And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the
plain
Not when he had destroyed them, but when he was about to destroy them; for Lot was sent out from them, and delivered out of them, before they were destroyed; and therefore Noldius rightly renders the words, "before God destroyed" F13 them:
that God remembered Abraham;
his promise to him, that he would bless them that blessed him, ( Genesis 12:3 ) ; and his prayer to him for Lot in ( Genesis 18:23-32 ) ; for, though he does not mention him by name, he bore him on his heart, and he was always in the number of the righteous ones, on whose account he interceded for the sparing of the cities; and, though God did not hear and answer him with regard to the cities, yet he did with respect to the righteous men in them:
and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow;
by two angels, who took him by the hand and brought him out of Sodom, now overthrown:
when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt;
that is, in one of which Lot dwelt, namely, Sodom, as Aben Ezra rightly observes, comparing the passage with ( Judges 12:7 ) ; unless it can be thought that Lot first dwelt in one of those cities and then in another, and first and last in them all, which is not very likely.