And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:
18. my lord ] R.V. marg. O Lord. The Massoretic note here, as in Gen 18:3, is “holy,” regarding the word as the Divine name. Certainly in this chapter Jehovah is not so directly identified with one of “the men” as in chap. 18. The rendering “my lord” is, perhaps, to be preferred, as in Gen 18:3. On the other hand, the mention of “Jehovah” in Gen 19:16, and the words in Gen 19:22 ; Gen 19:24, “I cannot do anything till thou be come thither,” and “Then the Lord rained upon Sodom,” would sufficiently justify the other rendering. Jehovah and His Angel are one, cf. Gen 16:7 ff. His Presence is in “the two” as in “the three men.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 19:18-22
And Lot said unto them, Oh! not so, my Lord
The infirmities of the heirs of salvation
I.
THESE INFIRMITIES ARE SEEN DURING THE PROGRESS OF THEIR DELIVERANCE.
1. The infirmity of fear (Gen 19:19).
2. Wilfulness (Gen 19:20).
3. Forgetfulness of past mercies.
4. A lingering selfishness.
II. GOD IS GRACIOUS TOWARDS SUCH INFIRMITIES (Gen 19:21).
III. THERE ARE CERTAIN CONDITIONS WHICH FIT THEM FOR SUCH MERCIFUL INDULGENCE.
1. When they have already commenced the flight from danger.
2. When, though they have not reached it, they are still seeking a sure refuge.
3. When they are satisfied not to rest in anything short of Gods command. (T. H. Leale.)
Lessons
1. Gracious souls in their weaknesses will acknowledge the freeness and greatness of Gods mercy to them.
2. Infirmity yet turns such confession aside, to a wrong use, even to desire things against Gods will.
3. Saving souls alive in the midst of destructions is a free and great mercy.
4. Weakness of faith and strength of sense may make Gods Word seem impossible unto His servants.
5. Infirmity of faith creates many fears of evil even against Gods promise.
6. Saints through infirmity apprehend death where God clearly promiseth and giveth life. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lots prayer as contrasted with that of Abraham
Abraham had never prayed for himself with a tithe of the persistent earnestness with which he prayed for Sodom–a town which was much indebted to him, but towards which, for more reasons than one, a smaller man would have borne a grudge. Lot, on the other hand, much indebted to Sodom, identified indeed with it, one of its leading citizens, connected by marriage with its inhabitants, is in no agony about its destruction, and has indeed but one prayer to offer, and that is, that when all his fellow-townsmen are destroyed, he may be comfortably provided for. While the men he has bargained and feasted with, the men he has made money out of and married his daughters to, are in the agonies of an appalling catastrophe and so near that the smoke of their torment sweeps across his retreat, he is so disengaged from regrets and compassion that he can nicely weigh the comparative comfort and advantage of city and rural life. One would have thought better of the man if he had declined the angelic rescue and resolved to stand by those in death whose society he had so coveted in life. And it is significant that while the generous, large-hearted, devout pleading of Abraham is in vain, the miserable, timorous, selfish petition of Lot is heard and answered. It would seem as if sometimes God were hopeless of men, and threw to them in contempt the gifts they crave, giving them the poor stations in this life their ambition is set upon, because He sees they have made themselves incapable of enduring hardness, and so quelling their lower nature. An answered prayer is not always a blessing, sometimes it is a doom: He sent them meat to the full: but while their meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them and slew the fattest of them. Probably had Lot felt any inclination to pray for his townsmen he would have seen that for him to do so would be unseemly. His circumstances, his long association with the Sodomites, and his accommodation of himself to their ways, had both eaten the soul out of him and set him on quite a different footing towards God from that occupied by Abraham. A man cannot on a sudden emergency lift himself out of the circumstances in which he has been rooted, nor peel off his character as if it were only skin deep. Abraham had been living an unworldly life, in which intercourse with God was a familiar employment. His prayer was but the seasonable flower of his life, nourished to all its beauty by the habitual nutriment of past years. Lot in his need could only utter a peevish, pitiful, childish cry. He had aimed all his life at being comfortable, he could not now wish anything more than to be comfortable. Stand out of my sunshine was all he could say when he held by the hand the plenipotentiary of heaven, and when the roar of the conflict of moral good and evil was filling his ears–a decent man, a righteous man, but the world had eaten out his heart till he had nothing to keep him in sympathy with heaven. Such is the state to which men in our society, as in Sodom, are brought by risking their spiritual life to make the most of this world. (M. Dods, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
