Genesis 19:14

14 Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, "Up, 1get out of this place, for the LORD will destroy the city." 2But he appeared * to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

Genesis 19:14 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 19:14

And Lot went out
From his house, after the men of Sodom were gone from it, and before the morning, very probably about midnight: and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters:
according to Aben Ezra, he had two other daughters that perished in Sodom, which he gathers from ( Genesis 19:15 ) , "which are here", as if he had some elsewhere; and so Jarchi says, he had two daughters married in the city. And the Jewish writers F17 speak of one of them, whose name was Pelothith, married to one of the grandees of Sodom: but it seems rather, that these were the daughters Lot had at home with him; who, according to Josephus F18 were espoused to men in the city, but not yet married; and on account of such espousals, as were usual in the eastern countries, Lot calls them his sons-in-law, as they were intended, and so the words may be rendered, "that were about to take his daughters" {s}; to take them for wives, and to their own houses, neither of which they had as yet done; for if these had been daughters of his married, and taken home, he would not only have spoke unto their husbands, but to them also; and would have been still more pressing upon them to arise and make their escape; of which nothing is said, nor of any answer of theirs to him, only of his sons-in-law, as they are called on the above account: and said, up, get ye out of this place;
that is, get up from your beds, anne immediately, and make your escape out of the city: for the Lord will destroy this city;
now, directly, immediately; therefore there is no time to be lost, but at once prepare for your safety: but he seemed as one that mocked to his sons in law;
as one that was in jest, and had a mind to have a little sport with them, to get them out of their beds, and put them into a flight, and then laugh at them.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 Pirke Eliezer, c. 25.
F18 Antiqu. l. 1. c. 11. sect. 4.
F19 (wytnb yxql) "qui brevi fuerant ducturi filias suas", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so some in Vatablus & Drusius.

Genesis 19:14 In-Context

12 Then the two men said to Lot, "Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place;
13 for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the LORD that the LORD has sent us to destroy it."
14 Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, "Up, get out of this place, for the LORD will destroy the city." But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
15 When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city."
16 But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the LORD was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Numbers 16:21, 45; Revelation 18:4
  • 2. Jeremiah 43:1, 2

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Or "had married;" lit "were taking"
  • [b]. Lit "like one who was jesting"
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