37 and the first-born beareth a son, and calleth his name Moab; he `is' father of Moab unto this day;
and Jehovah saith unto me, Do not distress Moab, nor stir thyself up against them `in' battle, for I do not give to thee of their land `for' a possession; for to the sons of Lot I have given Ar `for' a possession.'
Wo to thee, O Moab, Thou hast perished, O people of Chemosh, He hath given his sons who escape -- Also his daughters -- Into captivity, to a king of the Amorite -- Sihon!
And the sons of Israel journey and encamp in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan, `by' Jericho. And Balak son of Zippor seeth all that Israel hath done to the Amorite, and Moab is exceedingly afraid of the presence of the people, for it `is' numerous; and Moab is vexed by the presence of the sons of Israel, and Moab saith unto the elders of Midian, `Now doth the assembly lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licketh up the green thing of the field.' And Balak son of Zippor `is' king of Moab at that time, and he sendeth messengers unto Balaam son of Beor, to Pethor, which `is' by the River of the land of the sons of his people, to call for him, saying, `Lo, a people hath come out of Egypt; lo, it hath covered the eye of the land, and it is abiding over-against me; and now, come, I pray thee, curse for me this people, for it `is' mightier than I; it may be I prevail -- we smite it -- and I cast it out from the land; for I have known -- that which thou blessest is blessed, and that which thou cursest is cursed.' And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian go, and divinations in their hand, and they come in unto Balaam, and speak unto him the words of Balak, and he saith unto them, `Lodge here to-night, and I have brought you back word, as Jehovah speaketh unto me;' and the princes of Moab abide with Balaam. And God cometh in unto Balaam, and saith, `Who `are' these men with thee?' And Balaam saith unto God, `Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto me: Lo, the people that is coming out from Egypt and covereth the eye of the land, -- now come, pierce it for me; it may be I am able to fight against it, and have cast it out;' and God saith unto Balaam, `Thou dost not go with them; thou dost not curse the people; for it `is' blessed.' And Balaam riseth in the morning, and saith unto the princes of Balak, `Go unto your land, for Jehovah is refusing to suffer me to go with you;' and the princes of Moab rise, and come in unto Balak, and say, `Balaam is refusing to come with us.' And Balak addeth yet to send princes, more numerous and honoured than these, and they come in unto Balaam, and say to him, `Thus said Balak son of Zippor, Be not, I pray thee, withheld from coming unto me, for very greatly I honour thee, and all that thou sayest unto me I do; and come, I pray thee, pierce for me this people.' And Balaam answereth and saith unto the servants of Balak, `If Balak doth give to me the fulness of his house of silver and gold, I am not able to pass over the command of Jehovah my God, to do a little or a great thing; and, now, abide, I pray you, in this `place', you also, to-night; and I know what Jehovah is adding to speak with me.' And God cometh in unto Balaam, by night, and saith to him, `If to call for thee the men have come, rise, go with them, and only the thing which I speak unto thee -- it thou dost do.' And Balaam riseth in the morning, and saddleth his ass, and goeth with the princes of Moab, and the anger of God burneth because he is going, and a messenger of Jehovah stationeth himself in the way for an adversary to him, and he is riding on his ass, and two of his servants `are' with him, and the ass seeth the messenger of Jehovah standing in the way, and his drawn sword in his hand, and the ass turneth aside out of the way, and goeth into a field, and Balaam smiteth the ass to turn it aside into the way. And the messenger of Jehovah standeth in a narrow path of the vineyards -- a wall on this `side' and a wall on that -- and the ass seeth the messenger of Jehovah, and is pressed unto the wall, and presseth Balaam's foot unto the wall, and he addeth to smite her; and the messenger of Jehovah addeth to pass over, and standeth in a strait place where there is no way to turn aside -- right or left -- and the ass seeth the messenger of Jehovah, and croucheth under Balaam, and the anger of Balaam burneth, and he smiteth the ass with a staff. And Jehovah openeth the mouth of the ass, and she saith to Balaam, `What have I done to thee that thou hast smitten me these three times?' and Balaam saith to the ass, `Because thou hast rolled thyself against me; oh that there were a sword in my hand, for now I had slain thee;' and the ass saith unto Balaam, `Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden since `I was' thine unto this day? have I at all been accustomed to do to thee thus?' and he saith, `No.' And Jehovah uncovereth the eyes of Balaam, and he seeeth