n120 blindness, affecting the mental more than the ocular vision.
axa Moab, axa from a father. ‘as-ja Ben-ammi, son of my
people. 4iay “Ammon, of the people.
XIX. 1. And the two angels came to Sodom at even, and
Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot saw and rose up to meet
them, and bowed with his face to the earth. 2. And he said,
Behold, now, my lords, turn aside now to your servant’s house,
and lodge, and wash your feet ; and ye shall rise up early, and
goon your way. And they said, Nay, but in the street will we
lodge. 8. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned
aside to him, and went into his house: and he made them a
feast, and baked unleavened cakes, and they did eat.
They lay not yet down, and the men of the city, the men
of Sodom, compassed the house, both young and old, all the
people from every quarter. 5. And they called unto Lot, and
said unto him, Where are the men who went in to thee to-
night? Bring them out unto us, and we shall know them.
And Lot came out to them at the door, and shut the door
after him. 7. And said, Do not now, my brethren, so wick-
edly. 8. Behold, now, I have two daughters, who have not
known man; let me now bring them out unto you,and do ye
to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do noth-
ing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
And they said, Stand back. And they said, This one is
come in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge; now will we
deal worse with thee than with them. And they pressed sore
upon the man, even Lot, and drew near to break the door.
And the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot to them
into the house, and shut the door. 11. And the men that were
at the door of the house they smote with blindness, both small
and great: and they wearied themselves to find the door.
And the men said unto Lot, Whom else hast thou here?
Son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and all that thou
hast in the city, bring out of this place. 18. For destroy will
we this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before
the Lorp, and the Lorp 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 ye out of this place, for the Lorp
will destroy this city. But he was as a mocker in the eyes of
his sons-in-law. 15. And when the dawn arose, then the an-
gels urged Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife.and thy two daugh-
ters, who are here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of
the city. 16. And he lingered, and the men laid hold on his
hand, and on the hand of his wife, and on the hand of his
two daughters, in the mercy of the Lorp 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, and stay
not in all the vale; escape to the mountain, lest thou be con-
sumed. 18. And: Lot said unto them, Not so now, O Lorp.
Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thine eyes,
and thou didst magnify thy mercy, which thou hast showed
unto me in saving my life; and I, I cannot escape to the moun-
tain, lest evil overtake me, and I die. 20. Behold, now, this
city is near to flee unto, and it is a small place: let me now
escape thither; is it not a small place? and my soul shall live.
And he said unto him, Lo, I have accepted thee also con-
cerning this thing, not to overthrow the city for which thou
hast spoken. 22. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do
anything till thou go thither. Therefore was the name of the
city called Zoar. 23. The sun was come forth upon the earth,
when Lot entered Zoar.
Then the Lorp rained upon Sodom and Amorah brim
stone and fire from the Lorp from the skies. 25. And he
overthrew those cities, and all the vale, and all the inhabitants
of the cities, and that which grew upon the soil. 26. And his
wife looked from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place
where he stood before the Lord. 28. And looked out upon
Sodom and Amorah, and upon all the land of the vale, and
beheld, and lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke
of afurnace. 29. And it came to pass when God destroyed
the cities of the vale, that God remembered Abraham, and
sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew
the cities in which Lot dwelt.
And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the moun-
tain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell
in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.
And the first-born said unto the younger, Our father is
old, and there is not a man in the land to come in unto us
after the manner of all the land. 32. Come, let us make our
father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we preserve
seed of our father. 33. And they made their father drink
wine that night: and the first-born went in and lay with her
father; and he knew not of her lying down or of her rising
up. 384. And it came to pass on the morrow that the first-born
said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father:
let us make him drink wine this night also, and go lie with
him, that we may preserve seed of our father. 85. And they
made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger
arose and lay with him; and he knew not of her lying down
or of her rising up. 86. And the two daughters of Lot were
with child by their father. 87. And the first-born bare a son,
and called his name Moab: the same is the father of Moab
unto this day. 38. And the younger, she also bare a son, and
called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the chil-
dren of Ammon unto this day. § 31.
