Genesis 19:14

14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law [who were] taking his daughters and said, "Get up! Go out from this place, because Yahweh [is going] to destroy the city!" But {it seemed like a joke} in the eyes of his sons-in-law.

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 men said to Lot, "Who [is] here with you? Bring out from the place [your] sons-in-law, and your sons and your daughters, and all who [are] with you in the city.
13 For we are [about to] destroy this place, because their cry has become great before Yahweh. Yahweh sent us to destroy it."
14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law [who were] taking his daughters and said, "Get up! Go out from this place, because Yahweh [is going] to destroy the city!" But {it seemed like a joke} in the eyes of his sons-in-law.
15 And as the dawn came up the angels urged Lot saying, "Get up, take your wife and your two daughters {who are staying with you}, lest you be destroyed with the punishment of the city."
16 But [when] he lingered, the men seized him by his hand and his wife's hand, and his two daughters by hand, on account of the mercy of Yahweh upon him. And they brought him out and set him outside of the city.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. That is, marrying
  • [b]. Literally "it was as one making fun"
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