When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city.” But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and his two daughters’ hands, Yahweh being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city. It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, “Escape for your life! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!”
Parallel Translations
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When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city.”
But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and his two daughters’ hands, Yahweh being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city.
It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, “Escape for your life! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!”
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And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
Show all 3 translations
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And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying: 'Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters that are here; lest thou be swept away in the iniquity of the city.'
But he lingered; and the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him. And they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said: 'Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the Plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be swept away.'
Cross-references (52)
- Matthew 24:16-18 (v17) then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his…
- Luke 9:62 (v17) But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for God’s Kingdom.”
- Philippians 3:13-14 (v17) Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do: forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching…
- Genesis 19:26 (v17) But Lot’s wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
- Genesis 19:22 (vv15, 17) Hurry, escape there, for I can’t do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
Show all 51 cross-references
- Matthew 3:7 (v17) But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to…
- Luke 17:31-32 (v17) In that day, he who will be on the housetop and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away. Let him who is in the field…
- Jeremiah 48:6 (v17) Flee! Save your lives! Be like the juniper bush in the wilderness.
- Genesis 13:10 (v17) Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and…
- 1 Kings 19:3 (v17) When he saw that, he arose, and ran for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
- Genesis 19:14-15 (v17) Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up! Get out of this place, for Yahweh…
- Psalms 121:1 (v17) I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?
- 1 Samuel 19:11 (v17) Saul sent messengers to David’s house, to watch him, and to kill him in the morning. Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you don’t…
- Genesis 18:22 (v17) The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before Yahweh.
- Numbers 16:24-27 (v15) “Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘Get away from around the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram!’ ” Moses rose up and went to Dathan and…
- Hebrews 2:3 (v17) how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation—which at the first having been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those…
- Romans 9:15-16 (v16) For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it is not of…
- Revelation 18:4 (v15) I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, that you have no participation in her sins, and that you don’t…
- Proverbs 6:4-5 (v15) Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the…
- Luke 13:24-25 (v15) “Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in and will not be able. When once the master of the house…
- 2 Corinthians 6:2 (v15) for he says, “At an acceptable time I listened to you. In a day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now…
- Titus 3:5 (v16) not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and…
- Genesis 19:17 (v15) It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, “Escape for your life! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stay anywhere in the…
- Exodus 34:6 (v16) Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness…
- Numbers 14:18 (v16) ‘Yahweh is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty,…
- Deuteronomy 4:31 (v16) For Yahweh your God is a merciful God. He will not fail you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them.
- 1 Chronicles 16:34 (v16) Oh give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
- Psalms 34:12 (v16) Who is someone who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?
- Psalms 86:5 (v16) For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you.
- Psalms 86:15 (v16) But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.
- Psalms 103:8-10 (v16) Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness. He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry…
- Psalms 103:13 (v16) Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.
- Psalms 106:1 (v16) Praise Yahweh! Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
- Psalms 106:8 (v16) Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power known.
- Psalms 107:1 (v16) Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
- Psalms 111:4 (v16) He has caused his wonderful works to be remembered. Yahweh is gracious and merciful.
- Psalms 118:1 (v16) Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
- Psalms 119:60 (v16) I will hurry, and not delay, to obey your commandments.
- Psalms 136:1 (v16) Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good; for his loving kindness endures forever.
- Isaiah 63:9 (v16) In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. He bore…
- Lamentations 3:22 (v16) It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail.
- Micah 7:18-19 (v16) Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger…
- Luke 6:35-36 (v16) But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most…
- Luke 18:13 (v16) But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a…
- John 6:44 (v16) No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.
- 2 Corinthians 1:3 (v16) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort;
- Ephesians 2:4-5 (v16) But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive…
- Hebrews 3:7-8 (v15) Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, like as in the…
- 2 Peter 2:9 (v16) the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
- Joshua 6:22 (v16) Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring the woman and all that she has out from…
- Romans 9:18 (v16) So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.
