Lot said to them, “Oh, not so, my lord.
Parallel Translations
-
Lot said to them, “Oh, not so, my lord.
-
And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:
-
And Lot said unto them: 'Oh, not so, my lord;
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Genesis 19:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 32:26 The man said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.” Jacob said, “I won’t let you go unless you bless me.”
- 2 Kings 5:11-12 But Naaman was angry, and went away, and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of Yahweh his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leper.’ Aren’t Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them, and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
- Isaiah 45:11 Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel and his Maker says: “You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons, and you command me concerning the work of my hands!
- Acts 9:13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he did to your saints at Jerusalem.
- Acts 10:14 But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
- John 13:6-8 Then he came to Simon Peter. He said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “You don’t know what I am doing now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 18. And Lot said unto them. Here another fault…
18. And Lot said unto them. Here another fault of Lot is censured, because he does not simply obey God, nor suffer himself to be preserved according to His will, but contrives some new method of his own. God assigns him a mountain as his future place of refuge, he rather chooses for himself a city. They are therefore under a mistake, who so highly extol his faith, as to deem this a perfect example of suitable prayer; for the design of Moses is rather to teach, that the faith of Lot was not entirely pure, and free from all defects. For it is to be held as an axiom, that our prayers are faulty, so far as they are not founded on the word. Lot, however, not only departs from the word, but preposterously indulges himself in opposition to the word; such importunity has, certainly, no affinity with faith. Afterwards, a sudden change of mind was the punishment of his foolish cupidity. For thus do all necessarily vacillate, who do not submit themselves to God. As soon as they attain one wish, immediately a new disquietude is produced, which compels them to change their opinion. It must then, in short, be maintained, that Lot is by no means free from blame, in wishing for a city as his residence; for he both sets himself in opposition to the command of God, which it was his duty to obey; and desires to remain among those pleasures, from which it was profitable for him to be removed. He, therefore, acts just as a sick person would do, who should decline an operation, or a bitter draught, which his physician had prescribed. Nevertheless, I do not suppose, that the prayer of Lot was altogether destitute of faith; I rather think, that though he declined from the right way, he not only did not depart far from it, but was even fully purposed in his mind to keep it. For he always depended upon the word of God; but in one particular he fell from it, by entreating that a place should be given to him, which had been denied. Thus, with the pious desires of holy men, some defiled and turbid admixture is often found. I am not however ignorant, that sometimes they are constrained, by a remarkable impulse of the Spirit, to depart in appearance from the word, yet without really transgressing its limits. But the immoderate carnal affection of Lot betrays itself, in that he is held entangled by those very delights which he ought to have shunned. Moreover, his inconstancy is a proof of his rashness, because he is soon displeased with himself for what he has done.
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.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 19:18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not…
Gen 19:18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:
Ver. 18. Oh! not so, my Lord.] But who shall prescribe to the Almighty? Or limit the Holy One of Israel? Are we wiser than he? Have we a trick beyond him? He lets us sometimes have our way, but to our woe at last.
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 i.e. Unto one of them, as is manifest from…
i.e. Unto one of them, as is manifest from the following words.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Lot said unto them,.... Supposing three present, not…
And Lot said unto them,.... Supposing three present, not observing that the two angels had left him that had brought him thither; though it is but to one of them he addresses himself, even to him who had bid him make the best of his way to the mountain, as appears by what follows:
oh, not so, my Lord; that is, let me not be obliged to go so far as to the mountain; though R. Samuel takes it to be an assent, and interprets the phrase of his being willing: but this does not agree with what follows, and is rejected by Aben Ezra, who relates it; and who also observes, that the word "Lord" is a common name, that is, that belongs to a creature; but Jarchi says their Rabbins take it to be an holy name, that is, a name that belongs to God, and gives a good reason why it is so to be understood here; since the person spoken to had it in his power to kill or make alive, to save or destroy, as the following words show; so Ben Melech and the Targum of Oukelos render it by Jehovah.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain My lord, addressing himself to the angel, who led…
My lord, addressing himself to the angel, who led him and his wife. (Menochius)
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 Lot said . . . Oh, not so, my…
Lot said . . . Oh, not so, my Lord . . . I cannot escape to the mountain--What a strange want of faith and fortitude, as if He who had interfered for his rescue would not have protected Lot in the mountain solitude.