the messenger of Jehovah standing in the way, and his drawn sword in his hand, and he boweth and doth obeisance, to his face; and the messenger of Jehovah saith unto him, `Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? lo, I -- I have come out for an adversary, for `thy' way hath been perverse before me, and the ass seeth me, and turneth aside at my presence these three times; unless she had turned aside from my presence, surely now also, thee I had slain, and her kept alive.' And Balaam saith unto the messenger of Jehovah, `I have sinned, for I did not know that thou `art' standing to meet me in the way; and now, if evil in thine eyes -- I turn back by myself.' And the messenger of Jehovah saith unto Balaam, `Go with the men; and only the word which I speak unto thee -- it thou dost speak;' and Balaam goeth with the princes of Balak. And Balak heareth that Balaam hath come, and goeth out to meet him, unto a city of Moab, which `is' on the border of Arnon, which `is' in the extremity of the border; and Balak saith unto Balaam, `Did I not diligently sent unto thee to call for thee? why didst thou not come unto me? am I not truly able to honour thee?' And Balaam saith unto Balak, `Lo, I have come unto thee; now -- am I at all able to speak anything? the word which God setteth in my mouth -- it I do speak.' And Balaam goeth with Balak, and they come to Kirjath-Huzoth, and Balak sacrificeth oxen and sheep, and sendeth to Balaam, and to the princes who `are' with him; and it cometh to pass in the morning, that Balak taketh Balaam, and causeth him to go up the high places of Baal, and he seeth from thence the extremity of the people.
And Balaam seeth that `it is' good in the eyes of Jehovah to bless Israel, and he hath not gone as time by time to meet enchantments, and he setteth towards the wilderness his face; and Balaam lifteth up his eyes, and seeth Israel tabernacling, by its tribes, and the Spirit of God is upon him, and he taketh up his simile, and saith: `An affirmation of Balaam son of Beor -- And an affirmation of the man whose eyes are shut -- An affirmation of him who is hearing sayings of God -- Who a vision of the Almighty seeth, Falling -- and eyes uncovered: How good have been thy tents, O Jacob, Thy tabernacles, O Israel; As valleys they have been stretched out, As gardens by a river; As aloes Jehovah hath planted, As cedars by waters; He maketh water flow from his buckets, And his seed `is' in many waters; And higher than Agag `is' his king, And exalted is his kingdom. God is bringing him out of Egypt; As the swiftness of a Reem is to him, He eateth up nations his adversaries, And their bones he breaketh, And `with' his arrows he smiteth, He hath bent, he hath lain down as a lion, And as a lioness: who doth raise him up? He who is blessing thee `is' blessed, And he who is cursing thee `is' cursed.' And the anger of Balak burneth against Balaam, and he striketh his hands; and Balak saith unto Balaam, `To pierce mine enemies I called thee, and lo, thou hast certainly blessed -- these three times; and now, flee for thyself unto thy place; I have said, I do greatly honour thee, and lo, Jehovah hath kept thee back from honour.' And Balaam saith unto Balak, `Did I not also unto thy messengers whom thou hast sent unto me, speak, saying, If Balak doth give to me the fulness of his house of silver and gold, I am not able to pass over the command of Jehovah, to do good or evil of mine own heart -- that which Jehovah speaketh -- it I speak? and, now, lo, I am going to my people; come, I counsel thee `concerning' that which this people doth to thy people, in the latter end of the days.' And he taketh up his simile, and saith: `An affirmation of Balaam son of Beor -- And an affirmation of the man whose eyes `are' shut -- An affirmation of him who is hearing sayings of God -- And knowing knowledge of the Most High; A vision of the Almighty he seeth, Falling -- and eyes uncovered: I see it, but not now; I behold it, but not near; A star hath proceeded from Jacob, And a sceptre hath risen from Israel, And hath smitten corners of Moab, And hath destroyed all sons of Sheth. And Edom hath been a possession, And Seir hath been a possession, `for' its enemies, And Israel is doing valiantly; And `one' doth rule out of Jacob, And hath destroyed a remnant from Ar.' And he seeth Amalek, and taketh up his simile, and saith: `A beginning of the Goyim `is' Amalek; And his latter end -- for ever he perisheth.' And he seeth the Kenite, and taketh up his simile, and saith: `Enduring `is' thy dwelling, And setting in a rock thy nest, But the Kenite is for a burning; Till when doth Asshur keep thee captive?' And he taketh up his simile, and saith: `Alas! who doth live when God doth this? And -- ships `are' from the side of Chittim, And they have humbled Asshur, And they have humbled Eber, And it also for ever is perishing.' And Balaam riseth, and goeth, and turneth back to his place, and Balak also hath gone on his way.