51 distinct cross-references across this passage (52 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv15–17 15. The angels hastened Lot. Having praised the faith…
15. The angels hastened Lot. Having praised the faith and piety of Lot, Moses shows that something human still adhered to him; because the angels hastened him, when he was lingering. The cause of his tardiness might be, that he thought he was going into exile: thus a multiplicity of cares and fears disturb his anxious mind. For he doubts what would happen to him, as a fugitives when, having left his house and furniture, naked and in want, he should retake himself to some desert place. In the meantime, he does not consider that he must act like persons shipwrecked, who, in order that they may come safe into port, cast into the sea their cargo, and every thing they have. He does not indeed doubt, that God is speaking the truth; nor does he refuse to remove elsewhere, as he is commanded; but, as if sinking under his own infirmity, and entangled with many cares, he, who ought to have run forth hastily, and without delay, moves with slow and halting pace. In his person, however, the Spirit of God presents to us, as in a mirror, our own tardiness; in order that we, shaking off all sloth, may learn to prepare ourselves for prompt obedience, as soon as the heavenly voice sounds in our ears; otherwise, in addition to that indolence which, by nature, dwells within us, Satan will interpose many delays. The angels, in order the more effectually to urge Lot forward, infuse the fear, lest he should be destroyed in the iniquity, or the punishment of the city. For the word עוון(ayon) signifies both. Not that the Lord rashly casts the innocent on the same heap with the wicked, but because 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.
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 vv15–17 Hebrew, which are found.
Hebrew, which are found.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv15–17 Gen 19:15 And when the morning arose, then the…
Gen 19:15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
Ver. 15. Lest thou be consumed.] So Rev 18:4. "Come out of her, that ye receive not of her plagues." Musculi ruinis imminentibus praemigrant, et aranei cum telis primi eadunt , saith Pliny. {a} Swine flee home before a storm. Let men hasten out of their natural estate, as Lot was bidden to do out of Sodom: there is the smell of the fire and brimstone upon them.
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{a} Plin., lib. viii. cap. 28.
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 vv15–17 Which are here; Heb. which are found; i.e. which…
Which are here; Heb. which are found; i.e. which are present with thee, as this word is used, 1Ch 29:17; 2Ch 5:11; 30:21; 31:1. Whence some gather that he had two other daughters married to two Sodomitish men, who by their husbands’ persuasion and example staid and perished in those flames. But this is not necessary; for this phrase may be applied to the daughters by way of distinction from their spouses or husbands: q.d. Tarry no longer in expectation of thy sons-in-law, who are absent, and must be given up for lost, but take thy daughters which are found and present with thee, and go thy way.
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 v15 Here is, I. The rescue of Lot out of…
Here is, I. The rescue of Lot out of Sodom. Thought there were not ten righteous men in Sodom, for whose sakes it might be spared, yet that one righteous man that was among them delivered his own soul, Eze 14:14. Early in the morning his own guests, in kindness to him, turned him out of doors, and his family with him, Gen 19:15. His daughters that were married perished with their unbelieving husbands; but those that continued with him were preserved with him. Observe,
1. With what a gracious violence Lot was brought out of Sodom, Gen 19:16. It seems, though he did not make a jest of the warning given, as his sons-in-law did, yet he lingered, he trifled, he did not make so much haste as the case required. Thus many that are under some convictions about the misery of their spiritual state, and the necessity of a change, yet defer that needful work, and foolishly linger. Lot did so, and it might have been fatal to him it the angels had not laid hold of his hand, and brought him forth, and saved him with fear, Jde 1:23. Herein it is said, The Lord was merciful to him; otherwise he might justly have left him to perish, since he was so loth to depart. Note, (1.) The salvation of the most righteous men must be attributed to God's mercy, not to their own merit. We are saved by grace. (2.) God's power also must be acknowledged in the bringing of souls out of a sinful state. If God had not brought us forth, we had never come forth. (3.) If God had not been merciful to us, our lingering had been our ruin.
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2. With what a gracious vehemence he was urged to make the best of his way, when he was brought forth, Gen 19:17. (1.) He must still apprehend himself in danger of being consumed, and be quickened by the law of self-preservation to flee for his life. Note, A holy fear and trembling are found necessary to the working out of our salvation. (2.) He must therefore mind his business with the utmost care and diligence. He must not hanker after Sodom: Look not behind thee. He must not loiter by the way: Stay not in the plain; for it would all be made one dead sea. He must not take up short of the place of refuge appointed him: Escape to the mountain. Such as these are the commands given to those who through grace are delivered out of a sinful state. [1.] Return not to sin and Satan, for that is looking back to Sodom. [2.] Rest not in self and the world, for that is staying in the plain. And, [3.] Reach towards Christ and heaven, for that is escaping to the mountain, short of which we must not take up.
