Глава 19

Lot shows hospitality to two Angels at the risk of his life Gen.19:1. And those two angels came to Sodom in the evening, The narration of this chapter serves as a direct continuation of the previous one: those two Angels or men, about whom it is said that after the midday meal with Abraham they went to Sodom (Gen. 18: 1-22), now, in the evening of the same day, reached the goal of their journey, i.e. came to the gates of Sodom. when Lot sat at the gates of Sodom. The gates of the city, according to the custom of the ancient East, were the same as the “agora” for the Greeks, or the “forum” for the Romans, i.e. a public meeting place and walk for city residents, as well as the center of all judicial and commercial affairs (Gen. 23:10, 34:20; Deut. 21:19; Ruth. 4:1–2; Prov. 31:23, etc.). Lot saw and stood up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground Gen.19:2–3. and said: my lords! go into your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet, and rise in the morning and go on your way. But they said: no, we spend the night on the street. He strongly begged them; and they went to him and came to his house. He made food for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. The whole behavior of Lot in relation to the passing two strangers is depicted here by approximately the same features as the hospitality of Abraham in the previous chapter (Gen. 18: 2–8). From this it is clear that the nephew to a high degree inherited from his uncle his love of hospitability and hospitality, for which he is praised and set as an example for us to follow and by the Apostle Paul (Heb. 13:2). The wicked Sodomites are stricken with blindness Gen.19:4. They had not yet gone to bed when the city dwellers, Sodomites, from young to old, all the people from all over the city, surrounded the house The rumor about the coming to Lot and staying with him of two young handsome youths (in the form of which Angels usually appeared, Mark 16:5; cf. 1 Samuel 29:9, etc.) managed to spread throughout the city, and so its inhabitants, driven partly by idle curiosity, and even more criminal intentions (Gen. 19:5), gather from different parts of the city, without distinction of age and position, to Lot’s house. Gen.19:5. and they called Lot and said to him, “Where are the people who came to you for the night?” bring them out to us; we will know them. From these words it is clear that the behavior of the assembled crowd of Sodomites was defiant: it threatened both Lot himself - a violation of his sacred duty of hospitality, and even more his guests - a violation of their honor. The character of the latter is clearly indicated by the words here: “let us know them,” which in the Bible have a very definite, specific meaning (Gen. 4:1, 24:16, etc.), expressing the idea of ​​sexual intercourse. The whole severity of the criminal behavior of the Sodomites lay in the abnormality and perversion of their sexual feelings, which gave rise to the unnatural vices of child molestation and sodomy, which later received the technical name “Sin of Sodom.” A number of biblical passages testify to the widespread practice of all these monstrous crimes between the wicked Canaanites and especially among the depraved Sodomites (Lev. 18:22; Isa. 3:9; 2 Pet. 2:6–8; Jude 1:7, etc.). Therefore, it is quite natural that Lot’s guests, distinguished by their youth and beauty, could with particular force arouse the lustful desires of the Sodomites. Gen.19:6. Lot went out to their entrance and locked the door behind him, At the risk of his own life, Lot goes out to this brutal crowd and first with affection, and then even with sacrifice, tries to divert it from its criminal intention. Gen.19:7. and he said to [them]: My brothers, do no evil; By addressing them with such a brotherly greeting, Lot thought to awaken the best feelings in them and influence their prudence; but this was in vain, since, under the dominance of the unbridledness of lower instincts, all higher and noble feelings were already dead among the Sodomites. Gen.19:8. Behold, I have two daughters who have not known a husband; I’d rather bring them out to you, do with them what you please, just don’t do anything to these people, since they came under the roof of my house. Seeing the futility of his admonition, Lot decides on a last resort; In order to save the honor of his guests, he is ready to sacrifice the honor of his unmarried, although already betrothed (Gen. 19:14), daughters. St. Augustine reproaches Lot for such a proposal, but St. John Chrysostom and most other interpreters see in it an act of self-sacrifice, or at least the best way out of his extremely difficult situation; “Of two evils (the desecration of guests, or the deprivation of honor of daughters), he chooses the lesser,” as St. Ambrose of Milan says. Gen.19:9. But they said [to him]: come here. And they said: here is a stranger who wants to judge? now we will treat you worse than we would treat them. The lifestyle and behavior of the righteous, living in the society of inveterate sinners, is a silent, but nevertheless very eloquent denunciation of the latter. Lot was in a similar position, living among the Sodomites and suffering daily, looking at their iniquities, as the Apostle Peter says (2 Pet. 2:8). Seeing in him a person of a completely different mood, the Sodomites already had hostile feelings towards him (2 Pet. 2:7). Now, when Lot dared to come to them with an admonition and prevent their vile intentions, the indignation of the Sodomites against him increases so much that it begins to threaten his life. And they came very close to this man, Lot, and approached to break down the door. Those. have already begun to carry out their threats. Gen.19:10. Then