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 18. My lord — Or, as translated in Gen_19:2,…
18. My lord — Or, as translated in Gen_19:2, my lords. The Masorites mark the word here as “holy,” but in Gen_19:2 as “profane.” But this is scarcely a necessary distinction. The address would be an appropriate form of salutation, whether the person addressed be Jehovah or one of the angels. Lot’s petition betrays exceeding weakness. He pleads the mercy already shown, inability to do what is commanded, and fear lest the threatened evil overtake him before he can reach the eastern mountains. He urges, finally, that he may be permitted to flee into a neighbouring city, first, because it was near; second, because it was a little one; and then, because, with such permission, there was hope that he might live. How different this from the faith of Abraham!
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 18. my lord] R.V. marg. O Lord. The Massoretic…
18. my lord] R.V. marg. O Lord. The Massoretic note here, as in Gen_18:3, is “holy,” regarding the word as the Divine name. Certainly in this chapter Jehovah is not so directly identified with one of “the men” as in chap. 18. The rendering “my lord” is, perhaps, to be preferred, as in Gen_18:3. On the other hand, the mention of “Jehovah” in Gen_19:16, and the words in Gen_19:22; Gen_19:24, “I cannot do anything till thou be come thither,” and “Then the Lord rained upon Sodom,” would sufficiently justify the other rendering. Jehovah and His Angel are one, cf. Gen_16:7 ff. His Presence is in “the two” as in “the three men.”
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.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my…
And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord. Adonai, which should rather be translated Lord; whence it would almost seem as if Lot knew that his interlocutor was Jehovah. Keil admits that Lot recognized a manifestation of God in the angels, and Lange speaks of a miraculous report of the voice of God coming to him along with the miraculous vision of the angels. That the historian uses "them" instead of "him" only proves that at the time Jehovah was accompanied by the angels, as he had previously been at Mamre. (vide Gen_18:1)
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 And Lot said unto them, Oh! not so, my…
Gen_19:18-22
And Lot said unto them, Oh! not so, my Lord
Read full note →
The infirmities of the heirs of salvation
I.
THESE INFIRMITIES ARE SEEN DURING THE PROGRESS OF THEIR DELIVERANCE.
