Genesis 19 - Introduction
Genesis 19:1-23. Visit of the two Angels to Lot in Sodom; Lot's Deliverance and Escape to Zoar (J)... [ Continue Reading ]
Genesis 19:1-23. Visit of the two Angels to Lot in Sodom; Lot's Deliverance and Escape to Zoar (J)... [ Continue Reading ]
_the two angels_ See Genesis 18:22. It has been conjectured that the original text had here, as in Genesis 19:5_; Genesis 19:8; Genesis 19:10; Genesis 19:12_, "the men" (i.e. the "three men" of Genesis 18:2); and that the substitution of the words "the two angels" has been made from motives of rever... [ Continue Reading ]
_my lords adonai_. The Massoretic note upon this word is "profane," i.e. not the Divine name: see note on Genesis 18:3. _turn aside_ Lot's words are a good example of Eastern hospitality. Possibly to this passage and Genesis 18:3 reference is made in Hebrews 13:2. _in the street_ We must be carefu... [ Continue Reading ]
_he urged them greatly_ The gentle compulsion of Oriental courtesy. To let a stranger sleep out at night would be contrary to all canons of civility, cf. Judges 19:16-22. _a feast_ Lit. "a drinking feast," and thence "a banquet." Perhaps we may assume that the Angels appeared as poor men needing fo... [ Continue Reading ]
_the men of the city_ The repulsive incident recorded in this passage (Genesis 19:4) contrasts the hospitable conduct of Lot with the gross behaviour of the people of Sodom towards strangers, and has for all time associated the name of the city with shameless vice (cf. Isaiah 3:9). _from every quar... [ Continue Reading ]
_forasmuch as_ R.V. marg. _for therefore_: cf. Genesis 18:5. Lot's proposal, so atrocious in our ears, may have been deemed meritorious in an Eastern country, where no sacrifice was considered too great to maintain inviolate the safety of a stranger who had been received in hospitality. That Lot sho... [ Continue Reading ]
_Stand back_ LXX ἀπόστα ἐκεί, Lat. _recede illuc_; cf. "give place," Isaiah 49:20. _This one fellow_ Lot is reminded of his solitariness and of his foreign extraction. _came in to sojourn_ The people contrast Lot's position as a sojourner (_gêr_) in the city with his claim to decide and play the j... [ Continue Reading ]
_blindness_ An unusual word for "blindness," inflicted as a sudden temporary visitation, used here and 2 Kings 6:18. LXX ἀορασία.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the men said_ The incident just described had revealed the corrupt condition of the city. It had been tried by a simple test, and found wanting. Sodom is doomed; but Lot is to be saved. _any besides_ The deliverance of the man carries with it the deliverance of the household. _son in law, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_we will destroy_ See Genesis 19:24. _the cry of them_ i.e. the cry against the people of Sodom; see note on Genesis 18:20. _the Lord hath sent us_ Defining the position of the men in this and the previous chapter, as distinct from, and messengers of, Jehovah.... [ Continue Reading ]
_married his daughters_ Better, as R.V. marg., _were to marry_, as Lat. _qui accepturi erant_. This seems more probable than the rendering of the R.V., and LXX τοὺς εἰληφότας. The verb used here means literally "the takers of." For Lot's daughters were in the house with him: Lot went out to find his... [ Continue Reading ]
_when the morning arose_ At day-break. The doom was to be inflicted before sun-rise (cf. Genesis 19:23). If Lot was still in the city, he too would perish: hence the men's haste. _consumed_ See Genesis 18:23. _iniquity_ Better, as R.V. marg., _punishment_. See note, on the ambiguous meaning of the... [ Continue Reading ]
_But he lingered_ It was difficult for Lot to realize the immediate and overwhelming nature of the doom announced by his visitants. His feelings for home and its associations made him hesitate. The versions misunderstood the Heb.; LXX καὶ ἐταράχθησαν, Lat. _dissimulante illo_. _the Lord being merci... [ Continue Reading ]
