.] Heb. And there came two of the angels. The third remained with Abraham, being held by him in his pleadings for Sodom. (Ch. Gen_18:22; Gen_18:33.) Sat in the gate. The usual place for public gatherings, and for the judges to sit in court. (Job_27:7-12.) The Jewish commentators understand this phrase as implying the exercise of the authority and office of a magistrate. Possibly Lot might have occupied such a position. He was an aged man, and the elders of the city used to assume this office without any formalities. (See Gen_19:9.) Rose up to meet them; and bowed himself with his face towards the ground. It was the Oriental custom to rise up in the presence of superiors, and to pay them homage by bowing low with the face towards the ground.
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Gen_19:2. My lords.] “The word is the same as that by which Abraham addressed God (ch. Gen_18:3) in the singular, but it is differently pointed in the Hebrew, and evidently must be differently understood, as the sentence is in the second person plural, not singular, as there. And accordingly, while the Masoretic editors have a note against Adonai there, ‘sacred,’ meaning that it is the name of God, here they note the ‘profane,’ meaning that it is the name of man only.” (Alford.) And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. Heb. Because we will lodge in the open square; i.e., the wide place in the gate.
Gen_19:3. And he pressed upon them greatly.] The Heb. word implies an earnestness of importunity amounting almost to violence. The same word is used in Gen_19:9, “And they pressed sore upon the man.” A feast. Heb. A banquet. “It was a refreshment, whether called an eating or a drinking. In Est_5:6-7, it is rendered a banquet of wine. This was Lot’s generous entertainment—the best at his command, doubtless.” (Jacobus.) Unleavened bread. Because this kind could be more expeditiously prepared.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PASAGRAPH.—Gen_19:1-3
THE EVE OF JUDGMENT TO THE RIGHTEOUS
This visitation of God’s vengeance upon the wicked cities of the plain is typical of the Last Judgment upon mankind; and the conduct of Lot declares to us something of the behaviour of the righteous under the immediate shadow of that judgment.
I. The righteous man is found in the way of duty.
Gen_19:1. The duty of his calling. When the two angels came to Sodom at even, Lot was found sitting at the gate, which was the place for news and business. He was, probably, there in the capacity of a judge, (Gen_19:9.) He was in the way of his ordinary duty to which Providence had called him. He was found at his post. So it shall be in the end of the world. Good men will be found walking in the humble ways of duty at the coming of the Lord. They are not to stand still gazing into heaven, and indifferent to all things around them, but to perform the tasks of their appointed day until the night cometh. The Lord expects, when He cometh to judge His servants, to find them carrying out the commands which He left with them.
2. The duty arising from the relations of human life. Lot treats these strangers with kindness and hospitality. (Gen_19:2-3.) He even presses his favours upon them. There were special duties owing to the stranger, and he discharges them willingly from the best and purest motives. There are duties arising from our relations to society, duties which exercise us in the tender charities of human life. Up to the very eve of judgment the righteous will be found doing the deeds of love and kindness. (Mat_25:35-41.)
II. The righteous man is separate from sinners. Lot was not engaged in the wicked practices of the place. He separated himself from the vile sinners of the city—kept up the dignity of his character as a righteous man. It would have been better for him had he not lived amongst this wicked people; but now he had to accept the fact, and strive to separate himself from them in spirit, aim, and purpose. The righteous are in the world, and they maintain their godly life not by seeking seclusion from it, but by living above it, by cherishing a nobler purpose, and acting out the Divine idea of life. They are unworldly just as Christ was unworldly, mingling with men, and yet living the life of heaven upon earth; discharging common duties, and yet attending to the work of His high calling. This separateness, which is necessarily the mark of the righteous character, involves:
1. Sorrow for the spiritual state of men alienated from God. Lot was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked, and in seeing and hearing day by day deeds of sin and lawlessness. (2Pe_2:7-8.) It is one of the sorrows of the godly man that his spiritual sensibilities are wounded by the observation of sin around him. He feels pity for those who are in so sad a case, so infatuated and exposed to the danger of judgment; and yet his pity often acquires the temper of a righteous indignation that his God is so dishonoured.
