The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.
Gen 19:23
The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar
The lessons of a day
I.
THE ABSURDITY OF LETTING SECULAR MOTIVES GOVERN MENS CONDUCT. Lot went to Sodom because he thought it a secularly desirable place. (Gen 13:10.) He went there, and there his own piety was injured, his own children contaminated, and the partner of his own bosom became a victim of Divine judgment. The beauty of his home was his curse. The spirit of Lot is still common.
II. THE INCONGRUITY BETWEEN THE PHYSICAL AND MORAL SCENERY OF THE WORLD.
1. The abnormal state of human society.
2. The necessity of a retributive period.
3. A mans external circumstances are no true signs of character.
III. THE TREMENDOUS FORCE OF OLD ASSOCIATIONS.
1. The local.
2. The social.
3. The secular.
IV. THE FUTILITY OF HUMAN REASONING CONCERNING THE WAYS OF GOD.
1. God may deviate from the laws of nature; lie cannot from His word.
2. God has deviated from the laws of nature; He has never from His word.
V. THE DETERMINED ANTAGONIST OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT TO SIN. (Homilist.)
The forbearance of God
1. Sunshine and midnight are alike great opportunities of God. They are as the pillar of fire and pillar of cloud to the whole race of man. By their dumb mouths God speaks to us, and their silent movement, without a sound, warns us of His presence, His love, and His providence. It was when Gods servant, weak, failing, and infirm, shattered and broken, in deep sorrow, led by an angel, had placed his trembling foot-steps on the rock; it was then, when he had come safely out of the blazing city, and the lurid fires glared in the sky; when at last, though oh! how long, how lingeringly, the aged patriarch had emerged from his deep trouble; then the sun arose upon the earth.
2. Few characters in the Bible are more full of comfort than Lots. Weak in disposition, faulty in his general life, erring after repeated warnings, irresolute even when he stood on the verge of ruin, God was yet willing to save him.
3. In the beginning he showed tendency, distinct and clear. He loved ease, comfort, wealth, worldly possessions, and beauty. He followed disposition. That disposition was not sinful–it was weak. It erred on the side of what multitudes (and those the good) admire–kindness, easiness, gentleness, affability, lack of severity. It was exactly the reverse of the disposition of Abraham. All doubt as to the end of Lot, and his position in eternity, is removed by the verse which declares, on the warrant and in the words of St. Peter, that God delivered just Lot, who was a righteous man. His escape is called a deliverance, and the act of God is spoken of as a means used to remove Lot from the sinful examples of Sodom and Gomorrha. (E. Monte, M. A.)
The righteous delivered
Thus, in times of public calamity, there is often some little Zoar provided for them that love God, where they are wonderfully preserved from the judgments that fall on their country and their kindred. The Roman armies which surrounded Jerusalem, to execute on it the vengeance predicted, drew off, in an unaccountable manner, as if their design had been to give the Christians contained within its walls an opportunity of withdrawing to a little adjoining city, called Pella, which proved a Zoar to them, from whence they beheld the Roman eagles fly again to the destined prey, to be left no more till they had devoured it. And what is the church upon earth, but a Zoar, a little city (is it not a little one?) spared at the intercession of its Lord? Here the penitent, not yet strong enough to escape to the heavenly mountain, findeth rest and refreshment, and is invigorated to pursue his journey. Hither let him escape, and his soul shall live. But let him bear in mind, that in making his escape, perseverence alone can secure him. He that endureth to the end, and he only, shall be saved. (Bishop Horne.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
This phrase may note, either the time of the day when this was done; or rather the nature and quality of the day, that the sun appeared and shone forth that morning in great lustre and glory; which is well noted as a very considerable circumstance of the history, and a great aggravation of the ruin, which came when they least expected it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Which is observed partly to point at the time of his entrance into the city, and of the burning of Sodom, which began at the same time; and partly to show what a fine morning it was, and what little appearance there was of such a tempest rising as quickly did; so that the inhabitants of Sodom, who were up so early, little thought of so sudden a catastrophe, and those that were in their beds were at once surprised with it: it was a morning of light and joy to Lot, who was so wonderfully delivered, but a dreadful one to the men of Sodom and the rest of the cities of the plain, with whom the scene was soon altered; likewise from hence it appeared, that the following tempest was extraordinary, and did not proceed from natural causes.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“ When the sun had risen and Lot had come towards Zoar (i.e., was on the way thither, but had not yet arrived), Jehovah caused it to rain brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven, and overthrew those cities, and the whole plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and the produce of the earth.” In the words “ Jehovah caused it to rain from Jehovah ” there is no distinction implied between the hidden and the manifested God, between the Jehovah present upon earth in His angels who called down the judgment, and the Jehovah enthroned in heaven who sent it down; but the expression “from Jehovah ” is emphatica repetitio, quod non usitato naturae ordine tunc Deus pluerit, sed tanquam exerta manu palam fulminaverit praeter solitum morem: ut satis constaret nullis causis naturalibus conflatam fuisse pluviam illam ex igne et sulphure ( Calvin). The rain of fire and brimstone was not a mere storm with lightning, which set on fire the soil already overcharged with naphtha and sulphur. The two passages, Psa 11:6 and Eze 38:22, cannot be adduced as proofs that lightning is ever called fire and brimstone in the Scriptures, for in both passages there is an allusion to the event recorded here. The words are to be understood quite literally, as meaning that brimstone and fire, i.e., burning brimstone, fell from the sky, even though the examples of burning bituminous matter falling upon the earth which are given in Oedmann’s vermischte Sammlungen (iii. 120) may be called in question by historical criticism. By this rain of fire and brimstone not only were the cities and their inhabitants consumed, but even the soil, which abounded in asphalt, was set on fire, so that the entire valley was burned out and sank, or was overthrown ( ) i.e., utterly destroyed, and the Dead Sea took its place.
