Genesis 19:30-3

(J). The Origin of the Moabites and Ammonites

30. And Lot went up He left the Plain, and withdrew "to the mountain," viz. "the mountains of Moab"; see Genesis 19:17.

he feared Why did he fear to dwell in Zoar? Not, as has been suggested, lest the people of Zoar should put him to death, as one who either had escaped just punishment, or, like Jonah, had been the cause of catastrophe; but lest Zoar, one of the cities of the Plain, should still be overtaken by catastrophe.

in a cave The definite article in the Hebrew has been thought to mean either a well-known cavern, or a locality in which caves were numerous. But compare the idiomatic use of the def. art. in Genesis 8:7.