[Commentary is S6K; translation is Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.—Admin1.]
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Picking up from Bere’shith 18 where “3 men” left Abraham’s tent to head for Sodom, only 2 are mentioned in this next chapter.
1 The two messengers came to Sedom at sunset, as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sedom. When Lot saw them, he arose to meet them and bowed low, brow to the ground
Why are there only 2 who arrived at Sodom, where is the 3rd? The Jewish explanation is that one “malak” or angel had finished his assignment at the visit with Abraham while the Christian explanation, consistent with their belief that Jesus was one of the 3 men, he supposedly stayed behind to converse with Abraham.
What about us, how do we reconcile this with the interpretation we have chosen which is—these 3 men were really 3 angels with individual missions? We concur with the Jewish interpretation, the first angelic messenger had his mission accomplished; it was left for the remaining 2 to accomplish theirs.
2 and said: Now pray, my lords, pray turn aside to your servant’s house, spend the night, wash your feet; (starting-early) you may go on your way. They said: No, rather we will spend the night in the square. 3 But he pressed them exceedingly hard, so they turned in to him and came into his house. He made them a meal-with-drink and baked flat-cakes, and they ate
Lot is just as Abraham was, the compleat host; he was at the city gate when he spots them, meets them, bows before them, invites them, even persuades them when they initially refuse, prepares them a meal and bakes for them unleavened bread.
4 They had not yet lain down, when the men of the city, the men of Sedom, encircled the house, from young lad to old man, all the people (even) from the outskirts. 5 They called out to Lot and said to him: Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, we want to know them!
“Know” is the euphemism for intimacy. What! Aren’t there enough “young and old” males in Sodom to sodomize each other, they still hanker after strange men? As if that weren’t bad enough, Lot offers them his virgin daughters, what kind of a father is Lot? But let’s not judge Lot for giving an offer he knows they will refuse, that’s like serving ham to someone who’s strictly kosher; well, perhaps not the best analogy but the point is, readers are usually aghast at the extent to which Lot goes to protect his guests.
6 Lot went out to them, to the entrance, shutting the door behind him
7 and said: Pray, brothers, do not be so wicked! 8 Now pray, I have two daughters who have never known a man, pray let me bring them out to you, and you may deal with them however seems good in your eyes; only to these men do nothing, for they have, after all, come under the shadow of my roof-beam!
The men’s reaction betrays how poorly Lot has assimilated in the Sodom population; what happens next clearly tells us why Sodom deserved total destruction, by fire and brimstone raining no less from the CONSUMING FIRE Himself! YHWH allows Abraham to plead for the stay of judgment of Sodom but reading this, one understands the depths of iniquity Sodom has sunk to; they deserve what is about to happen to them.
9 But they said: Step aside! and said: This one came to sojourn and (wants to ) judge, play-the-judge? Now we will do worse to you than (to) them! And they pressed exceedingly hard against the man, against Lot, and stepped closer to break down the door.
The “they” in the following verses are the 2 men, the angelic messengers, who interfere and begin to accomplish the mission they were sent there for but not until they inform Lot first, instructing him to gather his family to escape the impending doom.
10 But the men put out their hand and brought Lot in to them, into the house, and shut the door. 11 And the men who were at the entrance to the house, they struck with dazzling-light—(all men) great and small, so that they were unable to find the entrance. 12 The men said to Lot: Whom else have you here—a son-in-law, sons, daughters? Bring anyone whom you have in the city out of the place! 13 For we are about to bring ruin on this place, for how great is their outcry before YHWH! And YHWH has sent us to bring it to ruin. 14 Lot went out to speak to his sons-in-law, those who had taken his daughters (in marriage), and said: Up, out of this place, for YHWH is about to bring ruin on the city! But in the eyes of his sons-in-law, he was like one who jests.
If Lot had sons-in-law-to-be, then not all Sodom males were homosexuals, unless these men were part of Lot’s original community when he chose to settle them there [Bere’shiyth 14:12-13]. What these fiancés must have felt when they heard Lot offering their virgin brides-to-be to the wicked men of Sodom! Why would they have any respect for Lot? So, as a result, they miss the boat, so to speak. Amazing that YHWH continues to offer to rescue people from self-destructive or ignorant choices, paves the way, sends messengers, and yet just like these sons-in-law, people refuse to heed warnings.
15 Now when the dawn came up, the messengers pushed Lot on, saying: Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the iniquity of the city!
16 When he lingered, the men seized his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hand of his two
daughters -because YHVH’S pity was upon him- and, bringing him out, they left him outside the city.
Unbelievable, Lot lingers . . . what is at Sodom to regret leaving? How many of us can relate to Lot at this point? This brings to mind a friend who, during a devastating earthquake of 7.8 magnitude which continued violently in enough length of time for her and her colleagues to get out of the hotel where they were having a meeting; then there was a lull of about 10 seconds during which time this friend decided to run back inside the building to retrieve her purse when the second slow wave-like earthquake came. She was found dead days later in a fetal position under the conference table.
17 It was, when they had brought him outside, that (one of them) said: Escape for your life, do not gaze behind you, do not stand still anywhere in the plain: to the hill-country escape, lest you be swept away! 18 Lot said to them: No, pray, my lord! 19 Now pray, your servant has found favor in your eyes, you have shown great faithfulness in how you have dealt with me, keeping me alive– but I, I am not able to escape to the hill-country, lest the wickedness cling to me, and I die!
