But before they lay down, the men of the city, [even] the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:
4. the men of the city ] The repulsive incident recorded in this passage ( Gen 19:4-11) contrasts the hospitable conduct of Lot with the gross behaviour of the people of Sodom towards strangers, and has for all time associated the name of the city with shameless vice (cf. Isa 3:9).
from every quarter ] Lit. “from the end.” As in 1Ki 12:31, the phrase means “from all classes of the people.” The writer insists upon the fact that “all” of every age and class were involved in the same guilt. Compare the scene in Jdg 19:23.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 19:4-11
But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door
The eve of judgment to sinners
I.
THEIR WICKEDNESS IS UNABATED.
1. It extends to all classes of the community.
2. It includes the most shameful lusts.
3. It opposes the righteous to the last.
II. THEY EXPOSE THEMSELVES TO INFLICTIONS WHICH FORESHADOW FUTURE JUDGMENTS. Blindness-moral as well as physical.
III. THEIR CONDUCT OFTEN BECOMES A SOURCE OF DANGEROUS PERPLEXITY TO THE RIGHTEOUS (see Gen 19:5; Gen 19:8). Lot was prepared to violate one duty in order to maintain another. Let a man do right, and put his trust in God. (T. H. Leale.)
Shamelessness of sinners
Their shameless speech to have the men brought out that they might know them, very notably discovereth unto us the impudency that sin effecteth in time, when it once getteth rule. Surely it taketh all modesty, and shame, and honesty away, and proveth the saying to be most true: Consuctudo peccandi tollit sensum peccati. The custom of sin taketh away all sense and feeling of sin. At the beginning men shame to have it known what they do, though they fear not to do it, and they will use all cloaks and covers that possible they can to hide their wickedness. But at last they grow bold and, impudent, as these men did, even to say what care we. And why? Certainly because this is the course of sin in Gods judgment, that it shall benumb and harden the heart wherein it is suffered, and so sear up the conscience, and conceit in time, that there shall be no shame left, but such a thick vizard pulled over the face, that it can blush at nothing, either to say it or do it. Behold these brazen-brewed wretches here, who, after long use of sin (no doubt at first more secret), are now come to require these men openly and to tell the cause, that they might know them without all shame or spark of shame, in, and at so horrible abomination. Marvel not then any more, that the adulterer blusheth not, the drunkard shameth not, nor the blaspheming swearer hideth not his face. You see the reason; custom to do evil in that kind hath utterly bereaved him of feeling and shame as it did these Sodomites. A heavy and fearful case for Gods plague is even at the door of such people, as you see it was here for these Sodomites. It was well said of him that said it, if God take from a man his bodily eye that he cannot see, or his bodily ear that he cannot hear, every man seeth the judgment and perceiveth the loss; but when God in wrath taketh away the inward eye and ear of the mind and heart, that what sin soever he committeth, he neither seeth, nor heareth, nor feeleth, no man thinketh this a plague, or any rod of God. But O fearful plague! etc. (Bishop Babington.)
Mild speech to pacify
In Lots going out to them, shutting the door after him, and calling them brethren, we may note a godly discretion and wisdom in dealing to pacify outrageous beasts. Fire quencheth not fire, but milder and softer speeches many times, and most times appeaseth disorder, though here it could not, for the strength of sin that had so mightily possessed them. To brute beasts are overcome with fair speeches, and become tame; a soft answer breaketh anger, when a cutting tongue stirreth up wrath. Full of grace is that man and woman that can be mild and sweet to effect goodness. (Bishop Babington.)
Blindness.
1. Physical. They lost the power of distinct vision.
2. Mental. They were the subjects of illusions. The imagination was diseased, so that they were deceived by false appearances. They acted as distracted persons.
3. Moral. They madly persisted in their designs, though an act of Providence had rendered it impossible of accomplishment.
Judgment at hand
The Scriptural signs that the judgment is near are:–
1. That God abandons men or communities to out-breaking and presumptuous sins.
2. That warnings and chastisements fail to produce their effect, and especially when the person grows harder under them.
3. That God removes the good from any community–so, before the flood, so before the destruction of Jerusalem.
4. The deep, undisturbed security of those over whom it is suspended. (Gosman.)
Gods time to strike
Many a one is hardened by the good word of God, and, instead of receiving the counsel, rages at the messenger; when men are grown to that pass, that they are no whir better by afflictions, and worse with admonitions, God finds it time to strike. (Bishop Hall.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Before they lay down to sleep, of which this word is used, Gen 28:13; Lev 14:47; 26:6.
All the people from every quarter; some to exercise villany, and some to please themselves with the contemplation of it, and some out of curiosity, &c. This is added to show how universally corrupt they were, and that there were not ten righteous men there.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. men of Sodom, compassed thehouseAppalling proofs are here given of their wickedness. Itis evident that evil communications had corrupted good manners;otherwise Lot would never have acted as he did.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But before they lay down,…. Upon their beds to sleep; it was between supper time and bedtime that the following affair happened, while the angels were talking to Lot about the men of Sodom, and inquiring what sort of men they were, as the Jewish writers l suggest:
the men of the city, [even] the men of Sodom, compassed the house round about; the house of Lot, where the angels were:
both old and young: the males of the city of every age; some that were past committing the sin they were so infamous for, as well as those that burned with that unnatural lust; some that could not be actors were willing to be spectators; and all were curious to see the lovely persons, that it was reported all over the city were seen to go into Lot’s house:
all the people from every quarter; all from one end of the city to the other, and from every corner in it: which shows the general corruption and depravity of the city, that it was so far from having ten righteous persons in it, that of the proper inhabitants of it, there was not, as Jarchi notes, one righteous person, no, not one.
l Bereshit Rabba, ut supra. (sect. 50. fol. 44. 4.)
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: 5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. 6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, 7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. 8 Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. 9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. 10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. 11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
Now it appeared, beyond contradiction, that the cry of Sodom was no louder than there was cause for. This night’s work was enough to fill the measure. For we find here,
I. That they were all wicked, v. 4. Wickedness had become universal, and they were unanimous in any vile design. Here were old and young, and all from every quarter, engaged in this riot; the old were not past it, and the young had soon come up to it. Either they had no magistrates to keep the peace, and protect the peaceable, or their magistrates were themselves aiding and abetting. Note, When the disease of sin has become epidemical, it is fatal to any place, Isa. i. 5-7.