(Note: Whether the Dead Sea originated in this catastrophe, or whether there was previously a lake, possibly a fresh water lake, at the north of the valley of Siddim, which was enlarged to the dimensions of the existing sea by the destruction of the valley with its cities, and received its present character at the same time, is a question which has been raised, since Capt. Lynch has discovered by actual measurement the remarkable fact, that the bottom of the lake consists of two totally different levels, which are separated by a peninsula that stretches to a very great distance into the lake from the eastern shore; so that whilst the lake to the north of this peninsula is, on an average, from 1000 to 1200 feet deep, the southern portion is at the most 16 feet deep, and generally much less, the bottom being covered with salt mud, and heated by hot springs from below.)
In addition to Sodom, which was probably the chief city of the valley of Siddim, Gomorrah and the whole valley (i.e., the valley of Siddim, Gen 14:3) are mentioned; and along with these the cities of Admah and Zeboim, which were situated in the valley (Deu 29:23, cf. Hos 11:8), also perished, Zoar alone, which is at the south-eastern end of the valley, being spared for Lot’s sake. Even to the present day the Dead Sea, with the sulphureous vapour which hangs about it, the great blocks of saltpetre and sulphur which lie on every hand, and the utter absence of the slightest trace of animal and vegetable life in its waters, are a striking testimony to this catastrophe, which is held up in both the Old and New Testaments as a fearfully solemn judgment of God for the warning of self-secure and presumptuous sinners.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Verses 23-25:
Lot apparently left Sodom in the early morning hours before dawn. His dawdling along the way hindered his arrival into Zoar until the sun was fully risen. But once Lot was safely out of the region of Sodom and Gomorrah, God’s terrible judgment began to fall. God rained fire and “brimstone” upon the region and utterly destroyed Sodom, Gomorrah, and their surroundings. “Brimstone” is gophrith, or pitch. The term was later applied to other flammable materials as well. The entire neighborhood abounds with bitumen and sulfur. These materials furnished the fuel for the terrible fire and ignited when fire from Heaven fell upon the region. Some expositors believe this conflagration was the result of volcanic activity, but later archeological discoveries discount this theory.
Scholars agree that the Dead Sea covers the site of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah. Scientific expeditions have discovered that the Dead Sea actually consists of two lakes: one about thirteen feet deep, and the other about thirteen hundred. The shallow area is presumed to be the site of the doomed cities, and the deeper area is thought to have been a freshwater lake. The Divine visitation caused the entire area to become desolate, and to earn the title Dead Sea.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Gen. 19:25. Those cities.] Besides Sodom and Gomorrah, other cities were involved in this destruction, the cities of Admah and Zeboim (Deu. 29:23; Hos. 11:8), and all in the valley of Siddim, Zoar alone being excepted.
Gen. 19:26. Pillar of salt.] Heb. And she was a (statue or) column of salt. This pillar is spoken of in the Book of Wisdom as still standing at that time. (Wis. 10:7.) Josephus, the early Fathers of the Church, and even some modern travellers have asserted that it was well known in their days. We may observe, in the spirit of Mr. Groves article, Lot, in the Biblical Dict., that no details are given us here at all furnishing a foundation for the legends and tales of travellers which have been built upon the history. (Alford.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gen. 19:23-25
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN
The previous history shows how they had long been ripe for judgment, now their last day and the inevitable hour had come.
I. It was sudden.
1. As regards the objects of it. They had no belief that God would interfere, but thought themselves secure in their wickedness. The plains around them were full of rich beauty, their cities were flourishing, their houses were filled with coarse plenty. The constancy of Nature was uninterrupted, the bounties of Providence continued without stint or sign of withdrawal. The sun rose brightly on that day, and it promised to be fair and prosperous as any other. But, in a moment, the fiery rain from heaven came down and swept them with sudden destruction. This is an example of what shall take place when the last Judgment shall arrive. It shall be then as it was in the days of Lot (Luk. 17:28-30). Men who have no real belief in the evil of sin, and the fate to which it exposes them, are unconcerned to the last. As regards the terrible designs of Gods judgments they are like men asleep, but when that judgment comes, they awake on a sudden to the awful reality. The retribution prepared for the wicked appears to them to slumber, as if utterly quiet and harmless, but the time comes when God awakens, and then He despises their image (Psa. 71:20). And what He despises cannot endure, but shall suddenly be destroyed.
2. Not sudden, however, as regards the Author of it. The infinite perfections of God forbid the thought that there should be with Him anything like surprise. He has not to adapt Himself to emergencies by a quick decision. This terrible judgment was no sudden thought of God. His anger is slow and deliberate. The doom of Sodom and Gomorrah had already been fixed when God spoke with Abraham, but had been delayed partly on account of Lot, and partly to clear such an act of judgment from the suspicion of haste. Even in His most terrible deeds, God makes it appear to men that His ways are equal. His vengeance is judicial, not the violence of passion. Christ reveals to His chosen ones what the end shall be. They know what to expect, and look for His appearing. But to the rest, destruction comes at an hour when they are not aware. The swiftness of the lightning is the fittest natural image of Gods appearing in judgment.
II. It was the direct act of God. The record distinctly states that the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. Natural agencies were no doubt used, but we have proof that God was present not in an ordinary but in an extraordinary manner. There are distinct evidences of a special act of Divine vengeance.
1. The destruction was predicted. God had already made known to Abraham, and to Lot and his family, what He was about to do. This destruction was not, therefore, an effect arising from the blind forces of nature, but a special act of the God of nature, who imparted to His favoured servants the secret of his design.
2. The destruction was, in its nature, extraordinary. It was out of the way of the usual course of Providence. There has been nothing like it either before or since. No one who had witnessed it could doubt that it was pre-eminently destruction from the Almighty. God rained down fire out of heaven, His agency being clearly manifest as when He destroyed the old world by a flood.
