Genesis 19:15-23

And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.

The kindly interest the angels took in the preservation of Lot is beautifully displayed. The kindly interest the angels took in the preservation of Lot is beautifully displayed.

When the morning arose. But he "lingered." Was it from sorrow at the prospect of losing all his property, the acquisition of many years? or was it that his benevolent heart was paralyzed by thoughts of the awful crisis? This is the charitable way of accounting for a delay that must have been fatal, but for the friendly violence and urgency of the angel.

Lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. The Hebrew х `ªwon (H5771)] sometimes denotes the punishment of iniquity, calamity, misery (Psalms 31:11; Isaiah 5:18).

Verse 16. And, while he lingered [Septuagint has: kai (G2532) etarachtheesan (G5015)] - and they were stupefied.

Verse 17. When they had brought them forth abroad ... he said ... look not behind. To look behind was a sign of unbelief, and reluctance to leave the scene of iniquity. The sudden change from the plural to the singular is remarkable here. Was it that the third angel, whom Abraham addressed as Adonai, and with whom he had commanded, had joined the other two-he who spoke with an air of superior authority, and as possessing a right, of his own gracious pleasure, to grant Lot the favour he implored? or is it to be considered that Yahweh here spoke through the medium of these who had declared themselves (Genesis 19:13) to be his commissioned messengers. Hengstenberg takes this view here.

Verse 18. Oh! not so, my Lord. Lot contradicted himself in prefacing his petition with the argument, "thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die." What a strange want of faith and gratitude, as if He who had interposed for his rescue could not have protected him in the mountain solitude-He who rescued him from the greater evil would not have saved him from less dangers!

Verse 21. See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also. His request for the preservation of the little town Bela was granted; and although his intercession was not, like that of Abraham for Sodom, prompted by a principle of profound and generous sympathy, but sprang entirely from an impulse of self-interest, it was allowed to prevail, in order to convince him from his own experience, since he ere long was convinced, that it would have been better and wiser for him to have at once followed implicitly the divine directions.

Verse 22. Haste ... for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. The ruin of Sodom was suspended until he was secure. What care does God take of His people (Revelation 7:3) - what a proof of the love which God bore to a good, though weak man!

Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. The rise of this new name was a memorial of the event to which it referred, and its continued prevalence in the days of the sacred historian sufficiently refutes the scepticism of modern times, which has assailed with unhallowed hands the historic truth of this narrative.

Verse 23. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. This circumstance enables us to make an approximate calculation of the distance of this little town from Sodom. The time of Lot's setting out from his residence in the latter city was at early dawn, and the sun's disc had appeared above the horizon before he reached Zoar; so that, as the twilight is always of brief duration, and the fugitive family would, in circumstances of such fearful urgency, make all possible expedition, the journey between the two cities cannot be supposed to have occupied more than an hour, if so much - i:e., the distance would only be about three or four miles. The site of Zoar, at the mouth of Wady Kerak, where it issues upon the isthmus of the large peninsula, has long been well known; and the correctness of that geographical position was not doubted until a few years ago, when De Saulcy announced that he had discovered the ruins of Sodom in the pass of Ez-Zuweirah, near Usdum. The apparent resemblance of this name, Zuweirah, to that of Zoar gave an air of credibility to the hypothesis of the French traveler, and his alleged discovery of the remains of cities over whose fate so awful a mystery hangs was hailed with loud acclaim, as surpassing in interest and importance the revelations made by the disinterred mounds of Assyria.

But a little examination showed that this startling discovery was an entire delusion. Not to dwell on the philological objection to the name Zuweirah being a modern corruption of Zoar-which Dr. Robinson and Dr. Eli Smith, most competent judges of the affinities between Arabic and Hebrew names, have pronounced to be insurmountable-the topographical situation which DeSaulcy assigned to the little preserved town does not meet the conditions of the sacred narrative. Zoar was visible from Sodom, and within or bordering upon the ciccar or plain; because it was one of the cities of the Pentapolis; whereas Zuweirah is about a mile and a half distant from any part of the sea or plain. Zoar stood conspicuous at the base of a mountain; whereas Zuweirah is entirely concealed in the hollow of the mountain.

Moreover, Zuweirah is on the western side of the sea or plain, and does not contain any vestiges of an ancient site. But many circumstances in the inspired history tend to show that Zoar must have stood on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea.

Lot's flight to the mountain, the locality of the Moabite and Ammonite territories, and the situation of Zoar, which is described as the most westerly town of Moab (Isaiah 15:5; Jeremiah 48:34); and in addition to these, the testimony of Josephus, together with the traditions of the early Christian Church, embodied in the works of Eusebius and Jerome, bear that it lay on El Lisƒn, the tongue or long peninsula near the southeastern extremity of the broad part of the lake. This view is still further confirmed by the appearance of the country around the present Zoar, which shows marks of irrigation, cultivated fields, and an ancient site (see Robinson, 'Biblical Researches,' 2:, p. 648-650).