Genesis 19:12-17

5. Lot's Deliverance (Genesis 19:12-17)

12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whomsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of the place: 13 for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxed great before Jehovah; and Jehovah hath sent us to destroy it. 14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons-in-law, who married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for Jehovah will destroy the city. But he seemed unto his ions-on-law as one that mocked. 15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy Wife, and thy two daughters that are here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 16 But he lingered; and the men laid hold upon, his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters, Jehovah being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. 17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the Plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

As the night wore on, filled with clamor, no doubt, and violence, the heavenly visitors vehemently assured Lot that the city faced certain destruction and warned him to gather together with all speed every member of his family if he would save them, from the impending catastrophe. Lot did as he was advised, but his warning was lost on his sons-in-law, whose thinking was so debased that they did not take him seriously; indeed they seemed to get the idea that he was making sport of them (cf. Judges 16:25). Note Genesis 19:12, son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whomsoever thou hast in the city. Cf. Genesis 19:14, sons-in-law who married his daughters. Various suggestions have been made to clarify these relationships: (1) that he had no sons, only daughters, and the reference in Genesis 19:12 is to the sons of his married daughters; (2) that Genesis 19:12 had reference to sons-in-law whom Lot regarded as sons. How can this be clarified in the light of Genesis 19:14, sons-in-law, who married his daughters, marginal rendering, were to marry, hence only prospective sons-in-law? Rashi holds that there were two sets of sons-in-law; Ibn Ezra also explains that other sons-in-law are intended, namely, married to daughters who had died, as supported by the phrase, thy two daughters that are here which implies that there were others who were no longer here, i.e., no longer alive. (See SC, 95). Speiser points up the ambiguity of this phrase, two daughters that are here, meaning, literally, within reach, present, at hand, which, he says could mean either pledged but still at home, or unattached altogether (EG, 140). (KD, COPT, 234): Genesis 19:15 refers not to the daughters who were still in the father's house, as distinguished from those who were married, but his wife and two daughters who were to be found with him in the house, in distinction from the bridegrooms, who also belonged to him, but were not yet living with him, and who had received his summons in scorn, because in their carnal security they did not believe in any judgment of God (Luke 17:28-29). If Lot had married daughters, he would undoubtedly have called upon them to escape along with their husbands, his sons-in-law. There need be no significant dilemma here: as stated (SIBG, 242): either Lot's virgin-daughters had been only betrothed to them [his sons-in-law, Genesis 19:14], or Lot had other daughters who perished in the flames. Lange (CDHCG, 438): We may add that there is no intimation that Lot had warned married daughters to rise up. The consensus seems to be that the two virgin daughters (Genesis 19:8) who were with Lot in his house, and who later escaped, were about to be married to men of Sodom.

Lot's Reluctance. When the morning arose, that is, just before the sunrise, the angels hastened Lot, etc. Why the haste? So that Sodom's destruction might take place at sunrise,the sun being their chief deity; thus its impotence to save its worshipers would be demonstrated (SC, 95). But Lot lingered: Still tied to his possessions! Lange, ibid., 438): It is clear in every way that Lot, from his spiritless, half-hearted nature, which made it difficult to part from his location and possessions, was rescued with the greatest difficulty. Lot, like Ephraim (Hosea 7:8, Ephraim being the name commonly given to the northern kingdom of Israel) was a cake not turned. That is, he had never truly forsaken the world, the flesh, and the devil. Like many church members in our day, hesomewhat reluctantly, to be surekept one face turned toward the God of Abraham, but he lived much of his life with his real face always turned in the direction of the allurements of this present evil world (2 Timothy 4:10); he had just enough religion probably to make him uncomfortable, but not enough to make him genuinely happy. Hence, when the day dawned, his heavenly visitors broke off any further delay by laying hold of him, and his wife, and his two daughters, and literally dragging them out of the doomed city, bidding them flee to the neighboring mountains of Moab for safety. Jehovah being merciful unto him: Does this mean that the angels sought to speed him while God was still merciful? Or does it mean that he was delivered, not on the ground of his own merit, but solely through God's mercy? A third view: Although he was to be saved for Abraham's sake, through his, lingering he might have forfeited this privilege but for God's mercy (SC, 95). This completes the work of the two angels in saving Lot: now the divine judgment is ready to be executed.

Review Questions

See Genesis 19:30-38.