and thou hast come near over-against the sons of Ammon, thou dost not distress them, nor stir up thyself against them, for I do not give `any' of the land of the sons of Ammon to thee `for' a possession; for to the sons of Lot I have given it `for' a possession.
And these `are' the nations which Jehovah left, to try Israel by them, all who have not known all the wars of Canaan; (only for the sake of the generations of the sons of Israel's knowing, to teach them war, only those who formerly have not known them) -- five princes of the Philistines, and all the Canaanite, and the Zidonian, and the Hivite inhabiting mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-Hermon unto the entering in of Hamath; and they are to prove Israel by them, to know whether they obey the commands of Jehovah that He commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. And the sons of Israel have dwelt in the midst of the Canaanite, the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, and take their daughters to them for wives, and their daughters have given to their sons, and they serve their gods; and the sons of Israel do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and forget Jehovah their God, and serve the Baalim and the shrines. And the anger of Jehovah burneth against Israel, and He selleth them into the hand of Chushan-Rishathaim king of Aram-Naharaim, and the sons of Israel serve Chushan-Rishathaim eight years; and the sons of Israel cry unto Jehovah, and Jehovah raiseth a saviour to the sons of Israel, and he saveth them -- Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother; and the Spirit of Jehovah is upon him, and he judgeth Israel, and goeth out to battle, and Jehovah giveth unto his hand Chushan-Rishathaim king of Aram, and strong is his hand against Chushan-Rishathaim; and the land resteth forty years. And Othniel son of Kenaz dieth, and the sons of Israel add to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah; and Jehovah strengtheneth Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because that they have done the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah; and he gathereth unto him the Bene-Ammon and Amalek, and goeth and smiteth Israel, and they possess the city of palms; and the sons of Israel serve Eglon king of Moab eighteen years. And the sons of Israel cry unto Jehovah, and Jehovah raiseth to them a saviour, Ehud son of Gera, a Benjamite (a man -- shut of his right hand), and the sons of Israel send by his hand a present to Eglon king of Moab; and Ehud maketh for himself a sword, and it hath two mouths (a cubit `is' its length), and he girdeth it under his long robe on his right thigh; and he bringeth near the present to Eglon king of Moab, and Eglon `is' a very fat man. And it cometh to pass, when he hath finished to bring near the present, that he sendeth away the people bearing the present, and he himself hath turned back from the graven images which `are' at Gilgal, and saith, `A secret word I have unto thee, O king;' and he saith, `Hush!' and go out from him do all those standing by him. And Ehud hath come unto him, and he is sitting in the upper chamber of the wall which he hath for himself, and Ehud saith, `A word of God I have unto thee;' and he riseth from off the throne; and Ehud putteth forth his left hand, and taketh the sword from off his right thigh, and striketh it into his belly; and the haft also goeth in after the blade, and the fat shutteth on the blade, that he hath not drawn the sword out of his belly, and it goeth out at the fundament. And Ehud goeth out at the porch, and shutteth the doors of the upper chamber upon him, and hath bolted `it'; and he hath gone out, and his servants have come in, and look, and lo, the doors of the upper chamber are bolted, and they say, `He is only covering his feet in the inner chamber of the wall.' And they stay till confounded, and lo, he is not opening the doors of the upper chamber, and they take the key, and open, and lo, their lord is fallen to the earth -- dead. And Ehud escaped during their tarrying, and hath passed by the images, and is escaped to Seirath. And it cometh to pass, in his coming in, that he bloweth with a trumpet in the hill-country of Ephraim, and go down with him do the sons of Israel from the hill-country, and he before them; and he saith unto them, `Pursue after me, for Jehovah hath given your enemies, the Moabites, into your hand;' and they go down after him, and capture the passages of the Jordan towards Moab, and have not permitted a man to pass over. And they smite Moab at that time, about ten thousand men, all robust, and every one a man of valour, and not a man hath escaped, and Moab is humbled in that day under the hand of Israel; and the land resteth eighty years. And after him hath been Shamgar son of Anath, and he smiteth the Philistines -- six hundred men -- with an ox-goad, and he saveth -- he also -- Israel.
and also Ruth the Moabitess, wife of Mahlon, I have bought to myself for a wife, to raise up the name of the dead over his inheritance; and the name of the dead is not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place; witnesses ye `are' to-day.'
