Ver. 1. Lot sat in the gate.] Not as a judge (as the Hebrews will have it), nor as a merchant; much less as a noveller; but as a good householder, looking for his herds, and as a good housekeeper, looking for guests.
Ver. 2. Nay, but we will abide in the street.] They would have done so, but for Lot’s importunity. So our Saviour would have gone farther, but that the two disciples constrained him to stay. (Luke 24:29) This was no simulation; or if so, yet it was only exploratory, without deceit or hypocrisy. And if Solomon sinned not in making believe he would do that which was unlawful to be done, (1 Kings 3:24) it can be no sin to do the like in things indifferent.
Ver. 3. And they did eat.] They made as if they did eat and drink, saith the Hierosolymi-Targum, but not well. [See Trapp on “Ge 18:8”]
Ver. 4. Both old and young.] Nulla aetas erat culpae immunis, ideo nec exitii.— Ambrose. Sin spreads as leaven, and is as catching as the plague; like the Jerusalem artichoke, plant it where you will, it overruns the ground, and chokes the heart.
Ver. 5. That we may know them.] O faces hatched with impudency! They shroud not their sin in a mantle of secrecy, but hang out these sour grapes to the sun to ripen.
Ver. 6. Lot went out.] So he exposed himself, to save his strangers, hoping to save them from that abominable violence. The right of strangers is so holy, that there was scarce ever any nation so barbarous that would violate the same. When Stephen Gardiner had in his power the renowned clerk Peter Martyr, then teaching at Oxford, he would not keep him to punish him; but when he should go his way, as it is reported, gave him wherewith to bear his charges. But these Sodomites had not so much humanity left in them. They had put off the man, and were become dogs and worse. (Deuteronomy 23:18) Am I a dog? saith Abner; (2 Samuel 3:8) that is, so given as dogs be to lust. Lot was the world’s miracle, who kept himself fresh in Sodom’s salt waters.
Ver. 7. Do not so wickedly.] They were the first that fell into this foul sin, and were therefore worthily hanged up in gibbets by God for a terror to others; and besides, they “suffer the vengeance of eternal fire”. (Jude 1:7) The Pope pretends to be Christ’s vicar, and presumes to assume the title of Holiness. But how far he is from expressing God to the world appears by his, if not committing, yet conniving at, this detestable sin of sodomy… God hath delivered up these Papagans (as he did those Pagans, Romans 1:24) to reprobate sense, to vile affections, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves, for that they have worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator. (Romans 1:24-26) Hence it is that Rome is called Sodom in the Revelation. (Revelation 11:8)
Ver. 8. Behold now, I have two daughters.] This was an inconsiderate motion, such as the best minds easily yield, when once troubled, it was proper to the Lord Christ to be subject to natural passions and perturbations, “yet without sin”; as a crystal glass full of clear water remains still pure, howsoever it be shaken. The Hebrews think that for this sinful offering to prostitute his daughters, he was given up by God to commit incest with his daughters.
Ver. 9. Stand back, &c.] They set up the bristles at Lot’s admonition; a sure forerunner of destruction, as in Eli’s sons.
Ver. 10. But the men.] Thus Lot is rescued at a dead lift; that is God’s opportunity, who “knows how to deliver the godly”. (2 Peter 2:9)
Ver. 11. With blindness.] Subito scotomate, saith Junius: With blindness both of body and mind, saith Aben Ezra: such as tormented their eyes, as if they had been pricked with thorns, as the Hebrew word signifies. And yet they continue groping for the door, as if they were ambitious of destruction, which now was at next door by. Deus quem destruit dementat. So Pharaoh, when under that palpable three days’ darkness, rageth against God, and threateneth Moses with death. Though doomsday should be tomorrow next, wicked men must and will serve their lusts. Vale lumen amicum, said Theotimus in St Ambrose, who chose rather to lose his sight than his sin.