II. That they had arrived at the highest pitch of wickedness; they were sinners before the Lord exceedingly (ch. xiii. 13); for, 1. It was the most unnatural and abominable wickedness that they were now set upon, a sin that still bears their name, and is called Sodomy. They were carried headlong by those vile affections (Rom 1:26; Rom 1:27), which are worse than brutish, and the eternal reproach of the human nature, and which cannot be thought of without horror by those that have the least spark of virtue and any remains of natural light and conscience. Note, Those that allow themselves in unnatural uncleanness are marked for the vengeance of eternal fire. See Jude 7. 2. They were not ashamed to own it, and to prosecute their design by force and arms. The practice would have been bad enough if it had been carried on by intrigue and wheedling; but they proclaimed war with virtue, and bade open defiance to it. Hence daring sinners are said to declare their sin as Sodom, Isa. iii. 9. Note, Those that have become impudent in sin generally prove impenitent in sin; and it will be their ruin. Those have hard hearts indeed that sin with a high hand, Jer. vi. 15. 3. When Lot interposed, with all the mildness imaginable, to check the rage and fury of their lust, they were most insolently rude and abusive to him. He ventured himself among them, v. 6. He spoke civilly to them, called them brethren (v. 7), and begged of them not to do so wickedly; and, being greatly disturbed at their vile attempt, he unadvisedly and unjustifiably offered to prostitute his two daughters to them, v. 8. It is true, of two evils we must choose the less; but of two sins we must choose neither, nor ever do evil that good may come of it. He reasoned with them, pleaded the laws of hospitality and the protection of his house which his guests were entitled to; but he might as well have offered reason to a roaring lion and a raging bear as to these head-strong sinners, who were governed only by lust and passion. Lot’s arguing with them does but exasperate them; and, to complete their wickedness, and fill up the measure of it, they fall foul upon him. (1.) They ridicule him, charge him with the absurdity of pretending to be a magistrate, when he was not so much as a free-man of their city, v. 9. Note, It is common for a reprover to be unjustly upbraided as a usurper; and, while offering the kindness of a friend, to be charged with assuming the authority of a judge: as if a man might not speak reason without taking too much upon him. (2.) They threaten him, and lay violent hands upon him; and the good man is in danger of being pulled in pieces by this outrageous rabble. Note, [1.] Those that hate to be reformed hate those that reprove them, though with ever so much tenderness. Presumptuous sinners do by their consciences as the Sodomites did by Lot, baffle their checks, stifle their accusations, press hard upon them, till they have seared them and quite stopped their mouths, and so made themselves ripe for ruin. [2.] Abuses offered to God’s messengers and to faithful reprovers soon fill the measure of a people’s wickedness, and bring destruction without remedy. See Prov. xxix. 1, and 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16. If reproofs remedy not, there is no remedy. See 2 Chron. xxv. 16.
III. That nothing less than the power of an angel could save a good man out of their wicked hands. It was now past dispute what Sodom’s character was and what course must be taken with it, and therefore the angels immediately give a specimen of what they further intended. 1. They rescue Lot, v. 10. Note, He that watereth shall be watered also himself. Lot was solicitous to protect them, and now they take effectual care for his safety, in return for his kindness. Note further, Angels are employed for the special preservation of those that expose themselves to danger by well-doing. The saints, at death, are pulled like Lot into a house of perfect safety, and the door shut for ever against those that pursue them. 2. They chastise the insolence of the Sodomites: They smote them with blindness, v. 11. This was designed, (1.) To put an end to their attempt, and disable them from pursuing it. Justly were those struck blind who had been deaf to reason. Violent persecutors are often infatuated so that they cannot push on their malicious designs against God’s messengers, Job 5:14; Job 5:15. Yet these Sodomites, after they were struck blind, continued seeking the door, to break it down, till they were tired. No judgments will, of themselves, change the corrupt natures and purposes of wicked men. If their minds had not been blinded as well as their bodies, they would have said, as the magicians, This is the finger of God, and would have submitted. (2.) It was to be an earnest of their utter ruin, the next day. When God, in a way of righteous judgment, blinds men, their condition is already desperate, Rom 11:8; Rom 11:9.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 4-8:
Verses 4, 5: Before Lot and his guests had time to retire following their evening meal, the men, both young and old, from every extremity of Sodom came to the house and demanded that Lot deliver his guests to them. Theirs was no honorable purpose, no demonstration of hospitality. It was rather to have sexual relations with them. History reveals that this was a sin very prevalent among the Canaanites (Le 18:22) as well as among other heathen nations (Ro 1:27).
Verses 6-8: Lot desperately sought to protect his guests from the sinful purpose of the men of Sodom. “Door” is petach, the opening in the wall in which the gate or hanging door, deleth, swung and which it closed. Lot closed the “door” deleth to protect his guests. He then tried personal exhortation to try to dissuade the men of Sodom from their shameful affront both to decency and hospitality. Lot made a shameful offer in an attempt to satisfy the men of Sodom. He had two unmarried daughters, whom he offered to give them in order to satisfy their lust. In attempting to prevent one sin, he was guilty of another, both against himself and against his daughters. Even though Lot was “righteous,” he was wrong to offer his daughters in such a manner. He should have cried out to Jehovah for protection and deliverance, rather than trying to take matters into his own hands.
It is never right to commit one sin to avoid another. For a similar circumstance, see Jg 19:22-27.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
4. Before they lay down. Here, in a single crime, Moses sets before our eyes a lively picture of Sodom. For it is hence obvious, how diabolical was their consent in all wickedness, since they all so readily conspired to perpetrate the most abominable crime. The greatness of their iniquity and wantonness, is apparent from the fact, that, in a collected troop, they approach, as enemies, to lay siege to the house of Lot. How blind and impetuous is their lust; since, without shame, they rush together like brute animals! how great their ferocity and cruelty; since they reproachfully threaten the holy man, and proceed to all extremities! Hence also we infer, that they were not contaminated with one vice only, but were given up to all audacity in crime, so that no sense of shame was left them. And Ezekiel (as we have above related) accurately describes from what beginnings of evil they had proceeded to this extreme turpitude, (Eze 16:49) What Paul says, also refers to the same point: that God punished the impiety of men, when he cast them into such a state of blindness, that they gave themselves up to abominable lusts, and dishonored their own bodies. (Rom 1:18.) But when the sense of shame is overcome, and the reins are given to lust, a vile and outrageous barbarism necessarily succeeds, and many kinds of sin are blended together, so that a most confused chaos is the result. But if this severe vengeance of God so fell upon the men of Sodom, that they became blind with rage, and prostituted themselves to all kinds of crime, certainly we shall scarcely be more mildly treated, whose iniquity is the less excusable, because the truth of God has been more clearly revealed unto us.
