Bible Commentaries
Go deeper in Scripture
Browse trusted public-domain commentary alongside DiscipleDeck Bible study. References inside each commentary open Bible previews in place.
27,299 commentary entries
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:12-28
EXPOSITION Genesis 19:12, Genesis 19:13 And the men said unto Lot,—after the incident recorded in the preceding verses. Lot by this time had doubtless recognized their celestial character; accordingly, the Codex Samarit…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:14
And Lot went out (obviously that same evening), and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters,—literally, those taking his daughters, meaning either those who had taken them (LXX; Targums, Knobel, Delitzsc…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:17
And it came to pass, when they had brought them (i.e. Lot and his family) forth abroad (literally, without; sc. the city), that he—one of the angels (Rabbi Solomon, Jarchi, Rosenmüller, Lange, 'Speaker's Commentary'); t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:18
And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord. Adonai, which should rather be translated Lord; whence it would almost seem as if Lot knew that his interlocutor was Jehovah. Keil admits that Lot recognized a manifestation…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:19
Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight (cf. Genesis 18:3), and thou hast magnified thy mercy (language inappropriate to be addressed to the angels, though exactly suitable if applied by Lot to Jehovah), w…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:20
Behold now, this city is near to flee unto (literally, thither), and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. Lot's meaning was that since Zoar was the smallest of…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:21
And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee (literally, I have lifted up thy face, the petitioner usually supplicating with his face toward the ground, so that the elevation of his countenance expressed the granting…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:22
Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. I.e. "The Little;" obviously from Lot's remark concerning it (Genesis 19:20); Σηγώρ (LXX.)…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:23-25
The righteousness of God revealed. The judgment of God upon Sodom and the cities of the plain. The deliverance of Lot. The reception of the two angels by Lot was a great contrast to that of the three by Abraham. The sce…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:23
The sun was risen upon the earth—literally, the sun went forth, i.e. it was now above the horizon. Lot had left Sodom with the first streak of dawn; but, having lingered, it was clear morning—when Lot entered into Zoar—…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:24
Then the Lord rained—literally, and Jehovah caused it to rain; καὶ κύριος ἔβρεξε (LXX.), which latter term is adopted by Luke in describing this event (Genesis 17:1-27 :29)—upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah—and also upon…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:24
The judgment of fire. I. THE DELIVERANCE OF LOT. 1. Mercifully warned. The intimation conveyed by the angels was— 2. Urgently hastened. Notwithstanding the angel's warning, it is obvious that Lot trifled, probably from…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:25
And he overthrew—literally, turned over, as a cake'; whence utterly destroyed (cf. Deuteronomy 29:23; κατέστρεψε, LXX.; subvertit, Vulgate). In Arabic "the overthrown' is a title applied, κατ ἐξοχὴν, to Sodom and Gom…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:26
But his wife looked back from behind him,—i.e. went behind him and looked back; ἑπέβλεψεν (LXX.), implying wistful regard; respiciens (Vulgate); an act expressly forbidden by the angel (Genesis 19:17)—and she became (…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:26
The danger of falling back. "But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt." Every part of this narrative suggestive of lessons. Reminded how "the righteous scarcely saved," and of the danger…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:27
And Abraham gat up early in the morning (of the catastrophe) to the place (i.e. and went to the place) where he stood before the Lord (vide on Genesis 18:22).
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:28
And he looked toward—literally, towards the face, or visible side (cf. Genesis 18:16 where the same phrase is employed to describe the act of the angels on leaving Mamre)—Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:29-38
EXPOSITION
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:29
And it came to pass—not a pluperfect (Rosenmüller), as if a direct continuation of the preceding narrative, but a preterit, being the commencement of a new subdivision of the history in which the writer treats of Lot's…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:29
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah I. THE VISIBLE JUDGMENT. "God overthrew the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah—the cities in which Lot dwelt." 1. The reason. 2. The instrumentality. 3. The reality. 4. The lessons o…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:29
The last days of Lot. I. HAUNTED BY TERROR. 1. The terror of Divine judgment. The appalling spectacle of Sodom's overthrow had no doubt filled him with alarm. And so are God's judgments in the earth designed to put the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:30
And Lot went up out of Zoar (probably soon after), and dwelt in the mountain (i.e. of Moab, on the east of the Dead Sea), and his two daughters—step-daughters, it has been suggested, if Lot married a widow who was the m…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:31
And the firstborn said unto the younger,—showing that she had not escaped the pollution, if she had the destruction, of Sodom. "It was time that Lot had left the cities of the plain. No wealth could compensate for the m…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 19:32
Come, let us make our father drink wine,—either, therefore, Lot had not left Sodom totally unprovided (Inglis), or some little time had elapsed after his escaping to the mountain cave, since his daughters are provided w…