2. A principle which regulates choice of companionship. A godly man will choose for intimate companionship those who are like-minded with himself, and who will further his spiritual interests. He avoids the contagion of evil example, and in the choice of his companions strives ever “to seek those beings which are above.” He is constantly attracted to that which is most godlike. Though Lot followed it so feebly, yet such was the direction in which he set his righteous soul. He is pleased with the company of those whom he felt to be kindred spirits. He offers them hospitality, and treats them with every consideration and courtesy. So it shall be when the last Judgment is about to come upon the world. The righteous will still be a separate people, sharing a common feeling and interest.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen_19:1. Another instance where, under the form of ordinary hospitality, angels are entertained unawares.
A godly training must refine and polish the manners. The continual practice of the duties of religion tends to destroy the love of self, and to foster that consideration for others which is the soul of good behaviour in the intercourse of life. The righteous man does that from principle and real convictions which the man of the world does from a cold regard to artificial standards of duty and courtesy.
Superior beings inspire respect in those whose souls are open to impressions made by what is great and good. The worship of One who is supremely good, generates a regard for goodness wherever it may be found.
There is a humility and reverence due to the pious, for these are but angels in disguise. Such honour must be awarded to the saints, if we consider what they shall be in the great possibilities of the future.
When the two angels came to Sodom at even, Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. He was at his post, and on the watch, not forgetful to entertain strangers. This was pre-eminently the office of pious love which he had to discharge. As Abraham, at noon-day, ere he sat down to his meal—so Lot, at night, ere he retired to rest, remained on the look-out for those who might need his hospitality. Especially, if any of the remnant of God’s people, persecuted by the idolatrous nations, and compelled to wander on the wide earth, without a home, should be passing through the accursed city where Lot dwelt, it was indeed a most essential service to intecept them at the gate, to prevent them from falling into the hands of the unprincipled and lawless crowd, whose companions or whose victims it was alike fatal to become, and to give them the shelter of a roof beneath which the Lord was worshipped. Thus was Lot employed, when all the rest of the city were probably either sunk in slumber or abandoned to riot. Had he been asleep, like the others, or had he been indulging in vain and sinful dissipation, he might have missed the visit of the friendly angels; they might have passed by his house.—(Candlish.)
Gen_19:2. Kindred natures assort easily together.
These minute attentions to the wants of travellers were among the hospitalities practised by all Oriental nations. But the inhabitants of these wicked cities had fallen far below these common standards of duty.
They would have determined to abide in the street all night but for Lot’s importunity. So our Saviour would have gone further but that the two disciples constrained Him to stay. (Luk_24:29.) This was no simulation; or, if so, yet it was only explanatory, without deceit or hypocrisy. And if Solomon sinned not in making believe he would do that which was unlawful to be done (1Ki_3:24), it can be no sin to do the like in things indifferent.—(Trapp.)
Lot is approved of the Lord as righteous, and exempt from the doom of the city. Therefore the messengers of God can dwell with him.
We should seek opportunities to do good, and even press our favours upon others.
Gen_19:3. He pressed them, not merely from an impulse of generosity that he might refresh them with the cheer of his house, or from a wish to enjoy their company and converse, but because he was too well aware of the danger to which they would be exposed were they to adhere to their declared purpose of lodging in the street.—(Bush.)
There may be honest feasting in Lot’s house among the riot and gluttony of the Sodomites.—(Hughes.)
Love, like authority, has its constraints. As there is a violence of wickedness, so there is a holy violence which will take no denial.
To Lot’s petition the reply is, “Nay, but we will abide in the street all night.” Eventually, indeed, they yield to his importunity, and he sups with them and they with him. But whereas in Abraham’s case communion is reached, as it were, naturally without an effort, in Lot’s there is a struggle of prayer before his desire is granted. By the self-mortified pilgrim communion is easily obtained. Those who live in the world, judging it rather than themselves, though they would gladly welcome the Lord or His servants, find that before communion can be enjoyed a temporary denial and a spiritual struggle must be experienced.—(Jukes: “Types of Genesis.”)
