Genesis 19

Lot was not inside Sodom “but at the gate.” I might have said, just as Abraham was sitting outside his tent, out of hospitality, even at an inconvenient time (for it was the middle of the day) on the lookout for travelers, so his relative and the imitator of his morality “was sitting at the gate” ready to invite those passing through the land, even though evening had now come. For he surely knew the impiety of the Sodomites and that there was no rest for the stranger in that place.

Selections on Genesis

“Now, the two angels,” the text says, “arrived at Sodom in the evening.” The time in particular shows us this good man’s extraordinary virtue in the fact that even despite the coming of evening he stayed at his post and did not leave it. That is to say, since he realized the advantage accruing to him from that, consequently he was anxious to attain the wealth and brought great vigilance to bear, not even desisting at the end of the day. This, you see, is what a fervent and vigilant soul is like. Far from being impeded by any obstacles from giving evidence of its virtue, it is spurred on to greater heights by the very impediments in particular and burns with a brighter flame of desire.

Homilies on Genesis 43.9

“Now, on seeing them,” the text goes on, “Lot rose to meet them.” Let this be heeded by those who are given to repulsing people who call on them with requests to make and causes to plead and who show them great inhumanity. I mean, see how this good man did not wait until the visitors reached him but like the patriarch, without knowing who the visitors were but presuming that they were travelers of some kind, well nigh jumped for joy on seeing them, as though falling upon his prey and not missing the object of his desire.

Homilies on Genesis 43.9

Scripture seems to have made no mention at all of angels before the flood. Only now [does it mention angels], as though seeing fit to have instructed people abundantly, by the length of the time past, to regard as God and Lord of the universe only that one Being who had made the created universe and supplied human beings, beginning with Adam, with the appropriate knowledge. [This knowledge was supplied] by his providence and through a variety of visions, guiding its transmission from the first people to those who followed in order.

Catena on Genesis 3.1112

It was “three men” who came to Abraham, and “in the heat of the day”; but in the case of Sodom, “two angels, and in the evening.” Good things are likened to light, bad things to evening, since the “sun of justice” has set on them. For the punishment of the wicked is night and darkness, but the righteous “will shine like light.” It is significant too that where there was an announcement of good things, the Lord was present. But when the subject is punishment, he does not appear in person, showing that when people have good experiences, it is his pleasure, so that he chooses, as it were, to act directly in such matters. Since he takes no pleasure in punishments but inflicts them only because of necessity, he makes use of underlings.

Catena on Genesis 3.1110

And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, while Lot was sitting at the gates of the city. Not without cause, the angels who had come to Abraham at midday are reported to have come to Sodom in the evening, because they came to announce prosperity and joy to the former, but to bring adversity to the latter; he was burning with the fruit of light towards heavenly things, but this one, besieged by the darkness of vices, was approaching eternal perdition.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

When he saw them, he rose, and went to meet them; he bowed down with his face to the ground and said: I beg you, my lords, turn aside to your servant's house and stay there, and so on. In blessed Lot a great and perfect example of godly hospitality is shown, who, seeing the guests entering the city, was not only prepared to meet and welcome them but also persistently asked them to turn aside to his house and rest with him. At first, they refused to enter his house, but eventually, at his urging, agreed to do so, so that they might more thoroughly test his hospitality's diligence and more worthily reward it, delivering him from the destruction of the sinners along with his house.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