II. The fixing of a place of refuge for him. The mountain was first appointed for him to flee to, but, 1. He begged for a city of refuge, one of the five that lay together, called Bela, Gen 14:2, Gen 14:18-20. It was Lot's weakness to think a city of his own choosing safer than the mountain of God's appointing. And he argued against himself when he pleaded, Thou hast magnified thy mercy in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain; for could not he that plucked him out of Sodom, when he lingered, carry him safely to the mountain, though he began to tire? Could not he that saved him from greater evils save him from the less? He insists much in his petition upon the smallness of the place: It is a little one, it is not? therefore, it was to be hoped, not so bad as the rest. This gave a new name to the place; it was called Zoar, a little one. Intercessions for little ones are worthy to be remembered. 2. God granted him his request, though there was much infirmity in it, Gen 19:21, Gen 19:22. See what favour God showed to a true saint, though weak. (1.) Zoar was spared, to gratify him. Though his intercession for it was not, as Abraham's for Sodom, from a principle of generous charity, but merely from self-interest, yet God granted him his request, to show how much the fervent prayer of a righteous man avails. (2.) Sodom's ruin was suspended till he was safe: I cannot do any thing till thou shalt have come thither. Note, The very presence of good men in a place helps to keep off judgments. See what care God takes for the preservation of his people. The winds are held till God's servants are sealed, Rev 7:3; Eze 9:4.
III. It is taken notice of that the sun had risen when Lot entered into Zoar; for when a good man comes into a place he brings light along with him, or should do.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv15–17 And when the morning arose,.... When it was break…
And when the morning arose,.... When it was break of day, for as yet the sun was not risen, nor did it rise until Lot got to Zoar, Gen 19:23. He was now returned from his sons-in-law, and by this time it began to be light:
then the angels hastened Lot; urged him to get out of his house as fast as he could:
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saying, arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; from whence Aben Ezra, and others, have concluded, as has been observed, that he had other daughters elsewhere, which they suppose were married to men of Sodom; but the phrase, "which are here", or "are found", or "are present" (t), relates to his wife, as well as his daughters, and only signifies, that he should take all his relations that were present; and these may be only opposed to and distinguished from his sons-in-law that were absent, and refused to hearken to his advice and exhortations. Onkelos paraphrases the words, "who are found faithful with thee"; who believed what the angels said concerning the destruction of Sodom, as well as he, as did his wife and two daughters:
lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city; in the punishment inflicted on the city for their iniquity. See Rev 18:4.
(t) "quae inveniuntur", Pagninus, Montanus; "quae adsunt", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "quae praesentes", Fagius, Munster, Cocceius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv16–17 Tho' Lot did not make a jest of the…
Tho' Lot did not make a jest of the warning as his sons-in-law, yet he lingered, he did not make so much haste as the case required. And it might have been fatal to him, if the angels had not laid hold on his hand, and brought him forth. Herein the Lord was merciful to him, otherwise he might justly have left him to perish, since he was loath to depart. If God had not been merciful to us, our lingering had been our ruin.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv16–17 Verse 16. While he lingered] Probably in affectionate though…
Verse 16. While he lingered] Probably in affectionate though useless entreaties to prevail on the remaining parts of his family to escape from the destruction that was now descending; laid hold upon his hand - pulled them away by mere force, the Lord being merciful; else they had been left to perish in their lingering, as the others were in their gainsaying.
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 vv16–17 Gen 19:16. While he lingered — He did not…
Gen 19:16. While he lingered — He did not make so much haste as the case required, and this would have been fatal to him, if the angels had not laid hold on his hand, and brought him forth. Herein the Lord was merciful to him; and if God had not been merciful to us, our lingering had been our ruin.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv16–17 He lingered, intreating the Lord to save the city;…
He lingered, intreating the Lord to save the city; and loath, perhaps to lose all his property, for the sake of which he had chosen that abode. --- Spared him, and his wife and two daughters, for his sake. These four were all that were even tolerably just: for we find them all soon giving signs of their weakness, and of the danger to which even the best are exposed by evil communications. (Haydock)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v15 The kindly interest the angels took in the preservation…
The kindly interest the angels took in the preservation of Lot is beautifully displayed. But he "lingered." Was it from sorrow at the prospect of losing all his property, the acquisition of many years? Or was it that his benevolent heart was paralyzed by thoughts of the awful crisis? This is the charitable way of accounting for a delay that would have been fatal but for the friendly urgency of the angel.