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 This is the whole of the record. The offence…
Gen 19:26
This is the whole of the record. The offence consisted only in a look; and that a look directed towards a city which may have been her birthplace, and which contained many that were dear to her by relationship and by friendship. The vengeance taken was most signal and appalling. Here is a case in which there seems a want of proportion between the sin and its recompense. But the fact that our Lord uses the admonition "Remember Lot’s wife" shows that a moral end was to be subserved by the Divine interference. Lot’s wife was meant to be an example to the men of every generation.
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I. God’s moral government required the interference. The punishment took its measure, not so much from the greatness of the sin, as from the nature of the lessons to be given.
II. Consider the sin committed by Lot’s wife. She looked back; it may be she attempted to turn back. She, a rescued one, had no right to pause and grieve for such sinners as were left behind in Sodom. She was guilty of a positive act of disobedience, for the parting injunction of the angel had been "Look not behind thee."
III. Her fate teaches a great lesson as to the duty of decision in religion. Deliverance is conditional. If we flee as those who hear behind them the tramp of the destroyer, if we rush as those who see the daylight hastening away, we shall be saved; but if our heart is with the stuff, or the friends that remain behind in Sodom, then "Remember Lot’s wife." "No man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of heaven."
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2445.
References: Gen 19:26.—R. M. McCheyne, Additional Remains, p. 249; R. W. Evans, Parochial Sermons, p. 30; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 99.
Gen. 19
Notice:—
I. Sodom’s sinfulness. Her sins were committed amidst an unbounded flush of prosperity; they were committed amidst scenes of much natural loveliness, Nature being outraged before the eye of her most beautiful forms; and they were committed not only in opposition to Nature’s silent, but to God’s spoken, warnings.
II. Notice Sodom’s warnings. One was given by the entrance of Lot within its gates; another was given by the advent of Chedorlaomer and the invaders from the east. Abraham and Melchizedek cast their sublime and awful shadows from the King’s Dale southward upon Gomorrah’s walls; but the sinners within felt not the hallowing sense of their presence, trembled not at the steps of their majesty.
III. Notice Sodom’s intercessor. Abraham’s prayer shows: (1) the confidence that existed between himself and God; (2) it shows God’s personal knowledge of evil; (3) it shows God’s great reluctance to punish; (4) it gives proof of the tremendous guilt of Sodom.
IV. This terrible catastrophe lies in a bye-path of the Divine procedure; it did not relate immediately to the general course of the patriarchal dispensation, and yet what an awful "aside" did the fall of these cities utter! It must have struck Abraham with a new sense of the evil of sin and of the holiness and justice of God. In the Dead Sea, Israel felt, and we should feel too, that God’s anger was, so to speak, sunk and slumbering on the outskirts of the land, and might at any moment awake and march out in all its fury on the impenitent.
G. Gilfillan, Alpha and Omega, vol. ii., p. 1.
References: Gen 19—F. W. Robertson, Notes on Genesis, p. 43p; R. S. Candlish, Book of Genesis, vol. i., p. 313; Expositor, 2nd series, vol. i., p. 443; Expositor, 3rd series, vol. ii., p. 203, vol. iii., p. 69; J. Foster, Lectures, vol. i., p. 103. Gen 19:12.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. x., No. 601. Gen 19:12, Gen 19:13.—W. Harris, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 399. Gen 19:12, Gen 19:26.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iii., p. 107. Gen 19:12-30.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iv., p. 91, and vol. xxii., p. 156. Gen 19:14.—Weekly Pulpit, vol. i. (1877), p. 264; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 120. Gen 19:15.—Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes (1884), p. 9. Gen 19:16.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiv., No. 789; Bishop Ryle, Holiness, its Nature, etc., p. 212. Gen 19:16, Gen 19:17.—S. Leathes, Truth and Life, p. 40. Gen 19:17.—A. W. Hare, Sermons to a Country Congregation, vol. i., p. 201; S. A. Brooke, The Unity of God and Man, p. 143; F. O. Morris, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 251; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 119. Gen 19:17-19.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. x., No. 550. Gen 19:20.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. v., No. 248; Homiletic Magazine, vol. xii., p. 81. Gen 19:24, Gen 19:25.—Parker, vol. i., p. 222. Gen 19:26.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiv., p. 171. Gen 19:27, Gen 19:28.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. x., No. 602. Gen 19:27-29.—R. S. Candlish, Book of Genesis, vol. i., p. 330. Gen 19:29.—E. Cooper, Fifty-two Sermons, p. 93.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Destruction of the Cities of the Plain
The Destruction of the Cities of the Plain
1. The visit of the two angels (who are 'the men' of Genesis 18) may be regarded as the final test of Sodom. If they were hospitably received and honourably treated they might still be spared.