III. It was complete. Those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants, that which grew upon the ground (Gen. 19:25). Here was utter ruin, and absolutely without remedy. Every habitation was overturned, every animal and vegetable destroyedevery man perished in this overwhelming disaster. Lot and his family only excepted, the destruction was absolutely total. Their degeneracy was universal, and so was their destruction. Learn
1. That Gods judgments, though deserved, tarry long. They had filled up the measure of their iniquities long ago. While their punishment was delayed they had opportunity to avert it. They sheltered a holy man whose precept and example might have converted their souls. Prayers were offered up on their account. They had a long space in which to consider their ways and turn to the Lord. Learn
2. That without timely repentance His judgments are sure to fall. Gods warning to sinners are no empty threats, but will issue in the terrible facts. Long as the course of history has been or shall be to the end, judgment at length must fall upon the impenitent. Like unto Sodom and Gomorrah, the wicked world is doomed.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen. 19:23. The sun rose brightly that morning; but before it had sunk below the western horizon the blood was cold in many a heart that burned with unhallowed fire, and many a pulse had ceased to beat that a few hours before throbbed with selfish passion. Down came the burning red rain from heaven, the fearful expression of the wrath of God. This strange flood of fire did for the bodies of men what death does for the soul. The attitude in which it found every man, there it sealed him.(Robertson.)
The sunlight of their last day fell upon these wicked cities and found their inhabitants as unconscious and incredulous of their danger as ever. Night is the time of fears and alarms, the fit season for great disasters. It was at night that the destroying angel passed through Egypt to slay the first-bornat night when the sword of the Lord smote the camp of Assyria and destroyed one hundred and eighty-five thousand menat night that the shadow of a mans hand wrote on the wall of Belshazzars palace the awful words announcing the destruction of his kingdom and of his life. But day is the time of security, for light reveals danger, and makes the way of escape easier. The gloomy fears of night are gone, and the morning brings with it gladness and the promise of a peaceful day. But to Sodom, this day brought unexpected vengeance. The danger of sin is great, notwithstanding all appearances to the contrary.
When the sun rose upon Sodom with the promise of a fine day, could anything be further from their thoughts than the overwhelming tempest which almost immediately began to pour down upon them? Had they had the most distant idea of their perilous situation, with what avidity would they have seized the opportunity of escape, and with what persevering efforts would they have exerted themselves to reach a place of safety. But their confidence destroyed them. Let the heedless take warning. The breath of the Lord may kindle a stream of brimstone before they are aware. He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
Gen. 19:24. Here the Lord is represented as present in the skies, whence the storm of desolation comes, and on the earth where it falls. The Dale of Siddim, in which the cities were, appears to have abounded in asphalt and other combustible materials. (Gen. 14:10.) The district was liable to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions from the earliest to the latest times. We read of an earthquake in the days of King Uzziah. An earthquake in 1759 destroyed many thousands of persons in the Valley of Baalbec. Josephus reports that the Salt Sea sends up in many places black masses of asphalt which are not unlike headless bulls in shape and size. After an earthquake in 1834, masses of asphalt were thrown up from the bottom. The lake lies in the lowest part of the valley of the Jordan, and its surface is about 1300 feet below the level of the sea. In such a hollow, exposed to the burning rays of an unclouded sun, its waters evaporate as much as it receives by the influx of the Jordan. Its present area is about forty-five miles by eight. The southern part of the lake seems to have been the original Dale of Siddim, in which were the cities of the vale. The remarkable salt hills lying on the south of the lake are still called Khashm Usdum (Sodom). A tremendous storm, accompanied with flashes of lightning and torrents of rain, impregnated with sulphur, descended upon the doomed cities. From the injunction to Lot to flee to the mountain, as well as from the nature of the soil, we may infer that at the same time with the awful conflagration there was a subsidence of the ground, so that the waters of the upper and original lake flowed in upon the former fertile and populous dale, and formed the shallow southern part of the present Salt Sea. In this pool of melting asphalt and sweltering seething waters, the cities seem to have sunk for ever, and left behind them no vestiges of their existence.(Murphy.)
Brimstone and fire. The portion of the wickeda suggestion of that fiery deluge which shall overwhelm the sinful world at the last day. (Psa. 11:6; Jud. 1:7.) These cities are an example to the world that God will, in the end, utterly vanquish His enemies.
What was the agency which effected this destruction? The Bible refers it to the immediate action of God; and the truth of Scripture, it is thought by some, depends upon establishing the miraculous character of the fall of these cities. A man goes now to the scene of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and tries to establish the fact that it was nothing but a natural volcanic eruption; and by getting rid of the supernatural agency, he thinks he has got rid of God Himself. Another goes to the same place, and, in his zeal for the supernatural, wishes to make out that the veracity of the Bible depends upon this kind of occurrence never having happened before. Do we mean, then, that only the marvellous incidents of nature,the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah taking place at an appointed time,only the positive miracles, are Gods doing, and not the commonplace events of everyday life? Nay, God holds all the powers of nature in His hand; small events may be so directed by Him that we shall think them accident; but for all this it is no less certain that the most trifling act of every-day life is directed by Him. What we have to say is this: we agree with the super-naturalist in saying that God did it; we agree with the rationalist in saying that it was done by natural means. The natural is the work of God.(Robertson.)
Though the descriptions which the Bible gives us of the future punishment of the wicked are but symbolical, yet such a dread judgment as this shows that they signify a terrible something. By a necessary law, sooner or later sin must bring its penalty. The wicked shall not go unpunished.
Gen. 19:25. In all the plain. He consumed its productions, He destroyed its beauty, He extinguished the very principles of its fertility, and submerged the ground itself under the waters of the Jordan, that the foot of man might never tread it more. The destruction was complete and irreparable; the country was in a manner blotted out of the map of Palestine, so fierce was the indignation, so terrible the overthrow. Thus were the cities of the plain, and the ground on which they stood, set forth for an example to every succeeding age; and to that awful catastrophe the sacred writers often allude in their denunciations of the Divine judgments against apostate Israel. (Deu. 23:23; Hos. 11:8.)(Bush.)
The power of God is against sinners: they defy the Omnipotent, but in vain.
