Genesis 19
DOYLYGenesis 19:22
- — I cannot do any thing &c.] Having made thee this promise, I must defer the vengeance till thou art safe there. Bp. Patrick. — Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.] Signifying “little:” for the name of it was Bela before, chap. xiv. 2. Bp. Wilson. In times of publick calamity, there is often some little Zoar provided for them that love God, where they are wonderfully preserved from the judgments that fall on their country and their kindred. The Roman armies, which surrounded Jerusalem, to execute on it the vengance predicted, drew off in an unaccountable manner, as if their design had been to give the Christians contained within its walls an opportunity of withdrawing to a little adjoining city called Pella, which proved a Zoar to them: from whence they beheld the Roman eagles fly again to devour their destined prey. And what is the Church upon earth, but a Zoar, a little city, (is it not a little one?) spared at the intercession of its Lord? Here the penitent, not yet strong enough to escape to the heavenly mountain, findeth rest and refreshment, and is strengthened to pursue his journey. Hither let him escape, and his soul shall live. Bp. Horne.
Genesis 19:24
- Then the Lord rained — from the Lord] In the account of the overthrow of Sodom, there is a distinction of persons in the Godhead: “Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.” The former was the visible Lord, “the image,” or representative, “of the invisible,” whom “no man hath seen at any time, nor can see; nor ever saw his shape, nor heard his voice;” as we learn from the former; who only could expound to mortals the nature and the will of the Father: for “no man knoweth the Father, save the Son, and he to whosoever the Son will reveal him.” Compare Col. i. 15; John i. 18; v. 37; 1 Tim. vi. 16; Matt. xi. 27. That the visible Lord was the Son of God, was the doctrine of the primitive Church: Tertullian says, “It is the Son, who has executed judgment from the beginning: overthrowing the proud tower of Babel, and confounding men’s languages; punishing the whole world by the violence of waters; raining upon Sodom and Gomorrah fire and brimstone, the LORD FROM THE LORD.” Dr. Hales. — upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah] And the neighbouring cities, Admah and Zeboim; as appears from Deut. xxix. 23. Bp. Patrick — brimstone and fire] The plain where these cities stood, which had been pleasant and fruitful, like an earthly Paradise, was first inflamed by lightning, which set fire to the bitumen, with which it was replete; and
Genesis 19:26
- But his wife looked back &c.] There are in Lot’s story two very notable memorials of God’s judgment, The Lake of Sodom, and Lot’s wife’s pillar. The one, the punishment of resolute sin; the other, of faint virtue. For the Sodomites are an example of impenitent wilful sinners: and Lot’s wife, of unpersevering and relapsing righteous persons. So that there are two sorts of men, to whom these particulars are fitted. To those in a state of sin, the Lake of Sodom: to those in a state of grace, Lot’s wife’s pillar. To the first, in a state of sin, Moses proposeth “the vine of Sodom,” and the grapes of Gomorrah, which, if you but touch them, turn to ashes. To the others, in a state of grace, Christ proposeth the pillar of salt: “Remember Lot’s wife.” To the one Jeremiah crieth, that when they have “fallen,” they should “arise again:” to the others St. Paul saith, “Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall:” Deut. xxxii. 32; Luke xvii. 32; Jer. viii. 4; 1 Cor. x. 12. Bp. Andrewes. — a pillar of salt.] It is probable that some of the dreadful shower, which destroyed the cities of the plain, overtook her; and falling upon her, wrapped her body in a sheet of nitro-sulphureous matter; which congealed into a crust as hard as stone, and made her appear like Lot dwelleth in a cave. The origin of Moab and Ammon. Before CHRIST 1896.
Genesis 19:28
28.—and, lo, the smoke of the country went up &c.] “As it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man:” when that last morning shall dawn, and the Sun of Righteousness shall arise in glorious majesty upon the earth. No sooner shall He make His appearance, than the heavens, being on fire at His presence, shall be dissolved, and pass away with a great noise: the earth also, with the works that are therein, shall be burned up. Then shall be fulfilled that which was spoken by the Psalmist in terms evidently borrowed from the history before us: “Upon the ungodly He shall rain fire and brimstone, storm and tempest: this shall be their portion.” What Sodom was, the world shall be: and at the last day, when we shall arise and look towards the place, where its pleasures and delights, its beauties and glories once existed, as “Abraham arose in the morning, and looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the cities of the plain,” we shall behold a sight like that which presented itself to the Patriarch, “the smoke of the country going up, as the smoke of a furnace.”
But the same all-gracious and merciful God, who, “when He destroyed the cities of the plain, remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow;” when He shall destroy this place wherein we dwell, will remember the true Abraham, the Father of us all, our dear Redeemer and Intercessor: and for His sake, if we now repent and believe in Him, will save us in that day from the ruins of a burning world, and from those fires which are never to be extinguished. Bp. Horne.
morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yester-night with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
Genesis 19:33
- And they made their father drink wine] We must be convinced of the frailty of nature, without the grace of God, when we read the account of Lot’s intemperance after so great a deliverance; and if we have any concern for our salvation, we shall dread a vice, which will lead a man to the greatest crimes. Bp. Wilson.
Genesis 19:36
- Thus were both the daughters of Lot &c.] One circumstance must be remembered by those, who would understand the scope and design of the sacred writer, in furnishing us with particular relations contained in this book; which is, that he always kept in mind the promise of the Messiah, and was desirous of shewing, that the expectation of this great object of the Jewish hopes was predominant in all times, and influenced the opinions and manners of every generation. The recollection of this will furnish the reason of many particulars mentioned in the book, which might otherwise appear extraordinary and exceptionable. It will perhaps serve to explain the conduct of Lot’s daughters; the violent desire of Sarah for a son; the solicitude of Isaac to remove the barrenness of Rebekah; and the contention between the wives of Jacob. In conformity with this design also Moses relates the jealousies between Ishmael and Isaac; and between Esau and Jacob; and many other minute and singular particulars, which an historian of his dignity would not have condescended to describe, but with a view to illustrate the general persuasion of, and gradual preparation for, the coming of the Messiah. Dr. Gray.
Chap. XX. ver. 1.—journeyed from thence] That is, from Mamre, probably to avoid the stench of the vale of Siddim, and on occasion of the destruction of Sodom, of which he was an eye-witness. Stackhouse, Bp. Kidder.
Before CHRIST 1896. 1897.