_he said_ One of the men is spokesman, as in Genesis 19:21; but the plural "they said" is found in the LXX and Lat. _look not behind thee_ The meaning of this direction, which recalls the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, is not quite obvious. It may be a prohibition either of irresolute lingering, or... [ Continue Reading ]
_my lord_ R.V. marg. _O Lord_. The Massoretic note here, as in Genesis 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 Genesis 18:... [ Continue Reading ]
_found grace_ Cf. Genesis 6:8 (J). _thy mercy_ Lat. _misericordiam tuam_. The LXX rendering, τὴν δικαιοσύνην, is a good illustration of the latitude given to "righteousness" as embodying compassion. Cf. Matthew 6:1. _I cannot escape to the mountain_ Lot speaks as if he were too old (cf. Genesis 19... [ Continue Reading ]
_is it not a little one_ i.e. "is it not a trifle (_miz-ar_)?" It is a "small" concession to grant; or a "small" distance to go. Evidently a play on the pronunciation of the word Zoar. Lot's entreaty that he may take refuge in Zoar causes the exemption of that city from the catastrophe. For Bela, as... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have accepted thee_ Heb. "I have received," or "lifted up thy countenance," see note on Genesis 4:7. Compare the expression "respecter of persons," e.g. Acts 10:34. Here Jehovah is a "receiver," or "favourer," of the person of Lot: cf. Genesis 32:20; Malachi 1:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I cannot do any thing_ Mercy limits the exercise of Divine Justice. "The righteous" is not to be consumed "with the wicked" (Genesis 18:23). _Zoar_ See note on Genesis 14:2. Zoar is identified by tradition with a spot on the S.E. of the Dead Sea, where a peninsula projects from the coast. Cf. Genes... [ Continue Reading ]
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, &c. 24. _Then the Lord_, &c. The destruction of the cities of the Plain is an event to which frequent allusion is made in Holy Scripture. The impressive features of the Dead Sea must have continually lent force to the terrible tradition of an overthrow in times... [ Continue Reading ]
_and he overthrew_ The word used is the one regularly employed elsewhere in the O.T. where the overthrow of the cities is mentioned. Like the word _mabbul_for the Flood, so this word, "overthrow" (_mahpêkah_, "overturning"), used here and in Genesis 19:29, became the technical term for this catastro... [ Continue Reading ]
_a pillar of salt_ Lot's wife for disobeying the command, recorded in Genesis 19:17, was, according to the tradition, changed into a pillar of salt. Our Lord's words, "Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17:32), refer to the narrative in this passage. Her looking back indicated the place of her real treasure... [ Continue Reading ]
_gat up early_ No emphasis is here laid in the Hebrew upon the earliness of the rise. The idiom amounts to saying "in the morning Abraham arose and went to the place." _stood before the Lord_ See Genesis 18:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the smoke of the land_ The word is one used especially in connexion with incense and sacrifice. It is not the usual word for smoke, but rather corresponds to our "reek" or, as Driver, "steam." Travellers relate that, owing to rapid evaporation, there always appears a steamy mist rising up from the... [ Continue Reading ]
(J). The Origin of the Moabites and Ammonites 30. _And Lot went up_ He left the Plain, and withdrew "to the mountain," viz. "the mountains of Moab"; see Genesis 19:17. _he feared_ Why did he fear to dwell in Zoar? Not, as has been suggested, lest the people of Zoar should put him to death, as one... [ Continue Reading ]
_Moab_ A play on the word "Moab," on account of its general assonance with the Heb. _mê-âb_= "from a father"; an instance of derivation by folk-etymology.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ben-ammi_ "The son of my people"; or "the son of my father's kin"; see Genesis 17:14. "Unto this day," cf. Genesis 26:33; Genesis 32:32; Genesis 35:20; Genesis 47:26 (J). There is no need for us to regard this repulsive story as literal history. It should be included among the popular narratives w... [ Continue Reading ]