THE FATE OF LOTS WIFE
There was a great difference between the feelings of the elder and the younger branches of Lots family on leaving their home. His sons and daughters left it in apparent obedience, but with the spirit of the inhabitants of the plain; it was not so with Lots wife. It is not the character of age to accommodate itself readily to fresh circumstances. The old man does not feel inclined to launch himself afresh on the great ocean of the universe to seek new fortunes. He does not easily make fresh acquaintances, or transplant himself quickly from old haunts and homes. To youth there is a future; to old age there remains nothing but the present and the past. Therefore, while youth went on with its usual elastic step of buoyancy and hope, Lots wife lingered; she regretted the home of her vanity and luxury, and the lava flood overwhelmed her, encrusted her with salt, and left her as a monument. The moral we are to draw from that is not left us to choose. Christ says, Remember Lots wife. It is worse to turn back, when once on the safe path, than never to have served God at all. They who have once tasted of the power of the world to come, let them beware lest they turn again. Sin is dangerous, but relapse is fatal. That is the reason why God so marvellously smooths the way for youth. Early joy enables the young man to make his first steps surely, with confidence in his Maker; love, gratitude, and all his best emotions are thus called forth. But if afterwards he falls, if he sinks back again into the world of evil, think you that his feelings will spur him on again in Gods cause? Nay, because at the first time there was hope, the next all the hope is washed out; the stimulus of feeling is weaker because experience has broken down hope; he knows now what those resolves were worth! There is great difficulty in quitting evil after long habit. It becomes a home, and holiness is dull, and cheerless, and dreary. Youth, then, is the time for actionearnest, steady advancement, without looking back. St. Paul says, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, Let us therefore fear lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it; and again he shows us the evil of drawing backNow the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him.(Robertson.)
THE CAUSE AND DANGER OF BACKSLIDING
The sad history of Lots wife is a fearful warning to backsliders. She had taken steps to secure her salvation, but failed.
I. The cause of backsliding. The bitter root of her sin and error was unbelief. If she had strong faith in God she would have gone forward with an eye wholly fixed and intent on. His command Faith turns from all else to look to Him alone. This unbelief
1. Leads to disobedience. She broke the command, Look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain. (Gen. 19:17.) She stood still, and looked back with a longing heart on what she had left. The sinful past gains power over us when faith fails and our eye turns away from what God has set before us. Even if no sinful thoughts had prompted that look it was not innocent. The simple act of disobedience was a grave offence against God. By such an act our first father fell. In the case of the backslider there is always some unbelief which leads to some special acts of disobedience.
2. Leads to indecision. The looking back upon Sodom, when God had forbidden it, shows that her mind was not fully made up. She was moved at once by opposite feelings and desires. She was perplexed between God and the world. Unless we give up ourselves entirely to Gods will, the result must be this indecision of character, when a very slight force will suffice to turn us back again to our old state.
II. The danger of backsliding. The awful doom of Lots wife shows us how God regards this sin.
1. There is the danger of forfeiting our salvation. Lots wife never reached the mountain.
2. The danger of punishment. If we turn away from God, and enter upon our old course, and remain in our sins, we must receive the penalty.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
We may fail in the way of salvation after we have made some progress on the journey.
How few escape the corruption that is in the world, and secure their own salvation! Only eight in the Flood, now but four from Sodom, and even one of these perished in the ruins of it.
They fall deepest into hell who fall backwards into hell. None are so near heaven as those that are convinced of sinnone so near to heaven as those who have quenched conviction.(Bunyan.)
Her example is still preserved in sacred history as a warning to all who turn back from the ways of God. She persists throughout the ages a pillar of salta perpetual monument. What a sad counterpart is she to that woman who poured the precious ointment on the head of Jesus, and whose deed shall be held in remembrance wheresoever the Gospel is preached!
How fearfully is judgment here mingled with mercy! Lot was himself delivered, but at what an expense! It was a dismal spectacle to him to behold the city of his residence, including the habitations of his neighbours and probably of some of his own relatives, with all their inmates, sinking into the flames of the devouring element. But this was not all. One wave of anguish after another rolled over him. His company as he left the city was but small; and now, alas, when he has escaped, one is missing! His wife was the partner of his flight, but not of his preservation. The companion of his youth, the mother of his children, instead of sharing in joy of their deliverance, stands a pillar of salt in the ways towards Sodom, an awful monument of the danger of disobedience! This may be deemed a hard fate for a mere glance of the eye; but that glance, no doubt, was expressive of unbelief and a lingering desire to return. Behold, then, the goodness and severity of Godtowards Lot that went forward, goodness; towards his wife that looked back, severity. Though nearly related to a righteous man, and a monument of distinguishing mercy in her deliverance out of Sodom, yet rebelling against an express mandate of Heaven, her privileges and relations availed her nothing; God would not connive at her disobedience; she became a mournful illustration of the truth that the righteous who turn away from their righteousness shall perish. While we lament her fate, let us profit by her example.(Bush.)
May not the exile, now that he is fairly out of the city, relax his speed, and proceed a little more leisurely? May he not cast his eye once more on the scene he is forsaking, and indulge one last, lingering, farewell look? At his peril if he do it. One who should have shared his flight to the last has tried the experiment. She cleaves to her old home. She loves the world, and in the worlds swift judgment she is miserably engulfed. One look behind is fatal. To pause is ruin. Who is there among you who has been persuaded and enabled to come out from among the ungodlywho has escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust? Remember Lots wife. You may say, let me go and bury my fatherlet me just return and bid farewell to my friendsbut one more embrace, but one more look, and then up and after Christ again. Tempt not the Lord. He who says, Follow Me, utters also these solemn words:No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. If any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him. Be not of those who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. And let the voice of Him who has led you forth, and set you free from the condemnation and corruption of the world lying in wickedness, ring continually in your ears when you would slacken your pace or abate your zeal. Look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain.(Candlish.)
We may contrast this flight from Sodom with the conduct which our Lord enjoins upon His disciples when He should come at the destruction of Jerusalem. So sudden was to be their flight, that the man on the house-top must not go down to fetch his clothes. The roofs of their houses were flat, and formed continuous terraces which terminated at the gates of the city, and by these they might escape with safety into the country. Their escape must be quite as sudden as Lots from Sodom. The exhortation was peculiarly appropriate to His female disciples, for whose safety the tender heart of Jesus was concerned. The advice was taken, for when the Roman armies drew nigh, many departed from the city as from a sinking ship. All the disciples acted upon the command of their Lord and arrived safely at Pella. None perished. The case of Lots wife is in sad contrast to this parallel instance. Consider some of the circumstances that make her history full of instruction.