Both old and young. Moses passes over many things in silence which may come unsought into the reader’s mind: for instance, he does not mention by whom the multitude had been stirred up. Yet it is probable that there were some who fanned the flame: nevertheless, we hence perceive how freely they were disposed to commit iniquity; since, as at a given signal, they immediately assemble. It also shows how completely destitute they were of all remaining shame; for, neither did any gravity restrain the old, nor any modesty, suitable to their age, restrain the young: finally, he intimates, that all regard to honor was gone, and that the order of nature was perverted, when he says, that young and old flew together from the extreme parts of the city.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Gen. 19:5. That we may know them.] A well-known euphemism for a foul crime which derives its name from this infamous place. From Leviticus 22-25 we learn that the practice of the sin here contemplated was among the principal causes why God exterminated the Canaanitish nations. (Alford.) This sin was also the curse of heathenism, even in the best days of Rome. (Rom. 1:22.)
Gen. 19:5. And they called unto Lot.] That is, with a loud voice; demanded vociferously; which was virtually proclaiming their own shame. In allusion to the circumstance mentioned in this verse, the prophet says of Jerusalem, Isa. 3:9 : They declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Compare the similar instance of enormous wickedness recorded, Jdg. 19:22, etc. (Bush.)
Gen. 19:6. And Lot went out at the door.] The original here, as in Gen. 19:11, employs two distinct words for door; the one signifying the aperture, passage, or doorway, through which ingress and egress were made; the other denoting the leaf of the door, hung upon hinges, by which the aperture was closed. The distinction is very accurately preserved throughout the subsequent narrative, Gen. 19:9-11. (Bush.)
Gen. 19:9. He will needs be a judge.] Heb. He will judge to judge. He continually acteth as judge. It is recorded of Lot in the N.T. that he was greatly and constantly worried and worn down by their gross outrages, and probably he had often rebuked them. (2Pe. 2:7-8.) (Jacobus.)
Gen. 19:11. Blindness.] Onk. Fatuity of sight. Mental blindness, in which the eye sees, but does not see the right object. (Keil.) The original word occurs only here and in 2Ki. 16:18. The judgment consisted not in a total privation of sight, in which case they would, of course, have desisted from their assault on Lot, and endeavoured to make their way home, but in a confused vision, such as is occasioned by vertigo of the brain, in which objects swim before the eyes, and mock every attempt to approach or seize them. (Bush.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gen. 19:4-11
THE EVE OF JUDGMENT TO SINNERS
The conduct of the men of Sodom, who were so near their doom, is an example of that kind of conduct which the wicked among mankind will still show when the last Judgment draws nigh.
I. Their wickedness is unabated. Time had brought no change for the better with this wicked people. They rather grew worse and worse, descending to the lowest depths of sin and vice. The last days of the world may be days of light and of widely diffused knowledge, yet they will not reveal an universal moral improvement amongst mankind. We are taught in Scripture to expect that these will be perilous times when lawlessness will prevail and iniquity abound. The tares will stand until the harvest shall be reaped. We may note the features of the wickedness recorded here, and they are types of the state of a large portion of human society when the end shall come.
1. It extends to all classes of the community. The men of Sodom compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people, from every quarter. (Gen. 19:4.) All classes and all ages were infected by the prevailing vices and sins. With the exception of righteous Lot and his family none escaped from the mire and sink of the greatest pollutions. The saddest fact of all, the young, too, had imbibed evil principles, and were corrupted in their ways. When the contagion of vice so fastens upon the youth of a nation the swiftest judgments may be expected.
2. It includes the most shameful sins. The men of Sodom desired Lot to give up the strangers sheltered under his roof to their vile lusts. The sin in which they had so bad an eminence derives its very name from this infamous place. They do not seek to hide their sin, but openly avow their love of deeds against the use of nature. It is sad to reflect that men in their vile passions are capable of descending below the level of the brutes. Even the refining influences of civilisation do not suffice to root out some degrading forms of vice, for this unnatural practice prevailed during the best days of Rome. The penal codes of nations still show that this shameful crime has not perished from the earth. How true the Bible is to the facts of human nature, degrading though they be!
3. It opposes the righteous to the last. Lot could not entertain these strangers without making his house a mark for the assaults of these wicked men. They scrupled not to use open violence against him. (Gen. 19:9.) There must ever be an antagonism between the spirit of the world and that which is of God, and to the end this will bear sad fruit in the persecution of the good. To the last the righteous will suffer at the hands of evil men.
II. They expose themselves to inflictions which foreshadow future judgments. These men were stricken with blindness; a blindness which not only confused the vision but also the mind with insane delusions. This was a more awful visitation than the mere deprivation of sight. Moral blindness and madness prepare the way for the extreme retribution. Sinners will be the victims of such moral infatuation till the end of time. These men, though stricken by such an awful calamity, yet desisted not in their wickedness, but wearied themselves to find the door. Sinners to the latest times will still engage in the insane endeavour to continue the war against Omnipotence. Moral blindness is a punishmentan act of judgment. God has determined that those who will not see shall not see. Those who refuse to believe shall, in the end, not be able to believe. (Joh. 12:38-40.) Powers disused are taken away, as in the case of him who hid his talent in the earth. Judgment has already begun with those whose souls are seized with infatuation. When Christ comes for judgment He will find men acting as distracted persons, full of mirth and jollity, though destruction is around them and they are so close upon their doom. (Mat. 24:37-39.)
III. Their conduct often becomes a source of dangerous perplexity to the righteous. These vile sinners made a shameful demand of Lot (Gen. 19:5). He refused to yield to them, because he would not be a party to so foul a crime, and he must not betray the rights of hospitality. It was a point of honour, in Oriental countries, to defend at all costs the stranger who was received into the house. In his perplexity, Lot made a desperate suggestion (Gen. 19:8). He violated one duty to maintain another. The conflict of duties into which he was forced by this situation disturbed his moral sense. He was like a man bewildered, who is ready to receive any solution of his difficulty. The complication of events led him into temptation and a snare. The awful wickedness of the world often places godly men in circumstances of great perplexity and danger to their souls. So it will be in the end of the world. Because of abounding iniquity the love of many shall wax cold. It would seem that even the very elect shall run the risk of deception. The immense power of evil which is in the world will try the righteous to the last. The severity of the trial is admitted, and yet in the worst possible case a mans duty is still clear. He should do the right, and put his trust in God. It is ours to obey, even in the face of most enormous difficulties, and to leave the consequences with Him. Faith shows a sure way out of the utmost perplexity.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen. 19:4. There are sufficient reasons to justify those terrible acts of Divine vengeance which are recorded in sacred history.
How easily sin is roused to action. The baseness of these wicked neighbours soon betrays itself!
The utter corruption of youth is the last stage in the degeneration of a people. This is the most fatal spot on the social body, showing that mortification has already set in.
The kind offices which Lot was about to perform for these strangers was not an easy exercise of godly charity, or one implying little personal risk. He made his house a mark for the assaults of those men of Belial, who could scarce endure that so godly a man should dwell among them, far less that he should reprove or restrain their sins. That fearful night tried both them and Lot. The wicked plot against the just. Doubtless they have an old grudge to satisfy. And now they seize the opportunity of at once indulging their passions, and wreaking their vengeance on one whose faithful testimony and consistent life they have found to be an intolerable offence and provocation.(Candlish.)