i.e. Unto one of them, as is manifest from the following words.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18, 19. Lot said . . . Oh, not so,my Lord . . . I cannot escape to the mountainWhat a strangewant of faith and fortitude, as if He who had interfered for hisrescue would not have protected Lot in the mountain solitude.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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 Lord; that is, let me not be obliged to go so far as to the mountain; though R. Samuel takes it to be an assent, and interprets the phrase of his being willing: but this does not agree with what follows, and is rejected by Aben Ezra, who relates it; and who also observes, that the word “Lord” is a common name, that is, that belongs to a creature; but Jarchi says their Rabbins take it to be an holy name, that is, a name that belongs to God, and gives a good reason why it is so to be understood here; since the person spoken to had it in his power to kill or make alive, to save or destroy, as the following words show; so Ben Melech and the Targum of Oukelos render it by Jehovah.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Verse 18-20: “Lord” is Adonai. Use of this term implies that Jehovah had joined the angels by this time, and that He was the One speaking to Lot and was so recognized by him. Lot begged one more favor from the Lord: the journey to the safety of Moab’s mountains was long and tedious. Perhaps Lot feared he would be unable to find safety there in time to escape Sodom’s destruction. He asked to be allowed to go instead to Zoar. This was the smallest of the five cities of the Sodom-valley region. He asked that God spare this city, which would not be a great demand upon His mercy since it was so small. Lot’s conduct in this matter shows his spiritual indolence, even in the face of God’s obvious mercy.
“Zoar” is from tsoar, meaning “little.” In earlier times it was known as Bela (Ge 14:2). It was at the extreme southern limit of Moses’ view when he went up to Mt Pisgah to view the Land of Promise (De 34:3). See also Isa 15:5; Jer 48:34.
Zoar was an important point between Elath and Jerusalem, during the Middle Ages.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
18. And Lot said unto them. Here another fault of Lot is censured, because he does not simply obey God, nor suffer himself to be preserved according to His will, but contrives some new method of his own. God assigns him a mountain as his future place of refuge, he rather chooses for himself a city. They are therefore under a mistake, who so highly extol his faith, as to deem this a perfect example of suitable prayer; for the design of Moses is rather to teach, that the faith of Lot was not entirely pure, and free from all defects. For it is to be held as an axiom, that our prayers are faulty, so far as they are not founded on the word. Lot, however, not only departs from the word, but preposterously indulges himself in opposition to the word; such importunity has, certainly, no affinity with faith. Afterwards, a sudden change of mind was the punishment of his foolish cupidity. For thus do all necessarily vacillate, who do not submit themselves to God. As soon as they attain one wish, immediately a new disquietude is produced, which compels them to change their opinion. It must then, in short, be maintained, that Lot is by no means free from blame, in wishing for a city as his residence; for he both sets himself in opposition to the command of God, which it was his duty to obey; and desires to remain among those pleasures, from which it was profitable for him to be removed. He, therefore, acts just as a sick person would do, who should decline an operation, or a bitter draught, which his physician had prescribed. Nevertheless, I do not suppose, that the prayer of Lot was altogether destitute of faith; I rather think, that though he declined from the right way, he not only did not depart far from it, but was even fully purposed in his mind to keep it. For he always depended upon the word of God; but in one particular he fell from it, by entreating that a place should be given to him, which had been denied. Thus, with the pious desires of holy men, some defiled and turbid admixture is often found. I am not however ignorant, that sometimes they are constrained, by a remarkable impulse of the Spirit, to depart in appearance from the word, yet without really transgressing its limits. But the immoderate carnal affection of Lot betrays itself, in that he is held entangled by those very delights which he ought to have shunned. Moreover, his inconstancy is a proof of his rashness, because he is soon displeased with himself for what he has done.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gen. 19:18-22
THE INFIRMITIES OF THE HEIRS OF SALVATION
Lot was a representative of the heirs of salvation, inasmuch as it was Gods gracious purpose to save him from the judgments coming upon the ungodly; and he worked with that purposewas obedient to the voice which called him to flee from destruction and make for safe shelter. His efforts betrayed human weakness.