1. She perished after solemn warning. Lot was warned to escape, and while he lingered the men laid hold on him. Lingering nature requires the hand of special grace to save it from destruction. By grace ye are saved. But his wife looked back from behind him with regret and affection to the place. She wavered, stopped by the way, shrank from the grasp of her angel-conductor, leaving her husband to go on his way alone. The storm suddenly came. She was a little too far from Zoar, and a little too near Sodom. She became scorched and encrusted by the burning flood, and remained on the spota petrified monument of Divine justice. She met the fate of those who, being often reproved, are suddenly destroyed. So those to whom the Gospel is preached have often been warnedby every affliction, every providence, every death, every sermon. And if these warnings are unheeded, God may say, at last, Because I have called and ye refused, etc. (Pro. 1:24-33.)
2. She perished by a look. The city looked beautiful as ever when the sun rose upon it on that fatal day. That was the deceitful calm before the storm. She had sufficient energy of purpose to leave Sodom, but not enough to leave it altogether. Thus many go far towards obeying God, but not far enough. Lost by a look! Heaven and hell in a single glance of the eye. Eve looked at the tempting tree and brought sin and sorrow to our race. The Israelites looked at the brazen serpent and obtained life. Lot looked forward to Zoar to find safety; his wife back to Sodom to find destruction. One of the dying thieves looked on Christ and obtained eternal life; the other looked from him and died without repentance.
3. She perished after she had stood long, and had enjoyed great advantages. This woman had known Abraham, had the benefits of his pious counsel and of his high example. Angels had come to her habitation. She was now actually outside of the city on which the stroke of doom was about to fall. Thus she failed at the last hour. There is no period at which our caution and vigilance can be safely relaxed. We must feel our dependance upon Gods grace from first to last.
4. She illustrates the enormous influence of worldly interests and affections. We are not distinctly told in the history why she looked back, but our Lord implies that it was from a worldly spirit. There was, also, some disbelief of the angels message, and a want of tender solemnity and awe. Possibly she may have feared to endure the scorn and jeers of her worldly kindred should the destruction threatened not take place. The very brevity and simplicity of the record fits it all the more for manifold instruction.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
7. The Divine Judgment Executed (Gen. 19:23-29)
23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot came unto Zoar. 24 Then Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven; 25 and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. 26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Jehovah: 28 and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the Plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.
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 which Lot dwelt.
(1) At sunrise Jehovah rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven, etc. Fire from Jehovah: probably for emphasis to make it clear that this was a judgment from the Lord and not a natural phenomenon. (SIBG, 243, comment on Gen. 19:17): The Angel Jehovah has now come up from Abraham, and charged Lot and his companions to depart with the utmost haste, and without the smallest regret, from that rich country abounding with sensual indulgence (Luk. 9:62; Php. 3:13-14; Mat. 24:16-18). The Divine command was, Escape for thy life, that is, it is enough that you save your life; do not try to save your wealth also.
(2) Obviously, from correlation of various Scriptures, the cities destroyed were not only Sodom and Gomorrah, but also Admah and Zeboiim (cf. Amo. 4:11, Isa. 1:9-10; Genesis 14, Deu. 29:23, Hos. 11:8), Bela, or Zoar, of the five cities of the Jordan circle being exempted, in response to Lots appeal, Gen. 19:21-22. Note Gen. 19:22 : the catastrophes wrought by God are always under His control: this one is not unleashed until Lot has safely reached Zoar; by that time the sun has fully risen.
(3) The nature of the catastrophe has been a matter of much speculation. The means causing the destruction are said to have been brimstone and fire (sulphur and fire) poured out so plentifully on the doomed cities that God is said to have rained them down out of heaven. Was this divinely-sent infliction burning pitch, or lightning which ignited the bituminous soil, or a volcanic eruption which overwhelmed the whole area? Whitelaw (PCG, 256): Whatever it was, it was clearly miraculous in its nature, and designed as a solemn punitive infliction on the cities of the plain. The account has been properly designated that of one of the most horrifying events in all history, and is presented as such throughout both the Old and New Testaments. The lesson is inescapable, namely, that when a city, or nation, becomes given over wholly to iniquity, that city or nation forfeits its right to exist, because its very existence inevitably spreads this moral pollution to all neighboring peoples and even those of the regions beyond. There is no limit to the infection of concentrated vice. Therefore, there is but one step for Absolute Justice to take, that is, to destroy utterly. History proves that repeatedly, in the account of mans sojourn on earth, the destruction of a nation, or at least of a nations power, has become a moral necessity. (Cf. Eze. 21:27, Jer. 18:5-10, Exo. 17:14-15, Deu. 25:17-19, 1 Samuel 15, Rev. 19:11-16, etc.). Lange (CDHCG, 438): The decisive execution of the judgment proceeds from the manifestation of Jehovah upon the earth, in company with the two angels, but the source of the decree of judgment lies in Jehovah in heaven.