This chapter is the continuation and conclusion of the former. It
records a part of God’s strange work, — strange, because it consists in
punishment, and because it is foreign to the covenant of grace. Yet
it is closely connected with Abraham’s history, inasmuch as it is a sig-
nal chastisement of wickedness in his neighborhood, a memorial of the
righteous judgment of God to all his posterity, and at the same time
a remarkable answer to the spirit, if not to the letter, of his interces-
sory prayer. His kinsman Lot, the only righteous man in Sodom, with
his wife and two daughters, is delivered from destruction in accordance
with his earnest appeal on behalf of the righteous.
1-3. The two angels. These are the two men who left Abraham.
standing before the Lord (Gen. xviii. 22). Lot sat in the gate, the
place of public resort for news and for business. He courteously rises
to meet them, does obeisance to them, and invites them to spend the
night in his house. Way, but in the street will we lodge. This is the
disposition of those who come to inquire, and, it may be, to condemn
and to punish. They are twice in this chapter called angels, be:ng
sent to perform a delegated duty. This term, however, defines ther
office, not their nature. Lot, in the first instance, calls them “my
lords,” which is a term of respect that may be addressed to men (Ge:.
xxxi. 35). He afterwards styled one of them Adonai, with the pecu-
liar vowel pointing which limits it to the Supreme Being. He at the
same time calls himself his servant, appeals to his grace and mercy,
and ascribes to him his deliverance. The person thus addressed
replies, in a tone of independence and authority, “I have accepted
thee.’ “I will not overthrow this city for which thou hast spoken.”
“JT cannot do anything till thou go thither.” All these circumstances
point to a divine personage, and are not so easily explained of a mere
delegate. He is preéminently the Saviour, as he who communed with
Abraham was the hearer of prayer. And he who hears prayer and
saves life, appears also as the executor of his purpose in the over-
throw of Sodom and the other cities of the vale. It is remarkable
that only two of the three who appeared to Abraham are called angels.
Of the persons in the divine essence two might be the angels or dep-
uties of the primary in the discharge of the divine purpose. These
three men, then, either immediately represent, or, if created angels,
mediately shadow forth persons in the Godhead. Their number
indicates that the persons in the divine unity are three.
Lot seems to have recognized something extraordinary in their
appearance, for he made a lowly obeisance to them. The Sodomites
heed not the strangers. Lot’s invitation, at first declined, is at length
accepted, because Lot is approved of God as righteous, and excepted
from the doom of the city.
4-11. The wicked violence of the citizens displays itself. 4, 5.
They compass the house, and demand the men for the vilest ends.
6-8. How familiar Lot had become with vice, when any necessity
whatever could induce him to offer his daughters to the lust of these
Sodomites! We may suppose it was spoken rashly, in the heat of the
moment, and with the expectation that he would not be taken at his
word. So it turned out. 9. Stand back. This seems to be a menace
to frighten Lot out of the way of their perverse will. It is probable,
indeed, that he and his family would not have been so long safe in this
wicked place, had he not been the occasion of a great deliverance to
the whole city when they were carried away by the four kings. The
threat is followed by a taunt, when the sorely vexed host hesitated to
give up the strangers. He will needs be a judge. It is evident Lot
had been in the habit of remonstrating with them. From threats and
taunts they soon proceed to violence. 10, 11. His guests now inter-
fere. They rescue Lot, and smite the rioters with blindness, or a
wandering of the senses, so that they cannot find the door. This
ebullition of the vilest passion seals the doom of the city.
12-23. The visitors now take steps for the deliverance of Lot and
his kindred before the destruction of the cities. 12-14. All that are
related to him are included in the offer of deliverance. There is a
blessing in being connected with the righteous, if men will but avail
themselves of it. 15, 16. Lot seems bewildered by the contemptuous
refusal of his connections to leave the place. His early choice and
his growing habits have attached him to the place, notwithstanding its
temptations. His married daughters, or at least the intended husbands
of the two who were at home (“ who are here”), are to be left behind.
But though these thoughts make him linger, the mercy of the Lord
prevails. The angels use a little violence to hasten their escape. 17.