I. These infirmities are seen during the progress of their deliverance. Lot did not obey the command to escape at once to the mountain, but craved the indulgence of resting by the way in a place of his own choice. It was while he was being saved that he showed this weakness. And seekers after salvation are marked more or less by the like infirmities. In the case of Lot, these were
1. The infirmity of fear. I cannot escape to the mountain lest some evil take me, and I die (Gen. 19:19). He was afraid lest the fiery stream should overtake him before he reached the mountain. Had his faith been strong, he would have had courage to obey in the face of all the suggestions of sense.
2. Wilfulness. He sets his desire upon a city lying in the course of his flight, where he imagines he shall be safe (Gen. 19:20). His request appeared most reasonable to himself, for this city was quite unimportant, and surely it might be spared. Is it not a little one? he said (Gen. 19:20). He committed the folly of attempting to improve upon Gods appointed way of deliverance. He sought to interfere with Gods plan by some expedients of his own. Such is the wilfulness of many who are seeking the salvation of their souls. They stop short of the end to which they should attain without delay, and adopt some shelter of their own choosing. The subjugation of our will entirely to the will of God is the result of long training.
3. Forgetfulness of past mercies. God had shown great and marvellous mercy to Lot. We should expect that his sense of those marked favours would have been so fresh and strong that he would have been ready to go wherever God commanded him. But his character was too weak to realise properly both past and present blessings. It takes some time to rise to a sense of what God is doing for us.
4. A lingering selfishness. This characteristic clave to Lot to the last. He was selfish when he chose Sodom for a dwelling-place, and he is selfish now when he asks that this city may be spared merely for his own convenience. He lacked that largeness of soul which inspired Abraham when he prayed for Sodom and Gomorrah. So, many who have taken steps to obey the call of God yet allow their selfishness to stand in their way.
II. God is gracious towards such infirmities. God accepted Zoar as the temporary place of retreat for His servant (Gen. 19:21). He bears with the infirmity of His people. Where they have a desire and a firm purpose to flee to the refuge of His salvation, He pardons their many shortcomings in the effort. His charity covers the multitude of their sins. Such are the concessions of the Divine goodness towards human weakness. God knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we are dust (Psa. 103:14). In the worst desolation there is some bright spot where we may rest and be refreshed, lest the strength of our souls should be tried above measure. But such an indulgence can be only temporary. Lot soon found that Zoar was not safe, and he was glad at last to escape to the mountain (Gen. 19:30). We must not rest in what is intended to be merely a provisional shelter, but be ready to quit it soon. God indulges our weakness that He might lead us to higher things.
III. There are certain conditions which fit them for such merciful indulgence.
1. When they have already commenced the flight from danger. Lot believed that destruction was coming upon Sodom, and was now in the act of fleeing from the threatened danger. He had taken steps to secure his salvation, otherwise this favour would have been denied. God must see some desires towards Himself, some acceptance of His message, or He will not grant His great favours. We must break off with our sins, and fly from the danger to which they expose us, or else we cannot expect salvation. Those who remain in Sodom can only look for Sodoms doom.