Ver. 12. Hast thou here any, &c.] It is something for safety, to be Lot’s kinsman. So the Kenites in Saul’s time, receive life from Jethro’s dust, many ages after his death, and favour from his hospitality. (1 Samuel 15:6)
Ver. 13. For we will destroy this place.] Even the good angels are God’s executioners. And the first execution they did in the world, that we read of, was upon these filthy Sodomites. So will it be, likely, at the last day. And St Peter seems to say as much. (2 Peter 2:9) The Lord reserves the unjust to the day of judgment, to be punished, “but chiefly them that walk after the flesh, in the lust of uncleanness.” Mark that chiefly.
Ver. 14. But he seemed as one that mocked.] Sed fuit habitus tanquam iocabundus. Graceless hearts jeer, when they should fear, and are senseless and secure, as if they were out of the reach of God’s rod, and needed not to fear his wrath. Lot here is counted but a Lob, of his own sons-in-law. Wonder not, if we meet with the same measure. Ridetur cum suo Iehova: sed risus impiorum est, Sardonius.— Par.
Ver. 15. Lest thou be consumed.] So Revelation 18:4. “Come out of her, that ye receive not of her plagues.” Musculi ruinis imminentibus praemigrant, et aranei cum telis primi eadunt, saith Pliny. Swine flee home before a storm. Let men hasten out of their natural estate, as Lot was bidden to do out of Sodom: there is the smell of the fire and brimstone upon them. Plin., lib. viii. cap. 28.
Ver. 16. And while he lingered.] Or distracted himself with much business, which David did not. (Psalms 119:60) The Lord being merciful unto him.] What is he then to us, in “delivering us from the wrath to come?” (1 Thessalonians 1:10) Why save we not ourselves from this untoward generation? (Acts 2:40) Why see we not his mercy to us in our losses and crosses; his hand laying hold on us, when he takes away that which may hinder us from heaven? εταραχθησαν.—Septuag.
Ver. 17. Look not behind thee.] As loath to depart. Non minus difficulter a deliciis Sodomorum abstrahimur, quam canis ab uncto corio.
Ver. 18. Oh! not so, my Lord.] But who shall prescribe to the Almighty? Or limit the Holy One of Israel? Are we wiser than he? Have we a trick beyond him? He lets us sometimes have our way, but to our woe at last.
Ver. 19. Behold now, thy servant, &c.] We can receive and commend God’s favours, but be backward enough to obey him.
Ver. 20. Is it not a little one?] Let no man use this plea for his sin. Even the philosopher tells us, that the smallest errors prove many times most dangerous. It is as much treason to coin pence, as bigger pieces. Αδικηματα ελαχιστα πολλακις μεγιστα — Arist. Rhet., lib. i.
Ver. 21. I will not overthrow this city.] Zoar, of all the five cites, was preserved by Lot’s prayer, saith Jerome. See Deuteronomy 29:23 Isa 15:5.
Ver. 22. For I cannot do anything.] Not that the execution of the divine decree depended simply upon Lot’s removal to Zoar; but upon another decree, for Lot’s removal ere Sodom were destroyed.
Ver. 24. Then the Lord rained, &c.] Lot was no sooner taken out of Sodom, but Sodom was soon taken out of the world. The wicked are reprieved for the sake of the godly, and, but for them would suddenly be ruined. (Isaiah 30:33) Rained upon Sodom, &c.] Rained, not sprinkled; and not fire only, but brimstone and fire for increase of torment, and for a hell above ground, and aforehand. (Jude 1:7) Hot fire they had for their burning lusts; and stinking brimstone for their stinking brutishness. Charles II, king of Navarre, was much given to sensual pleasures, which so wasted his spirits, that in his old age, he fell into a kind of lethargy. To comfort his benumbed joints, he was bound and sewed up naked in a sheet, steeped in boiling aqua vitae:the surgeon, having made an end of sewing him, and wanting a knife to cut off the thread, took a wax candle that stood lighted by him. But the flame, running down by the thread, caught hold on the sheet; which, according to the nature of the aqua vitae, burned with that vehemency, that the miserable king ended his days in the fire. Heyl., Geog. p. 42.