the men stretched out their hands and brought Lot into their house, and locked the door; As a reward for the generous defense of their honor, Lot's heavenly guests now save him at a critical moment for him; by this miracle they revealed their true nature to Lot for the first time. Gen.19:11. and the people who were at the entrance to the house were struck with blindness, from the least of them to the greatest, so that they were exhausted while looking for the entrance. According to the majority of exegetes, the punishment of the frantic Sodomites was not simple physical blindness, or complete deprivation of their vision, but consisted of blindness of mind and external senses, i.e. in some disorder of sensations and imagination, which prevented them from distinguishing and recognizing objects, such as the defeat by a similar blindness of the Syrian troops through the prayers of the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 6:15–20) or the blindness of Saul (Acts 9:8–9) and the sorcerer Elymas (Acts 13:11). Lot is led out of Sodom by angels and flees to Zoar Gen.19:12. The men said to Lot: Who else do you have here? son-in-law, your sons, or your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, bring them all out of this place, As a reward for the high hospitality shown by Lot and in memory of Abraham's intercession (Gen. 18:23–32; cf. Gen. 19:29), the Lord shows special mercy to Lot's house, promising salvation to all its members, no matter whom Lot took with him. Gen.19:13. for we will destroy this place, because the cry of its inhabitants to the Lord is great, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it. The cries of the unfortunate, mocked and oppressed by the Sodomites, who did not find a fair judgment for themselves here on earth, reached heaven and there they found themselves an all-righteous Judge and a due Distributor (Gen. 4:10, 18:20). And since the inhabitants of Sodom have proven their complete unrepentance, so that the continuation of their lives would only increase the degree of their guilt, the just God decides to end their existence in the same way as He once did with all antediluvian humanity (Gen. 6:5-7). Gen.19:14. And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were marrying his daughters, and said: Arise, get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city. But his sons-in-law thought he was joking. Some confusion is caused here by the fact that Lot already had sons-in-law, while as was said above, his two daughters did not yet know husbands (Gen. 19:8). It is usually resolved in such a way that Lot’s daughters were already engaged and were, so to speak, on the eve of the marriage itself, so that Lot in this sense could call their suitors his sons-in-law in advance. It is obvious that these named sons-in-law of Lot were true Sodomites not only in the flesh, but also in the spirit, since they reacted to Lot’s proposal with distrust and laughter (Luke 17:28–36). Gen.19:15–16. When the dawn rose, the Angels began to hurry Lot, saying: Arise, take your wife and your two daughters that are with you, so that you do not perish for the iniquities of the city. And as he delayed, those men [Angels], by the mercy of the Lord towards him, took him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, and brought him out and placed him outside the city. “It seems that the incredulous smile of his sons-in-law had some effect on Lot, who was weak in character, and he himself began to hesitate to leave the city, probably sparing his property and not being entirely confident in the prediction of the Angels. Therefore, the Angels “by the grace of the Lord” bring him out by force” (Vlastov). It is also noteworthy that here for the first time two husbands are definitely called Angels (Gen. 19:15). Gen.19:17. When they were brought out, one of them said: Based on the entire subsequent context (Gen. 19:18, 21, 24) in this one Angel, who authoritatively conducts on his own behalf the entire further conversation with Lot, most commentators rightly see the same “Angel of Jehovah” who acted as the main character in the previous chapter (18). “Soul” is taken here as a synonym for “life”, as its main essence. do not look back and do not stop anywhere in this vicinity; escape to the mountain so that you do not die. The immediate meaning of such a prohibition was to speed up Lot’s flight, since any delay and stop could threaten his death, and the further, moral meaning was that such a farewell glance at the city abandoned by Lot would testify to his sympathy and regret for this city, which, at the sight of the heavenly punishment that broke out over him, would be tantamount to an indirect censure of God himself for the cruelty of His judgment. Finally, any turning back is also disapproved because it indicates a person’s lack of strength of character and willpower and a certain reprehensible indecision in him to follow the once chosen path (Matt. 24:18; Phil. 3:13–14, etc.). Gen. 19:18–19. But Lot said to them: No, Master! Behold, Thy servant has found favor in Thy sight, and great is Thy mercy which Thou hast done to me, that Thou hast saved my life; but I cannot escape to the mountain, lest misfortune overtakes me and I die; The mountains were appointed as a place of salvation for Lot and his family - in all likelihood, the Moabite mountains, surrounding the Jordan Valley on the east. But here too he reveals a lack of courage and weakness of will, tempting divine mercy with his cowardly request. Gen.19:20. Now, it’s closer to run to this city, it’s small; I’ll run there - he’s small; and my life will be preserved [for Your sake]. Seized by cowardly despair, Lot thinks that he will not have time to reach such