Genesis 19:13

19:1-29 Lot was good, but there was not one more of the same character in the city. All the people of Sodom were very wicked and vile. Care was therefore taken for saving Lot and his family. Lot lingered; he trifled. Thus many who are under convictions about their spiritual state, and the necessity of a change, defer that needful work. The salvation of the most righteous men is of God's mercy, not by their own merit. We are saved by grace. God's power also must be acknowledged in bringing souls out of a sinful state If God had not been merciful to us, our lingering had been our ruin. Lot must flee for his life. He must not hanker after Sodom. Such commands as these are given to those who, through grace, are delivered out of a sinful state and condition. Return not to sin and Satan. Rest not in self and the world. Reach toward Christ and heaven, for that is escaping to the mountain, short of which we must not stop. Concerning this destruction, observe that it is a revelation of the wrath of God against sin and sinners of all ages. Let us learn from hence the evil of sin, and its hurtful nature; it leads to ruin.

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 reached to heaven, and called for immediate vengeance and punishment: and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it; by which they discovered themselves to be angels, and what their business was, to destroy Sodom; and which confutes the notion of the Jews, that they were sent on different errands; whereas it is clear from hence, these two were sent to do one and the same thing; See Gill on Genesis 18:2. (p) "disperdentes nos", Montanus; "nos perdituri mox sumus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Drusius, Schmidt.

13 . 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. Genesis 19:13

12, 13. Hast thou here any besides? … we will destroy this place—Apostolic authority has declared Lot was "a righteous man" (2Pe 2:8), at bottom good, though he contented himself with lamenting the sins that he saw, instead of acting on his own convictions, and withdrawing himself and family from such a sink of corruption. But favor was shown him: and even his bad relatives had, for his sake, an offer of deliverance, which was ridiculed and spurned (2Pe 3:4).

CHAPTER 19 Ge 19:1-38. Lot's Entertainment. 1. there came two angels—most probably two of those that had been with Abraham, commissioned to execute the divine judgment against Sodom. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom—In Eastern cities it is the market, the seat of justice, of social intercourse and amusement, especially a favorite lounge in the evenings, the arched roof affording a pleasant shade.Two angels come to Sodom, Genesis 19:1. Lot invites them in; they at first refuse, Genesis 19:2. They enter; he entertains them, and they eat, Genesis 19:3. The men of Sodom demand to know them, Genesis 19:4,5. Lot dissuades them, Genesis 19:6,7; offers his daughters; urges reason, Genesis 19:8. They are obstinate; threaten, and press to break the door, Genesis 19:9. The angels pull Lot in, and shut to the door, Genesis 19:10; and smite the men with blindness, Genesis 19:11. Advise Lot to depart with his kindred, Genesis 19:12. The reason, Genesis 19:13. Lot speaks to his sons-in-law; they deride him, Genesis 19:14. The angels lay hold on Lot, his wife, and two daughters, and carry them out, Genesis 19:16; command them not to look back, Genesis 19:17. Lot requests to stay in Zoar; it is granted, with a command to hasten, because till they are gone the Lord can do nothing, Genesis 19:18-23. God rains brimstone and fire upon Sodom, Genesis 19:24,25. Lot’s wife looking back becomes a pillar of salt, Genesis 19:26. Abraham looks towards Sodom, Genesis 19:27,28.

The visitors now take steps for the deliverance of Lot and his kindred before the destruction of the cities. All that are related to him are included in the offer of deliverance. There is a blessing in being connected with the righteous, if men will but avail themselves of it. Lot seems bewildered by the contemptuous refusal of his connections to leave the place. His early choice and his growing habits have attached him to the place, notwithstanding its temptations. His married daughters, or at least the intended husbands of the two who were at home ("who are here"), are to be left behind. But though these thoughts make him linger, the mercy of the Lord prevails. The angels use a little violence to hasten their escape. The mountain was preserved by its elevation from the flood of rain, sulphur, and fire which descended on the low ground on which the cities were built. Lot begs for a small town to which he may retreat, as he shrinks from the perils of a mountain dwelling, and his request is mercifully granted.

