Genesis 19:19

19 Because thy servant hath found grace before thee, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewn to me, in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil seize me, and I die.

Genesis 19:19 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 19:19

Behold, now thy servant hath found grace in thy sight
In sending two of his angels to him, to inform him of the approaching destruction of Sodom; to pluck him out of it as a brand out of the burning, and to place him without the city, and in directing and encouraging him to escape for his life: and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast showed unto me in
saving my life;
he owns it was owing to the mercy of this illustrious Person, whom he knew and acknowledges, by what he says, to be a divine one, that his life was saved; and that this appeared exceeding great in it, that he should spare him and his family, when such multitudes of souls would perish; and he might have perished with the rest, if he had not had timely notice in such a gracious manner: and I cannot,
or, "but now ^F24, I cannot" escape to the mountain;
it is too far for me; he signifies that his strength would not hold out through the fatigues of the night past, and want of sleep and rest; but this was owing more to the infirmity of his mind than of his body, for he could go to this same mountain afterwards: lest some evil take me, and I die;
or "that evil" ^F25, the burning of Sodom, and the cities of the plain, lest that should overtake him before he got to the mountain: thus he began to distrust the power of God to strengthen him to go thither, who had appeared so wonderfully for him in his present deliverance; and he might have assured himself, that he that brought him out of Sodom would never suffer him to perish in the destruction of it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 (ykna) "jam vero ego non-potero", Schmidt.
F25 (herh) "malum hoc", Tigurine version; some in Drusius, Piscator, Schmidt.

Genesis 19:19 In-Context

17 And they brought him forth, and set him without the city: and there they spoke to him, saying: Save thy life: look not back, neither stay thou in all the country about: but save thy self in the mountain, lest thou be also consumed.

18 And Lot said to them: I beseech thee, my Lord,

19 Because thy servant hath found grace before thee, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewn to me, in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil seize me, and I die.

20 There is this city here at hand, to which I may flee, it is a little one, and I shall be saved in it: is it not a little one, and my soul shall live?

21 And he said to him: Behold also in this, I have heard thy prayers, not to destroy the city for which thou hast spoken.