a distant point as the Moabite Mountains, and prays to the Lord to allow him to take refuge halfway to them, in one small town, which received the name Zoar in memory of this event (Gen. 19:22). Lot twice exposes the special insignificance of this town, on the one hand, in order to make it all the more easy to incline the Lord to his request, on the other, and because in order to show that in it, as in a small town, there was not that terrifying depravity that reigned in large cities, and that because of this, it could be spared from destruction sooner than others. Gen.19:22. hasten and escape there, for I cannot do any work until you get there. That is why this city is named Zoar. Condescending to the request of Lot, although weak in will, but pure in soul, the Lord not only spares the small city of Zoar for his sake, but also postpones the punishment of the remaining cities until Lot arrives in Zoar. The name of this city from Hebrew, more precise - “Tzoar”, means in literal translation: “small, small”; This also indicates the reason for its renaming: it was Lot’s insistence on his insignificance (Gen. 19:20). Previously, this town was called “White” (Gen. 14:2). Most learned geographers of Palestine believe that this town lay at the southernmost point of the Jordan Valley (Gen. 13:10; Deut. 34:3), an hour's journey southeast of the Dead Sea, in the area now called Shirbet es-Safia. There are traces of its existence from the era of Roman rule Ζόαρα at Steph. Byzantine, and from the time of the Crusades (“Sogar” or “Tsogar”, after whose name the Dead Sea itself is also called the “Sea of ​​Tsogar”). Gen.19:24–25. And the Lord rained down upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and he overthrew these cities, and all this countryside, and all the inhabitants of these cities, and [all] the growth of the earth. Here, first of all, the certain unnaturalness of the expression catches our attention: “and the Lord shed... from the Lord.” According to the explanation of the fathers and teachers of the Church (Ignatius the God-Bearer, John Chrysostom, Justin the Philosopher, Athanasius of Alexandria, Cyprian, Tertullian, etc.), a separate indication is given here of the two persons of the Holy Trinity: God the Father and God the Son. The Son of God or the Angel of the Lord (Jehovah's Angel), He and the Logos, appeared on earth and acted in the name of God the Father, who, according to the word of the Holy Scriptures, does not himself judge the world, but gave all this judgment to the Son (John 5:22–23; 2 Thess. 2:8; Rev. 1:16, 2:16, 19:15). We have a similar case to this in the second letter of the Ap. Paul to Timothy, where the Apostle prays for the servant Onesiphorus, so that “the Lord will make him worthy to receive mercy from the Lord on that day” (2 Tim. 1:18). As for the nature of the catastrophe itself that broke out over the four cities of Pentopolis (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim) (Deut. 29:23; Hos. 11:8), then, based on the data of the text itself (“we will rain brimstone and fire ... from heaven”), as well as taking into account the biblical parallels related to it (Deut. 29:23; Jer. 49:18, 50:40; 2 Pet. 2:6), the testimony of Josephus and the research of modern scientists, it can be assumed that it was of two kinds: it began with a terrible volcanic eruption, accompanied by a fire of tar swamps and springs, which covered the valley of Siddim in abundance (Gen. 14:10); and ended with the flooding of this entire valley from the neighboring salt lake, which occurred as a result of a strong depression of the soil formed after a volcanic eruption. Thus, God often uses natural actions and phenomena to reveal His sovereign will. It is remarkable that the sea, formed on the site of the once flourishing Jordan Valley of Siddim and usually known to us under the name “Dead,” does not bear such an epithet anywhere in the Holy Scriptures, but is called either the sea of ​​the plain (Deut. 3:17) or the Salt Sea (Gen. 14:3; Num. 34:3); both last names fully justify the above guess about the nature of the heavenly punishment committed over the wicked cities. Finally, the same assumption is supported by the scientific research of the newest geographers of Palestine, according to whose calculations the difference in the depth of the northern (ancient) and southern (later formed) parts of the Salt Sea is very striking, as it reaches almost 800 feet, and involuntarily makes us assume that they have different origins. To this it should be added that on the southern coast of the sea from time to time large asphalt blocks, clearly of volcanic origin, are found thrown up from the seabed. Lotov's wife turns into a pillar of salt Gen.19:26. Lotov’s wife looked behind him and became a pillar of salt. That the punishment of Lot's wife for disobeying the command of the Angels (Gen. 19:17), which served as an expression of her sympathy for the wicked, is not an allegory, as some thought, but a real, historical fact, the author of the book testifies to this. The Wisdom of Solomon (Wis. 10:7–8) and our Lord Jesus Christ himself (Luke 17:32). It is supposed that at the very moment when Lot's wife stopped to look at the city, she was engulfed in a destructive, volcanic whirlwind, which not only instantly killed her in the same position, but also covered her with a kind of asphalt crust; over time, this fossilized form also took on a whole series of salt deposits from the salt sea that formed here and in this way, over time, turned into a large salt block, or salt column. Jos. Josephus cites a legend according to which one of the salt pillars near the Dead Sea was pointed out as the remains of Lot's wife (Jewish Ancients 1, 11, 4), and