The mountain was preserved by its elevation from the flood of rain,
sulphur, and fire which descended on the low ground on which the
cities were built~ 18-22. Lot begs for a small town to which he may
retreat, as he shrinks from the perils of a mountain dwelling, and his
request is mercifully granted.
24-26. Then follows the overthrow of the cities. Zhe Lord rained
brimstone and fire from the Lord from the skies. Were the Lord is
represented as present in the skies, whence the storm of desolation
comes, and on the earth where it falls. The dale of Siddim, in which
the cities were, appears to have abounded in asphalt and other com-
bustible materials (Gen. xiv. 10). The district was liable to earth-
quakes and volcanic eruptions from the earliest to the latest times.
We read of an earthquake in the days of king Uzziah (Am. i. 1).
An earthquake in 1759 destroyed many thousands of persons in the
valley of Baalbec. Josephus (De Bell. Jud. iii. 10,7) reports that
the Salt Sea sends up in many places black masses of asphalt, which
are not unlike headless bulls in shape and size. After an carthquake
in 1834, masses of asphalt were thrown up from the bottom, and in
1837 a similar cause was attended with similar effects. The lake lies
in the lowest part of the valley of the Jordan, and its surface is about
thirteen hundred feet below the level of the sea. In such a hollow,
exposed to the burning rays of an unclouded sun, its waters evaporate
as much as it receives by the influx of the Jordan. Its present area
is about forty-five miles by eight. A peninsula pushes into it from the
east called the Lisan, or tongue, the north point of which is about
twenty miles from the south end of the lake. North of this point the
depth is from forty to two hundred and eighteen fathoms. This south-
ern part of the lake seems to have been the original dale of Siddim, in
which were the cities of the vale. The remarkable salt hills lying on
the south of the lake are still called Khashm Usdum (Sodom). A
tremendous storm, accompanied with flashes of lightning, and torrents
of rain, impregnated with sulphur, descended upon the doomed cities.
From the injunction to Lot to flee to the mountain, as well as from the
nature of the soil, we may infer that at the same time with the awful
conflagration there was a subsidence of the ground, so that the waters
of the upper and original lake flowed in upon the former fertile and
populous dale, and formed the shallow southern part of the present
Salt Sea. In this pool of melting asphalt and sweltering, seething
waters, the cities seem to have sunk forever, and left behind them no
vestiges of their existence. Lot’s wife lingering behind her husband,
and looking back, contrary to the express command of the Lord, is
caught in the sweeping tempest, and becomes a pillar of salt: so nar-
row was the escape of Lot. The dashing spray of the salt sulphurous
rain seems to have suffocated her, and then encrusted her whole body.
She may have burned to a cinder in the furious conflagration. She is
a memorable example of the indignation and wrath that overtakes the
halting and the backsliding.
27-29. Abraham rises early on the following morning, to see what
had become of the city for which he had intercedéd so earnestly, and
views from afar the scene of smoking desolation. Remembering
Abraham, who was Lot’s uncle, and had him probably in mind in his
importunate pleading, God delivered Lot from this awful overthrow.
The Eternal is here designated by the name Elohim, the Everlast-
ing, because in the war of elements in which the cities were over-
whelmed, the eternal potencies of his nature were signally displayed.
30-38. The descendants of Lot. Bewildered by the narrowness
of his escape, and the awful death of his wife, Lot seems to have left
Zoar, and taken to the mountain west of the Salt Sea, in terror of
impending ruin. It is not improbable that all the inhabitants of Zoar,
panic-struck, may have fled from the region of danger, and dispersed
themselves for a time through the adjacent mountains. He was now far
from the habitations of men, with his two daughters as his only com-
panions. 382-36. The manners of Sodom here obtrude themselves
upon our view. Lot’s daughters might seem to have been led to this
unnatural project, first, because they thought the human race extinct
with the exception of themselves, in which case their conduct may
have seemed a work of justifiable necessity ; and next, because the
degrees of kindred within which it was unlawful to marry had not
been determined by an express law. But they must have seen some
of the inhabitants of Zoar after the destruction of the cities; and car-
nal intercourse between parent and offspring must have been always
repugnant to nature. 37,38. Unto this day. ‘This phrase indicates a
variable period, from a few years to a few centuries: a few years, not
more than seven, as Jos. xxii. 3; part of a lifetime, as Num. xxii. 39,
Jas. vi. 25, Gen. xlviii. 15 ; and some centuries, as Exod. x. 6. This
passage may therefore have been written by one much earlier than
Moses. Moab afterwards occupied the district south of the Arnon, and
east of the Salt Sea. Ammon dwelt to the northeast of Moab, where
they had a capital called Rabbah. They both ultimately merged into
the more general class of the Arabs, as a second Palgite element.