And it cometh to pass afterwards that David smiteth the Philistines, and humbleth them, and David taketh the bridle of the metropolis out of the hand of the Philistines. And he smiteth Moab, and measureth them with a line, causing them to lie down on the earth, and he measureth two lines to put to death, and the fulness of the line to keep alive, and the Moabites are to David for servants, bearers of a present. And David smiteth Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, in his going to bring back his power by the River `Euphrates;' and David captureth from him a thousand and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen, and David destroyeth utterly the whole of the charioteers, only he leaveth of them a hundred charioteers. And Aram of Damascus cometh to give help to Hadadezer king of Zobah, and David smiteth of Aram twenty and two thousand men; and David putteth garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and Aram is to David for a servant, bearing a present; and Jehovah saveth David whithersoever he hath gone; and David taketh the shields of gold which were on the servants of Hadadezer, and bringeth them to Jerusalem; and from Betah, and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, hath king David taken very much brass. And Toi king of Hamath heareth that David hath smitten all the force of Hadadezer, and Toi sendeth Joram his son unto king David to ask of him of welfare, and to bless him, (because that he hath fought against Hadadezer, and smiteth him, for a man of wars `with' Toi had Hadadezer been), and in his hand have been vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass, also them did king David sanctify to Jehovah, with the silver and the gold which he sanctified of all the nations which he subdued: of Aram, and of Moab, and of the Bene-Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer son of Rehob king of Zobah. And David maketh a name in his turning back from his smiting Aram in the valley of Salt -- eighteen thousand; and he putteth in Edom garrisons -- in all Edom he hath put garrisons, and all Edom are servants to David; and Jehovah saveth David whithersoever he hath gone. And David reigneth over all Israel, and David is doing judgment and righteousness to all his people, and Joab son of Zeruiah `is' over the host, and Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud `is' remembrancer, and Zadok son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech son of Abiathar, `are' priests, and Seraiah `is' scribe, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada `is over' both the Cherethite and the Pelethite, and the sons of David have been ministers.
And Jehoram son of Ahab hath reigned over Israel, in Samaria, in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigneth twelve years, and doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, only not like his father, and like his mother, and he turneth aside the standing-pillar of Baal that his father made; only to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin he hath cleaved, he hath not turned aside from it. And Mesha king of Moab was a sheep-master, and he rendered to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand rams, `with' wool, and it cometh to pass at the death of Ahab, that the king of Moab transgresseth against the king of Israel. And king Jehoram goeth out in that day from Samaria, and inspecteth all Israel, and goeth and sendeth unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, `The king of Moab hath transgressed against me; dost thou go with me unto Moab for battle?' and he saith, `I go up, as I, so thou; as my people, so thy people; as my horses, so thy horses. And he saith, `Where `is' this -- the way we go up?' and he saith, `The way of the wilderness of Edom.' And the king of Israel goeth, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom, and they turn round the way seven days, and there hath been no water for the camp, and for the cattle that `are' at their feet, and the king of Israel saith, `Alas, for Jehovah hath called for these three kings, to give them into the hand of Moab.' And Jehoshaphat saith, `Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah, and we seek Jehovah by him?' And one of the servants of the king of Israel answereth and saith, `Here `is' Elisha son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.' And Jehoshaphat saith, `The word of Jehovah is with him;' and go down unto him do the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom. And Elisha saith unto the king of Israel, `What -- to me and to thee? go unto the prophets of thy father, and unto the prophets of thy mother;' and the king of Israel saith to him, `Nay, for Jehovah hath called for these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.' And Elisha saith, `Jehovah of Hosts liveth, before whom I have stood; for unless the face of Jehoshaphat king of Judah I am lifting up, I do not look unto thee, nor see thee; and now, bring to me a minstrel; and it hath been, at the playing of the minstrel, that the hand of Jehovah is on him, and he saith, `Thus said