The signal had but to be given, and the universal mass of the population were ready at once to flock together to any scene of riot and debauchery. Had they had any useful occupation to follow, were they not completely sunk in profligate idleness, they could not all have found time thus suddenly to rendezvous for deeds of iniquity. But from the peculiar emphasis of the language it would seem that there were no exceptions. Sodom was full of Sodomites. What must have been the extent of its abominations, when the aged, instead of restraining the young, were actually urging them forward in the course of iniquity by their own pernicious example!(Bush.)
How often it has happened that houses where the voice of prayer and praise was heard have been the mark for the assaults of wicked men, while the abodes of vice and blasphemy have remained unmolested. Such is that hatred of goodness, which is found in the natural heart!
Gen. 19:5. There is a maturity of corruption in which wicked men are not ashamed to proclaim their sin.
There are sins which in a special manner sully the honour of human nature, put men beyond the pale of common regard, and tend to destroy a people from among the family of nations.
Gen. 19:6. It is a duty of religion to protect those whom Providence has thrown in our way and given into our care.
Lot shut the door behind him for the purpose of protecting his guests, We put ourselves best in the way of a favourable Providence when we use all reasonable means.
The conduct of Lot in going out and expostulating with them, was in several respects praiseworthy. His shutting the door after him, expressed how delicately he felt for his guests, though at present he does not appear to have considered them in any other light than strangers. It was saying in effect, Let not their ears be offended with what passes abroad; whatever is scurrilous, obscene, or abusive, let me hear it, but not them.(Fuller.)
Gen. 19:7. It is the duty of good men to dissuade the wicked from sin.
When we cannot by our precept or example turn men entirely from the power of Satan unto God, we must not be indifferent to lesser reforms in their character. It is something if we are able to save them from the grossest sins; for they are then better prepared to listen to the wisdom of the just, and to learn righteousness.
A certain respectful behaviour is due even to the vilest sinners. Even in their lowest degradation we must recognise their humanity.
Lots gentle and respectful manner of treating this worst of mobs is worthy of notice. Though he could have entertained no respect for them on the score of character, yet he forbore the use of opprobrious terms. Recognising in them his fellow-creatures and near neighbours, he calls them brethren, if perchance by such conciliatory language he may gam their ear, and eventually dissuade them from their wicked purpose.(Bush.)
Gen. 19:8. It is difficult to give an account of this offer consistently with any estimate of Lot as a righteous man. But in our estimating we must remember that the same offer was made and the thing actually done in the parallel case at Gibeah of Benjamin (Jdg. 19:24.) Guided by that other case, we cannot, as some have done, suppose that Lot had any end in view beyond that which the proposal declares, or that it was due to his perturbation of mind, as Augustine sugests. He seems simply to have had in view the averting of a fearful crime (enhanced in this case by its violating the sacred rights of hospitality) by the permission of another crime, the very thought of which we happily in these Christian days cannot find place for in a fathers heart.(Alford.)
When, to turn off their attention from his guests, he proposes to bring out and surrender his daughters to their pleasure, he hints at an expedient which can by no means be justified. It is not for us to have recourse to one evil in the hope of preventing a greater; but rather to consent to no evil. His regard to the rites of hospitality was indeed commendable; but having used all proper means of preserving his guests, he ought to have left the event to God. It is possible, indeed, that owing to the excessive perturbation of his mind he was scarcely master of his words or actions, and that some excuse may be suggested for him on this score; but in all probability if he had never lived in Sodom, nor become familiarised to their profligate manners, he would not have made such a proposal. As it was, he evidently gained nothing by it but an increased measure of abuse. Persuasion has no force with men who are under the dominion of their lusts, and nothing is more common than for kind admonitions and faithful rebukes to be attributed to unmannerly and arrogant dictation. So Lots endeavours to restrain these desperate Sodomites from the commission of iniquity was taken in evil part; their resentment was inflamed against him; they thirsted for revenge, and not content with having the men brought out, they will go in unto them, and break the door open to effect their purpose!(Bush.)
A polluted moral atmosphere is dangerous to the most vigorous righteous character. The whole tone of the spiritual life may become lowered, the conception of duty debased. (1Co. 15:33.)
Evil examples around affect righteous souls, as it were, inductively. The bad influence is felt, and souls are injured even when they have avoided contact.
Strong faith teaches a man to do the right, even in the most perplexing situations. Results may be safely left with God, who knows how to deliver the godly in the time of temptation.
Gen. 19:9. This seems to be a menace to frighten Lot out of the way of their perverse will. It is probable, indeed, that he and his family would not have been so long safe in this wicked place had he not been the occasion of a great deliverance to the whole city when they were carried away by the four kings. The threat is followed by a taunt when the sorely vexed host hesitated to give up the strangers. He will needs be a judge. It is evident Lot had been in the habit of remonstrating with them. From threats and taunts they soon proceed to violence.(Murphy.)
Majorities do not always determine what is right and just. Lot was one against many. The people of Sodom thought that numbers was some justification of their cause, and they derided the opinion of an individual.
The wisdom of the stranger is not to be scorned because he is such. Many nations have risen in the scale of civilisation and become great by giving heed to words of truth and righteousness which have been brought to them by strangers.
How unseasonable are the reproaches of the wicked! Ten such strangers would have saved Sodom!
Gen. 19:10. Gods people are safe when angels stand sentries at their doors. Moses again calls the heavenly messengers by a name indicative, not of what they were, but of what they seemed; for, although they now began to put forth a superhuman power, they had not yet revealed themselves as ministers sent from heaven. The incident here related of them teaches us that though God, in His deep wisdom, often sees fit to defer, till His people are brought into the most trying straits, the aid which He purposes to afford, yet He will not fail them in the last extremity. Lot was made to feel his extremity before the needed succour was vouchsafed him; but as he had kindly and generously opened his doors for the reception of Gods messengers; as he had recognised a special providence in their being sent within the sphere of his hospitality; and as he had exposed himself to great perils in their defence, the Most High would not leave him without a witness of His guardian care. By this seasonable interference He reminds us how calmly we may resign ourselves to the custody of an ever-watchful Providence while engaged in the way of duty, and how intrepidly we may face dangers and enemies while following that which right is.(Bush.)
Lot is saved by those for whose protection he had ventured all. Thus, often before we look for it, loving deeds bring their own reward.
The righteous discover the hand of God in their deliverance.
Gen. 19:11. Blindness.
1. Physical. They lost the power of distinct vision.
2. Mental. They were the subjects of illusions. The imagination was diseased, so that they were deceived by false appearances. They acted as distracted persons.