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In the gate] The entrance gate of walled Eastern cities is a great place of resort. In front of it the market was held and justice administered. See Ruth 4; 2Sa_15:2; Amo_5:10-15; Job_31:21; Deu_21:19; Jer_38:7.
2. We will abide in the street all night] To sleep out of doors is no hardship in a hot climate. Lot shows that he retained, at all events, the virtues of hospitality and of bravery in the defence of strangers.
3. Unleavened bread] bread made quickly without yeast: cp. Exo_12:39.
4, 5. The causes which led to the fall of Sodom are alluded to in Eze_16:49, Eze_16:50. See also Christ's comparison of the punishments of Sodom and Capernaum (Mat_11:20).
7. Do not so wickedly] So St. Peter speaks of 'just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked,' 2Pe_2:7. But Lot himself was only relatively righteous.
8. Lot's sense of the sacred duty of hospitality was no excuse for neglecting his still greater duty of caring for his daughters' honour.
9. He will needs be a judge] Evidently Lot had reproved them before this.
11. Blindness] probably confused or indistinct vision: cp. 2Ki_6:18.
14. Sons in law] By comparing this expression with Gen_19:8 and Gen_19:16 it seems that the men were only betrothed, not married, to Lot's daughters. Indeed, RV has 'were to marry' instead of 'married.'
17. The mountain] the mountains of Moab, E. of the Dead Sea.
18-22. The motive of Lot's request is uncertain. He either feared that there would not be time to reach the mountain, or he was reluctant to leave the place where he had long lived; the latter view seems perhaps most in accordance with his character.
21. Zoar was spared, not because its insignificant size excused its sinfulness, but as a refuge for Lot.
22. Zoar] 'littleness,' perhaps at the SE. end of the Dead Sea, but position disputed. It is called Bela in Gen_14:2.
24. A consideration of the probable nature of this awful visitation will explain the vivid statement of the text. As was pointed out in Genesis 14, the whole neighbourhood of the Dead Sea abounds in sulphur and bitumen, furnishing the materials for the terrible conflagration which ensued. Probably a convulsion of the earth released some springs of naphtha which flowed through the cities and ignited. In our own days when the petroleum springs at Baku in the Caspian become accidentally ignited, they burn for days. The note on Gen_14:3 explains in what sense the site of the guilty cities can be said to be covered by the waters of the Dead Sea. Their destruction was due to the agency of fire, not of water. The latter condition of this once fertile and populous district is referred to in Deu_29:23; Deu_29:2 Est_2:8; Est_2:2 Est_2:9.
On the religious significance Dean Payne Smith says: 'Though God used natural agencies in the destruction of the cities of the plain, yet what was in itself a catastrophe of nature became miraculous by the circumstances which surrounded it. It was thus made the means not merely of executing the divine justice, of strengthening Abraham's faith, and of warning Lot, but also of giving moral and religious instruction for all time.'
26. She became a pillar of salt] This may mean that she was overwhelmed in the rock salt of the district which was thrown up by the earthquake: see on Gen_14:3. The story of Josephus that this particular 'pillar' of salt was still to be seen in his day may be explained by the presence of cones of salt which are to be seen standing detached from the salt mountain of Usdum at the SW. end of the Dead Sea: see on Gen_14:13. Our Lord alludes to the fate of Lot's wife as a warning to His followers against clinging too closely to the world (Luk_17:32).
