Genesis 19:5

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.

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 this night? for though they were angels, they appeared like men, and they seemed to be so to them who saw them go into Lot's house: bring them out unto us, that we may know them; not who they were, and from whence they came, and what their business was; nor did they pretend anything of this kind to hide and cover their design from Lot, but they were open and impudent, and declared their sin without shame and blushing, which is their character, Isaiah 3:9; their meaning was, that they might commit that unnatural sin with them, they were addicted to, and in common used, and which from them to this day bears the name of Sodomy. As lawful copulation with a man's wife is modestly expressed by knowing her, Genesis 4:1; so this unlawful and shocking copulation of man with man is expressed by this phrase; and that this was their meaning is plain from Lot's answer to them, Genesis 19:8.

Either know who they are; or rather abuse them, as Lot’s answer explains it, and so that word is used, Genesis 4:1 Numbers 31:17 Judges 19:22 . And for the sin here committed, see Leviticus 18:22 20:13 Romans 1:26,27 1 Corinthians 6:9 Judges 1:7 . They openly and impudently profess their wicked intention, for which they are branded, Isaiah 3:9 ; and this intention of theirs is the more probable, because of the great beauty which it is likely was in those bodies which the angels assumed, whereby their lust was more inflamed.

Verse 5. - And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Josephus supposes them to have been of beautiful countenances ('Ant.,' 1:11, 3), which excited the lust of the Sodomites, and caused them to assault Lot's house with shameful cries. Bring them out unto us, that we may know them . The sin here euphemistically referred to (cf. Judges 19:22 ) was exceedingly prevalent among the Canaanites ( Leviticus 18:22 ) and other heathen nations ( Romans 1:27 ). Under the law of Moses it was punishable by death. Genesis 19:5

The wicked violence of the citizens displays itself. They compass the house, and demand the men for the vilest ends. How familiar Lot had become with vice, when any necessity whatever could induce him to offer his daughters to the lust of these Sodomites! We may suppose it was spoken rashly, in the heat of the moment, and with the expectation that he would not be taken at his word. So it turned out. "Stand back." This seems to be a menace to frighten Lot out of the way of their perverse will. It is probable, indeed, that he and his family would not have been so long safe in this wicked place, had he not been the occasion of a great deliverance to the whole city when they were carried away by the four kings. The threat is followed by a taunt, when the sorely vexed host hesitated to give up the strangers. "He will needs be a judge." It is evident Lot had been in the habit of remonstrating with them. From threats and taunts they soon proceed to violence. His guests now interfere. They rescue Lot, and smite the rioters with blindness, or a wandering of the senses, so that they cannot find the door. This ebullition of the vilest passion seals the doom of the city.

The messengers (angels) sent by Jehovah to Sodom, arrived there in the evening, when Lot, who was sitting at the gate, pressed them to pass the night in his house. The gate, generally an arched entrance with deep recesses and seats on either side, was a place of meeting in the ancient towns of the East, where the inhabitants assembled either for social intercourse or to transact public business (vid., Genesis 34:20 ; Deuteronomy 21:19 ; Deuteronomy 22:15 , etc.). The two travellers, however (for such Lot supposed them to be, and only recognised them as angels when they had smitten the Sodomites miraculously with blindness), said that they would spend the night in the street - בּרחוב the broad open space within the gate - as they had been sent to inquire into the state of the town. But they yielded to Lot's entreaty to enter his house; for the deliverance of Lot, after having ascertained his state of mind, formed part of their commission, and entering into his house might only serve to manifest the sin of Sodom in all its heinousness.

While Lot was entertaining his guests with the greatest hospitality, the people of Sodom gathered round his house, "both old and young, all people from every quarter" (of the town, as in Jeremiah 51:31 ), and demanded, with the basest violation of the sacred rite of hospitality and the most shameless proclamation of their sin ( Isaiah 3:9 ), that the strangers should be brought out, that they might know them. ידע is applied, as in Judges 19:22 , to the carnal sin of paederastia, a crime very prevalent among the Canaanites ( Leviticus 18:22 ., Leviticus 20:23 ), and according to Romans 1:27 , a curse of heathenism generally.

Under the head of ( c ), the following are examples of distinctive phraseology: P J “God” ( Elohim ), Genesis 6:9 ; Genesis 6:11-13 ; Genesis 6:22 , Genesis 7:16 a, Genesis 8:1 ; Genesis 8:15 . “the Lord” (Jehovah), Genesis 7:1 ; Genesis 7:5 ; Genesis 7:16 b, Genesis 8:20-21 . “male and female” ( zâkâr un’ḳêbâh ), Genesis 6:19 , Genesis 7:16 . “the male and his female” ( ish v’ishto ), Genesis 7:2 . “destroy” ( shâḥath ), Genesis 6:13 ; Genesis 6:17 . “destroy” ( mâḥâh ), Genesis 6:7 , Genesis 7:4 ; Genesis 7:23 . “all flesh,” Genesis 6:12-13 ; Genesis 6:17 , Genesis 7:21 . “every living thing,” Genesis 7:4 ; Genesis 7:23 . “breath ( ruaḥ ) of life,” Genesis 7:15 . “breath of ( nishmath ) the spirit of ( ruaḥ ) life,” Genesis 7:22 . “die” ( gâv‘â ), Genesis 7:21 . “die” ( mûth ), Genesis 7:22 . “waters prevailed” ( gâbâr ), Genesis 7:18-19 ; Genesis 7:24 . “waters increased” ( râbâh ), Genesis 7:17 b. “waters abated” ( ḥâsêr ), Genesis 8:3 b, 5. “waters abated” ( qâlal ), Genesis 8:8 . Also characteristic of P is the minute description of the ark and its dimensions ( Genesis 6:14-16 ), the varieties of animals ( Genesis 6:20 ), the Flood’s depth ( Genesis 7:20 ), and the members of Noah’s family ( Genesis 7:13 , Genesis 8:15 ; Genesis 8:18 ); while, in J, Divine action is described in anthropomorphic terms (e.g. Genesis 6:6 , Genesis 7:16 , Genesis 8:21 ), and vivid details of narrative are introduced ( Genesis 8:6-12 ). Roughly speaking the portions derived from P consist of

1 . 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 reverence, in order (1) to harmonize the action of this chapter with the scene of Abraham’s pleading with Jehovah in chap. 18, and (2) to separate Jehovah from contact with the evil of Sodom. at even ] They had visited Abraham at noon: see Genesis 18:1 . in the gate of Sodom ] The wide arches of ancient Oriental city gates, contained recesses which were the resort of leading citizens; and in which business was transacted, bargains made, and justice administered, cf. Genesis 23:10 ; Genesis 23:18 , Genesis 34:20 ; Deuteronomy 21:19 ; Ruth 4:1 . bowed himself ] See Genesis 18:2 .