Genesis 19:36 Komentář

The contents of this chapter we have, Pe2 2:6-8, where we find that "God, turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, and delivered just Lot." It is the history of Sodom's ruin, and Lot's rescue from that ruin. We read (ch. 18) of God's coming to take a view of the present state of Sodom, what its wickedness was, and what righteous persons there were in it: now here we have the result of that enquiry. I. It was found, upon trial, that Lot was very good (Gen 19:1-3), and it did not appear that there was any more of the same character. II. It was found that the Sodomites were very wicked and vile (Gen 19:4-11). III. Special care was therefore taken for the securing of Lot and his family, in a place of safety (Gen 19:12-23). IV. Mercy having rejoiced therein, justice shows itself in the ruin of Sodom and the death of Lot's wife (Gen 19:24-26), with a general repetition of the story (Gen 19:27-29). V. A foul sin that Lot was guilty of, in committing incest with his two daughters (Gen 19:30, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 19 The contents of this chapter are Lot's entertainment of two angels that came to Sodom, Gen 19:1; the rude behaviour of the men of Sodom towards them, who for it were smote with blindness, Gen 19:4; the deliverance of Lot, his wife and two daughters, by means of the angels he entertained, Gen 19:12; the sparing of the city of Zoar at the entreaty of Lot, to which he was allowed to flee, Gen 19:18; the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, Gen 19:23; Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt for looking back, Gen 19:26; Abraham's view of the conflagration of the cities, Gen 19:28; Lot's betaking himself to a mountain, and dwelling in a cave with his two daughters, by whom he had two sons, the one called Moab, and the other Benammi, Gen 19:30.

And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi,.... That is, "the son of my people", being the son of her father; which though it does not so manifestly appear in this name, as in the other, yet there is some trace of it; and she would have it be known by this, that he was not the son of a stranger, but of a relation of her own: some attribute this to her being more modest than her elder sister; but it looks as if neither of them were sensible of any crime they had been guilty of, but rather thought it a commendable action, at least that it was excusable: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day; a people that lived near their brethren the Moabites, and were both enemies to the people of God; they quickly falling into idolatry, and whose names we often meet with in the sacred writings; and of these two sons, Josephus says (x), the one begat the Moabites, being still a great nation, and the other the Ammonites, and both inhabit Coelesyria; they are both called the children of Lot, Psa 83:8. After this we hear no more of Lot in this history; and it is remarkable, that there never was, as we know of, any town or city that had in it any, trace of his name; but we are not from hence to conclude that he was a wicked man, whose memory perished with him; for mention is made of him in the New Testament, where he has a very honourable character, and is called "just Lot", Pe2 2:7. (x) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 11. sect. 5. Next: Genesis Chapter 20

This had happened without Lot’s knowledge and without his having been a slave to pleasure; it was accomplished wholly by divine arrangement, through which the two synagogues born from one and the same father, without carnal pleasure, were evoked. For there was no one else who could give them vital seed and the fruit of children, as it was written.

After these things, therefore, Lot ascends into the mountains, and there “he dwells in a cave,” as the Scripture says, “he and his two daughters.” The law also should be thought to have ascended, because an embellishment was added to it by the temple built by Solomon, when it became indeed “the house of God, a house of prayer.” Evil inhabitants, however, made it “a den of thieves.” Therefore “Lot and his two daughters dwelt in a cave.” The prophet evidently describes these two daughters saying that Oholah and Oholibah are two sisters, and Oholah indeed is “Judah” and Oholibah is “Samaria.” The people therefore divided into two parts made the two daughters of the law. Those daughters, desiring carnal offspring to be preserved and the forces of earthly dominion to be fortified by an abundant posterity, depriving their father of sense and making him sleep, that is, covering and obscuring his spiritual understanding, draw only carnal understanding from him. Then they conceive. Then they give birth to such sons as their father neither perceives nor recognizes. For it was neither the understanding nor the will of the law to beget carnally. But the law is deprived of its sense that such posterity might be begotten that “shall not enter the assembly of the Lord.” “For the Ammonites,” Scripture says, “and Moabites shall not enter the assembly of the Lord unto the third and fourth generation and forever.”