Jehovah, Make this valley ditches -- ditches; for thus said Jehovah, Ye do not see wind, nor do ye see rain, and that valley is full of water, and ye have drunk -- ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. `And this hath been light in the eyes of Jehovah, and he hath given Moab into your hand, and ye have smitten every fenced city, and every choice city, and every good tree ye cause to fall, and all fountains of waters ye stop, and every good portion ye mar with stones.' And it cometh to pass in the morning, at the ascending of the `morning'-present, that lo, waters are coming in from the way of Edom, and the land is filled with the waters, and all Moab have heard that the kings have come up to fight against them, and they are called together, from every one girding on a girdle and upward, and they stand by the border. And they rise early in the morning, and the sun hath shone on the waters, and the Moabites see, from over-against, the waters red as blood, and say, `Blood this `is'; the kings have been surely destroyed, and they smite each his neighbour; and now for spoil, Moab!' And they come in unto the camp of Israel, and the Israelites rise, and smite the Moabites, and they flee from their face; and they enter into Moab, so as to smite Moab, and the cities they break down, and `on' every good portion they cast each his stone, and have filled it, and every fountain of water they stop, and every good tree they cause to fall -- till one had left its stones in Kir-Haraseth, and the slingers go round and smite it. And the king of Moab seeth that the battle has been too strong for him, and he taketh with him seven hundred men, drawing sword, to cleave through unto the king of Edom, and they have not been able, and he taketh his son, the first-born who reigneth in his stead, and causeth him to ascend -- a burnt-offering on the wall, and there is great wrath against Israel, and they journey from off him, and turn back to the land.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 19
Commentary on Genesis 19 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
The messengers (angels) sent by Jehovah to Sodom, arrived there in the evening, when Lot, who was sitting at the gate, pressed them to pass the night in his house. The gate, generally an arched entrance with deep recesses and seats on either side, was a place of meeting in the ancient towns of the East, where the inhabitants assembled either for social intercourse or to transact public business (vid., Genesis 34:20; Deuteronomy 21:19; Deuteronomy 22:15, etc.). The two travellers, however (for such Lot supposed them to be, and only recognised them as angels when they had smitten the Sodomites miraculously with blindness), said that they would spend the night in the street - בּרחוב the broad open space within the gate - as they had been sent to inquire into the state of the town. But they yielded to Lot's entreaty to enter his house; for the deliverance of Lot, after having ascertained his state of mind, formed part of their commission, and entering into his house might only serve to manifest the sin of Sodom in all its heinousness. While Lot was entertaining his guests with the greatest hospitality, the people of Sodom gathered round his house, “ both old and young, all people from every quarter ” (of the town, as in Jeremiah 51:31), and demanded, with the basest violation of the sacred rite of hospitality and the most shameless proclamation of their sin (Isaiah 3:9), that the strangers should be brought out, that they might know them. ידע is applied, as in Judges 19:22, to the carnal sin of paederastia , a crime very prevalent among the Canaanites (Leviticus 18:22., Leviticus 20:23), and according to Romans 1:27, a curse of heathenism generally.
Lot went out to them, shut the door behind him to protect his guests, and offered to give his virgin daughters up to them. “ Only to these men ( האל , an archaism for האלּה rof , occurs also in Genesis 19:25; Genesis 26:3-4; Leviticus 18:27, and Deuteronomy 4:42; Deuteronomy 7:22; Deuteronomy 19:11; and אל for אלּה in 1 Chronicles 20:8) do nothing, for therefore (viz., to be protected from injury) have they come under the shadow of my roof .” 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 (Genesis 19:14), the offer was a grievous violation of his paternal duty. But this offer only heightened the brutality of the mob. “ Stand back ” (make way, Isaiah 49:20), they said; “ the man, who came as a foreigner, is always wanting to play the judge ” (probably because Lot had frequently reproved them for their licentious conduct, 2 Peter 2:7, 2 Peter 2:8): “ not will we deal worse with thee than with them .” With these words they pressed upon him, and approached the door to break it in. The men inside, that is to say, the angels, then pulled Lot into the house, shut the door, and by miraculous power smote the people without with blindness ( סנורים here and 2 Kings 6:18 for mental blindness, in which the eye sees, but does not see the right object), as a punishment for their utter moral blindness, and an omen of the coming judgment.