3. Moral. They madly persisted in their design, though an act of Providence had rendered it impossible of accomplishment.
Moral infatuation usually precedes Gods great judgments upon men and nations.
The Scriptural signs that the judgment is near are:
1. That God abandons men or communities to out-breaking and presumptuous sins.
2. That warnings and chastisements fail to produce their effect, and especially when the person grows harder under them.
3. That God removes the good from any communityso, before the Flood, so before the destruction of Jerusalem.
4. The deep, undisturbed security of those over whom it is suspended.(Gosman.)
Many a one is hardened by the good word of God, and, instead of receiving the counsel, rages at the messenger: when men are grown to that pass, that they are no whit better by afflictions, and worse with admonitions, God finds it time to strike. Now, Lots guests begin to show themselves angels, and first delivered Lot in Sodom, then from Sodom; first strike them with blindness whom they will after consume with fire. How little did the Sodomites think that vengeance was so near them! While they were groping in the streets, and cursing those whom they could not find, Lot with the angels is in secure light, and sees them miserable, and foresees them burning. It is the use of God to blind and besot those whom He means to destroy.(Bishop Hall.)
Blindness, both of body and mind, saith Aben Ezra, such as tormented their eyes, as if they had been pricked with thorns, as the Hebrew word signifies. And yet they continue groping for the door, as if they were ambitious of destruction, which now was next door by. Deus quem destruit dementat. So Pharaoh, when under that palpable three days darkness, rageth against God, and threateneth Moses with death. Though doomsday should be to-morrow next, wicked men must and will serve their lusts. Vale lumen amicum! said Theotimus in St. Ambrose, who chose rather to lose his sight than his sin.(Trapp.)
God sends judicial blindness upon wicked men, and thus their purposes are frustrated. They weary themselves in a vain effort.
The persecuted for righteousness sake have the angels on their side, and no weapon that is formed against them can prosper.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
2. The Violence of the Sodomites (Gen. 19:4-11)
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; 5 and they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men that came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. 6 And Lot went out unto them to the door, and shut the door after him. 7 And he said, I pray you, my brethren, do not so wickedly. 8 Be-hold now, I have two daughters that have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing, forasmuch as they are come under the shadow of my roof. 9 And they said, Stand back. And they said, This One fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and drew near to break the door. 10 But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. 11 And they smote the men that Were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
Before Lot and the members of his household and his celestial visitors lay down, that is, could retire for the night, the men of Sodom surrounded the house, both young and old, all of them from every quarter, i.e., from one end of the city to the other, there not being even one righteous man to protest (SC, 94), The mob cried out to Lot to bring his visitors out to them that we may know them. i.e., vent our lust upon them (Rashi, et al). This demand was, of course, the basest violation of the sacred rite of hospitality, and the most shameless proclamation of their sin (COTP, 233). (The verb know, as used here, is used in the same sense as in Jdg. 19:22-26, namely, as having reference to such perversions of the sex function as homosexuality (including Lesbianism), pederasty, bestiality, etc., practices everywhere prevalent among the Canaanites (Lev. 18:3; Lev. 18:22-23; Lev. 20:13; Lev. 20:15), and according to the Apostle Paul, Rom. 1:24-27, the curse of heathenism generally. It will be recalled that the Cult of Fertility, worship of the Sun-father and the Earth-Mother, which characterized the entire ancient pagan world, featured ritual prostitution, phallic worship, etc., and sanctioned all forms of individual sex perversion as well). It was at this point that Lot committed the egregious error of offering as a substitute his two virgin daughters to be used as the attackers might want to use them to satisfy their unnatural lust. But the immediate response was even more threatening. This fellow (Lot), they cried out, who is only a sojourner in our city, has been trying to play the role of a judge all this while (undoubtedly this means that he had been wont to reprove the people for their iniquitous ways), so now let us be rid of him. In exasperation they threaten to deal with him severely, that is, not just to abuse him sexually as they sought to abuse his guests, but actually to kill him. To the heavenly visitors all this was the final proof that Sodom was fit only for destruction; and so they pulled Lot back into the house, closed the door, and smote the men outside with blindness. What is involved here is not the common affliction, not just total blindness, but a sudden stroke . . . a blinding flash emanating from angelswho thereby abandon their human disguisewhich would induce immediate, if temporary, loss of sight, much like the desert or snow blindness (ABG, 39). Thus, as has often been the case, human violence was frustrated by divine intervention.
3. Lots Degeneracy
This has already been pointed out (1) as beginning in his move to the Plain of Sodom (Gen. 13:11) being motivated by the prospect of material prosperity and ease, (2) as continuing in his choice of the city itself as a dwelling-place, and thus (at least tacitly) accepting the activities of his urban environment with a more or less tolerant interest, (3) is now accentuated by his willingness to allow his two virgin daughters to be victims in a sexual orgy by the lustful male Sodomites (Gen. 19:8). About all that can be said in his favor is that he did adhere closely to the prescribed cult of hospitality and did try in his own weak way to protect his guests from the unnatural vice with which the Sodomites threatened them. Butdid fidelity to the law of hospitality justify his willingness to make scapegoats of his daughters? For example, note this comment: At that period the honour of a woman was of less account, Gen. 12:10 f. than the sacred duty of hospitality (JB, 35). Cf. Skinner (ICCG, 307): The unnatural vice which derives its name from the incident was viewed in Israel as the lowest depth of moral corruption (cf. Lev. 18:22 ff; Lev. 20:13; Lev. 20:23; Eze. 16:50, Jdg. 19:22). Lots readiness to sacrifice the honor of his daughters, though abhorrent to Hebrew morality (cf. Jdg. 19:25; Jdg. 19:30), shows him a courageous champion of the obligations of hospitality in a situation of extreme embarrassment, and is recorded to his credit. The over-all consensus is, however, that Lots action in the offer to sacrifice his daughters on the altar of human male lust was, whatever mitigating circumstances might be offered in his defense, morally without excuse. Thus Delitzsch (COPT, 233): In his anxiety, Lot was willing to sacrifice to the sanctity of hospitality his duty as a father, which ought to have been still more sacred, and committed the sin of seeking to avert sin by sin. Even if he expected that his daughters would suffer no harm, as they were betrothed to Sodomites (Gen. 19:14), the offer was a grievous violation of his paternal duty. While the narrative reveals Lots hospitality, it also reveals his wickedness (SC, 94). Murphy (MG, 322): How familiar Lot had become with vice, when any necessity whatever could induce him to offer his daughters to the lust of these Sodomites! We may suppose it was spoken rashly, in the heat of the moment, and with the expectation that he would not be taken at his word. So