INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 19 The contents of this chapter are Lot's entertainment of two angels that came to Sodom, Genesis 19:1; the rude behaviour of the men of Sodom towards them, who for it were smote with blindness, Genesis 19:4; the deliverance of Lot, his wife and two daughters, by means of th... [ Continue Reading ]
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 ca... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID, BEHOLD NOW, MY LORDS,.... Taking them to be, and bespeaking them as persons of quality, who appeared with majesty in their countenances, and looked as if they had been well brought up, and were upon their travels; not knowing them to be angels, whom he received and entertained unawares,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE PRESSED THEM GREATLY,.... He prayed, he entreated, he persuaded, he made use of a multitude of words, and of all the arguments he could think of, to prevail upon them; and might not only press them with words, but make use of gestures, as taking them by the hand, or by their clothes, and as i... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT BEFORE THEY LAY DOWN,.... Upon their beds to sleep; it was between supper time and bedtime that the following affair happened, while the angels were talking to Lot about the men of Sodom, and inquiring what sort of men they were, as the Jewish writers l suggest: THE MEN OF THE CITY, [EVEN] THE... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY CALLED UNTO LOT,.... With a loud voice, that he might hear, they being in the street, and he within doors; and perhaps there might be a court before his house, through which there was a passage up to it, as seems from Genesis 19:6: AND SAID UNTO HIM, WHERE ARE THE MEN WHICH CAME IN TO THEE... [ Continue Reading ]
AND LOT WENT OUT AT THE DOOR UNTO THEM,.... At the door of his house: AND SHUT THE DOOR AFTER HIM; the door of the passage to his house, the courtyard door, for another word is here used; unless the one was properly the door, and the other a hatch: however, this precaution of shutting it was used t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAID, I PRAY YOU, BRETHREN,.... Not by family or nation, for the Sodomites were of the race of Ham, in the line of Canaan, and Lot was a descendant of Shem, in the line of Arphaxad; nor by religion, for the one were idolaters, and the other a worshipper of the true God, but by community of natur... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD NOW, I HAVE TWO DAUGHTERS, WHICH HAVE NOT KNOWN MAN,.... Though some think they were espoused to men, but had not yet cohabited with them, see Genesis 19:14: LET ME, I PRAY YOU, BRING THEM OUT UNTO YOU, AND DO YE TO THEM AS [IS] GOOD IN YOUR EYES; this was a very great evil in Lot to make su... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SAID, STAND BACK,.... Turn on one side, get away from the door, that we may come to it: AND THEY SAID [AGAIN]: to one another: THIS ONE [FELLOW] CAME IN TO SOJOURN, AND HE WILL NEEDS BE A JUDGE; this one man, and he a stranger and sojourner, no freeman or citizen of this city, sets himsel... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE MEN PUT FORTH THEIR HAND,.... They came to the door, and opened it, and put out their hands, one on one side the door, and the other on the other: AND PULLED LOT INTO THE HOUSE TO THEM, AND SHUT TO THE DOOR; and thus they rescued Lot from the fury and rage of the men of Sodom, and prevented... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SMOTE THE MEN THAT [WERE] AT THE DOOR OF THE HOUSE WITH BLINDNESS, BOTH SMALL AND GREAT,.... with "blindnesses" n; with extreme blindness, with blindness both of eye and heart, as Aben Ezra interprets it; and indeed had they not been given up to a judicial blindness and hardness of heart, s... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE MEN SAID UNTO LOT,.... When they had got him into the house again, they began to make themselves known unto him, and to acquaint him with the business they came to do: HAST THOU HERE ANY BESIDES? which they ask not as being ignorant, though angels know not everything relative to men, but to... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE WILL DESTROY THIS PLACE,.... Or "we are destroying it" p, are about to do it, and will quickly and immediately do it: BECAUSE THE CRY OF THEM IS WAXEN GREAT BEFORE THE FACE OF THE LORD; the cry of the sins of the inhabitants of it, which were many, and openly, and daringly committed, and rea... [ Continue Reading ]
AND LOT WENT OUT,.... From his house, after the men of Sodom were gone from it, and before the morning, very probably about midnight: AND SPAKE UNTO HIS SONS IN LAW, WHICH MARRIED HIS DAUGHTERS: according to Aben Ezra, he had two other daughters that perished in Sodom, which he gathers from Genesis... [ Continue Reading ]
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, Genesis 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... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHILE HE LINGERED,.... Delayed going out of his house, either loath to leave his goods and substance behind him; or waiting to see whether his sons-in-law would come to him; or, as others, praying that God would spare the city: though rather the sense is, that he was so amazed, and filled with h... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN THEY HAD BROUGHT THEM FORTH ABROAD,.... Into the fields of Sodom, or the suburbs of it: THAT HE SAID, ESCAPE FOR THY LIFE; not one of the two men or angels that had been with him all the night past, for they had now left him, and were gone back to the city: but Jehovah the... [ Continue Reading ]
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 LO... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, NOW THY SERVANT HATH FOUND GRACE IN THY SIGHT,.... In sending two of his angels to him, to inform him of the approaching destruction of Sodom; to pluck him out of it as a brand out of the burning, and to place him without the city, and in directing and encouraging him to escape for his life:... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD NOW, THIS CITY [IS] NEAR TO FLEE UNTO,.... Pointing to Bela, afterwards called Zoar, from what follows: it is said to be two miles distant from Sodom z. But the Jews a say it was four miles, and some say b five; for they reckon that a man may go five miles from the ascent of the morning (or b... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID UNTO HIM, SEE, I HAVE ACCEPTED THEE CONCERNING THIS THING ALSO,.... Accepted thy prayer and granted thy request, as well as in other things; shown grace and mercy to thee: or, "have lifted up thy face" e; alluding to the custom of the eastern countries, where persons, when they come into... [ Continue Reading ]
