Genesis 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.

2. turn in, I pray you . . . tarry all night--offer of

the same generous hospitalities as described in

Ge 18:2-8,

and which are still spontaneously practised in the small towns.

And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all

night--Where there are no inns and no acquaintance, it is not

uncommon for travellers to sleep in the street wrapped up in their

cloaks.

3. entered into his house--On removing to the plain, Lot intended

at first to live in his tent apart from the people

[Ge 13:12].

But he was gradually drawn in, dwelt in the city, and he and his family

were connected with the citizens by marriage ties.

4. men of Sodom, compassed the house--Appalling proofs are here

given of their wickedness. It is evident that evil communications had

corrupted good manners; otherwise Lot would never have acted as he

did.

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).

15-17. The kindly interest the angels took in the preservation

of Lot is beautifully displayed. But he "lingered." Was it from sorrow

at the prospect of losing all his property, the acquisition of many

years? Or was it that his benevolent heart was paralyzed by thoughts of

the awful crisis? This is the charitable way of accounting for a delay

that would have been fatal but for the friendly urgency of the

angel.

18, 19. 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.

21. See, I have accepted thee concerning this . . .

also--His request was granted him, the prayer of faith availed, and

to convince him, from his own experience, that it would have been best

and safest at once to follow implicitly the divine directions.

22. Haste . . . for I cannot do any thing till thou be

come thither--The ruin of Sodom was suspended till he was secure.

What care God does take of His people

(Re 7:3)!

What a proof of the love which God bore to a good though weak man!

24. Then the Lord rained . . . brimstone and fire from

. . . heaven--God, in accomplishing His purposes, acts

immediately or mediately through the agency of means; and there are

strong grounds for believing that it was in the latter way He effected

the overthrow of the cities of the plain--that it was, in fact, by a

volcanic eruption. The raining down of fire and brimstone from heaven

is perfectly accordant with this idea since those very substances,

being raised into the air by the force of the volcano, would fall in a

fiery shower on the surrounding region. This view seems countenanced by

Job

[Job 1:16; 18:15].

Whether it was miraculously produced, or the natural operation employed

judgment, foretold and designed for the punishment of those who were

sinners exceedingly.

26. Lot was accompanied by his wife and two daughters. But

whether it was from irresistible curiosity or perturbation of feeling,

or that she was about to return to save something, his wife lingered,

and while thus disobeying the parting counsel, "to look not back, nor

stay in all the plain"

[Ge 19:17],

the torrent of liquid lava enveloped her so that she became the victim

of her supine indolence or sinful rashness.

27. Abraham gat up early in the morning, &c.--Abraham was at

this time in Mamre, near Hebron, and a traveller last year verified the

truth of this passage. "From the height which overlooks Hebron, where

the patriarch stood, the observer at the present day has an extensive

view spread out before him towards the Dead Sea. A cloud of smoke

rising from the plain would be visible to a person at Hebron now, and

could have been, therefore, to Abraham as he looked toward Sodom on the

morning of its destruction by God" [HACKETT]. It

must have been an awful sight, and is frequently alluded to in

Scripture

(De 29:23;

Isa 13:19;

Jude 7).

"The plain which is now covered by the Salt or Dead Sea shows in the

great difference of level between the bottoms of the northern and

southern ends of the lake--the latter being thirteen feet and the

former thirteen hundred--that the southern end was of recent formation,

and submerged at the time of the fall of the cities" [LYNCH].

29. when God destroyed the cities, &c.--This is most welcome and

instructive after so painful a narrative. It shows if God is a

"consuming fire" to the wicked

[De 4:24;

Heb 12:29],

He is the friend of the righteous. He "remembered" the intercessions of

Abraham, and what confidence should not this give us that He will

remember the intercessions of a greater than Abraham in our behalf.