As we have been able, we have carved out these explanations according to the spiritual understanding of Lot and his wife and daughters. We pass no judgment on those who have been able to perceive something more sacred from this text.But above, in the moral sense, we referred Lot indeed to the rational understanding and the courageous soul; but his wife, who looked back, we said to be the flesh given to concupiscence and pleasures. Do not, O hearer, receive these things carelessly. For you ought to watch lest perhaps even when you have fled the flames of the world and have escaped the fires of the flesh, even when you have risen above “Zoar, the city” that is “small and not small,” which is somewhere in the middle … you seem to have ascended to the height of knowledge, as to some mountain peak. Beware lest those two daughters lie in wait for you, who do not depart from you but follow you even when you ascend the mountain. They are vainglory and her older sister, pride. Beware lest with their embraces those daughters constrict you, deprived of sense and sleeping, while you seem neither to perceive nor know. They are called daughters because they do not come upon us from outside but proceed from us and from a kind of innocence, as it were, of our acts. Be vigilant, therefore, as much as you can, and watch lest you beget sons from these daughters, because those who have been born from them “shall not enter the assembly of the Lord.” But if you wish to beget, beget in the spirit, since “he who sows in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting.” If you wish to embrace, embrace wisdom and “say wisdom is your sister,” that Wisdom also may say of you: He “who shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.” Jesus Christ our Lord is this wisdom, “to whom be glory and sovereignty forever and ever. Amen.”

The two angels mentioned in the preceding chapter, come in the evening to Sodom, Gen 19:1. Lot, who was sitting at the gate, invites them to enter his house, take some refreshment, and tarry all night; which they at first refuse, Gen 19:2; but on being pressingly solicited, they at last comply, Gen 19:3. The abominable conduct of the men of Sodom, Gen 19:4, Gen 19:5. Lot's deep concern for the honor and safely of his guests, which leads him to make a most exceptionable proposal to those wicked men, Gen 19:6-8. The violent proceedings of the Sodomites, Gen 19:9. Lot rescued from their barbarity by the angels, who smite them with blindness, Gen 19:10, Gen 19:11. The angels exhort Lot and his family to flee from that wicked place, as God was about to destroy it, Gen 19:12, Gen 19:13. Lot's fruitless exhortation to his sons-in-law, Gen 19:14. The angels hasten Lot and his family to depart, Gen 19:15, Gen 19:16. Their exhortation, Gen 19:17. Lot's request, Gen 19:18-20. He is permitted to escape to Zoar, Gen 19:21-23. Fire and brimstone are rained down from heaven upon all the cities of the plain, by which they are entirely destroyed, Gen 19:24, Gen 19:25. Lot's wife, looking behind, becomes a pillar of salt, Gen 19:26. Abraham, early in the morning, discovers the desolation of those iniquitous cities, Gen 19:27-29. Lot, fearing to continue in Zoar, went with his two daughters to the mountain, and dwelt in a cave, Gen 19:30. The strange conduct of his daughters, and his unhappy deception, Gen 19:31-36. Moab and Ammon born, from whom sprang the Moabites and Ammonites, Gen 19:37, Gen 19:38.

LOT'S ENTERTAINMENT. (Gen. 19:1-38) there came two angels--most probably two of those that had been with Abraham, commissioned to execute the divine judgment against Sodom. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom--In Eastern cities it is the market, the seat of justice, of social intercourse and amusement, especially a favorite lounge in the evenings, the arched roof affording a pleasant shade.

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., Gen 34:20; Deu 21:19; Deu 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 Jer 51:31), and demanded, with the basest violation of the sacred rite of hospitality and the most shameless proclamation of their sin (Isa 3:9), that the strangers should be brought out, that they might know them. ידע is applied, as in Jdg 19:22, to the carnal sin of paederastia, a crime very prevalent among the Canaanites (Lev 18:22., Lev 20:23), and according to Rom 1:27, a curse of heathenism generally.