Some authorities hold that an earthquake caused the catastrophic destruction of these doomed cities. E.g., The text enables us to locate the catastrophe (an earthquake) in the southern part of the Dead Sea. The subsidence of the southern half of the Dead Sea bed is known to be recent as geologists reckon, and the whole district is geologically unstable (JB, 37). Others think that an earthquake may have accompanied the burning, and others suggest a volcanic eruption may have been used to effect the divine judgment. Still others would have it that the area in question was submerged beneath the waters of the Dead Sea (cf. Gen. 14:3). However, the Genesis account says nothing about the drowning of lands or cities (although the idea is found in writings of Hellenistic-Roman times). The expression brimstone and fire does suggest volcanic phenomena, such as swallowed up the Roman Pompeii. But geologists tell us that the most recent volcanic activity in that area took place ages before Abrahams time (Kraeling, BA, 72). Again, the language of Gen. 19:29 certainly does suggest, at first glance, an earthquake; however, the narrative itself attributes the cataclysm to some kind of igneous agency. Sulphur and fire, writes Speiser, should be sulphurous fire, adding, the context points plainly to hendiadys (ABG, 141). Writes Leupold (EG, 568): Nothing points directly to a volcanic eruption; nor do lava remains happen to be found in the immediate vicinity. Nor does the expression overthrow necessarily point to an earthquake. The fire which rained down from heaven may have been lightning. The sulphur may have been miraculously wrought and so have rained down together with the lightnings, although there is the other possibility that a huge explosion of highly inflammable materials, including sulphur, deposited in the ground (cf. bitumen pits of Gen. 14:10) may have cast these materials, especially the sulphur, high into the air so that they rained upon these cities, causing a vast conflagration. Besides, it seems quite likely that after, these combustible materials once took fire, the very site of the cities was, literally burnt away to quite a depth, and so the waters of the northern part of the Dead Sea filled in the burnt-out area. For it is a well-known fact that the southern end of the Dead Sea hardly exceeds a depth of twelve feet and usually runs much less, i.e., three or four feet. In fact, at certain points it is by no means difficult to wade across the lake. On the other hand, the northern portion reaches a maximum depth of 1300 feet. To assume, then, that the entire lake is the result of this overthrow, as some have, hardly seems reasonable or in conformity with the Biblical account. A conflagration that would have burnt out the ground to a depth of 1,300 feet cannot be conceived. An earthquake, causing so deep and so broad a fissure in the earths crust, would at least have called for the use of the term earthquake in this connection, for, apparently, in violence it would have surpassed all earthquakes of which man has a record. Equally difficult would be the assumption that the Jordan once flowed through this delightful valley of the Pentapolis and poured its water into the Elanitic Gulf. Again, with reference to the word overthrow, Gen. 19:29 : Only that which stands up can be overthrown. Consequently the verb connotes something of the idea of proud men and institutions being brought low by the Lord who throws down the mighty from their seats and lays iniquity prostrate. (Cf. Deu. 29:23, Isa. 13:19; Jer. 49:18; Jer. 50:40; Amo. 4:11).
It has been rightly said that an air of mystery hovers over the location of the cities of the plain. Tradition had it for centuries that they were immediately north of the Dead Sea, a notion arising no doubt from the vague identification of the Vale of Siddim with the Salt Sea. (Gen. 14:3). (See Part 27 supra). However, the names of Sodom and Zoar continued, even down to Roman times, to be associated with the area south of the Dead Sea. The archaeologists, G. Ernest Wright, assumes, with W. F. Albright, that the destroyed cities were buried beneath the shallow waters of the southern tip of the Dead. Sea. Recently E. G. Kraeling has questioned this identification;. He writes (BA, 7071): Recent writers of the highest competence have been willing to assume that Sodom and Gomorrah lay by the Dead Sea shore and that they were submerged by the rise of the waters. However, the land suitable for agriculture was precious in a country like Palestine, and was reserved for that purpose. One must therefore look for the sites of Sodom, Gomorrah, and Zoar on higher ground and back from the lake. Their destruction would have been due to other agencies than the waters of the Dead Sea. The names of the cities are certainly not invented. Sodom and Zoar, furthermore, still occur as names of inhabited places south of the Dead Sea area in the fourth century A.D., and the former name clings to Jebel Sudum, as local natives called it, or Jebel Usdum, as it has become known since Robinson to this day. These Christian towns may not have stood on the identical sites of the ancient ones, but presumably were close enough to them to preserve the old names. All indications point to their having lain near the southern end of the Dead Sea. . . . If one looks at the area on the south end of the Dead Sea, one notes first of all that on the west side there is no suitable location for any habitations, because the brooks that enter in here near the Jebel Usdum are salty. Far different, however, is the situation on the eastern side of the south end of the Dead Sea. Kraeling goes on to show why this region may well have been the original site of the doomed cities, concluding that only further exploration and some excavation can shed light on the old cities of this neighborhood. Cornfeld writes (AtD, 68) that at the southern end of the Dead Sea there is the deepest rift valley in the world, which lies 1290 feet below sea level. He goes on to say that earthquakes or some other destructive agents seem to have wiped out a civilization that had existed near the Dead Sea and east of the Jordan from the Stone Age (4000 B.C.E.) down to the Bronze Age (around the 20th century): This, he says, is the area which included the five cities of the Plain, or the circle of the vale of Siddim. . . . It is thought by those who favor the geological theory, that these cities were situated south and east of the Dead Sea, most of them being now covered by the water. We know also that nomadic peoples settled down in villages and towns before the 20th century B.C.E., just at the time when the dark age was settling over Palestine, due, apparently, to Amorite invasions, and that these sites were abandoned about the 20th century B.C.E., as were Other towns and villages in southern Transjordan for some mysterious reason, the people returning to nomadic pursuits. Note also this comment in similar vein (BWDBA, 543): The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities of the valley may have been the result of lightning igniting the petroleum Seepages and the gas which was plentiful in the region. About five miles from the. shore of the Dead Sea at an elevation of five hundred feet, southeast of the Lisan peninsula is Bab ed-Dra, which served as a religious shrine for inhabitants of the area. Pottery indicates that the site was frequented from ca. 2300 B.C. to ca 1900 B.C. This seems to indicate that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed ca. 1900 B.C., during the lifetime of Abraham. From near Hebron, Abraham looked in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah and he saw that the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. To sum up here, we may indeed have in this narrative a picture of an event that was both natural and. supernatural (miraculous): God may have used natural, means, of bringing about the catastrophe which fell on these doomed cities; it can hardly be denied, however, that the timing and the design of the event lay outside the realm of the natural. (We use the word natural here in its proper sense, i.e., as simply the name we give to observed phenomena).