it turned out. (This fact surely points up the infamy of the men of Sodom: they would not be satisfied with what females could offer; they had to have males to serve their purposes.) Leupold (EG, 559560): The kindest interpretation of Lots willingness to sacrifice his daughters to the depraved lusts of these evildoers stresses that it was done with the intent of guarding his guests. To that certainly must be added the fact that under the circumstances Lot was laboring under a certain confusion. But Delitzschs summary still covers the truth, when he describes Lots mistakes as being an attempt to avoid sin by sin. In days of old, when an exaggerated emphasis on hospitality prevailed, we might have understood how such a sacrifice could be made by a father. But in our day we cannot but feel the strongest aversion to so unpaternal an attitude. Luthers attempts to vindicate Lots character are quite unconvincing: for Lot could hardly have anticipated with a certain shrewdness that the Sodomites were so bent on this particular form of vileness as to refuse any substitutes. In fact, their refusal to accept Lots substitute argues for an intensity of evil purpose that surpasses all comprehension. Jamieson (CECG, 160): The offer made by Lot was so extreme as plainly shows that he had been thrown into a state of the most perturbed and agitated feeling, between fear of the popular violence and solicitude for the safety of the strangers that were under his roof. The incident (IB, 626627) is recorded to Lots credit as one who was concerned at all costs to fulfill the sacred obligation of a host to protect his guests. At the same time, such treatment of the daughters would have been abhorrent to Hebrew morality. Again, (ibid): Compared with the general population of Sodom Lot was a decent person. The writer of Second Peter (Gen. 2:6-8) could even think of him as just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. The moments came when, as in the vile events described in this chapter, he was more than vexed. He tried to resist the extreme outrage which the lustful gang in Sodom were about to perpetrate upon the men who had harborage in his house. He would go to great length to fulfill the obligation of hospitalityan obligation which in his world and time was one of the supreme laws of honor. But he had got himself into a place where there could be no decent way out of the crisis that had caught him. All he could think of was the desperate and shameful alternative of sacrificing his own daughters. Even this would not avail. The gang that assaulted his house wanted the men who were his guests therewanted them for sodomy, the vileness to which the city of Sodom gave its name. In the day when Lot made what he thought was his smart decision to select the neighborhood of Sodom, in the choice Abraham offered him, he did not foresee that the place would prove so evil. But because he did not care enough to consider that, he took the chance and reaped the consequences. Like many another man since, he learned that early choices which seem clever when they smother conscience must pay their heavy reckoning. There is no guarantee of limited ability for a wrong act.(italics mine-C.C.)
There are three summarizations of Lots acts and their motivations which are worthy of being presented here to bring to a close this phase of our subject. The first is by Whitelaw (PCG, 253): The usual apologiesthat in sacrificing his daughters to the Sodomites instead of giving up his guests to their unnatural lust, Lot (1) selected the lesser of two sins (Ambrose); (2) thereby protected his guests and discharged the duties of hospitality incumbent on him (Chrysostom); (3) believed his daughters would not be desired by the Sodomites, either because of their well-known betrothal (Rosenmuller), or because of the unnatural lust of the Sodomites (Lange); (4) acted rough mental perturbation (Augustine)are insufficient to excuse the wickedness of one who in attempting to prevent one sin was himself guilty of another (Delitzsch), who in seeking to be a faithful friend forgot to be an affectionate father (Kalisch), and who, though bound to defend his guests at the risk of his own life, was not at liberty to purchase their safety by the sacrifice of his daughters (Speakers Commentary).
A second excellent summarization is that of Speiser (ABG, 143): Lot is dutiful in his hospitality. His manner with the visitors, however, appears servile (with his face to the ground, Gen. 19:1), as contrasted with the simple dignity of Abraham (Gen. 18:2), and both his invitation and subsequent preparations lack his uncles spontaneity. But true to the unwritten code, Lot will stop at nothing in order to protect his guests. Presently, the identity of the visitors is revealed in a flash of supernatural light (Gen. 19:11). The angels intercession serves to bring out the latent weaknesses in Lots character. He is undecided, flustered, ineffectual. His own sons-in-law refuse to take him seriously (14). He hesitates to turn his back on his possessions, and has to be led to safety by the hand (16), like a childan ironic sidelight on a man who a moment earlier tried to protect his celestial guests (von Rad). Lots irresoluteness makes him incoherent (20). Small wonder that his deliverance is finally achieved without a moment to spare. Had the sun risen an instant sooner, Lot might have shared the fate of his wife; for Gods mysterious workings must not be looked at by man. In addition to all this, Lots degeneracy is further underscored, in his declining years, by intoxication and incest (Gen. 19:30-38). Though neither of these were of his own making, they surely do point up his failure as a father, by proving that he allowed his offspring to suffer the contaminations of the environment in which he had placed them by his own choice and had allowed them to grow up, to become promised to men of Sodom, and so to become infected by the moral rot with which the Cities of the Plain fairly stank. It is significantis it not?that after this last-recorded disgraceful incident, the name of Lot disappears completely from sacred history, not even his death being recorded. Here is an eternal picture of the corrosive possibilities of a bad environment. Those who accustom themselves to the ways of an evil society may themselves at last be evil. What is happening now to people who make no effective protest against the wrongs they live with every day? (IBG, 624). As Alexander Pope has put it so succinctly:
Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As to be hated needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
A final summation here is of special interest, even though it takes the form of a contrast: Lot and Abraham both were righteous men (Gen. 15:6, 2Pe. 2:7; 2Pe. 2:9), and both enjoyed similar backgrounds and advantages. Abraham, however, looked forward to the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Heb. 11:10). Lot, on the contrary, looked toward the city without heavenly foundations, choosing for the present time without concern for eternity (Gen. 13:5-18). Lots misfortune should be a warning for all (HSB, 31).
4. The Iniquity of Sodom and Gomorrah
The iniquity of the Cities of the Plain included certain corollary practices, such as (1) lack of social justice (Isa. 1:9-17), (2) reveling in the indulgence of all kinds of vice openly (Isa. 3:4-12 : note tendency in our day to assume that there is a certain virtue in unblushing openness in the practice of vicea sophisticated kind of hypocrisy; (3) priestly (ecclesiastical) heresy and moral corruption (Jer. 23:14-15); complete disregard of the poor, in an affluent society: poverty in the midst of plenty (Eze. 16:49); preoccupation with things of the secular world (Luk. 17:26-32); obsession with sex (Jud. 1:7 : note the phrase, gone after strange flesh, that is, a departure from the order of nature in the corruptions practised). (In our day the ancient Cult of Fertility has been superseded by the by-products of libidinal psychology).