“On seeing them,” the text says, note, “he rose to meet them and prostrated himself on the ground.” He gave thanks to God for being found worthy to welcome the visitors. Notice his virtue of soul: he considered it a great kindness on God’s part to encounter these men and by welcoming them to fulfill his private longing. Now don’t tell me they were angels; remember, rather, that this good man did not realize that yet but behaved as though receiving unknown travelers. “He said, ‘Lo, sirs, break off your journey at your servant’s house. Rest and bathe your feet; then rise early and resume your journey.’ ” These words are sufficient to reveal the virtue residing in the good man’s soul. How could you help being amazed at his exceeding humility and the fervor with which he displayed his hospitality? “Lo, sirs,” he said, “break off your journey at your servant’s house.” He addresses them as “sirs” and calls himself their servant. Let us listen precisely, dearly beloved, to these words and learn how we too can do likewise. This man of good name and reputation, enjoying great prosperity, a householder, addresses as master these travelers, these strangers, unknown, unprepossessing wayfarers, no connections of his, and says, “Break off your journey at your servant’s house and rest.” You see, evening has fallen, he says; accede to my wish and assuage the day’s hardship by resting in the home of your servant. I mean, surely I’m not offering you anything wonderful? “Bathe your feet” wearied with traveling, “and rise early and resume your journey.” So do me this favor, and don’t refuse my entreaty.

Homilies on Genesis 43.10

“They replied,” the text goes on, “No, instead, we shall rest in the street.” Seeing that despite his entreaty they declined, he did not lose heart, he did not give up what he was intent on, he did not have the kinds of feelings we often do. If at any time we want to win someone over and then we see them somewhat reluctant, we immediately desist; this is due to our doing it without ardor and longing and especially to our thinking that we have excuse enough to be able to say that at any rate we did our best. What do you mean, you have done your best? You have let slip the prey, you have missed the treasure—is this doing your best? Then you would have done your best if you hadn’t let the treasure slip through your fingers, if you hadn’t bypassed the prey, if your display of hospitality was not limited to a perfunctory remark.

Homilies on Genesis 43.11

When he saw them resisting and bent on resting in the street (the angels did this out of a wish to reveal more clearly the just man’s virtue and to teach us all the extent of his hospitality), then he in turn did not stop at making entreaty in words but also applied force. Hence Christ also said, “Men of violence seize the kingdom of heaven.” … “He compelled them,” the text says. It seems to me he drew them in against their will. Then when they saw the just man applying this effort and not desisting until he should achieve the object of his desire, “they turned aside to him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, cooking flat bread for them; they ate before lying down.” Do you see here as well hospitality manifested not in richness of fare but in generosity of attitude? I mean, when he succeeded in bringing them into his house, at once he gave evidence of the signs of hospitality. He occupied himself in attending on them, providing something to eat and giving evidence of respect and attention to the visitors in his belief that they were only human beings, travelers of some kind.

Homilies on Genesis 43.12

But before they lay down, the men of the city, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot and said to him: Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them, etc. This is what the prophet Isaiah said about the exceedingly sinful people of Israel: They proclaim their sin like Sodom, they do not hide it (Isaiah 3:9). Indeed, they proclaimed their sin like the Sodomites, they did not hide it, for without any sense of shame, all, from youth to extreme old age, used to practice abominations with men; so much so that they did not even hide their crimes from guests and strangers and sought to make them alike in crime by force and to involve them in their wicked deeds.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Indeed, when they [the men of Sodom] were raging to commit such a crime, Lot says among other things: "I have two daughters who have not yet known a man. I will bring them out to you, and you may abuse them as it pleases you, provided that you do nothing evil to these men." Because he wanted to offer his daughters as a form of compensation so that his male guests would not suffer such an outrage from the Sodomites, it is rightly questioned whether such a compensation of crimes or any sins should be admitted, that we might do something evil in order to prevent another from doing a greater evil, or whether it should rather be attributed to the disturbance of Lot’s mind rather than his intention, since he said this; indeed, this compensation is most perilously admitted; but if it is attributed to human disturbance and a mind disturbed by such great evil, it should in no way be imitated.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