2. When, though they have not reached it, they are still seeking a sure refuge. Lot had not yet reached the mountain, but his purpose was still set towards it He desired to obey the command of God. His will was accepted for the deed. If we are still seeking salvation, though we may not have attained to all that Christ has purchased for us, He will pity our weakness. He graciously encourages the first beginnings of a new life. Though there be much smoke and ashes, yet if He discovers a single spark of a better desire and hope in us, He will fan it to a flame. Mercy begins the distribution of her gifts as soon as we set out for Christ.
3. When they are satisfied not to rest in anything short of Gods command. Lots better desire was to obey God to the end, by escaping to the mountain. He was soon convinced that the place he had chosen was not intended to be his permanent refuge. Nothing short of Christ, whether it be the Church, the sacraments, or the ministry, can be our permanent resting-place. We are not safe until we have come to the Mountain, and laid hold upon the strength of our salvation. There is no other sure refuge for our souls but Christ.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen. 19:18-19. But who shall prescribe to the Almighty? or limit the Holy One of Israel? Are we wiser than He? Have we any contrivance by which we can surpass Him? He lets us sometimes have our way, but to our woe at last.(Trapp).
It must certainly be set down to a weak and wavering faith in Lot that he now made this request. His duty was to have yielded simple obedience to the declared will of Heaven. He should have known that what God dictated was best; that if He had commanded him to go to the mountains, He would certainly enable him to get there, and that He could protect him there as anywhere else. But he pleads hard for permission to flee to the neighbouring city of Zoar, and hopes that he may be excused in this desire, seeing it was but a little one. The preferring of such a request in such circumstances we should suppose would have drawn forth some marked expression of the Divine displeasure. But God lends a gracious ear to his petition. His infimity is not rebuked; his request was granted; the city was spared for his sake. In this God designed at once to show how much the fervent prayer of a righteous man avails; and at the same time, by the result to teach his shortsighted servant how much wiser a part he would have acted had he confided in a childlike manner in God, and fled to the mountain in the first instance. (Gen. 19:30.) This instance should fix firmly in our minds the conviction that we can never gain anything by attempting to improve upon Gods appointments. He will choose infinitely better than we can for ourselves. Let us learn, moreover, another lesson from this incident. If a petition marked and marred with such faultiness as that of Lot on this occasion still met with a favourable hearing, what efficacy may we conceive to pertain to those prayers which are prompted by a yet more believing spirit, and framed more distinctly in accordance with the revealed will of Heaven?(Bush.)
It is allowed to us to plead the privileges of our justification.
1. To ground our petition for mercies on what God has done for us already. His grace has saved us, and His mercy has been magnified towards us in many gifts of His love. We may use our experience of the past to encourage our hope for the future. Because Thou has been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice. (Psa. 63:7.)
2. To crave pardon for human infirmity in our prayers. Lot knew that it was human weakness which led him to make this request. He was quite overcome by his fears; yet he thought that he could rely upon a mercy which was so plentiful, and which was shown to him in so signal a manner. The mercy of God manifested towards us in our salvation is so great that we may venture to trust it to pardon the lapses of our infirmity. Infinite love will make it all right at last if our hearts are only true and faithful.
Gen. 19:20. The faith of Lot, simple and sincere as it was, could not be considered perfect. He had his misgivings and doubts. The distant mountain whither he had to flee filled him with anxiety and alarm. I cannot escape to the mountain lest some evil take me and I die. Might no nearer, no safer, no less dreary refuge be found? It is hard to be all at once cast out upon the solitary wild. Such thoughts vexed the rescued soul of Lot. But in the Lord he found relief. He did not nurse these melancholy musings sullenly and suspiciously in his own bosom. He poured them forth into the ears of the Lord. With humble and holy boldness he ventured to represent his case to a present Godto plead, to reason, to expostulate, with a touching and pathetic, a childlike earnestness, such as only the spirit of adoption, the spirit that cries Abba, Father, could inspire.(Candlish.)