This exchange is interesting not so much because Lot bargains with the angel-messenger, but because of what the angel says which reveals some of the instructions given him.
20 Now pray, that town is near enough to flee to, and it is so tiny; pray let me escape there-is it not tiny?-and stay alive! 21 He said to him: Here then, I lift up your face in this matter as well, by not overturning this town of which you speak. 22 Make haste, escape there, for I am not able to do anything until you come there. Therefore the name of the town was called: Tzo’ar/Tiny. 23 (Now) the sun was going out over the earth as Lot came to Tzo’ar.
The divine order was to get Lot and his kin out of Sodom, the angels have accomplished that. Wherever Lot wished to go, that was his prerogative; the angel simply had to make sure he and kin were safely out of danger.
24 But YHVH rained down brimstone and fire upon Sedom and Amora, coming from YHVH,
from the heavens,
Strangely, vs. 24 has been used as yet another prooftext to show that 2 of the Persons of the Trinity were at work here because of the way this verse is rendered, with YHWH being repeated. If YHWH is One, which He certainly is according to His repeated declarations about Himself, we simply have to take His word for it. Who, better than YHWH Himself can tell us His nature. Why trinitarians insist on splitting YHWH into 3 because of texts like this is not because of the text but because of their religious agenda. Vs. 24 is simple and clear, YHWH rained fire and brimstone on the 2 cities from out of the heavens. The way it is expressed must be a Hebraism. If Jack is one person, and we say Jack poured water on earth from Jack on the roof, that’s just a way of describing what Jack did. If Hebrew says it that way, and the English transliteration merely says it as the Hebrew says it, then what is the problem? Jack is still Jack and he is one person.
25 he overturned those cities and all of the plain, all those settled in the cities and the vegetation
of the soil.
26 Now his wife gazed behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Actually, looking back is a natural impulse, we want to see what’s happening behind us. The sight of fire and brimstone raining from heaven must have been spectacular, for sure they were hearing sounds as they were fleeing. People who have witnessed volcanic eruptions swear the spectacle made their hair stand up. But why does Mrs. Lot look back? Curiosity, sentimentality, regret, relief, whatever . . . if the instruction is strictly “don’t,” then don’t! Why were Lot and his daughters able to obey the instruction, it isn’t difficult to obey when you’re running for your life out of the danger zone.
27 Avraham started-early in the morning to the place where he had stood in YHWH’s presence, 28 he looked down upon the face of Sedom and Amora and upon thew hole face of the plain country and saw: here, the dense-smoke of the land went up like the dense-smoke of a furnace! 29 Thus it was, when God brought ruin on the cities of the plain, that God kept Avraham in mind and sent out Lot from the overturning, when he overturned the cities where Lot had settled.
Lot is the luckiest nephew to have ever lived! There’s nothing righteous about him from the time he’s introduced in this narrative, YHWH’s blessing and protection over his uncle is like an umbrella that shades him as well. This is strange but quite encouraging to think that our loved ones somehow benefit from our relationship with YHWH, even when they are not yet believers themselves. Think of Noah’s whole family saved in the ark. Not only Lot but his wife and daughters are rescued from Sodom. That’s a comforting thought, yet the grace of God surely has a limit. Each individual related to a believer in YHWH must eventually make his/her own commitment to Him.
30 Lot went up from Tzo’ar and settled in the hill-country, his two daughters with him, for he was afraid to settle in Tzo’ar. So he settled in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31 Now the firstborn said to the younger: Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come in to us as befits the way of all the earth! 32 Come, let us have our father drink wine and lie with him so that we may keep seed alive by
our father.
33 So they had their father drink wine that night, then the firstborn went in and lay with her father— but he knew nothing of her lying down or her rising up.
34 It was on the morrow that the firstborn said to the younger: Here, yesternight I lay with father. Let us have him drink wine tonight as well, then you go in and lie with him, so that we may
keep seed alive by our father.
35 They had their father drink wine that night as well, then the younger arose and lay with him,
but he knew nothing of her lying down or her rising up.
36 And Lot’s two daughters became pregnant by their father.
37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name: Mo’av/By Father, he is the tribal-father of Mo’av of today.
38 The younger also bore a son, and called his name: Ben-ammi/Son of My Kinspeople, he is the tribal-father of the children of Ammon of today
The virgin daughters must have thought they were the last survivors on the whole planet earth and are therefore sincerely motivated to repopulate, probably aware of the hand-me-down commandment from Eden “go and multiply.” Why would they think this, didn’t they know only Sodom and Gomorrah suffered judgement? Lot had bargained with the angel to be allowed to head for Tso’ar, did they not hear that exchange? Did Lot not tell them anything at all?
The text says Lot was “not aware” that each daughter had committed incest with him (really? ignorance is bliss!). Did they violate a commandment of YHWH? Having lived and grown up in Sodom where they would have been exposed to all kinds of abominable practices, they may not have been taught by Lot right from wrong. Did Lot even know right from wrong? Later, the prohibition against incestuous relationships would be given in Leviticus.
From Lot and his daughters spring two tribes: the Moabites and the Ammonites.
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