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 vv15–17 15. When the morning arose — Or, as the…
15. When the morning arose — Or, as the dawn went up; as it began to turn towards day, “when the morning star rose.” — Kalisch. It was after sunrise when Lot reached Zoar, (Gen_19:23,) so that he must have left Sodom some time before.
Hastened Lot — It was hard for him to tear himself so suddenly away from his home.
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Which are here — Hebrews, which are found. This implies other daughters which were not found.
In the iniquity of the city — The city and its iniquity are to be blotted out together, and those who perish with the city, perish with and in its iniquity, being identified with it.
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 vv15–17 15. when the morning arose] At day-break. The doom…
15. when the morning arose] At day-break. The doom was to be inflicted before sun-rise (cf. Gen_19:23). If Lot was still in the city, he too would perish: hence the men’s haste.
consumed] See Gen_18:23.
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iniquity] Better, as R.V. marg., punishment. See note, on the ambiguous meaning of the Hebrew word, in Gen_4:13; cf. 1Sa_25:24; 2Sa_14:9.
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 vv15–17 (15) When the morning arose.—Lot had thus the night…
(15) When the morning arose.—Lot had thus the night for making his preparations, but part of this he spent in his visits to his sons-in-law.
Consumed.—Heb., swept away; and so in Gen_19:17. See Gen_18:23-24, where it is rendered “destroy.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv15, 17 Vers. 15, 16. And when the morning arose, literally,…
Vers. 15, 16. And when the morning arose, literally, as soon as the dawn (from rjv; to break forth as the light) went up, i.e. on the first appearance of the morning twilightthen the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; literally, which are found; not implying the existence of other daughters (Knobel), but contrasting with the sons in law (Keil, Kalisch) lest thou be consumed in the iniquity (or punishment, as in Isa_5:18) of the city. And while he lingered, Lot"s irresolution would have been his ruin but for his attendant. His heart manifestly clung to the earthly possessions he was leaving. The angels made no mention of his attempting to save a portion of his great wealththe men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful to him: literally, in the mercy, or gentleness, of Jehovah to him; the primary idea of the verb from which the noun is derived being that of softness (cf. Isa_63:9) and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
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 vv15–17 When the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot
Gen_19:15
When the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot
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Hastening Lot
I.
THE RIGHTEOUS NEED TO BE HASTENED.
1. In what?
(1) In matters of obedience to their Lord.
(2) In coming out from the world.
(3) In seeking the good of their families (Gen_19:12).
(4) In general quickness of movement in spiritual things (Gen_19:17; Gen_19:22).
2. Why?
(1) The flesh is weak.
(2) Perseverance is difficult.
(3) Sodom has a sluggish influence.
(4) When our worldly occupation is incessant, and takes up most of our thoughts, we are hindered from decision.
(5) Idle leisure is still worse. Men with nothing to do in the world seldom do anything in religion.
3. By what means?
(1) By reminding them of their obligations, their opportunities, and the days already wasted.
(2) By leading them to consider the flight of time and brevity of life.
(3) By warning them of the sure ruin of their impenitent friends.
(4) By setting before them the fact that delay in duty is sin, and leads to other sins.
II. THE SINNERS NEED TO BE HASTENED.
1. Sinners are very slow, and apt to linger.
(1) They have settled down in the Sodom of sin. Like the sluggard, they desire a little more folding of the arms to sleep.
(2) They are bound by many ties to the City of Destruction.
(3) They do not believe our warning (Gen_19:14).
(4) They trifle with our message when they dare not contradict it.
(5) Delay is Satans grand device for their ruin.
(6) Procrastination baffles our persuasions. Delays act like bales of wool dropped over the wall of a besieged city to deaden the blows of a battering-ram. Felix quieted his conscience by the idea of a more convenient season.
2. Our business is to hasten them.
(1) We must be in earnest ourselves, as these angels were.
(2) We must also be patient, and repeat our pleadings.
(3) We must be resolute, and lay hold on their hands.
3. We have many arguments with which to hasten them. May the Holy Spirit make them see--
(1) Their imminent danger while lingering.
(2) The sin of loitering when God commands them to escape for their lives.
(3) The fitness of the present above any possible future.
(4) The uncertainty that any available future will come.