1. The infirmity of fear (Gen_19:19).
2. Wilfulness (Gen_19:20).
3. Forgetfulness of past mercies.
4. A lingering selfishness.
II. GOD IS GRACIOUS TOWARDS SUCH INFIRMITIES (Gen_19:21).
III. THERE ARE CERTAIN CONDITIONS WHICH FIT THEM FOR SUCH MERCIFUL INDULGENCE.
1. When they have already commenced the flight from danger.
2. When, though they have not reached it, they are still seeking a sure refuge.
3. When they are satisfied not to rest in anything short of Gods command. (T. H. Leale.)
Lessons
1. Gracious souls in their weaknesses will acknowledge the freeness and greatness of Gods mercy to them.
2. Infirmity yet turns such confession aside, to a wrong use, even to desire things against Gods will.
3. Saving souls alive in the midst of destructions is a free and great mercy.
4. Weakness of faith and strength of sense may make Gods Word seem impossible unto His servants.
5. Infirmity of faith creates many fears of evil even against Gods promise.
6. Saints through infirmity apprehend death where God clearly promiseth and giveth life. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lots prayer as contrasted with that of Abraham
Abraham had never prayed for himself with a tithe of the persistent earnestness with which he prayed for Sodom--a town which was much indebted to him, but towards which, for more reasons than one, a smaller man would have borne a grudge. Lot, on the other hand, much indebted to Sodom, identified indeed with it, one of its leading citizens, connected by marriage with its inhabitants, is in no agony about its destruction, and has indeed but one prayer to offer, and that is, that when all his fellow-townsmen are destroyed, he may be comfortably provided for. While the men he has bargained and feasted with, the men he has made money out of and married his daughters to, are in the agonies of an appalling catastrophe and so near that the smoke of their torment sweeps across his retreat, he is so disengaged from regrets and compassion that he can nicely weigh the comparative comfort and advantage of city and rural life. One would have thought better of the man if he had declined the angelic rescue and resolved to stand by those in death whose society he had so coveted in life. And it is significant that while the generous, large-hearted, devout pleading of Abraham is in vain, the miserable, timorous, selfish petition of Lot is heard and answered. It would seem as if sometimes God were hopeless of men, and threw to them in contempt the gifts they crave, giving them the poor stations in this life their ambition is set upon, because He sees they have made themselves incapable of enduring hardness, and so quelling their lower nature. An answered prayer is not always a blessing, sometimes it is a doom: He sent them meat to the full: but while their meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them and slew the fattest of them. Probably had Lot felt any inclination to pray for his townsmen he would have seen that for him to do so would be unseemly. His circumstances, his long association with the Sodomites, and his accommodation of himself to their ways, had both eaten the soul out of him and set him on quite a different footing towards God from that occupied by Abraham. A man cannot on a sudden emergency lift himself out of the circumstances in which he has been rooted, nor peel off his character as if it were only skin deep. Abraham had been living an unworldly life, in which intercourse with God was a familiar employment. His prayer was but the seasonable flower of his life, nourished to all its beauty by the habitual nutriment of past years. Lot in his need could only utter a peevish, pitiful, childish cry. He had aimed all his life at being comfortable, he could not now wish anything more than to be comfortable. Stand out of my sunshine was all he could say when he held by the hand the plenipotentiary of heaven, and when the roar of the conflict of moral good and evil was filling his ears--a decent man, a righteous man, but the world had eaten out his heart till he had nothing to keep him in sympathy with heaven. Such is the state to which men in our society, as in Sodom, are brought by risking their spiritual life to make the most of this world. (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 Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gen_19:18-22
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gen_19:18-22
THE INFIRMITIES OF THE HEIRS OF SALVATION
Read full note →
Lot was a representative of the heirs of salvation, inasmuch as it was God’s gracious purpose to save him from the judgments coming upon the ungodly; and he worked with that purpose—was obedient to the voice which called him to flee from destruction and make for safe shelter. His efforts betrayed human weakness.
I. These infirmities are seen during the progress of their deliverance. Lot did not obey the command to escape at once to the mountain, but craved the indulgence of resting by the way in a place of his own choice. It was while he was being saved that he showed this weakness. And seekers after salvation are marked more or less by the like infirmities. In the case of Lot, these were—
1. The infirmity of fear. “I cannot escape to the mountain lest some evil take me, and I die” (Gen_19:19). He was afraid lest the fiery stream should overtake him before he reached the mountain. Had his faith been strong, he would have had courage to obey in the face of all the suggestions of sense.
2. Wilfulness. He sets his desire upon a city lying in the course of his flight, where he imagines he shall be safe (Gen_19:20). His request appeared most reasonable to himself, for this city was quite unimportant, and surely it might be spared. “Is it not a little one?” he said (Gen_19:20). He committed the folly of attempting to improve upon God’s appointed way of deliverance. He sought to interfere with God’s plan by some expedients of his own. Such is the wilfulness of many who are seeking the salvation of their souls. They stop short of the end to which they should attain without delay, and adopt some shelter of their own choosing. The subjugation of our will entirely to the will of God is the result of long training.
3. Forgetfulness of past mercies. God had shown great and marvellous mercy to Lot. We should expect that his sense of those marked favours would have been so fresh and strong that he would have been ready to go wherever God commanded him. But his character was too weak to realise properly both past and present blessings. It takes some time to rise to a sense of what God is doing for us.