HASTE THEE, ESCAPE THITHER,.... Seeing he had granted him his request, he is urgent upon him to be gone, and not to delay upon any account, or make other excuses: FOR I CANNOT DO ANYTHING TILL THOU BE COME THITHER; that is, consistent with the decree of God, that Lot and his family should be delive... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SUN WAS RISEN UPON THE EARTH WHEN LOT ENTERED INTO ZOAR. Which is observed partly to point at the time of his entrance into the city, and of the burning of Sodom, which began at the same time; and partly to show what a fine morning it was, and what little appearance there was of such a tempe... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE LORD RAINED UPON SODOM, AND UPON GOMORRAH, BRIMSTONE AND FIRE FROM THE LORD OUT OF HEAVEN. And not upon those two cities only, but upon Admah and Zeboiim also, see Deuteronomy 29:23; this was not a common storm of thunder and lightning, with which often there is a smell of sulphur or brimst... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE OVERTHREW THOSE CITIES,.... Of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim: very probably at the same time that this fiery tempest was in the heavens, there was an earthquake which overthrew the cities; and so Strabo h makes the lake, which is now the place where they stood, to be owing to earthquake... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HIS WIFE LOOKED BACK FROM BEHIND HIM,.... That is, the wife of Lot, whose name the Jewish writers x say was Adith, or as others Irith y; and, according to the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, she was a native of Sodom: now, as they were going from Sodom to Zoar, she was behind Lot, his back wa... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ABRAHAM GOT UP EARLY IN THE MORNING,.... Perhaps he had had but little sleep the whole night, his thoughts being taken up with what was to befall the cities of the plain; and especially being in great concern for Lot and his family: TO THE PLACE WHERE HE STOOD BEFORE THE LORD; Genesis 18:22; to... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE LOOKED TOWARD SODOM AND GOMORRAH, AND TOWARD ALL THE LAND OF THE PLAIN,.... To see how it fared with them: very probably the Lord had hinted it to him, that the destruction would be that morning, and therefore he rose early, got to the place bearly, and being on an eminence, looked wistly to... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN GOD DESTROYED THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN,.... Not when he had destroyed them, but when he was about to destroy them; for Lot was sent out from them, and delivered out of them, before they were destroyed; and therefore Noldius rightly renders the words, "before God destroyed" m... [ Continue Reading ]
AND LOT WENT UP OUT OF ZOAR,.... Which lay in the plain, and therefore when he went from thence to the mountain, it was by an ascent: AND DWELT IN THE MOUNTAIN; which the Lord had directed him to go to before, but was unwilling, and chose Zoar, and desired he might flee thither, and that that might... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE FIRSTBORN SAID UNTO THE YOUNGER,.... That is, the firstborn of those two, or the elder of them; for, if Lot had other daughters that were married in Sodom, it is probable they were elder than either of these: Aben Ezra intimates, that Lot had another wife, who died first, and these were by h... [ Continue Reading ]
COME, LET US MAKE OUR FATHER DRINK WINE,.... Meaning to excess, so as to be inebriated with it, and not know what he did: this wine might be brought with them from Sodom, with other provisions for their refreshment and support; or it may be rather from Zoar, where they furnished themselves with a qu... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY MADE THEIR FATHER DRINK WINE THAT NIGHT,.... They persuaded him to drink liberally, urged him to it again, in order to make him drunk, and so complete their design; and Lot might be the more prevailed upon to drink freely, in order to remove his sorrow, and refresh his spirits under the los... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS ON THE MORROW,.... The day following the night, in which the above was transacted: THAT THE FIRSTBORN SAID TO THE YOUNGER, BEHOLD, I LAY YESTERNIGHT WITH MY FATHER; informed her, that what they had contrived succeeded according to their wish, and therefore, for her encouragement... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY MADE THEIR FATHER DRINK WINE THAT NIGHT ALSO,.... Until he was drunk; which is an aggravation of his sin, that he should be overtaken a second time, and that so soon as the next night, when he ought to have been upon his guard, knowing how he had fallen into it the night before: AND THE YO... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS WERE BOTH THE DAUGHTERS OF LOT WITH CHILD BY THEIR FATHER. We learn from hence what the best of men are when left to themselves; a good man, a righteous Lot, is guilty of crimes the most shocking; he exposed the chastity of his daughters to the men of Sodom, and now his daughters attacked him,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE FIRSTBORN BARE A SON, AND CALLED HIS NAME MOAB,.... As if it was "Meab", from the father, as Aben Ezra, and so Josephus, that is, which she had by her father; and she was so far from being ashamed that it might be known in time to come, she gave him this name. Hillerus w makes it to be a com... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE YOUNGER, SHE ALSO BARE A SON, AND CALLED HIS NAME BENAMMI,.... That is, "the son of my people", being the son of her father; which though it does not so manifestly appear in this name, as in the other, yet there is some trace of it; and she would have it be known by this, that he was not the... [ Continue Reading ]