And behold, the men reached out their hands and brought Lot to them and closed the door, and they struck with blindness those who were outside, from the least to the greatest, so that they could not find the door. And the rest is up to the point that Lot said to his sons-in-law: "Get up, leave this place, for the Lord will destroy this city," and he seemed to be speaking jestingly. That the angels closed Lot's door, so that neither he nor anyone from his house could be taken by the Sodomites to destruction, clearly indicates that none of God's elect will be lost to the impiety and persecution of the reprobates, as the Lord says about his sheep: "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:28). That Lot, having the authority given by the angels, could not bring back to salvation any of the wicked citizens, not even his own relatives or friends, even though he tried very much, signifies that no human effort can add even one soul to the number of the predestined, who were chosen by the Lord before the foundation of the world; for the Lord knows who are his own. Indeed, although the weakness of our condition may hide from us the fate of those who belong to the lot of the elect, we must not cease from caring about our own salvation, nor should we be silent in instructing our neighbors. But, following the example of the blessed Lot, we ought to live chastely and devote ourselves to the correction of those who err, for it is certain that even though we cannot save those predestined to destruction, we do not lose the reward of our kindness, which we extend toward their salvation.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

However, how do we account for the fact that the Savior himself has brought to mind that all who spurned the gospel were worse? Finally to Capernaum he said, “If in Sodom had been wrought the miracles that had been wrought in you, perhaps it would have remained unto this day. But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.” If he says the people of Sodom are less worthy of damnation than all those who neglect the Gospels, then it is most certainly reasonable that we, who neglect the Gospels in most things, should have all the more fear. This is especially so because we are unwilling to be content with sins to which we are already long accustomed and, as it were, on daily familiarity.

The Governance of God 4.9

(Chapter 19, Verse 14) And he spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters. For afterward, it is said that the two daughters of Lot were virgins (about whom he himself had said long ago to the Sodomites: Behold, my two daughters, who have not known man), and now the Scripture mentions that he had sons-in-law; some think that those who had husbands remained in Sodom, and the ones who were virgins left with their father. And since the Scripture does not say, the Hebrew truth must be explained, in which it is written: Lot went out and spoke to the fiancés who were to receive his daughters. Therefore, the virgin daughters had not yet been joined in marriage.

(Verse 21) And he said to him: Behold, I am amazed by your face. In Hebrew it is: Behold, I have received your face: that is, I accept your prayers. Symmachus, interpreting according to the sense, says, 'I was displeased with the sight of your face.'

Hebrew Questions on Genesis

15–26

On account of his hospitality and godliness, Lot was saved out of Sodom when all the country round was punished by means of fire and brimstone, the Lord thus making it manifest that He does not forsake those that hope in Him, but gives up such as depart from Him to punishment and torture. [Genesis 19:15-26, 2 Peter 2:6-9] For Lot's wife, who went forth with him, being of a different mind from himself, and not continuing in agreement with him [as to the command which had been given them], was made an example of, so as to be a pillar of salt unto this day. This was done that all might know that those who are of a double mind, and who distrust the power of God, bring down judgment on themselves and become a sign to all succeeding generations.

Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 11

When the angels who were sent to destroy Sodom desired to expedite the task with which they were charged, they first had concern for their host, Lot, that, in consideration of his hospitality, they might deliver him from the destruction of the imminent fire.Hear these words, you who close your houses to strangers; hear these words, you who avoid a guest as an enemy. Lot was living in Sodom. We do not read of other good deeds of his. The hospitality alone occurring at that time is mentioned. He escapes the flames, he escapes the conflagration for this reason alone: because he opened his house to strangers. Angels entered the hospitable house; fire entered the houses closed to strangers. Let us therefore see what the angels say to their host on account of his services of hospitality. “Save your life in the mountain,” the text says, “lest perchance you be included.” Lot was indeed hospitable. And, as the Scripture has borne testimony to him, he was hidden from destruction when the angels had been hospitably received. But he was not so perfect that immediately on departing from Sodom, he could ascend the mountain; for it belongs to the perfect to say, “I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, whence help shall come to me.” He therefore was neither such that he should perish among the inhabitants of Sodom, nor was he so great that he could dwell with Abraham in the heights. For if he had been such, Abraham would never have said to him, “If you go to the right, I will go to the left, or if you go to the left I will go to the right,” nor would the dwellings of Sodom have pleased him. He was therefore somewhere in the middle between the perfect and the doomed. And knowing that it is not appropriate with his strength to ascend the mountain, he piously and humbly excuses himself saying, “I cannot be saved on the mountain, but, behold, this city is small. Here I shall be saved; and it is not small?” To be sure, when he entered the small city of Zoar he is saved in it. And after this he went up into the mountain with his daughters. For there was no possibility of ascending from Sodom into the mountain, although it is written of the land of Sodom before it was overthrown, in that time when Lot chose it as his dwelling place, that “it was as the paradise of God and as the land of Egypt.” And yet, to digress slightly, what similarity does there appear to be with the paradise of God and the land of Egypt that Sodom should be compared fittingly with these? Now I think it is in this way: before Sodom sinned, when it still preserved the simplicity of the unstained life, it was “as the paradise of God,” but when it began to be discolored and to be darkened with the stains of sins it became “as the land of Egypt.” But since indeed the prophet says, “Your sister Sodom shall be restored to her ancient state,” we inquire also whether her restoration also recovers this, that she be “as the paradise of God” or only “as the land of Egypt.” I, at least, doubt if the sins of Sodom can be diminished to such an extent and its evils purged to the point that its restoration be so great that it be compared not only with the land of Egypt but also with the paradise of God. Those, however, who wish to establish this will press us especially from that word that appears added to this counterpromise. For the Scripture did not say “Sodom will be restored,” and stop, but it says, “Sodom will be restored to its ancient state.” And they will assert strongly that its ancient state was not “as the land of Egypt” but “as the paradise of God.”

Homilies on Genesis 5.1

Let us flee like Lot, who feared the crimes of the people of Sodom more than their punishments. A holy man surely, he chose to shut his house to the men of Sodom and flee the contagion of their offenses. When he dwelt with them, he did not come to know them, for he did not know their outrages and turned away from their disgraces. When he fled, he did not look back on them, for he did not desire to associate with them. The one who renounces the vices and rejects the way of life of his fellow citizens is in flight like Lot. Such a person does not look behind himself but enters that city which is above by the passageway of his thoughts, and he does not withdraw from it until the death of the chief priest who bore the sin of the world. He indeed died once, but he dies for each person who is baptized in Christ’s death, that we may be buried together with him and rise with him and walk in the newness of his life. Your flight is a good one if your heart does not act out the counsels of sinners and their designs. Your flight is a good one if your eye flees the sight of cups and drinking vessels, so that it may not become envious as it lingers over the wine. Your flight is good if your eye turns away from the woman stranger, so that your tongue may keep the truth. Your flight is a good one if you do not answer the fool according to his folly. Your flight is good if you direct your footsteps away from the countenance of fools. Indeed, one swiftly goes astray with bad guides; but if you wish your flight to be a good one, remove your ways far from their words.

Flight from the World 9.55-56

And they led him out and placed him outside the city. There he spoke to him: "Save your soul, do not look back, nor stay in any region around, but save yourself on the mountain, lest you also perish together." Generally, indeed, the fire and destruction of Sodom, from which Lot was rescued, designates the punishment of ultimate severity; when, with the completion at the end of the age of the total number of the elect, all the impious will be seized into eternal fire, the Lord explaining, who said: "Similarly as it happened in the days of Lot, they ate and drank, bought and sold, planted and built; but the day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed" (Luke 17:28). To which the apostle Jude also attests, saying: "Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 7). However, the same fire of Sodom can also, not incongruously, suggest the flames of the vices with which the reprobate are burned in this life and are thus prepared for eternal fire; who, although they now do not cease to burn with earthly desires and carnal allurements, then will never cease to burn with the fire of vengeance. This sense, too, the Lord affirms, indeed even teaches, who says: "In that hour, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away; and likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17:31). For we are not taught that in the approaching moment of the final judgment, deserting the peak of upright conduct, we should turn our mind to the depths of worldly desire; or, leaving the plow of spiritual agriculture, that we should look back, when no further correction of our works remains to us, but rather the reckoning of what we have worked is at hand. Rather, indeed, as judgment approaches, the faithful are given this exhortation, to persist in good and wholesome beginnings, lest, repeating the contagions of sins which they had left behind, they imitate Lot's wife, who, when she looked back heedlessly at the sulfurous burning Sodom, was turned into a pillar of salt. Therefore, as the Lord forbids us from imitating Lot's wife, he certainly shows that the burning of the city, to which she had looked back, expresses the flames of vices which we are both able and ought to avoid. Hence now the exhortation of the angels, by which they had admonished Lot, who was led out of Sodom, not to look back, nor to stay in any region around, but to seek the mountain to be saved, must be spiritually understood and followed with the utmost intention by us; lest we carelessly repeat the ardor and incentives of the vices we seemed to have momentarily escaped, nor consent to remain, as much as possible, in the vicinity of sinners, lest by their example we deviate from the rectitude of our path, as the Psalmist says of the blessed man: "And he does not stand in the way of sinners" (Psalm 1:1), but we should quickly strive to ascend to the height of elevated conduct.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