Ver. 25. And he overthrew, &c.] Some footsteps of this overthrow are to be read of in Solinus and Tacitus. Josephus tells us of the mock-apples of Sodom, and saith, that an ox, having all his legs bound, will not sink into the lake of Sodom, the water is so dense. Lib. v., De Bello, Jud.:— Omne carens vita in profundum mergitur; siquid vivum arte aliqua immerseris super exibit.
Ver. 26. But his wife looked back.] Whether out of curiosity, or foolish pity, or as loath to leave so sweet a country, she turned her about, and she was turned. Some think she was a Sodomite, and some tell us her name was Tytea. Her sin, seem it never so light, was a compound of many sins. And her punishment was part of the plague of Sodom, which was “brimstone and salt,” (Deuteronomy 29:23) so that it became a sea of salt. And all this to season us, saith Augustine; to caution us, saith our Saviour, that we look not back. The fable of Eurydice, lost by her husband’s looking back upon her, was devised by the devil to elude this holy history. The “pillar of salt,” into which Lot’s wife was turned, stands yet, saith Benjamin in his “Itinerary,” about two miles from the Dead Sea; and if, by the rubbing or licking of cattle, it be any whit diminished, it groweth again forthwith, to its former size. Tyteam dictam volunt uxorem Loti,& c.— Heidfeld.
Ver. 27. And Abraham gat up.] So solicitous he was for Sodom, that, as Luther thinks, he could not sleep all night. Lot was delivered by his prayers, though Abraham knew it not.
Ver. 28. And he looked.] Abraham might look upon the smoke of Sodom; Lot might not; because it would work more on Lot’s heart, than on Abraham’s, who had more grace. The smoke of the country.] Nothing else was now to be seen of that fair and fruitful plain. Sic transit gloria mundi. When we most greedily grasp earthly things, we embrace nothing but smoke, which wrings tears from our eyes, and soon vanisheth into nothing.
Ver. 29. God remembered Abraham, &c.] And shall he forget us, who have Christ to intercede for us?
Ver. 30. Lot went up out of Zoar, &c.] So he should have done at first; and so he had obeyed God, saved his wife, and prevented that sin of incest with his daughters.
Ver. 31. And the firstborn, &c.] It is dangerous to live in a wicked place: yea, for though thyself mayest escape infection, thy children may be tainted, as Lot’s were.
Ver. 32. Come, let us make our father drink.] She knew too well, that Venus in vinis, ignis in igne furit. It is like they had wine from Zoar. They sinned against conscience; and therefore intoxicated their father, who now forgets that he is a father, and does that, in a drunken pang, that which heaven and earth were afterwards ashamed of. So the great whore cometh forth with a cup (Revelation 17:2)
Ver. 33. Nor when she arose.] There is a tittle extraordinary in the Hebrew, to note that this is a thing incredible, Coire quempiam nescientem. Cajetan and Pererius conclude it possible, and give reasons for it. Calvin saith best, that it was not so much his wine, as a spirit of slumber sent upon him from God, for a scourge of his intemperance. Luther adds, Ne nos abeamus in securitatem, that we may watch against security. Appungunt desuper quasi incredibile.— Quaest. in Genes.
Ver. 34. The firstborn said unto the younger.] Lot offended against both their chastities, in offering them up to the Sodomites: and they both now conspire against his chastity.
Ver. 35. And they made, &c.] Decepit ebrietas Lotum, quem Sodoma non decepit, saith Origen. Well might Athenaeus call drunkenness the metropolis of mischief, Μητροπολιν παντων δεινων.
Ver. 36. With child by their father.] God suffers, oft, such unlawful commixions to take effect; for a just punishment of the same. But as a fair and perfect child born, doth not make anything better the adultery or incest in which it was begotten, so neither doth God’s purpose the sins of graceless persons.
Ver. 37. Called his name Moab.] That is, the begotten of my father: so, Benammi; that is, begotten of one of my near kindred, viz., her father. Thus “they declared their sin as Sodom, they hid it not,” (Isaiah 3:9) but gloried in their shame. It is as hard to come from Sodom, and not taste of the sap of such a soil, as to walk barefaced in the hot sun, and not be tanned.