God is honoured by our using the liberty of taking all our doubts and fears to Him. He can detect what is true and real in us in the midst of all our infirmity.
Is it not a little one? Thus men use their reason to sustain requests which have but imperfect conformity to the will of God.
Here we perceive Lots constant appeal to self-interest; selfishness clung to that mans very soul. We should expect that after all the marvellous mercy shown by God to Lot, that he would have been ready to go wherever He commanded. But no; Lot asks that Zoar may be saved. And God marvellously accepts this demand. Now this shows how God deals with the soul. We use large language; we talk of self-sacrifice, self-devotion, and yet there has always been a secret reservation of some small Zoar; still God accepts. He leaves us some human affection, something to remind us of our earthly home. He weans us by degrees, that so, step by step, leaving earth behind, we may ascend the mountain top, and want nothing but the lovely love of God.(Robertson.)
Gen. 19:21. I have accepted thee. Heb. I have lifted up thy face, i.e., I have a compassionate respect to thee, and will gratify thee by granting this request. The expression probably arose from an Eastern custom. Persons there, in preferring a petition, instead of falling upon their knees, often prostrate themselves with their face to the ground. When the petition is accepted, the prince or potentate commands them to be raised from their lowly posture, which is expressed by lifting up the face. In common usage, therefore, the phrase is clearly synonymous with showing favour. Thus doth a gracious God, according to the words of the Psalmist (Psa. 145:19), fulfil the desire of them that fear Him; He also will hear their cry and will save them.(Bush.)
Before we reach our final salvation we shall need many an indulgence by the way. The great mercy of God allows for the dangers and temptations of our pilgrimage.
You may see the Lords goodness in the land of the living. In the most sweeping desolation, levelling the houses and cities of your habitation to the groundin the wide waste beneath which all things bright and fair seem buriedsome little Zoar is left, some haven of rest in which the weary spirit may recruit its strength. Such earthly refreshment may the redeemed child of God, who has turned his back on Sodom, lawfully asksuch green spot in the desertsuch little city of refuge amid the stormin the bosom of domestic peace, and the endearments of a quiet homethat he may not be tried above measure. Only let his request be moderate. See, now, it is a little one. So Lot pleads for this earthly boon. Let it also be a request preferred in faith as to a friend and father, with submission to His wisdom, and trust in His love. And if the request be grantedif the object of his fond regard, for which he speaks, be spared to himif he get a little Zoar to flee tolet him not set his heart on it too much. For a brief space he may rejoice in it. But let him be ready to quit it soon, as Lot did, and, if need be, to dwell in the mountain and in the cave; for that in the end may be the Lords way of thoroughly humbling and proving him, to the saving of his soul.(Candlish.)
Zoar, of all the five cities, was spared by Lots prayer. God suffers even His great judgments upon sinners to be modified in the range of their effect by the prayers of the righteous.
Gen. 19:22. God is pleased to bind Himself by what is necessary for the salvation of His people. Lot must be made safe before the fiery judgment comes down upon the cities of the plain. Hence learn:
1. Gods great favour towards the righteous.
2. The efficacy of their prayers and intercessions.
Even after the first step towards salvation has been taken, it is necessary that Divine warnings should be repeated that we might escape the snares coming upon the ungodly.
The inability here mentioned is, of course, wholly of the moral and not of the physical kind, similar in its nature, though arising from an opposite cause, to that affirmed of our Saviour (Mar. 6:5): He could there do no mighty work, by reason of the unbelief of the people. He could not because he would not. There was a moral unfitness between such a state of mind and such a display of power, so that He determined not to put it forth. The Most High is pleased to represent His hands as bound by His paramount regard to the welfare of His people. He can do nothing towards the punishment of the wicked till their safety is secured. Had we not a Divine warrant for the use of such language it would doubtless be a high presumption in us to employ it; and when we find the Holy Spirit adopting it we still pause in devout admiration, mingled with a latent misgiving whether we are indeed to understand the words in their most obvious sense. But our doubts are precluded by adverting to numerous parallel instances of Gods dealings with His people. On more than one occasion, when He had determined to execute vengeance on Israel for their perverseness, the intercessions of Moses are represented as having been in effect irresistible, so that the threatened judgment was averted. What an argument is this for our pressing earnestly forward to the acquisition of the same character. If we are prompted at all by the noble ambition of becoming benefactors of our race, let us seek to form ourselves on the models proposed in the Scriptures, and thus by being made eminently acceptable to God, become in the highest degree useful to the communities in which we live.(Bush.)