29. God remembered Abraham] i.e. his intercession for Lot: see Genesis 18.
30-38. The only explanation of the shameful conduct of Lot's daughters, if understood literally, is to be found in their motive, which was probably based on the strong views entertained by Orientals regarding childlessness and the extinction of the family; they seem also, from Gen_19:31, to have really thought that they were the sole survivors of the terrible catastrophe just narrated. The Moabites and Ammonites settled to the E. of the Dead Sea. They afterwards became bitter enemies of Israel who first came into contact with them when nearing Canaan at the end of the wanderings. See Numbers 21-25, also Judges 3; 1 Samuel 11; 1Sa_14:47; 2Sa_8:2; 2 Kings 3; 2 Chronicles 20; Isaiah 15 Jeremiah 48 Zep_2:8. Some scholars, however, look upon this story as the expression of the Hebrews' hatred of their two neighbours and enemies. Many of the customs of these people were doubtless abhorrent to the purer-minded Israelites; and their feelings are expressed in this account of a current belief among the people of a later age.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1, 9 angel (See Scofield "Heb 1:4")
angel (See Scofield "Heb 1:4")
Lot sat Cf. Dan 2:49.
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Lot the compromiser with Daniel the inflexible. Lot was a great man Deu 21:19; Deu 21:20 in a place devoted to judgment. Cf. Act 17:31.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 CHAPTER 19 The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
CHAPTER 19 The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
1. The angels visit (Gen 19:1-5)
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2. Lot and the Sodomites (Gen 19:6-11)
3. The destruction of Sodom announced (Gen 19:12-13)
4. Lot and his sons-in-law (Gen 19:14)
5. Lot brought forth (Gen 19:15-17)
6. Lot’s request (Gen 19:18-20)
7. The escape (Gen 19:21-25)
8. Lot’s wife (Gen 19:26)
9. Abraham looks on (Gen 19:27-29)
10. Lot’s shame (Gen 19:30-38)
This is a chapter of judgment. How great the contrast with the preceding one! There Abraham sat under the tent door and the Lord appeared unto him; here two angels come to Sodom at even and Lot sits in the gate of Sodom. Joyfully Abraham had run to meet the heavenly visitors and willingly the Lord and His companions had entered in to be comforted by Abraham. Lot invites the angels likewise but they say “Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.” Only after Lot pressed upon them greatly “did they enter his house.” The feast was not like Abraham’s feast of fine meal and a calf, but only unleavened bread. Poor, selfish Lot! He had gone down to Sodom; from the tent pitched toward Sodom he had landed in Sodom and there he had no longer a tent, but he had a house. He had settled down and given up his character as pilgrim. His daughters had become perfectly at home in Sodom and married unbelieving Sodomites. More than that Lot had taken a position in Sodom. “He sat in the gate of Sodom” and the mob said “This fellow came in to sojourn and he will be judge” (Gen 19:9). He held an influential position there and most likely attempted the reformation of Sodom. That he was greatly troubled is learned from the New Testament. “he was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked” (2Pe 2:7). Lot is the picture of thousands of Christian believers, who are carnally minded and worldly. There are many who have settled down in the world, from which they have been separated and delivered by the death of Christ and like Lot they will be saved “so as by fire.”
From the fourth verse to the eleventh in this chapter (Gen 19:4-11) we find a short description of the awful wickedness of Sodom. Its gross immoralities, the fearful fruits of the lust of the flesh have since then become proverbial. In this connection we may well remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot ... even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man cometh” (Luk 17:28-30). This Christian age will not end in universal righteousness; it will end in apostasy from God and His Word, in iniquity and lawlessness, and these will be followed by a fiery judgment. Indications of such an ending of this age of boasted progress are numerous and becoming more pronounced. Among these immoralities, the looseness of the marriage ties, and adulteries are prominently in the lead. The great cities of Christendom are modern Sodoms and the immorality in them is perhaps worse than in the ancient, lewd cities of the valley of Jordan. This will be getting worse and worse and the end will be judgment. And now the angels give the message of the impending judgment. Sodom was to be destroyed by fire. Lot believed the message, but when he had spoken the word to his two sons-in-law, “Up get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city,” they took it as a joke and believed not. They might have been saved if they had believed. They perished in Sodom. Even so it is now at the end of this age. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming?” (2Pe 3:3-4). If one preaches and teaches the soon coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, to be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord (2Th 1:7-8), he is laughed at and scorned, called a pessimist. Perhaps the two sons-in-law called Lot a pessimist.
Notice Gen 19:24. “Then Jehovah rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven.” Here was a Jehovah on earth and He called to Jehovah in heaven.