XIX. 1. And the two angels came to Sodom at even, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot saw and rose up to meet them, and bowed with his face to the earth. 2. And he said, Behold, now, my lords, turn aside now to your servant’s house, and lodge, and wash your feet ; and ye shall rise up early, and goon your way. And they said, Nay, but in the street will we lodge. 8. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned aside to him, and went into his house: and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened cakes, and they did eat.
They lay not yet down, and the men of the city, the men of Sodom, compassed the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. 5. And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men who went in to thee to- night? Bring them out unto us, and we shall know them.
And Lot came out to them at the door, and shut the door after him. 7. And said, Do not now, my brethren, so wick- edly. 8. Behold, now, I have two daughters, who have not known man; let me now bring them out unto you,and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do noth- ing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
And they said, Stand back. And they said, This one is come in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge; now will we deal worse with thee than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and drew near to break the door.
And the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot to them into the house, and shut the door. 11. And the men that were at the door of the house they smote with blindness, both small and great: and they wearied themselves to find the door.
And the men said unto Lot, Whom else hast thou here? Son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and all that thou hast in the city, bring out of this place. 18. For destroy will we this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the Lorp, and the Lorp 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 ye out of this place, for the Lorp will destroy this city. But he was as a mocker in the eyes of his sons-in-law. 15. And when the dawn arose, then the an- gels urged Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife.and thy two daugh- ters, who are here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 16. And he lingered, and the men laid hold on his hand, and on the hand of his wife, and on the hand of his two daughters, in the mercy of the Lorp 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, and stay not in all the vale; escape to the mountain, lest thou be con- sumed. 18. And: Lot said unto them, Not so now, O Lorp.
Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thine eyes, and thou didst magnify thy mercy, which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life; and I, I cannot escape to the moun- tain, lest evil overtake me, and I die. 20. Behold, now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a small place: let me now escape thither; is it not a small place? and my soul shall live.
And he said unto him, Lo, I have accepted thee also con- cerning this thing, not to overthrow the city for which thou hast spoken. 22. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou go thither. Therefore was the name of the city called Zoar. 23. The sun was come forth upon the earth, when Lot entered Zoar.
Then the Lorp rained upon Sodom and Amorah brim stone and fire from the Lorp from the skies. 25. And he overthrew those cities, and all the vale, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the soil. 26. And his wife looked from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord. 28. And looked out upon Sodom and Amorah, and upon all the land of the vale, and beheld, and lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of afurnace. 29. And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the vale, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.
And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the moun- tain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.
And the first-born said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the land to come in unto us after the manner of all the land. 32. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we preserve seed of our father. 33. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the first-born went in and lay with her father; and he knew not of her lying down or of her rising up. 384. And it came to pass on the morrow that the first-born said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also, and go lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. 85. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose and lay with him; and he knew not of her lying down or of her rising up. 86. And the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 87. And the first-born bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of Moab unto this day. 38. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the chil- dren of Ammon unto this day. § 31.
This chapter is the continuation and conclusion of the former. It records a part of God’s strange work, — strange, because it consists in punishment, and because it is foreign to the covenant of grace. Yet it is closely connected with Abraham’s history, inasmuch as it is a sig- nal chastisement of wickedness in his neighborhood, a memorial of the righteous judgment of God to all his posterity, and at the same time a remarkable answer to the spirit, if not to the letter, of his interces- sory prayer. His kinsman Lot, the only righteous man in Sodom, with his wife and two daughters, is delivered from destruction in accordance with his earnest appeal on behalf of the righteous.
