And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
They were brethren by community of nature and habitation; see Gen 9:5; 29:4; Lev 19:17; and so he calls them, if possibly he might sweeten and restrain them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
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 nature; and especially he called them so by reason of their having been neighbours considerable time, and on the score of friendship, see 1Ki 9:13; and with this soft and loving language Lot hoped to win his neighbours, and to persuade them from pursuing their unlawful measures: for which purpose and that alone he used it, saying to them,
do not so wickedly; as to use ill a man’s guests, to abuse strangers, to break the laws and rules of hospitality, and especially to commit that unnatural sin they were bent upon.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
‘And he said, “I beg you, my fellow-citizens, do not behave so wickedly”.’
It is no easy task to face such a baying crowd. Lot was unquestionably a brave man. But he has given hospitality to the strangers (and deliberately) and custom meant it was his responsibility to protect them. The laws of hospitality were strongly ingrained, but it is further evidence of the evil of the men of Sodom that they ignored them completely. They had no saving virtue. But Lot was determined to do his best to save the men. He knows he cannot appeal to their consciences and succeed so he falls back on desperate devices.
Gen 19:8
“See now, I have two daughters who have never been to bed with a man. Let me, I beg you, bring them out to you, and do to them what seems good in your eyes, only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shadow of my roof”.’
It could well be that he does not intend to let them have his daughters (he has not brought them out with him). It may be he is giving them occasion to face up to their atrocious behaviour, and is giving them pause for thought. He perhaps hopes they will dismiss such an idea as unacceptable and thus cool down.
But whatever is the situation there, he is stressing the laws of hospitality. He is pointing out vividly that he has taken the men under his protection and has a sacred duty therefore to protect them, as the men of Sodom know well. Under the laws of hospitality he has an even greater duty to them than to his daughters. He is desperately using every method to stem the wave of bestial feeling that has gripped the town. Lot has no illusions about his fellow-citizens but he is doing what he can. Yet if you live among, and compromise with, totally evil people, but do not become totally evil yourself, you can be sure that one day they will turn against you. And so it proved.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 19:7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
Ver. 7. Do not so wickedly. ] They were the first that fell into this foul sin, and were therefore worthily hanged up in gibbets by God for a terror to others; and besides, they “suffer the vengeance of eternal fire”. Jdg 1:7 The Pope pretends to be Christ’s vicar, and presumes to assume the title of Holiness. But how far he is from expressing God to the world appears by his, if not committing, yet conniving at, this detestable sin of sodomy God hath delivered up these Papagans (as he did those Pagans, Rom 1:24 ) to reprobate sense, to vile affections, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves, for that they have worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator. Rom 1:24-26 Hence it is that Rome is called Sodom in the Revelation. Rev 11:8
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 19:4, Lev 18:22, Lev 20:13, Deu 23:17, Jdg 19:23, 1Sa 30:23, 1Sa 30:24, Act 17:26, Rom 1:24, 1Co 6:9-11, Jud 1:7
Reciprocal: Gen 31:32 – before Exo 23:2 – follow Jdg 9:26 – brethren 2Pe 2:7 – vexed