The sin of Sodom had now become manifest. The men, Lot's guests, made themselves known to him as the messengers of judgment sent by Jehovah , and ordered him to remove any one that belonged to him out of the city. “ Son-in-law (the singular without the article, because it is only assumed as a possible circumstance that he may have sons-in-law), and thy sons, and thy daughters, and all that belongs to thee ” (sc., of persons, not of things). Sons Lot does not appear to have had, as we read nothing more about them, but only “ sons-in-law ( בנתיו לקחי ) who were about to take his daughters, ” as Josephus, the Vulgate , Ewald , and many others correctly render it. The lxx, Targums , Knobel , and Delitzsch adopt the rendering “who had taken his daughters,” in proof of which the last two adduce הנּמצאת in Genesis 19:15 as decisive. But without reason; for this refers not to the daughters who were still in the father's house, as distinguished form those who were married, but to his wife and two daughters who were to be found with him in the house, in distinction from the bridegrooms, who also belonged to him, but were not yet living with him, and who had received his summons in scorn, because in their carnal security they did not believe in any judgment of God (Luke 17:28-29). If Lot had had married daughters, he would undoubtedly have called upon them to escape along with their husbands, his sons-in-law.
As soon as it was dawn, the angels urged Lot to hasten away with his family; and when he still delayed, his heart evidently clinging to the earthly home and possessions which he was obliged to leave, they laid hold of him, with his wife and his two daughters, עליו יהוה בּחמלת , “ by virtue of the sparing mercy of Jehovah (which operated) upon him,” and_ led him out of the city.
When they left him here ( הנּיח , to let loose, and leave, to leave to one's self), the Lord commanded him, for the sake of his life, not to look behind him, and not to stand still in all the plain ( כּכּר , Genesis 13:10), but to flee to the mountains (afterwards called the mountains of Moab). In Genesis 19:17 we are struck by the change from the plural to the singular: “when they brought them forth, he said.” To think of one of the two angels - the one, for example, who led the conversation - seems out of place, not only because Lot addressed him by the name of God, “ Adonai ” (Genesis 19:18), but also because the speaker attributed to himself the judgment upon the cities (Genesis 19:21, Genesis 19:22), which is described in Genesis 19:24 as executed by Jehovah . Yet there is nothing to indicate that Jehovah suddenly joined the angels. The only supposition that remains, therefore, is that Lot recognised in the two angels a manifestation of God, and so addressed them (Genesis 19:18) as Adonai (my Lord), and that the angel who spoke addressed him as the messenger of Jehovah in the name of God, without its following from this, that Jehovah was present in the two angels. Lot, instead of cheerfully obeying the commandment of the Lord, appealed to the great mercy shown to him in the preservation of his life, and to the impossibility of his escaping to the mountains, without the evil overtaking him, and entreated therefore that he might be allowed to take refuge in the small and neighbouring city, i.e., in Bela , which received the name of Zoar (Genesis 14:2) on account of Lot's calling it little. Zoar , the Σηγώρ of the lxx, and Segor of the crusaders, is hardly to be sought for on the peninsula which projects a long way into the southern half of the Dead Sea, in the Ghor of el Mezraa , as Irby and Robinson ( Pal. iii. p. 481) suppose; it is much more probably to be found on the south-eastern point of the Dead Sea, in the Ghor of el Szaphia , at the opening of the Wady el Ahsa (vid., v . Raumer , Pal. p. 273, Anm. 14).
“ 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, Psalms 11:6 and Ezekiel 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 ( הפך ) 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, Genesis 14:3) are mentioned; and along with these the cities of Admah and Zeboim, which were situated in the valley (Deuteronomy 29:23, cf. Hosea 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.