4. A lingering selfishness. This characteristic clave to Lot to the last. He was selfish when he chose Sodom for a dwelling-place, and he is selfish now when he asks that this city may be spared merely for his own convenience. He lacked that largeness of soul which inspired Abraham when he prayed for Sodom and Gomorrah. So, many who have taken steps to obey the call of God yet allow their selfishness to stand in their way.
II. God is gracious towards such infirmities. God accepted Zoar as the temporary place of retreat for His servant (Gen_19:21). He bears with the infirmity of His people. Where they have a desire and a firm purpose to flee to the refuge of His salvation, He pardons their many shortcomings in the effort. His charity covers the multitude of their sins. Such are the concessions of the Divine goodness towards human weakness. God “knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we are dust” (Psa_103:14). In the worst desolation there is some bright spot where we may rest and be refreshed, lest the strength of our souls should be tried above measure. But such an indulgence can be only temporary. Lot soon found that Zoar was not safe, and he was glad at last to escape to the mountain (Gen_19:30). We must not rest in what is intended to be merely a provisional shelter, but be ready to quit it soon. God indulges our weakness that He might lead us to higher things.
III. There are certain conditions which fit them for such merciful indulgence.
1. When they have already commenced the flight from danger. Lot believed that destruction was coming upon Sodom, and was now in the act of fleeing from the threatened danger. He had taken steps to secure his salvation, otherwise this favour would have been denied. God must see some desires towards Himself, some acceptance of His message, or He will not grant His great favours. We must break off with our sins, and fly from the danger to which they expose us, or else we cannot expect salvation. Those who remain in Sodom can only look for Sodom’s doom.
2. When, though they have not reached it, they are still seeking a sure refuge. Lot had not yet reached the mountain, but his purpose was still set towards it He desired to obey the command of God. His will was accepted for the deed. If we are still seeking salvation, though we may not have attained to all that Christ has purchased for us, He will pity our weakness. He graciously encourages the first beginnings of a new life. Though there be much smoke and ashes, yet if He discovers a single spark of a better desire and hope in us, He will fan it to a flame. Mercy begins the distribution of her gifts as soon as we set out for Christ.
3. When they are satisfied not to rest in anything short of God’s command. Lot’s better desire was to obey God to the end, by escaping to the mountain. He was soon convinced that the place he had chosen was not intended to be his permanent refuge. Nothing short of Christ, whether it be the Church, the sacraments, or the ministry, can be our permanent resting-place. We are not safe until we have come to the Mountain, and laid hold upon the strength of our salvation. There is no other sure refuge for our souls but Christ.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen_19:18-19. But who shall prescribe to the Almighty? or limit the Holy One of Israel? Are we wiser than He? Have we any contrivance by which we can surpass Him? He lets us sometimes have our way, but to our woe at last.—(Trapp).
It must certainly be set down to a weak and wavering faith in Lot that he now made this request. His duty was to have yielded simple obedience to the declared will of Heaven. He should have known that what God dictated was best; that if He had commanded him to go to the mountains, He would certainly enable him to get there, and that He could protect him there as anywhere else. But he pleads hard for permission to flee to the neighbouring city of Zoar, and hopes that he may be excused in this desire, seeing it was but a “little one.” The preferring of such a request in such circumstances we should suppose would have drawn forth some marked expression of the Divine displeasure. But God lends a gracious ear to his petition. His infimity is not rebuked; his request was granted; the city was spared for his sake. In this God designed at once to show how much the fervent prayer of a righteous man avails; and at the same time, by the result to teach his shortsighted servant how much wiser a part he would have acted had he confided in a childlike manner in God, and fled to the mountain in the first instance. (Gen_19:30.) This instance should fix firmly in our minds the conviction that we can never gain anything by attempting to improve upon God’s appointments. He will choose infinitely better than we can for ourselves. Let us learn, moreover, another lesson from this incident. If a petition marked and marred with such faultiness as that of Lot on this occasion still met with a favourable hearing, what efficacy may we conceive to pertain to those prayers which are prompted by a yet more believing spirit, and framed more distinctly in accordance with the revealed will of Heaven?—(Bush.)