Lot’s history ends in shame. Moab and Ammon begotten in wickedness have a history of shame. No record is given of the death of Lot.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 4 The Arrival of the Angels
The Arrival of the Angels
v. 1. And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. And Lot, seeing them, rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. The two angels, having left Hebron about noon, reached the city of Sodom about sundown. Lot was sitting in the gate, within the arched entrance to the city, where deep recesses on either side furnished seats, and where commercial and political business was transacted. With true Oriental hospitality, Lot arose to meet the approaching travelers, bowing himself down to the ground in token of the fact that they might consider him their servant in the matter of finding them a place of lodging.
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v. 2. And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early and go on your ways. In all sincerity, Lot would have accounted it an honor to have the travelers turn aside and enter his house. They were welcome to make use of the comforts of his home, and he would not detain them on the morrow. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. Having come to the city for the purpose of investigating conditions thoroughly, the angels would have preferred to remain in the open, wide space just inside the entrance of the city.
v. 3. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. Lot did his duty as Oriental host. His invitation becoming so very urgent, the angels consented to remain in his house overnight, where he personally superintended their entertainment. This is one of the instances to which the writer to the Hebrews has reference when he writes: "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. " Heb 13:2.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4, 6, 9, 10 The two angels
The two angels
Genesis 18 says that two men went to Sodom. Here we learn that they are really angels. (See: Genesis 18:22)
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the gate of Sodom
"the entrance to the city of Sodom." The city had a wall around it, and people had to go through a gate to get into it. This was a very important place in a city. Important people often spent time there.
bowed down with his face to the ground
He put his knees on the ground then touched his forehead and nose to the ground.
my masters
This was a term of respect Lot used for the angels.
I urge you to turn aside into your servant's house
"Please come and stay in your servant's house"
your servant's house
Lot refers to himself as their servant in order to show them respect. (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
wash your feet
People liked to wash their feet after traveling.
rise up early
"wake up early"
we will spend the night
When the two angels said this, they were referring only to themselves, not to Lot. The two of them planned to spend the night in the square. Some languages would use the exclusive form of "we" here. (See: Exclusive and Inclusive "We")
town square
This is a public, outdoor place in the town.
they went with him
"they turned and went with him"
translationWords
angel
Sodom
Lot
gate
bow
lord
servant
unleavened bread
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4, 6, 9 19:1-38 The Canaanites were an evil, corrupting people. God…
19:1-38 The Canaanites were an evil, corrupting people. God judged their morally bankrupt civilization and warned others against becoming like them. It was difficult to get Lot and his family out of Sodom; it was more difficult to get Sodom out of Lot and his family. This chapter helped later Israelites to understand the moral and spiritual threat of the peoples living in and around the Promised Land, such as the Canaanites and Lot’s descendants, the Moabites and the Ammonites (see Num 22–25; Deut 23:3-6; Josh 24:9; Judg 10:7-9; 11:4-5; 1 Sam 10:27; 1 Kgs 11:1-3; 2 Kgs 24:2).
19:1-14 The two angels who were with the Lord at Mamre (cp. 18:2, 22) visited Sodom reluctantly, knowing what kind of people lived there. Despite Lot’s hospitality, they preferred lodging in the square to entering Lot’s house.
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19:1 The two angels also first appeared to Abraham as men (18:2). • Lot was no longer living in tents next to Sodom (13:12)—he had become a citizen and leader in Sodom, sitting there at the entrance of the city. Community leaders (elders) usually congregated in the gates, where legal and business transactions were publicly finalized (cp. 23:18; Job 29:7, 12-17). As a righteous man (2 Pet 2:7-8), Lot tried to modify the townspeople’s wickedness by giving advice on good living (cp. Gen 19:9). Although he denounced gross evil, Lot preferred Sodom’s sumptuous lifestyle to life in the hills (cp. 13:10-11), where there was clean living but no “good life.” As long as the Lord left Lot and his family alone in Sodom, he lived comfortably there and kept his personal belief in God; but finally, he could not hold to both. Sodom would have destroyed Lot if the Lord had not destroyed Sodom. • This account showed Israel that God is the righteous judge of the whole earth (18:25) who will judge evildoers with justice and equity. In wicked societies, moral and ethical failures lead to social injustice.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.