It was the citys sexual depravity, however, that provided the basic reason for its utter destruction. On this fact the consensus is practically universal. E.g., The sin of Sodom was unnatural vice (IB, 627), as is evident from the fact that Lot knew all too well what remaining in the street all night would have meant to his visitors. The unnatural vice that takes its name from this incident was an abomination to the Israelites, Lev. 18:22, and was punished with death Lev. 20:13; but it was rife among their neighbors, Lev. 20:23; cf. Jdg. 19:22 ff (JB 35). The unnatural vice alluded to here was, undoubtedly homosexuality, in all likelihood accompanied by all forms of sex perversion. (It should be noted that bestiality is also specifically mentioned in the Scripture references: cf. Lev. 18:22-23; Lev. 20:13-16.) Lesbianism (female homosexuality) was probably common also: the name derives from the island of Lesbos where Sappho the Greek poetess, maintained the first finishing school in history for young women, which achieved the reputation of having been a disseminator of this vice among the women of Lesbos and the surrounding Greek states.)
Young men and women of our time need to be warned against these unnatural practices. In this category belong the solitary sex acts (voluntary in origin and involving sex satisfaction through some method of erotic stimulation of the sex organs). These are unnatural in that they involve the abuse of the sex function; they are harmful in that they tend to become habitual and hence gradually to weaken the will. In this category we put the following: masturbation, commonly called self-abuse, sometimes erroneously called onanism (cf. Gen. 38:8-10). (Onans act was an offense against the theocratic family, not an act indulged for erotic pleasure). The act, however, if it becomes habitual with young boys, certainly tends to vitiate the will; if persistently practised, undoubtedly it contributes to impotence in later life. Bestiality, coition of a human being with a brute; necrophilia, erotic satisfaction obtained by physical sexual contact with a corpse (a practice prevalent in ancient Egypt especially, where mummification of corpses of the nobility, both male and female, was common) ; fetishism, an act in which the person obtains sexual gratification onanistically with the aid of a symbol, usually a symbol of the loved object; transvestism, putting on the clothing of the opposite sex for purposes of erotic satisfaction; scoptophilia, the avid viewing of the external sex organs or of actual sex acts for the purpose of obtaining sex excitation; voyeurism, defined as pathological indulgence in looking at some form of nudity as a source of gratification in place of the normal sex act. Under this heading we must also include obscenity, pornography, lasciviousness (Gal. 5:19), lewdness, exhibitionism (indecent exposure), etc.
Homosexual activity, even though it involves another person, belongs in the category of solitary sex acts because the erotic pleasure is confined to the one who plays the role of the active agent in the perversion. Homosexuality may stem from a glandular dysfunction; generally, however, it seems to be psychological in origin, that is, a habit formed in adolescence which results in such a weakening of the will that the victim, in adulthood, lacks the mental and physical strength to cast it off. In the end, its effect, like that of alcoholism, is often pathological; obviously, it is not a natural use of the sex function. Many eminent authorities speak of it as a cogenital anomaly rather than a disease. Usually the homosexual possesses characteristic psychic and physical traits of the opposite sex. Pederasty is carnal copulation of an adult as the active partner with a boy as the passive partner. Sodomy, basically, is defined (WNCD) as carnal copulation with a member of the same sex or with an animal, or unnatural copulation with a member of the opposite sex. As a matter of fact, however, the term has come to be used in many legal codes for all kinds of sex perversion. History proves that in cultures in which homosexuality has become a practice woman has never been accorded any particularly honorable status; moreover, that the spread of the perversion throughout the population, as in the days of the so-called Enlightenment in Athens and in those of the Empire in Rome, is an unfailing mark of national decadence. The morale of a people depends upon the national morality; and the national standard of morality depends very largely on the nations sex morality. Socrates, in Athens, had his belovedhis name was Alcibiades. Plato winked at the practice. Pericles, the great Athenian statesman, on the other hand, despised it. And Aristotle deplored it, criticizing Plato for his seeming tolerance of the perversion. It is amazing to discover how many eminent persons in the field of literature in particular have been enslaved by it, and one might well say, haunted by the enslavement. (See Pauls list of the vices of the pagan world, Rom. 1:18-32). Parents have a solemn obligation in our day to instruct their children about these unnatural uses of the sex function; moreover, this instruction should begin even before the child reaches adolescence. Let it never be overlooked, as Dr. Will Durant has stated so pointedly, that the control of the sex impulse is the first principle of civilization,to be blunt, the first step out of the barnyard.
Any act of sex perversion is a selfish prostitution of the sex function: it gives pleasure only to the one who performs the act, and physical pleasure only. In the true conjugal union, however, one that is sanctified by mutual love, the participants enjoy the planned sharing of the bliss, one with the other; indeed this bliss is enhanced by the fact that each participant is thinking in terms of what is being contributed to the enjoyment of the other: the satisfaction thus becomes spiritual and not exclusively physical. There is a vast difference here, difference which evinces the sanctity of the conjugal union and the superiority of monogamy as a selective institution. Let us remember that love is a permanent and fixed attitude which puts the interest of the one loved above the interests of the lover: the reversal of this sacrificial quality is the fallacy which permeates Fletchers so-called situationist ethics, which in essence is the advocacy of sheer, selfishness.
The physiological sex union of husband and wife in the conjugal relation has by divine ordination a twofold purpose: it is procreative, i.e., it guarantees the preservation of the race, and it is unitive in that it enhances the intimacy of the conjugal relation. Obviously, because homosexuality thwarts these ends of marriage, it is unnatural. On the basis of the Principle of Universalization, namely, that the moral validity of a human act is to be realistically tested by considering what the consequences would be if every human being did it under the same or similar circumstances, indubitably homosexuality would destroy the race in short order. Hence the Divine pronouncements recorded in Gen. 1:26-31; Gen. 2:18; Gen. 2:21-25. It simply is not good for the man to be alone: under such conditions his potentialities could never be realized and the race would die aborning. Moreover, in every case of addiction to the practice, it could serve only to debase the intimacy of the marriage relation and so to vitiate the very character and design of the conjugal union. Sexual coition without love is simply that of the brute. On the other hand, coition sanctified by love, is treated in Scripture as an allegory of the mystical relationship between Christ and His Bride, the Church. (Cf. the entire Song of Solomon; also Eph. 5:22-33, 2Co. 11:2; Rev. 21:1-4, etc.). (Suggested reading: The Sexual Offender and His Offenses, by Benjamin Karpman, M.D., Julian Press, Inc., New York, 1954).