Lots Wife. The Divine command had been clear and the urgency of it unmistakable: Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, etc. We cannot, of course determine whether the woman was motivated by longing, pity, or curiosity (Delitzsch) when she did look back. Note that she looked back from behind him, i.e., her husband. This seems to indicate that she was bringing up the rear and it certainly bespeaks her reluctance to leave behind her the flesh-pots of Sodom. (Cf. Exo. 16:1-3). Evidently her heart was in the city. She appreciated but little what the delivering angels had done for her. Almost escaped, she allowed her vigilance to relax. So she became a warning example to all who do not make a clear-cut break with the life of wickedness, as Jesus remarkable warning designates her (Luk. 17:32). Gods punishment overtook her on the spot, apparently through the agents already operative in the destruction (EG, 571). It is most interesting to note here that Lots wife is the only womanof the many who appear in Biblical storywhom we are exhorted to remember,, and that by our Lord Himself. (Cf. Mat. 26:13).
The woman became a pillar of salt. At the time, Lot and his daughters could not have seen this: they did. have sense enough (and some faith, it seems) to have realized that looking back would have meant their destruction. We see no reason for assuming that Lots wife was instantaneously transformed into a pillar of salt: a more probable interpretation would be that she was overcome by the sulphurous vapors and afterward became encrusted with salt. It would be most unreasonable for us in this twentieth century to assume that this tragicone might say, mummifiedfigure could have survived the elements for any great length of time, much less for a time-span of four millenniums. It is a matter of common sense to hold that attempts at identification, either past or present, must be fruitless. (Cf. the apocryphal book of Wisdom-[Gen. 10:7, a pillar of salt . . . a memorial of the unbelieving soul] ). We would agree, however, with Leupold (EG, 572), that in the days shortly after the catastrophe the salt-encrusted, crudely pillar-like remains of the unhappy woman were to be seen.
Abrahams Last View of the evidences of the catastrophe is portrayed in a few poignant sentences. Very early in the morning he returned to the spot whither he had accompanied his celestial Visitors the day before (Gen. 18:22), and from which, in the vicinity of Hebron, he could look to the east, across the Jordan plain, to the hill country and mountainous region beyond (later the home of the Moabites). What was his purpose?. No doubt to satisfy himself as to whether ten righteous men had been found in Sodom and the city spared; in general, to see what actually had happened. And what was the sight that greeted him? It was total destruction: only the smoke of the land of the plain where once these thriving cities flourished went up as the smoke of a furnace. Whitelaw (PCG, 257): Thus the appalling catastrophe proclaimed its reality to Abraham; to subsequent ages it stamped a witness of its severity (1) upon the region itself, in the black and desolate aspect it has ever since possessed; (2) upon the page of inspiration, being by subsequent Scripture writers constantly referred to as a standing warning against incurring the Almightys wrath . . . and (3) upon the course of ancient tradition, which it powerfully affected. (See esp. Tacitus, Histories, Gen. 19:7; for traditional references to the event, see Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Pliny, Ovid, etc.). Jamieson (CECG, 164): 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. What an awesome spectacle this was that was spread out before the eyes of Abraham on that fateful morning!
Skinner (ICCG, 310): Abrahams morning visit to the spot where he had parted from his heavenly guests forms an impressive close to the narrative . . . an effective contrast to Gen. 18:16. Speiser (ABG, 143): As Abraham peered anxiously at the scene of the disaster, from the distant heights of Hebron, he had his answer to the question he had posed the night before. A pall of dense vapors was all that could be seen. All life was extinguished. The author is much too fine an artist to spell out the viewers thoughts, and the close of the narrative is all the more eloquent for this omission. This is a characteristic of the Bible throughout: in so many instances it tends to speak more forcefully by what it omits than by what it tells us. The most impressive example of this is in the Lords narrative of the Forgiving Father (Luk. 15:11-32).
It is charged by the critics that the Genesis story of Lots wifes inglorious end is just another version of an ancient folk tale. Alleged similarity of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice is cited as a corresponding example. According to this legend, after his return from the Argonautic expedition, Orpheus lived in Thrace, where he married Eurydice. His wife having died as a result of the bite of a serpent, Orpheus followed her into Hades, where his sweet music alleviated temporarily the torments of the damned, and enabled him to win her back. His prayer was granted, however, on one condition, namely, that he should not look back at his wife until they had arrived in the upper world. At the very last moment the anxiety of love overcame the poet and he looked around to make sure that his wife was following him, only to see her snatched back into the infernal regions. The mythological tale of Niobe is another example of the case in point. As the alleged wife of the king of Thebes, Niobe, filled with pride over the number of her children, deemed herself superior to Leto, who had given birth to only two (Apollo and Artemis, by Zeus). Apollo and Artemis, indignant as such presumption, slew all her children with their arrows, and Niobe herself was metamorphosed by Zeus into a stone which during the summer always shed tears. We can only affirm here that to find any parallels, in motivation especially, between these fantastic tales and the fate of Lots wife, must require the activity of a profane mentality. The awesome manifestation of Divine judgment (though tempered with mercy where possible) on a population given over wholly to iniquity, one in which Lots wife perished because of her unwillingness to break with her environment, cannot reasonably be put in the same category with these folk tales which reflect only human passion, pride, jealousy and revenge. Leupold (EG, 565): Because the command not to look around is met with in heathen legends . . . that fact does not yet make every command of that sort in Israelitish history a part of a legendary account. We ourselves may on occasion bid another to look around without being on our part involved in some legendary transaction.
Recapitulation, Gen. 19:29. The interesting fact in this statement is the change in the name of God from Jehovah to Elohim. The total destruction of the hotbeds of iniquitythe Cities of the Plainwas a display of Divine Powers which causes men to fear the Sovereign of the universe; therefore Elohim and not Yahweh. (Cf. Gen. 28:17, Heb. 10:31; Heb. 12:29, etc.). The destruction of the cities of the plain was not at this moment viewed by the writer as an event related to the Abrahamic covenant and intercession, but as a sublime vindication of Divine (Absolute) Justice. Nor should the fact be overlooked that in this transaction God remembered Abraham, that is, Lot was not delivered simply for his own sake, but primarily for Abrahams sake. The blessings that go forth from one true-hearted servant of God are incalculable, Cf. Jas. 5:16-18.