1-3. The two angels. These are the two men who left Abraham. standing before the Lord (Gen. xviii. 22). Lot sat in the gate, the place of public resort for news and for business. He courteously rises to meet them, does obeisance to them, and invites them to spend the night in his house. Way, but in the street will we lodge. This is the disposition of those who come to inquire, and, it may be, to condemn and to punish. They are twice in this chapter called angels, be:ng sent to perform a delegated duty. This term, however, defines ther office, not their nature. Lot, in the first instance, calls them “my lords,” which is a term of respect that may be addressed to men (Ge:. xxxi. 35). He afterwards styled one of them Adonai, with the pecu- liar vowel pointing which limits it to the Supreme Being. He at the same time calls himself his servant, appeals to his grace and mercy, and ascribes to him his deliverance. The person thus addressed replies, in a tone of independence and authority, “I have accepted thee.’ “I will not overthrow this city for which thou hast spoken.” “JT cannot do anything till thou go thither.” All these circumstances point to a divine personage, and are not so easily explained of a mere delegate. He is preéminently the Saviour, as he who communed with Abraham was the hearer of prayer. And he who hears prayer and saves life, appears also as the executor of his purpose in the over- throw of Sodom and the other cities of the vale. It is remarkable that only two of the three who appeared to Abraham are called angels. Of the persons in the divine essence two might be the angels or dep- uties of the primary in the discharge of the divine purpose. These three men, then, either immediately represent, or, if created angels, mediately shadow forth persons in the Godhead. Their number indicates that the persons in the divine unity are three.
Lot seems to have recognized something extraordinary in their appearance, for he made a lowly obeisance to them. The Sodomites
heed not the strangers. Lot’s invitation, at first declined, is at length accepted, because Lot is approved of God as righteous, and excepted from the doom of the city.
4-11. The wicked violence of the citizens displays itself. 4, 5. They compass the house, and demand the men for the vilest ends. 6-8. How familiar Lot had become with vice, when any necessity whatever could induce him to offer his daughters to the lust of these Sodomites! We may suppose it was spoken rashly, in the heat of the moment, and with the expectation that he would not be taken at his word. So it turned out. 9. Stand back. This seems to be a menace to frighten Lot out of the way of their perverse will. It is probable, indeed, that he and his family would not have been so long safe in this wicked place, had he not been the occasion of a great deliverance to the whole city when they were carried away by the four kings. The threat is followed by a taunt, when the sorely vexed host hesitated to give up the strangers. He will needs be a judge. It is evident Lot had been in the habit of remonstrating with them. From threats and taunts they soon proceed to violence. 10, 11. His guests now inter- fere. They rescue Lot, and smite the rioters with blindness, or a wandering of the senses, so that they cannot find the door. This ebullition of the vilest passion seals the doom of the city.
12-23. The visitors now take steps for the deliverance of Lot and his kindred before the destruction of the cities. 12-14. All that are related to him are included in the offer of deliverance. There is a blessing in being connected with the righteous, if men will but avail themselves of it. 15, 16. Lot seems bewildered by the contemptuous refusal of his connections to leave the place. His early choice and his growing habits have attached him to the place, notwithstanding its temptations. His married daughters, or at least the intended husbands of the two who were at home (“ who are here”), are to be left behind. But though these thoughts make him linger, the mercy of the Lord prevails. The angels use a little violence to hasten their escape. 17. The mountain was preserved by its elevation from the flood of rain, sulphur, and fire which descended on the low ground on which the cities were built~ 18-22. Lot begs for a small town to which he may retreat, as he shrinks from the perils of a mountain dwelling, and his request is mercifully granted.