Judgment is well represented in the Scripture as Gods strange work. He takes greater pleasure in the salvation of men, to secure which He will even consent to delay His judgments.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
6. The Flight to Zoar (Gen. 19:18-22)
18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my lord: 19 behold now, thy servant hath found favor in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy lovingkindness, which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die: 20 behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape thither (is it not a little one?), and my soul shall live. 21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken. 22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
Note in Gen. 19:17, Lots mode of address, my Lord, marginal rendering, O Lord. Does this mean that Yehwe Himself has arrived on the scene (cf. again, Gen. 18:1; Gen. 18:3, also 22, where Jehovah is represented as remaining behind to converse with Abraham, after the two angels had gone on their way, etc.), or that He has been present all along in the person of the Angel of Yahweh? (Read Lange on The Angel of Jehovah, infra.) Whitelaw (PCG, 255): Adonai, which should rather be translated Lord; whence it would almost seem as if Lot knew that his interlocutor was Jehovah. Keil admits that Lot recognised a manifestation of God in the angels, and Lange speaks of a miraculous report of the voice of God coming to him along with the miraculous vision of the angels. That the historian uses them instead of him only proves that at the time Jehovah was accompanied by the angels, as he had previously been at Mamre (Gen. 18:1). Concerning the address, my Lord, the Rabbis construe this as God (SC, 96).
It seems that even now Lot could not tear himself away altogether from his worldly environment. This reluctance, coupled with fear that those who had been his fellow-citizens might hunt him down and kill him, caused him to plead that one of the five cities might be preserved as his dwelling-place, because it was a little one; Whence this city, previously known as Bela, (was called Zoar tiny place, little). (Cf. Gen. 13:10; Gen. 14:2-8). This petition, though evidently a singular display of moral obtuseness and indolent selfishness, was granted and Lot and his daughters entered Zoar at sunrise. Lot bases his plea on the favor that has been bestowed on him. He reinforces it by a plea of physical inability to reach the mountains. He claims the evil from which God is delivering him will overtake him neverthelessnot a very commendable attitude. Finally, he makes the smallness of. the place that he has in mind a plea for sparing it, in case he flees thither. It almost taxes the readers patience to bear with this long-winded plea at a moment of such extreme danger. Lot appreciated but little what was being done for him (EG, 566). (Cf. also Gen. 36:32-33; Gen. 46:21; Num. 26:38-40; 1Ch. 1:43-44; 1Ch. 5:8; 1Ch. 7:6-7; 1Ch. 8:1; 1Ch. 8:3). This town, Bela, or Zoar, which was well known in Old Testament times, lay to the southeast of the Dead Sea (Gen. 13:10, Deu. 34:3, Isa. 15:5, Jer. 48:34). During the Roman hegemony anperhaps anotherearthquake occurred and the town was flooded, but it was rebuilt farther up from the shore and inhabited until the Middle Ages.
Review Questions
See Gen. 19:30-38.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
18. My lord Or, as translated in Gen 19:2, my lords . The Masorites mark the word here as “holy,” but in Gen 19:2 as “profane . ” But this is scarcely a necessary distinction . The address would be an appropriate form of salutation, whether the person addressed be Jehovah or one of the angels . Lot’s petition betrays exceeding weakness . He pleads the mercy already shown, inability to do what is commanded, and fear lest the threatened evil overtake him before he can reach the eastern mountains . He urges, finally, that he may be permitted to flee into a neighbouring city, first, because it was near; second, because it was a little one; and then, because, with such permission, there was hope that he might live . How different this from the faith of Abraham!