(5) The supreme necessity of immediate decision with some; for it may be now or never with them; they will die in their sins if they do not hear the voice of God today. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The lingerer
I. WHY IS IT, THAT IN THE ESCAPE OF THE SOUL, MEN SO LINGER?
1. The first cause is the entanglement of their affections with worldly things.
2. Another cause of Lots irresoluteness would be the refusal of his sons-in-law and of their wives, his daughters, to escape with him.
3. Other causes of lingering there may be peculiar to yourselves.
(1) Perhaps you have not fortitude enough to brave the ridicule or the persecution that you will be exposed to.
(2) Perhaps you are but half-persuaded of your peril. Acknowledging in general terms your sin, you do not realize the possible imminency of its punishment. You presume upon a longer probation. You put off Christ with a promise. Be ye, therefore, ready; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.
II. Need I point out to YOU THE PERIL OF LINGERING? It is strikingly illustrated by the narrowness of Lots escape. How nigh he was to the fate that overtook his wife! How closely his reluctance, which the angels had to force, must have approached to her disobedience, which they had to punish! And how affecting this separation! She who left Sodom with him was not to enter Zoar with him. (H. Allon.)
A reason for haste
A Christian tradesmen bethought him that he had never spoken to a certain regular customer about his soul, though the man had called at his shop for years. He determined to plead earnestly with him the next time he came in his way. There was no next time; his customer died suddenly, so that he saw him no more. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Spiritual concerns first
When a young man made an open profession of the gospel, his father, greatly offended, gave him this advice: James, you should first get yourself established in a good trade, and then think of the matter of religion. Father, said the son, Jesus Christ advises me differently; He says, Seek ye first the kingdom of God. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Urgency needed
Brother, said a dying man, why have you not been more pressing with me about my soul? Dear James, replied the brother, I have spoken to you several times. Yes, was the answer, you are not to blame; but you were always so quiet over it; I wish you had gone on your knees to me, or had taken me by the neck and shaken me, for I have been careless, and have nearly slept myself into hell. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
No time to lose
The poor needle-woman with her inch of candle has work to finish. See how her fingers fly, for she fears lest she should be left in darkness, and her work undone. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Inducement to hasten
Do not some professors cause sinners to loiter by their own loitering? A man taking a seat at the Tabernacle came to the minister and said, Sir, do I understand that if I became a seat-holder I shall be expected to be converted? Yes, was the reply, I hope you will, and I pray that it may be so. Do you object? The answer was, Oh, sir, I desire it above everything. Was not the man hastened by the general feeling of hopefulness which pervaded the Church? Assuredly there is much in the atmosphere which surrounds a man. Among warm-hearted Christians it is hard for the careless to remain indifferent. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v15 Gen 19:15 - Gen 19:26.
Genesis
THE SWIFT DESTROYER
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Gen 19:15 - Gen 19:26.
The religious significance of this solemn page of revelation is but little affected by any of the interesting questions which criticism raises concerning it, so that I am free to look at the whole narrative for the purpose of deducing its perennial lessons. There are four clearly marked stages in the story: the lingering of Lot in the doomed city, and the friendly force which dragged him from it; the prayer of abject fear, and the wonderful answer; the awful catastrophe; and the fate of the wretched woman who looked back.