24-26. Then follows the overthrow of the cities. Zhe Lord rained brimstone and fire from the Lord from the skies. Were the Lord is represented as present in the skies, whence the storm of desolation
comes, and on the earth where it falls. The dale of Siddim, in which the cities were, appears to have abounded in asphalt and other com- bustible materials (Gen. xiv. 10). The district was liable to earth- quakes and volcanic eruptions from the earliest to the latest times. We read of an earthquake in the days of king Uzziah (Am. i. 1). An earthquake in 1759 destroyed many thousands of persons in the valley of Baalbec. Josephus (De Bell. Jud. iii. 10,7) reports that the Salt Sea sends up in many places black masses of asphalt, which are not unlike headless bulls in shape and size. After an carthquake in 1834, masses of asphalt were thrown up from the bottom, and in 1837 a similar cause was attended with similar effects. The lake lies in the lowest part of the valley of the Jordan, and its surface is about thirteen hundred feet below the level of the sea. In such a hollow, exposed to the burning rays of an unclouded sun, its waters evaporate as much as it receives by the influx of the Jordan. Its present area is about forty-five miles by eight. A peninsula pushes into it from the east called the Lisan, or tongue, the north point of which is about twenty miles from the south end of the lake. North of this point the depth is from forty to two hundred and eighteen fathoms. This south- ern part of the lake seems to have been the original dale of Siddim, in which were the cities of the vale. The remarkable salt hills lying on the south of the lake are still called Khashm Usdum (Sodom). A tremendous storm, accompanied with flashes of lightning, and torrents of rain, impregnated with sulphur, descended upon the doomed cities. From the injunction to Lot to flee to the mountain, as well as from the nature of the soil, we may infer that at the same time with the awful conflagration there was a subsidence of the ground, so that the waters of the upper and original lake flowed in upon the former fertile and populous dale, and formed the shallow southern part of the present Salt Sea. In this pool of melting asphalt and sweltering, seething waters, the cities seem to have sunk forever, and left behind them no vestiges of their existence. Lot’s wife lingering behind her husband, and looking back, contrary to the express command of the Lord, is caught in the sweeping tempest, and becomes a pillar of salt: so nar- row was the escape of Lot. The dashing spray of the salt sulphurous rain seems to have suffocated her, and then encrusted her whole body. She may have burned to a cinder in the furious conflagration. She is a memorable example of the indignation and wrath that overtakes the halting and the backsliding.
27-29. Abraham rises early on the following morning, to see what
had become of the city for which he had intercedéd so earnestly, and views from afar the scene of smoking desolation. Remembering Abraham, who was Lot’s uncle, and had him probably in mind in his importunate pleading, God delivered Lot from this awful overthrow. The Eternal is here designated by the name Elohim, the Everlast- ing, because in the war of elements in which the cities were over- whelmed, the eternal potencies of his nature were signally displayed.
30-38. The descendants of Lot. Bewildered by the narrowness of his escape, and the awful death of his wife, Lot seems to have left Zoar, and taken to the mountain west of the Salt Sea, in terror of impending ruin. It is not improbable that all the inhabitants of Zoar, panic-struck, may have fled from the region of danger, and dispersed themselves for a time through the adjacent mountains. He was now far from the habitations of men, with his two daughters as his only com- panions. 382-36. The manners of Sodom here obtrude themselves upon our view. Lot’s daughters might seem to have been led to this unnatural project, first, because they thought the human race extinct with the exception of themselves, in which case their conduct may have seemed a work of justifiable necessity ; and next, because the degrees of kindred within which it was unlawful to marry had not been determined by an express law. But they must have seen some of the inhabitants of Zoar after the destruction of the cities; and car- nal intercourse between parent and offspring must have been always repugnant to nature. 37,38. Unto this day. ‘This phrase indicates a variable period, from a few years to a few centuries: a few years, not more than seven, as Jos. xxii. 3; part of a lifetime, as Num. xxii. 39, Jas. vi. 25, Gen. xlviii. 15 ; and some centuries, as Exod. x. 6. This passage may therefore have been written by one much earlier than Moses. Moab afterwards occupied the district south of the Arnon, and east of the Salt Sea. Ammon dwelt to the northeast of Moab, where they had a capital called Rabbah. They both ultimately merged into the more general class of the Arabs, as a second Palgite element.