On the way, Lot's wife, notwithstanding the divine command, looked “ behind him away, ” - i.e., went behind her husband and looked backwards, probably from a longing for the house and the earthly possessions she had left with reluctance (cf. Luke 17:31-32), - and “ became a pillar of salt .” We are not to suppose that she was actually turned into one, but having been killed by the fiery and sulphureous vapour with which the air was filled, and afterwards encrusted with salt, she resembled an actual statue of salt; just as even now, from the saline exhalation of the Dead Sea, objects near it are quickly covered with a crust of salt, so that the fact, to which Christ refers in Luke 17:32, may be understood without supposing a miracle.
(Note: But when this pillar of salt is mentioned in Wis. 11:7 and Clemens ad Cor . xi. as still in existence, and Josephus professes to have seen it, this legend is probably based upon the pillar-like lumps of salt, which are still to be seen at Mount Usdum (Sodom), on the south-western side of the Dead Sea.)
- In Genesis 19:27, Genesis 19:28, the account closes with a remark which points back to Genesis 18:17., viz., that Abraham went in the morning to the place where he had stood the day before, interceding with the Lord for Sodom, and saw how the judgment had fallen upon the entire plain, since the smoke of the country went up like the smoke of a furnace. Yet his intercession had not been in vain.
For on the destruction of these cities, God had thought of Abraham, and rescued Lot. This rescue is attributed to Elohim , as being the work of the Judge of the whole earth (Genesis 18:25), and not to Jehovah the covenant God, because Lot was severed from His guidance and care on his separation from Abraham. The fact, however, is repeated here, for the purpose of connecting with it an event in the life of Lot of great significance to the future history of Abraham's seed.
Genesis 19:30-35
From Zoar Lot removed with his two daughters to the (Moabitish) mountains, for fear that Zoar might after all be destroyed, and dwelt in one of the caves ( מערה with the generic article), in which the limestone rocks abound (vid., Lynch ), and so became a dweller in a cave. While there, his daughters resolved to procure children through their father; and to that end on two successive evenings they made him intoxicated with wine, and then lay with him in the might, one after the other, that they might conceive seed. To this accursed crime they were impelled by the desire to preserve their family, because they thought there was no man on the earth to come in unto them, i.e., to marry them, “after the manner of all the earth.” Not that they imagined the whole human race to have perished in the destruction of the valley of Siddim, but because they were afraid that no man would link himself with them, the only survivors of a country smitten by the curse of God. If it was not lust, therefore, which impelled them to this shameful deed, their conduct was worthy of Sodom, and shows quite as much as their previous betrothal to men of Sodom, that they were deeply imbued with the sinful character of that city. The words of Genesis 19:33 and Genesis 19:35, “And he knew not of her lying down and of her rising up,” do not affirm that he was in an unconscious state, as the Rabbins are said by Jerome to have indicated by the point over בּקוּמה : “ quasi incredibile et quod natura rerum non capiat, coire quempiam nescientem .” They merely mean, that in his intoxicated state, though not entirely unconscious, yet he lay with his daughters without clearly knowing what he was doing.
Genesis 19:36-38
But Lot's daughters had so little feeling of shame in connection with their conduct, that they gave names to the sons they bore, which have immortalized their paternity. Moab , another form of מאב “from the father,” as is indicated in the clause appended in the lxx: λέγουσα ἐκ τοῦ πατρός μου , and also rendered probable by the reiteration of the words “of our father” and “by their father” (Genesis 19:32, Genesis 19:34, and Genesis 19:36), as well as by the analogy of the name Ben-Ammi = Ammon , Ἀμμάν , λέγουσα Υἱος γένους μου (lxx). For עמּון , the sprout of the nation, bears the same relation to עם , as אגמון , the rush or sprout of the marsh, to אגם Delitzsch ). - This account was neither the invention of national hatred to the Moabites and Ammonites, nor was it placed here as a brand upon those tribes. These discoveries of a criticism imbued with hostility to the Bible are overthrown by the fact, that, according to Deuteronomy 2:9, Deuteronomy 2:19, Israel was ordered not to touch the territory of either of these tribes because of their descent from Lot; and it was their unbrotherly conduct towards Israel alone which first prevented their reception into the congregation of the Lord, Deuteronomy 23:4-5. - Lot is never mentioned again. Separated both outwardly and inwardly from Abraham, he was of no further importance in relation to the history of salvation, so that even his death is not referred to. His descendants, however, frequently came into contact with the Israelites; and the history of their descent is given here to facilitate a correct appreciation of their conduct towards Israel.