It is allowed to us to plead the privileges of our justification.
1. To ground our petition for mercies on what God has done for us already. His grace has saved us, and His mercy has been magnified towards us in many gifts of His love. We may use our experience of the past to encourage our hope for the future. “Because Thou has been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.” (Psa_63:7.)
2. To crave pardon for human infirmity in our prayers. Lot knew that it was human weakness which led him to make this request. He was quite overcome by his fears; yet he thought that he could rely upon a mercy which was so plentiful, and which was shown to him in so signal a manner. The mercy of God manifested towards us in our salvation is so great that we may venture to trust it to pardon the lapses of our infirmity. Infinite love will make it all right at last if our hearts are only true and faithful.
Gen_19:20. The faith of Lot, simple and sincere as it was, could not be considered perfect. He had his misgivings and doubts. The distant mountain whither he had to flee filled him with anxiety and alarm. “I cannot escape to the mountain lest some evil take me and I die.” Might no nearer, no safer, no less dreary refuge be found? It is hard to be all at once cast out upon the solitary wild. Such thoughts vexed the rescued soul of Lot. But in the Lord he found relief. He did not nurse these melancholy musings sullenly and suspiciously in his own bosom. He poured them forth into the ears of the Lord. With humble and holy boldness he ventured to represent his case to a present God—to plead, to reason, to expostulate, with a touching and pathetic, a childlike earnestness, such as only the spirit of adoption, the spirit that cries Abba, Father, could inspire.—(Candlish.)
God is honoured by our using the liberty of taking all our doubts and fears to Him. He can detect what is true and real in us in the midst of all our infirmity.
“Is it not a little one?” Thus men use their reason to sustain requests which have but imperfect conformity to the will of God.
Here we perceive Lot’s constant appeal to self-interest; selfishness clung to that man’s very soul. We should expect that after all the marvellous mercy shown by God to Lot, that he would have been ready to go wherever He commanded. But no; Lot asks that Zoar may be saved. And God marvellously accepts this demand. Now this shows how God deals with the soul. We use large language; we talk of self-sacrifice, self-devotion, and yet there has always been a secret reservation of some small Zoar; still God accepts. He leaves us some human affection, something to remind us of our earthly home. He weans us by degrees, that so, step by step, leaving earth behind, we may ascend the mountain top, and want nothing but the lovely love of God.—(Robertson.)
Gen_19:21. I have accepted thee. Heb. “I have lifted up thy face,” i.e., I have a compassionate respect to thee, and will gratify thee by granting this request. The expression probably arose from an Eastern custom. Persons there, in preferring a petition, instead of falling upon their knees, often prostrate themselves with their face to the ground. When the petition is accepted, the prince or potentate commands them to be raised from their lowly posture, which is expressed by “lifting up the face.” In common usage, therefore, the phrase is clearly synonymous with “showing favour.” Thus doth a gracious God, according to the words of the Psalmist (Psa_145:19), “fulfil the desire of them that fear Him; He also will hear their cry and will save them.”—(Bush.)
Before we reach our final salvation we shall need many an indulgence by the way. The great mercy of God allows for the dangers and temptations of our pilgrimage.
You may see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living. In the most sweeping desolation, levelling the houses and cities of your habitation to the ground—in the wide waste beneath which all things bright and fair seem buried—some little Zoar is left, some haven of rest in which the weary spirit may recruit its strength. Such earthly refreshment may the redeemed child of God, who has turned his back on Sodom, lawfully ask—such green spot in the desert—such little city of refuge amid the storm—in the bosom of domestic peace, and the endearments of a quiet home—that he may not be tried above measure. Only let his request be moderate. “See, now, it is a little one.” So Lot pleads for this earthly boon. Let it also be a request preferred in faith as to a friend and father, with submission to His wisdom, and trust in His love. And if the request be granted—if the object of his fond regard, for which he speaks, be spared to him—if he get a little Zoar to flee to—let him not set his heart on it too much. For a brief space he may rejoice in it. But let him be ready to quit it soon, as Lot did, and, if need be, to dwell in the mountain and in the cave; for that in the end may be the Lord’s way of thoroughly humbling and proving him, to the saving of his soul.—(Candlish.)
