2 Peter 2:7

7 but he rescued Lot, a righteous man who was distressed by the debauchery of those unprincipled people;

2 Peter 2:7 Meaning and Commentary

2 Peter 2:7

And delivered just Lot
Who was a just man, being justified by the righteousness of Christ imputed to him; and having the new man formed in him, which is created in righteousness and true holiness; and living soberly, righteously, and godly, though not without sin: for there is not a just man that lives and sinneth not; this righteous man was delivered from the burning of Sodom by the means of angels, ( Genesis 19:16 Genesis 19:17 ) . The Jews are very injurious to this good man's character, and give a very different one of him from this of the apostle's; they call him a wicked man, a perfect wicked man, as wicked as the inhabitants of Sodom F4; and say, that because they abounded in sin, therefore Lot chose to dwell among them F5; and affirm F6, that all the time he was with Abraham, God did not join himself to him, and did not commune with Abraham on his account; but, when he was separated from him, did; they call him the evil imagination, and the old serpent that was accursed, and cursed Lot F7; but Philo the Jew F8 speaks better of him, and says that he did not embrace and delight in the iniquities of the inhabitants, though he did not arrive to the perfection of wisdom; and the author of the book of Wisdom calls him the "righteous man",

``When the ungodly perished, she delivered the righteous man, who fled from the fire which fell down upon the five cities.'' (Wisdom 10:6)

as the apostle does here; and very truly, since it follows:

vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked;
the inhabitants of Sodom, who had no regard to the laws of God or man, or to the law and light of nature; but as worse than brute beasts, lived daily in the commission of unnatural lusts; and therefore their conversation is rightly said to be filthy, and was a grievous burden to righteous Lot: for to a good man, not only his own sins, but the sins of others, whether professors or profane, are a burden, and make him groan under them, being grievously fatigued with them, as this good man was, and weary of life because of them, as Rebekah was, through the daughters of Heth.


FOOTNOTES:

F4 Tzeror Hammot, fol. 14. 4. & 16. 4. & 20. 2.
F5 Jarchi in Gen. xiii. 10.
F6 Zohar in Gen. fol. 57. 2. Jarchi in Gen. xiii. 13.
F7 Zohar in Gen. fol. 56. 1, 2. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 7. 3. & 14. 3. & 20. 2. Bereshit Rabba, sect. 44. fol. 39. 1.
F8 De Vita Mosis, l. 2. p. 662.

2 Peter 2:7 In-Context

5 And he did not spare the ancient world; on the contrary, he preserved Noach, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, and brought the Flood upon a world of ungodly people.
6 And he condemned the cities of S'dom and 'Amora, reducing them to ashes and ruin, as a warning to those in the future who would live ungodly lives;
7 but he rescued Lot, a righteous man who was distressed by the debauchery of those unprincipled people;
8 for the wicked deeds which that righteous man saw and heard, as he lived among them, tormented his righteous heart day after day.
9 So the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and how to hold the wicked until the Day of Judgment while continuing to punish them,
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.