1. Lot’s lingering and rescue by force. Second thoughts are not always best. When great resolves have to be made, and when a clear divine command has to be obeyed, the first thought is usually the nobler; and the second, which pulls it back, and damps its ardour, is usually of the earth, earthy. So was it with Lot. Overnight, in the excitement of the terrible scene enacted before his door, Lot had been not only resolved himself to flee, but his voice had urged his sons-in-law to escape from the doom which he then felt to be imminent. But with the cold grey light of morning his mood has changed. The ties which held him in Sodom reassert their power. Perhaps daylight made his fears seem less real. There was no sign in the chill Eastern twilight that this day was to be unlike the other days. Perhaps the angels’ summons roused him from sleep, and their ‘arise’ is literally meant. It might have given wings to his flight. Urgent, and resonant, like the morning bugle, it bids him be stirring lest he be swept away ‘in the punishment of the city.’ Observe that the same word means ‘sin’ and ‘punishment,’-a testimony to the profound truth that at bottom they are one, sin being pain in the root, pain being sin in the flower. So our own word ‘evil’ covers all the ground, and means both sin and sorrow. But even that pealing note does not shatter his hesitation. He still lingers. What kept him? That which had first taken him there-material advantages. He had struck root in Sodom. The tent life which he had kept to at first has been long given up; we find him sitting in the gate of the city, the place for gossip and friendly intercourse. He has either formed, or is going to form, marriage alliances for his daughters with men of the city who are as black as the rest. Perhaps his wife, whom the story will not name, for pity or for horror, was a Sodomite. To escape meant to leave all this and his wealth behind. If he goes out, he goes out a pauper. So his heart, which is where his treasure is, makes his movements slow. What insanity his lingering must have seemed to the angels! I wonder if we, who cling so desperately to the world, and who are so slow to go where God would have us to be for our own safety, if thereby we shall lose anything of this world’s wealth, seem very much wiser to eyes made clear-sighted with the wisdom of heaven. This poor hesitating lingerer, too much at home in the city of destruction to get out of it even to save his life, has plenty of brothers to-day. Every man who lets the world hold him by the skirts when Christ is calling him to salvation, and every man who is reluctant to obey any clear call to sacrifice and separation from godless men, may see his own face in this glass, and perhaps get a glimpse of its ugliness.
What a homely picture, full of weighty truth, the story gives us, of the angels each taking two of the reluctant four by the hand, and dragging them with some degree of kindly force from destruction into safety! So, in a great fire, domestic animals and horses seem to find a strange fascination in the flames, and have to be carried out of certain death by main force. They ‘set him’-or we might read, ‘made him rest’-outside the city. It was but a little distance, for these ‘cities’ were tiny places, and the walls were soon reached. But it was far enough to change Lot’s whole feelings. He passes to feeble despair and abject fear, as we shall see. That forlorn group, homeless, friendless, stripped of everything, shivering outside the gate in the cold morning air, may teach us how wise and prudent the man is who seeks the kingdom of God second, and the other things first.
2. There was a pause outside the city. A new voice speaks now to Lot. ‘They’ brought him forth; but ‘He’ said ‘escape.’ The same ‘Lord’ to whom Abraham had prayed, has now rejoined the mysterious pair whom He had sent to Sodom. And Lot’s entreaty is addressed to Him whom he calls ‘my Lord.’ He uses singular pronouns throughout, although the narrator says that he ‘said unto them.’ There seems to be here the same idea as is embodied in the word ‘Elohim’; namely, that the divine powers are regarded as in some sense separable, and yet all inhering in a personal unity. At all events, we have here a distinct representation of an intercourse between God and man, in which thoughts are conveyed to the human spirit direct from the divine, and desires pass from the human to the divine. The manner of the intercourse we do not know, but the possibility of the fact can scarcely be denied by any believer in a God; and, however we may call this miraculous or abnormal, the essence of the event can be repeated in the experience of each of us. God still speaks to men, and men may still plead with God. Unless our religion is communion, it is nothing.
The divine voice reiterates the angels’ urgent command in still more stringent words: ‘Escape for thy life.’ There is to be no more angel-leading, but Lot’s feet are to be made as hinds’ feet by the thought of the flaming death that is pursuing. His lingering looks are sternly forbidden, since they would delay his flight and divide his heart. The direction of his flight is for the first time pointed out. The fertile plain, which had lured him down from the safe hills, is prohibited. Only on the mountain-side, probably the eastern mountains, where the morning red was beginning to blush, is there safety.
Lot’s answer shows a complete change of feeling. He is too fully alarmed now. His fright is so desperate that it has killed faith and common sense. The natural conclusion from God’s mercy, which he acknowledges, would have been trust and obedience. ‘Therefore I can escape,’ not ‘but I cannot escape,’ would have been the logic of faith. The latter is the irrationality of fear. When a man who has been cleaving to this fleeting life of earthly good wakes up to believe his danger, he is ever apt to plunge into an abyss of terror, in which God’s commands seem impossible, and His will to save becomes dim. The world first lies to us by ‘You are quite safe where you are. Don’t be in a hurry to go.’ Then it lies, ‘You never can get away now.’ Reverse Lot’s whimpering fears, and we get the truth. Are not God’s directions how to escape, promises that we shall escape? Will He begin to build, and not be able to finish? Will the judgments of His hand overrun their commission, like a bloodhound which, in its master’s absence, may rend his friend? ‘We have all of us one human heart,’ and this swift leap from unreasoning carelessness to as unreasoning dread, this failure to draw the true conclusion from God’s past mercy, and this despairing recoil from the path pointed for us, and craving for easier ways, belongs to us. ‘A strange servant of God was this,’ say we. Yes, and we are often quite as strange. How many people awakened to see their danger are so absorbed by the sight that they cannot see the cross, or think they can never reach it!