Zoar, of all the five cities, was spared by Lot’s prayer. God suffers even His great judgments upon sinners to be modified in the range of their effect by the prayers of the righteous.
Gen_19:22. God is pleased to bind Himself by what is necessary for the salvation of His people. Lot must be made safe before the fiery judgment comes down upon the cities of the plain. Hence learn:
1. God’s great favour towards the righteous.
2. The efficacy of their prayers and intercessions.
Even after the first step towards salvation has been taken, it is necessary that Divine warnings should be repeated that we might escape the snares coming upon the ungodly.
The inability here mentioned is, of course, wholly of the moral and not of the physical kind, similar in its nature, though arising from an opposite cause, to that affirmed of our Saviour (Mar_6:5): “He could there do no mighty work,” by reason of the unbelief of the people. He could not because he would not. There was a moral unfitness between such a state of mind and such a display of power, so that He determined not to put it forth. The Most High is pleased to represent His hands as bound by His paramount regard to the welfare of His people. He can do nothing towards the punishment of the wicked till their safety is secured. Had we not a Divine warrant for the use of such language it would doubtless be a high presumption in us to employ it; and when we find the Holy Spirit adopting it we still pause in devout admiration, mingled with a latent misgiving whether we are indeed to understand the words in their most obvious sense. But our doubts are precluded by adverting to numerous parallel instances of God’s dealings with His people. On more than one occasion, when He had determined to execute vengeance on Israel for their perverseness, the intercessions of Moses are represented as having been in effect irresistible, so that the threatened judgment was averted. What an argument is this for our pressing earnestly forward to the acquisition of the same character. If we are prompted at all by the noble ambition of becoming benefactors of our race, let us seek to form ourselves on the models proposed in the Scriptures, and thus by being made eminently acceptable to God, become in the highest degree useful to the communities in which we live.—(Bush.)
Judgment is well represented in the Scripture as God’s “strange work.” He takes greater pleasure in the salvation of men, to secure which He will even consent to delay His judgments.
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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Your servant has found favor in your eyes
Your servant has found favor in your eyes
The phrase "found favor" is an idiom which means to be approved of by someone. Here "eyes" are a metonym for sight, and sight is a metaphor representing his evaluation. AT: "You have been pleased with me" (See: Idiom and Metonymy and Metaphor)
Read full note →
Your servant has
Lot was showing respect by referring to himself as "your servant." AT: "I, your servant, have" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
you have shown me great kindness in saving my life
The abstract noun "kindness" can be stated as "kind." AT: "you have been very kind to me by saving my life" (See: Abstract Nouns)
I cannot escape to the mountains, because the disaster will overtake me, and I will die
Being unable to get far enough away from Sodom when God destroys the city is spoken of as if "disaster" is a person that will chase and catch up with Lot. AT: "My family and I will certainly die when God destroys the people of Sodom, because the mountains are too far away for us to get there safely" (See: Personification)
my life ... I cannot escape ... overtake me, and I will die
It is implied that Lot's family would die along with him. AT: "our lives ... we cannot escape ... overtake us, and we will die" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
let me escape there (is it not a little one?), and my life will be saved
Lot used this rhetorical question to get the angels to notice that the city really is a small one. AT: "let me escape there. You can see how small it is. If you let us go there we will live" (See: Rhetorical Question)
let me escape there
Lot's full request can be made explicit. AT: "instead of destroying that city, let me escape there" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
my life will be saved
It is implied that the lives of Lot's family will be saved along with his. This can also be stated in active form. AT: "so that we will live" or "so that we will survive" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and Active or Passive)
translationWords
Lot
lord
favor
servant
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 19:18-22 Lot demanded a concession from the angels even…
19:18-22 Lot demanded a concession from the angels even after he was delivered. He wanted to live in the small town of Zoar (little place).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.