In view of all these facts, we are not surprised to find that sodomy is anathematized throughout both the Old and New Testaments as an abomination to God, and that the terrible judgment which descended on Sodom and Gomorrah is repeatedly cited as a warning to all people who would tolerate such iniquity. Thus the name of Sodom itself has become a byword among all peoples whose God is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. See, on sodomy, Exo. 22:19, Jdg. 19:22 ff; Lev. 18:22-23; Lev. 20:13-16; Lev. 20:23; Rom. 1:24-27; Rom. 9:29; 1Co. 6:9, 1Ti. 1:10; on sodomites, Deu. 23:17-18; 1Ki. 14:23-24; 1Ki. 15:12; 1Ki. 22:46; 2Ki. 23:7; on the divine judgment visited on the Cities of the Plain, Deu. 29:23; Deu. 32:32; Isa. 1:9-10; Isa. 3:9; Isa. 13:19; Jer. 20:15; Jer. 49:17-18; Jer. 23:13-15; Jer. 50:40; Eze. 16:46-51, Ezek. 53:58; Lam. 4:6; Amo. 4:11, Hos. 11:8, Zep. 2:9; Mat. 10:15; Mat. 11:23-24; Luk. 10:12; Luk. 17:28-30; 2Pe. 2:6; Judges 7, Rev. 11:8.
Review Questions
See Gen. 19:30-38.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(4) From every quarter.Heb., from the end. This may mean, either, to the last man. or from the very end of the town. In either case it shows that there were not in Sodom the ten righteous men who would have availed to save it (Gen. 18:32).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. All the people from every quarter Hebrews, from the extremity, that is, of the city . Here we have a picture of the vilest kind of a rabble, debased to the most shameless licentiousness .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘But, before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every section. And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you this night? Bring them out to us that we might know them.” ’
The enthusiasm for evil that epitomises Sodom is brought out here. ‘Before they lay down’. They did not even wait for full darkness. It is then stressed that they had all gathered for the sport. They intended to take the men and practise their sexual perversions on them as both participants and spectators. There was no limit to their evil.
How many innocent strangers in the past had suffered in this way, including children? We will never know. But, in the light of this, who can doubt that God’s way was right? These people had no redeeming feature.
“The men of the city, even the men of Sodom”. The repetition brings out the emphasis on who these men are. They represent the whole city, and they are Sodomites.
(In later times to be compared with Sodom was to have reached the lowest level of behaviour. But the idea even then is not that such people commit the sins of Sodom. The prophets had in mind the sins of their own times and possibly could not even conceive the total perversion of the Sodomites – see Isa 1:10; Isa 3:9; Jer 23:14; Eze 16:49).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Esvil Intention of the Sodomites
v. 4. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter; v. 5. and they called unto Lot and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us that we may know them. v. 6. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, v. 7. and said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. v. 8. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes; only unto these men do nothing, for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. v. 9. And they said, Stand back v. 10. But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.
v. 11. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Gen 19:4-5. The men of the city, both old and young, &c. The men of this abandoned city, being informed of the arrival of these strangers (who probably were of a very beautiful appearance) flocked from all quarters of the town, numbers of every age, with the most infamous purpose, shocking to relate or think of. Their crime, though exquisitely horrid in itself, became, if it were possible, still more so, by being attempted upon the persons of strangers, to violate whom has been accounted a sacrilege in all nations. What an idea does this give us of the total depravation and corruption of this people! One end of Infinite Wisdom, says Dr. Delaney, in recording this history of the destruction of Sodom, was to give us a true idea of that guilt which drew down the Divine vengeance upon this devoted people, and to convey this knowledge to us in a way worthy of infinite wisdom and goodness. Here was a habit of guilt, the most monstrous and unnatural that can be imagined; a crime not to be named among men, and much less to be explained or described: and yet there was a necessity that it should be known, that it should be seen in all its aggravation, in all its horror, in order to vindicate the justice of God in so dreadful a chastisement of it; and that this chastisement should be a terror to all succeeding generations, to guard them against a sin so shameful and so detestable. Now all this is clearly and completely effected in the simplicity of a plain natural account of God’s sending two angels to execute the purposes of his justice upon that abandoned people, and of the violence which that abandoned people unanimously agreed to offer to these blessed Beings in human form. The text says, The men of Sodom compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter. Now this combination in so detestable a purpose shews them all depraved beyond imagination. When the youth of any place have lost all reverence of the aged, and fear not to expose their guilt to their eyes, from whom, of all others, they should hide it; it is a sure sign that corruption has made a great progress among them; and that those people are hastening to destruction. But when the aged have lost all reverence for themselves, when (as the prophet Isaiah expresses it) they declare their guilt like Sodom, they hide it not, when they fear not to publish their shame to their sons, then is guilt in its last gradation! That people is utterly abandoned! is ripe for perdition! And that this was the condition of that devoted city, when God destroyed it, is sufficiently clear from Moses’s account of that destruction; in which every common eye sees the heinousness of the guilt, and the justice of the punishment, without the least offensive mention of the crime which deserved it. The guilt is exposed in all its horror, and the reader is eager for Divine vengeance upon it; and yet the purest ear is not offended with any word in the whole relation.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:
Observe, old and young, all; an universal infection of sin. See Isa 1:5-7 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 19:4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, [even] the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:
Ver. 4. Both old and young. ] Nulla aetas erat culpae immunis, ideo nec exitii . – Ambrose. Sin spreads as leaven, and is as catching as the plague; like the Jerusalem artichoke, plant it where you will, it overruns the ground, and chokes the heart.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
But: Pro 4:16, Pro 6:18, Mic 7:3, Rom 3:15
all: Gen 13:13, Gen 18:20, Exo 16:2, Exo 23:2, Jer 5:1-6, Jer 5:31, Mat 27:20-25
Reciprocal: Gen 19:7 – General Deu 23:17 – sodomite Jdg 19:22 – the men Jdg 20:5 – beset 2Ki 23:7 – the sodomites Jer 44:15 – all the Luk 17:28 – General Rom 5:13 – until
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Sodom’s Sin The men of Sodom were involved in the sin of homosexuality. They had become so wicked that they were not ashamed ( Isa 3:9 ; Php 3:19 ). Their sinfulness had become so great that they would force strangers within their city to participate in their evil deeds ( Gen 19:4-5 ). Both young and old came to the house of Lot to get him to bring out his visitors that they might “know them carnally.” This “knowing” was like that described in Gen 4:1 and Mat 1:25 .
The sin of homosexuality was punishable by death ( Lev 20:13 ). In Rom 1:1-32 , Paul describes the downward spiral of the Gentiles into sin. He says, in part, “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due” (1:26-27).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Gen 19:4-5. No description which could be given of their vile and abominable conduct, however laboured, could possibly have conveyed so striking an idea of their unparalleled wickedness, as this simple narrative of facts. Here were old and young, all from every quarter Collected for practices too shameful to be mentioned! Either they had no magistrates to protect the peaceable, or their magistrates themselves were aiding and abetting.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
19:4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, [even] the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, {d} all the people from every quarter:
(d) Nothing is more dangerous than to live where sin reigns: for it corrupts all.