modern Arabs still call a salt pillar, about 40 feet, by this name. heights, east of the town of “Usdum”, consonant with the biblical “Sodom”. Gen.19:27–28. And Abraham arose early in the morning [and went] to the place where he stood before the Lord, and he looked towards Sodom and Gomorpah and all the surrounding area and saw: behold, smoke rises from the earth like smoke from a furnace. This remark by the writer of everyday life places this entire narrative in the closest connection with Abraham’s previous petition for the salvation of the righteous in these wicked cities (Gen. 18:22–32). At the same time, it once again confirms our assumption about a terrible earthquake and fire, to which the cities doomed to destruction fell victim. Gen.19:29. And it came to pass, when God was destroying [all] the cities around this place, that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out from the midst of the destruction, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived. These words explain a lot both about the persistence of Abraham’s intercession for the salvation of the Sodomites, even for the sake of ten righteous people (a figure to which the number of members of Lot’s family may have approached), and in the special favor and mercy of God towards Lot, despite his some hesitation and cowardice. At the same time, this fact is eloquent evidence of how “much can the earnest prayer of the righteous avail” (James 5:16). Gen.19:30. And Lot went out from Zoar and began to live in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. And he lived in a cave, and his two daughters were with him. Despite the permission given by God to Lot to live in Zoar (Gen. 19:21–22), he once again shows his cowardice: he flees from it and hides in the mountains, probably in the very Moabite mountains, which were originally assigned to him by God himself as a safe refuge (Gen. 19:17). Origin of the Moabites and Ammonites Gen. 19:31–36. And the elder said to the younger: Our father is old, and there is no man on earth who would come to us according to the custom of all the earth; Let us therefore give our father wine to drink, and sleep with him, and raise up a descendant from our father. And they made their father drink wine that night; and the eldest went in and slept with her father [that night]; but he did not know when she lay down and when she got up. The next day the eldest said to the younger: behold, I slept with my father yesterday; Let's give him wine to drink that night too; and you go in, sleep with him, and we will raise up a tribe from our father. And they made their father drink wine that night; and the youngest came in and slept with him; and he did not know when she lay down and when she got up. And both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father, The final section of the chapter under study contains the sad story of Lot's fall. Lot, who throughout his life was a living denunciation of the Sodomites for the purity of his morals (2 Pet. 2:7), at the end of his life he himself, to some extent, became like them, having entered into a criminal relationship with his daughters. Such unnatural relationships were rarely practiced even among pagans (1 Cor. 5:1), but in the Law of Moses the death penalty was directly imposed for them (Lev. 18:6–7, 29; Deut. 27:22). It is not surprising that to many exegetes this whole narrative seems extremely tempting and unlikely. But a more thoughtful analysis of the text and taking into account all the incidental circumstances greatly clarifies the matter. As for the personality of Lot himself, most of his guilt, like once the guilt of Noah (Gen. 9:21), is removed by the fact that he committed the criminal act in a state of intoxication and without any consciousness of its significance, as is clearly twice emphasized by the biblical text (ends of v. 33 and 35). It is much more difficult, of course, to justify the behavior of Lot's daughters, on whose part a deliberate intention and an insidious plan are clearly visible. But even here it is possible to point out a whole series of circumstances mitigating their guilt: firstly, their action, as is clearly seen from the text, was guided not by lust, but by a laudable intention to restore the fading seed of the father (Gen. 19:32, 34); secondly, they resorted to this means as the only outcome in their situation, since they, according to the text, were convinced that, besides their father, they no longer had any man from whom they could receive offspring (Gen. 19:31). They developed such a false belief either because they considered the rest of humanity to be lost, or, more likely, because no one wanted to have communication with them, as they came from cities cursed by God. Finally, the explanation, and therefore some excuse for the action of Lot’s daughters, is the conditions of their entire previous life in the society of depraved Sodomites and under the direct influence of their mother, who was not far removed from her fellow citizens. Gen. 19:37–38. and the eldest gave birth to a son, and called his name Moab [saying: he is from my father]. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. And the youngest also gave birth to a son, and called his name Ben-Ammi [saying: he is the son of my family]. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day. Due to their mutual kinship, the Moabites and Ammonites often appear together in the Bible. As children of sin and iniquity, they are the subject of curse and disgust in the Bible (Deut. 23:3; 1 Kings 11:6–7; Isa. 16:12–14; 1 Chron. 20:3), but as related in the flesh to the chosen Jewish people, they are ultimately able to receive forgiveness and salvation (Jer. 48:47, 49:6). You might be interested in: