Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

PART THIRTY-TWO
THE STORY OF ABRAHAM:
LOT’S LAST DAYS
Genesis 19 : 1 -3 8
1. Lot’s Hosjijality (vv. 1-3 )
1 And the two angels came to Sodom at even; and
Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot saw them, and rose
up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his fuce to
the earth; 2 and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn aside,
I Pray you, into yo& servaiatis house, and tarry all night,
and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on
your way. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the
street all night. 3 And he urged them greatly; and they
turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he
made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they
did eat.
While Abraham had been pleading with God, the
other two heavenly Visitants had entered the doomed city.
Note, the two angels came. Speiser (ABG, 138) : “This
identification is meant for the reader, who knows that
Yahweh stayed behind with Abraham (18:22) in order
to tell him of the melancholy mission. ‘The author was
equally direct in introducing the other visit (18: 1). But
Lot must discover the truth for himself, as Abraham“did ’
7 %
earlier.’’ It was in the light of the miracle (v. ^il) that
the “men” (vv. 5, 8, 10; cf. 18:22) were now Clk
revealed as angels. It is at this point that the text‘beccbnes
more specific. “By thus viewing the action through th?
eyes of the actors, the spectator also is caught up in the
unfolding drama, in spite of his advance knowledge.”;
Nqte that the an
in the evening. NOW the southern tip of what is.now the
Dead Sea is sope forty miles from Mebron. Normal
traveling time for that distance in the patriarchal age
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arrived ,at Sodom “at even,” that is, 3