God answered the cry, whatever its fault, and that may well make us pause in our condemnation. He hears even a very imperfect petition, and can see the tiniest germ of faith buried under thick clods of doubt and fear. This stooping readiness to meet Lot’s weakness comes in wonderful contrast with the terrible revelation of judgment which follows. What a conception of God, which had room for this more than human patience with weakness, and also for the flashing, lurid glories of destructive retribution! Zoar is spared, not for the unworthy reason which Lot suggested-because its minuteness might buy impunity, as some noxious insect too small to be worth crushing-but in accordance with the principle which was illustrated in Abraham’s intercession, and even in Lot’s safety; namely, that the righteous are shields for others, as Paul had the lives of all that sailed with him given to him.
God’s ‘cannot’ answers Lot’s ‘cannot.’ His power is limited by His own solemn purpose to save His faltering servant. The latter had feared that, before he could reach the mountain, ‘the evil’ would overtake him. God shows him that his safety was a condition precedent to its outburst. Lot barred the way. God could not ‘let slip the dogs of’ judgment, but held them in the leash until Lot was in Zoar. Very awful is the command to make haste, based on this impossibility, as if God were weary of delay, and more than ready to smite. However we may find anthropomorphism in these early narratives, let us not forget that, when the world has long been groaning under some giant evil, and the bitter seed is grown up into a waving forest of poison, there is something in the passionless righteousness of God which brooks no longer delay, but seeks to make ‘a short work’ on the earth.
3. So we are brought face to face with the grim story of the destruction. There is a world of tragic meaning in the simple note of time given. ‘The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.’ The low-lying cities of the plain would lie in shadow for some time before the sun topped the eastern hills. What a dawn! At that joyous hour, just when the sunshine struck down on the smiling plain, and lake and river gleamed like silver, and all things woke to new hopes and fresh life, then the sky darkened, and the earth sank, and horrible rain of fiery bitumen fell from the black pall, salt mud poured in streams, and over all hung a column of fat, oily smoke. It is not my province to discuss the physical cause of the destruction; but I may refer to the suggestions of Sir J. W. Dawson, in his Egypt and Syria, and in The Expositor for May 1886, in which he shows that great beds of bituminous limestone extend below the Jordan valley and much of the Dead Sea, and that the escape of inflammable gag from these through the opening of a fissure along a great ‘line of fault,’ is capable of producing all the effects described. The ‘brimstone’ of the Authorised Version is probably rather some form of bituminous matter which would be carried into the air by such an escape of gas, and a thick saline mud would accompany the eruption, encrusting anything it reached. Subsidence would follow the ejection of quantities of such matter; and hence the word ‘overthrew,’ which seems inappropriate to a mere conflagration, would be explained.
But, however this may be, we have to recognise a supernatural element in the starting of the train of natural causes, as well as in the timing of the catastrophe, and a divine purpose of retribution, which turns the catastrophe, however effected, into a judgment.
So regarded, the event has a double meaning. In the first place, it is a revelation of an element in the divine character and of a feature in the divine government. To the men of that time, it might be a warning. To Abraham, and through him to his descendants, and through them to us, it preaches a truth very unwelcome to many in this day: that there is in God that which constrains Him to hate, fight against, and punish, evil. The temper of this generation turns away from such thoughts, and, in the name of the truth that ‘God is love,’ would fain obliterate the truth that He does and will punish. But if the punitive element be suppressed, and that in God which makes it necessary ignored or weakened, the result will be a God who has not force enough to love, but only weakly to indulge. If He does not hate and punish, He does not pardon. For the sake of the love of God, we must hold firm by the belief in the judgments of God. The God who destroyed Sodom is not merely the God of an earlier antiquated creed. ‘Is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also of the Gentiles? Yea, of the Gentiles also.’