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Lot said to them, “Oh! Not so, my Lord. Look, your servant has found grace in your sight and you have magnified your mercy, which you have showed to me in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the mountain in case evil overtake me, and I die. See, now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh, let me escape there, is it not a little one, and my soul shall live”.’
We must remember Lot’s state of mind. He is not thinking straight. Events have overwhelmed him. He cannot bear the thought of going into the mountains. Perhaps he is aware of dangers lurking there from thieves and outcasts, and he has grown used to civilisation. He forgets that if Yahweh has protected him up to now He can continue to protect him. All his assurance has gone.
Yet even in his extremity his habits come through. In business he has always been used to treating his associates with great respect when dealing with them, flattering them and making them feel worthy (compare the business transaction in Genesis 23). Now he uses the same approach to Yahweh. ‘Your servant has found grace in your sight and you have magnified your mercy which you have shown to me –’. Yet it is also from the heart. He does know that God has been good to him.
He then pleads that Yahweh will spare a small city, probably more like a village, so that he can escape there. He stresses how small it is.
“Lot said to them ”. The angels are still standing there, but they have been joined by Yahweh. This time Lot’s ‘my Lord’ carries its full implication (compare Gen 18:3 for the sudden move from plural to singular). He is speaking to the Lord of the earth. It is significant that the judgment on Sodom is in the angels’ sphere, but the deliverance of Lot in accordance with God’s covenant with Abraham is Yahweh’s concern. That cannot be left to angels.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
God Spares Zoar – In Gen 19:18-22 we see how the city of Zoar was spared from God’s wrath in order to give Lot a place to dwell. Why would God allow one of the five cities of this region to escape the judgment of God? We know that Lot requested the deliverance of Zoar so that he could dwell there. But perhaps there was more to the history of this city than we have read.
Gen 19:22 Word Study on “Zoar” Gesenius says the Hebrew name “Zoar” ( ) (H6820) means, “smallness.” Strong says it means “little.” PTW says it means, “small.”
Gen 19:24 Comments – The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is likened to the second coming of Jesus in Luk 17:28-33.
Gen 19:25 Comments – Gen 19:25 provides an illustration of Psa 107:33-34.
Psa 107:33-34, “He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein .”
Gen 19:26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Gen 19:26 Comments – Lot’s Wife Looking Back – Why would Lot’s wife look back. In the New Testament references to this passage of Scripture, Lot’s wife’s turning back is compared to a person seeking to save his life (Luk 9:62; Luk 17:32, Joh 12:25):
Luk 9:62, “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Luk 17:32, “Remember Lot’s wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.”
Joh 12:25, “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.”
We see Jeremiah prophesying about how the Egyptian army will flee from the Babylonians. He notes that they will flee with such fear that they will not consider “looking back,” which means that will not even consider returning to take part in the battle.
Jer 46:5, “Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back : for fear was round about, saith the LORD.”
Thus, we can better understand that Lot’s wife looked back because she had considered returning. This may have been because she had to leave behind some of her beloved children and perhaps grandchildren in the city.
Gen 19:26 Comments – Lot’s Wife Turned to Salt – Why was Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt? There are several suggestions by evaluating the figurative meaning of salt in the Scriptures.
(1) The Righteous are the Salt of the Earth – Perhaps the answer is found in Mat 5:13, which states that the child of God is the salt of the earth. Lot and his wife had served as the salt of that wicked city. Thus, Lot’s wife served as an example of how the righteous are the salt of the earth.
Mat 5:13, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”
(2) Salt Symbolizes Cleansing, or Judgment – More likely, the answer in found in Mar 9:49, which states that a person will be “salted with fire.” Salt represents fire, and fire represents judgment (Deu 29:23, Jdg 9:45, Jer 17:6, Eze 47:11).