The sin of Sodom had now become manifest. The men, Lot's guests, made themselves known to him as the messengers of judgment sent by Jehovah, and ordered him to remove any one that belonged to him out of the city. "Son-in-law (the singular without the article, because it is only assumed as a possible circumstance that he may have sons-in-law), and thy sons, and thy daughters, and all that belongs to thee" (sc., of persons, not of things). Sons Lot does not appear to have had, as we read nothing more about them, but only "sons-in-law (בנתיו לקחי) who were about to take his daughters," as Josephus, the Vulgate, Ewald, and many others correctly render it. The lxx, Targums, Knobel, and Delitzsch adopt the rendering "who had taken his daughters," in proof of which the last two adduce הנּמצאת in Genesis 19:15 as decisive. But without reason; for this refers not to the daughters who were still in the father's house, as distinguished form those who were married, but to his wife and two daughters who were to be found with him in the house, in distinction from the bridegrooms, who also belonged to him, but were not yet living with him, and who had received his summons in scorn, because in their carnal security they did not believe in any judgment of God ( Luke 17:28-29 ). If Lot had had married daughters, he would undoubtedly have called upon them to escape along with their husbands, his sons-in-law.

When they left him here (הנּיח, to let loose, and leave, to leave to one's self), the Lord commanded him, for the sake of his life, not to look behind him, and not to stand still in all the plain (כּכּר, Genesis 13:10 ), but to flee to the mountains (afterwards called the mountains of Moab). In Genesis 19:17 we are struck by the change from the plural to the singular: "when they brought them forth, he said." To think of one of the two angels - the one, for example, who led the conversation - seems out of place, not only because Lot addressed him by the name of God, "Adonai" ( Genesis 19:18 ), but also because the speaker attributed to himself the judgment upon the cities ( Genesis 19:21 , Genesis 19:22 ), which is described in Genesis 19:24 as executed by Jehovah. Yet there is nothing to indicate that Jehovah suddenly joined the angels. The only supposition that remains, therefore, is that Lot recognised in the two angels a manifestation of God, and so addressed them ( Genesis 19:18 ) as Adonai (my Lord), and that the angel who spoke addressed him as the messenger of Jehovah in the name of God, without its following from this, that Jehovah was present in the two angels.

2 . the angel of Jehovah ] The ‘angel of Jehovah,’ or, in E ( Exodus 14:19 , Genesis 21:17 ; Genesis 31:11 ), ‘of God,’ is a temporary, but full, self-manifestation of Jehovah , a manifestation usually, at any rate, in human form, possessing no distinct and permanent personality, as such, but speaking and spoken of, sometimes as Jehovah Himself (e.g. v. 4a here, comp. with v. 2; Genesis 16:10 ; Genesis 16:13 ; Genesis 31:11 ; Genesis 31:13 ; Jdg 6:12 ; Jdg 6:14 ; Jdg 13:21 f.), and sometimes as distinct from Him (e.g. Genesis 16:11 ; Genesis 19:13 ; Genesis 19:21 ; Genesis 19:24 ; Genesis 21:17 ; Numbers 22:31 ): cf. Gray, EB. iv., Theophany, § 4. As Davidson remarks ( DB. i. 94b, s.v. Angel), the ‘angel of Jehovah’ differs from ‘Jehovah’ only in being sensibly manifest: ‘the mere manifestation creates a distinction between the “angel of Jehovah” and “Jehovah,” though the identity remains.’ The angel of Jehovah is mentioned chiefly in the older parts of the historical books, J, E (never P), and the older narratives in Judges ( Exodus 2:1 ; Exodus 2:4 , Exodus 5:23 , Exodus 6:11 f., Exodus 20-22, Exodus 13:3-21 ). a flame of fire ] A frequent form of the Divine manifestation ( Exodus 19:18 , Exodus 24:17 ; Ezekiel 1:27 ; Ezekiel 8:2 ; and in the ‘pillar of fire,’ Exodus 13:21 f.). On the present occasion, however, the fire was not a ‘devouring’ fire, but only the brilliancy of fire. Cf. Hom.