The Import of the Account of the Catastrophe that befell the Cities of the Plain is clearly indicated by the repeated references to it throughout both the Old and New Testaments, as a warning against incurring the wrath of the Almighty (Deu. 29:22-23; Isa. 13:19; Jer. 49:18; Jer. 50:40; Lam. 4:6; Amo. 4:11; Luk. 17:32; 2Pe. 2:6, Jud. 1:7). Cf. J. A. Motyer (NBD, 1003): The story of Sodom does not merely warn, but provides a theologically documented account of divine judgment implemented by natural disaster. The history is faiths guarantee that the Judge of all the earth does right (Gen. 18:25). Being personally persuaded of its justice and necessity (Gen. 18:20-21), God acts; but in wrath He remembers mercy, and in judgment discrimination (Gen. 19:16; Gen. 19:29). The fate of Sodom and Gomorrah is referred to by Jesus as a warning to those who are inhospitable to the Gospel, Mat. 10:15. Sodom is a symbol for dead bodies lying in the street of a city, Rev. 11:8 (HBD, 692). The plain in which the cities stood, hitherto fruitful as the garden of Jehovah, became henceforth a scene of perfect desolation. Our Lord Himself, and the Apostles Peter and Jude, have clearly taught the lasting lesson which is involved in the judgment: that it is a type of the final destruction by fire of a world which will have reached a wickedness like that of Sodom and Gomorrah (OTH, 77). Cf. Luk. 17:29, 2Pe. 2:6, 2Th. 1:7-10, 1Co. 3:13; Heb. 10:27; Heb. 12:29; Jud. 1:7; Rev. 14:10; Rev. 20:14-15; cf. Exo. 3:2; Exo. 19:18; Isa. 66:15-16; Eze. 1:13 ff.; Dan. 7:9, Mat. 25:41, etc. The partial judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah, like the universal judgment of the flood, serves as an exampleand a typeof all the divine judgments, and especially of the Last Judgment; hence in Scripture the two are closely associated (Luk. 17:26-32, 2Pe. 2:4-9). The Last Judgment is the Second Death (Rev. 20:14; Rev. 21:8).
Review Questions
See Gen. 19:30-38.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(23) The sun was risen.As Lot started at dawn, he had thus had about an hour for his flight.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. The sun was risen Hebrews, the sun went forth over the earth .
That is, the sun was up before Lot completed his flight. From dawn (Gen 19:15) to sunrise was but a little time to effect such an escape. But the refugees were probably strengthened by the angels.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘The sun was risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.’
It is tempting to read into these descriptions of time some spiritual significance. The dawn of a new life, and then the arising of the sun. But what follows demonstrates that this is not so (as do similar references with regard to Abraham (Gen 18:1; Gen 19:27)). They are commonplace indications of time, vividly remembered in an account which is otherwise full of darkness, which suggest close acquaintance with the events. It does not actually say it is sunrise, only that sufficient time has elapsed for sunrise to have passed and the sun to be clearly visible in the sky.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The destruction of the Cities of the Plain
v. 23. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. v. 24. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. v. 25. And He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. v. 26. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. v. 27. And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord. v. 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. v. 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.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Gen 19:23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.
Ver. 23. The sun was risen upon Sodom. ] But ere night there was a dismal change. Nescis quid serus vesper vehat .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gen 19:23-26
23The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, 25and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Gen 19:24 “the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven” It seems rather unusual that the term “YHWH” is used twice here. Jewish commentators call the term the plural of majesty, while Christian commentators see something of the Trinity here. As a matter of fact, the Council of Sirmium commented on this verse as follows, “God the Son brought down the rain from God the Father.” We learn from Gen 14:10 of the presence of tar pits in this region and apparently, somehow, through lightening or raining fire (cf. Eze 38:22; Luk 17:29; Rev 14:10; Rev 19:20; Rev 20:10), God caused this entire region to ignite and explode (cf. Jud 1:7).
Again note the supernatural preservation of Zoar. This is similar to Goshen being protected from the ten plagues.
Fire is always associated with the cleansing judgment of YHWH. See Special Topic at Gen 15:17.
Gen 19:25 “He overthrew those cities” This Hebrew term “overthrew” (BDB 245, KB 253, Qal IMPERFECT) means to turn upside down and thereby destroy. Sodom’s destruction is used throughout Scripture to denote divine judgment (cf. Deu 29:23; Isa 13:19; Jer 49:18; Jer 50:40; Amo 4:11). This destruction was the personal judgment of YHWH. He would do the same to the Canaanite cultures that Joshua would face in the conquest of Canaan.
Gen 19:26 Readers are not sure exactly what happened here, but it is obvious that Lot’s wife’s heart was still in Sodom and she reaped a just recompense (cf. Luk 17:32). She became a memorial of disobedience! Not only was Lot’s wife affected by their time in Sodom, but also his daughters, which is evident from Gen 19:30-38.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
risen: Heb. gone forth, Gen 19:23
Reciprocal: Gen 32:31 – rose upon
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Probably the burning sodium sulfate that was raining down covered Lot’s wife as she lingered behind (Gen 19:26). [Note: Kidner, p. 135. See Deborah Aufenson-Vance, "Lot’s Wife Remembers," Adventist Review 163:8 (Feb. 20, 1986), p. 5.]
"The heaven’s rain cannot be explained solely as a natural phenomenon, such as earthquake; it was exceptional, never again repeated, providing the parade illustration of the fiery eschatological judgment against the wicked (e.g., 2Pe 2:6-9). The twin calamities of Noah and Lot illustrate Jesus’ teaching on the suddenness of the coming of the Son of Man (Luk 17:26-30)." [Note: Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26, p. 241.]
All that Lot had gained by living in Sodom burned up like wood, hay, and stubble (cf. 1Co 3:10-15). The Apostle Peter cited Lot as an example of the Lord’s deliverance of the godly from trials that He uses to punish the ungodly (2Pe 2:6-10). John called believers not to love the world or the things in the world because they will pass away (1Jn 2:15-17).