Again, this event is a prophecy. So our Lord has employed it; and much of the imagery in which the last judgment is represented is directly drawn from this narrative. So far from this story showing to us only the superstitions of a form of belief which we have long outgrown, its deepest meaning lies far ahead, and closes the history of man on the earth. We know from the lips which cannot lie, that the appalling suddenness of that destruction foreshadows the swiftness of the coming of that last ‘day of the Lord.’ We know that in literality some of the physical features shall be reproduced; for the fire which shall burn up the world and all its works is no figure, nor is it proclaimed only by such non-authoritative voices as those of Jesus and His apostles, but also by the modern possessors of infallible certitude, the men of science. We know that that day shall be a day of retribution. We know, too, that the crime of Sodom, foul and unnatural as it was, is not the darkest, but that its inhabitants {who have to face that judgment too} will find their doom more tolerable, and their sins lighter, than some who have had high places in the Church, than the Pharisees and wise men who have not taken Christ for their Saviour.
4. The fate of the loiterer. Her backward look must have been more than momentary, for the destruction of the cities did not begin till Lot was safe in Zoar. She must have lingered far behind, and been overtaken by the eruption of liquid saline mud, which, as Sir J. W. Dawson has shown, would attend or follow the outburst of bituminous matter, so that her fate was the natural consequence of her heart being still in Sodom. As to the ‘pillar of salt’ which has excited cavils on the one hand and foolish legends on the other, probably we are to think rather of a heap than of a pillar. The word does not occur in either meaning elsewhere, but its derivation implies something raised above the level of the ground; and a heap, such as would be formed by a human body encrusted with salt mud, would suit the requirements of the expression. Like a man who falls in a snowstorm, or, still more accurately, just as some of the victims at Pompeii stumbled in their flight, and were buried under the ashes, which still keep the outline of their figures, so Lot’s wife was covered with the half-liquid slimy mud. Granted the delay in her flight, the rest is perfectly simple and natural. She was buried in a horrible tomb; and, in pity to her memory, no name has been written upon it. She remains to all generations, in a far truer sense than superstition dreamed of when it pointed to an upright salt rock as her prison and her monument, a warning of the danger of the backward look, which betrays the true home of the heart, and may leave us unsheltered in the open plain when the fiery storm bursts. ‘Remember Lot’s wife.’
When the angels awoke Lot, the day was breaking. By the time that Abraham had risen ‘early in the morning,’ and reached the place by his tent from which he had yesterday looked on the smiling plain, all was over, and the heavy smoke cloud wrapped the dead with its pall-like folds. So swift and sudden is to be the coming of the Son of man,-as the lightning which rushes in one fierce blinding flash from one side of heaven to the other. Wherefore, God calls to each of us: ‘Escape for thy life; look not behind thee.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v15 (See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
angel
(See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v16 But he lingered
But he lingered
"But Lot hesitated" or "But Lot did not start to leave"
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So the men grabbed
"So the two men grabbed" or "So the angels grabbed"
was merciful to him
"had compassion on Lot." Yahweh is described as being "merciful" because he was sparing the lives of Lot and his family instead of destroying them when he destroyed the people of Sodom for the wrong they had done.
When they had brought them out
"When the two men had brought Lot's family out"
Run for your lives!
This is a way of telling them to run so that they do not die. AT: "Run away and save your lives!" (See: Idiom)
Do not look back
The phrase "at the city" is understood. AT: "Do not look back at the city" or "Do not look back at Sodom" (See: Ellipsis)
on the plain
This means the plain of the Jordan River. This refers to the general region of the Jordan River.
so you are not swept away
It is understood that they would swept away with the people of the city. This can be stated in active form. AT: "or else God will destroy you along with the people of the city" (See: Ellipsis and Active or Passive)
not swept away
God destroying the people of the city is spoken of as if a person were sweeping away dust. (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
Yahweh
mercy
sweep
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 v15 19:15-23 Lot escaped judgment by God’s grace, but his…
19:15-23 Lot escaped judgment by God’s grace, but his heart was still in Sodom. Israel would forever remember Lot as lingering, halting, and being dragged to safety by angels. The Lord mercifully spared Lot for Abraham’s sake (18:23; 19:29). Lot deserved judgment for his way of life, but he was a believer at heart and the Lord rescued him (2 Pet 2:7-8). • Lot is not alone in his conflicted lifestyle. Countless believers fall in with a corrupt world rather than flee a doomed society. God’s people, living in a pagan world, must remain separate (1 Jn 2:15-17). The corrupt world system awaits God’s coming judgment, which will be far greater than the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt 11:23-24).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.