Mar 9:49, “For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.”
Deu 29:23, “And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning , that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:”
Jdg 9:45, “And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that was therein, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt .”
Jer 17:6, “For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited .”
Eze 47:11, “But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt .”
Gen 19:27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:
Gen 19:27 Comments – Gen 18:22 could be a reference to the same place where Abraham often stood before the Lord in prayer.
Gen 18:22, “And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.”
Gen 19:28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
Gen 19:29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.
Gen 19:29 Comments – Gen 19:29 shows us an example of intercession, where God remembered Lot because of the prayers of Abraham.
Gen 19:29 Comments – In Rick Joyner’s book The Call the author meets Lot in a heavenly vision. Lot then explains that many perished in Sodom and Gomorrah because of Lot’s silence. Lot goes on to explain that he thought that he would be able to just live a godly life in front of these people, thus being enough of a warning of God’s judgment. It is the power of the spoken word that the Holy Spirit uses to convict man of sin. It is not enough just to live different in the midst of an ungodly world. [209]
[209] Rick Joyner, The Call (Charlotte, North Carolina: Morning Star Publications, 1999), 42-3.
In contrast to Lot, Jonah did lift up his voice and witness to the people of Nineveh. They repented at the preaching of Jonah and God spared their city.
Did not our Lord Jesus Christ say that He would have spared Sodom and Gomorrah if they had heard the preaching of the judgment of God?
Mat 11:23-24, “And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.”
Gen 19:30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.
Gen 19:31 And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:
Gen 19:32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
Gen 19:33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
Gen 19:34 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
Gen 19:35 And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
Gen 19:36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.
Gen 19:37 And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.
Gen 19:37 Word Study on “Moab” Strong says the Hebrew name “Moab” ( ) (H4124) is a compound word of the Hebrew preposition (or prefix) ( ), meaning, “from,” and the Hebrew word ( ) (H1) meaning, “father,” so that the name “Moab” literally means, “from father,” or “from [her mother’s] father.” This child was fathered from his mother’s father.
Comments – Both names Moab and Ben-Ammi derive their meaning from the idea of being fathered through incest.
Gen 19:38 And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.
Gen 19:38 Word Study on “Ben-Ammi” Strong says the Hebrew name “Ben-Ammi” ( ) (H1151) means, “son of my people.”
Comments – Both names Moab and Ben-Ammi derive their meaning from the idea of being fathered through incest.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Gen 19:18. And Lot said unto themmy Lord In Gen 19:17 it is said, that when they (the angels) had brought Lot forth, he, i.e.. one of them, said, &c. And so here Lot applying to both, (who evidently acted by one commission,) immediately addressed one only, and him, most probably, who had said, Escape for thy life, &c. But it appears very clearly, I think, that neither of these was the Jehovah, who spoke with such authority in the former chapter. In Gen 19:13 they say positively, Jehovah hath sent us to destroy it; and therefore, when one of them speaks in Gen 19:21 authoritatively, it is easy to observe that they do so only with reference to their grand commission of saving Lot and destroying Sodom; on which account I cannot agree with those expositors, who think the person that speaks in Gen 19:21 the same with the LORD, who talked with Abraham in the preceding chapter. And perhaps the Hebrew (which, let us remark, is not Jehovah, but adonai) might properly be rendered, my Lords.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.
Zoar means a little one.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 19:18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:
Ver. 18. Oh! not so, my Lord. ] But who shall prescribe to the Almighty? Or limit the Holy One of Israel? Are we wiser than he? Have we a trick beyond him? He lets us sometimes have our way, but to our woe at last.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
LORD*. see note on Gen 18:27.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Gen 32:26, 2Ki 5:11, 2Ki 5:12, Isa 45:11, Joh 13:6-8, Act 9:13, Act 10:14
Reciprocal: Gen 48:18 – Not so