It seems that now, after the exodus from Sodom, the conversation is no longer with angels but with the Lord. For when one leaves the territory of evil he will find God conversing with him, and he will have the courage and confidence to ask for whatever he wishes.

Catena on Genesis 3.1139

And Lot said to them: "Please, my lord, because your servant has found favor before you, and you have magnified your mercy, which you have done with me, to save my life, I cannot be saved in the mountain, lest some evil overtake me. There is a city nearby to which I can flee, a small one, and I will be saved there." Blessed Lot did not seek the protection of the nearby city as if he feared some plague would overtake him if he reached the mountain; rather, he desired to turn to the nearby city with this intention, lest while seeking the height of the mountain, which was farther away, he would be consumed by the flame threatening nearby the impious on the way.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

And he said to him: "Behold, I have also accepted your request in this matter, that I will not overthrow the city you have spoken of, etc." Oh, how great is the compassion of divine mercy! Not only does it deliver the just man from the destruction of the wicked, but it also grants life to many of them on account of the same just man's safety, which they did not deserve, so that it might show in those who perished what impiety deserved, and in those who remained how much the intercession of the pious prevailed with God.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

Great is the loving kindness of God. He who is all-powerful says, “I can do nothing until you arrive there.” He accommodates even the weakness of his servant and tolerates his delay.

Catena on Genesis 3.1144

Therefore, the name of that city was called Segor. Segor is interpreted as "Little," which for this reason was so called because Lot had said, "Is it not small?" Previously it was called Bale, as mentioned above: "Against the king of Bale, this is Segor." Bale is interpreted as "devour," which the Hebrews say was called such because it was swallowed up by a third earthquake. But just as Sodom burns with the flames of vices, and the mountain to which Lot is ordered to ascend indicates the summit of virtues, so Segor designates a certain lesser mode of good behavior; although it is far from the heights of the perfect, it is still separated from the contagion of the wicked. For example, one who rightly keeps a conjugal life escapes the sulfurous flame of fornication but does not yet ascend the mountain of continence; he who turns his hand and mind away from rapine and avarice, and is accustomed to give what he has to the poor, cannot yet leave everything behind. He indeed escapes the fire of the Sodomites, enters the walls of the small city where he avoids the danger of destruction, but has not yet ascended the fortress of virtue where he would already shine as perfect, and other such things.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

23–25

The sun rose upon the earth, and Lot entered Zoar; then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities and all the surrounding region. The sunrise upon the earth, at which Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown, marks the manifestation of the final judgment, when, after all the righteous have been rescued, the wicked will be suddenly overwhelmed by destruction. And surely it was rightly done by the judgment of God that those who had tried to snare the blessed Lot in the darkness of night, laboring much and resisting with their crimes, when day suddenly came upon them, saw him rescued while they themselves perished entirely; and they who had burned with vile pleasures of the flesh in darkness, were consumed with sulfur and fire once morning suddenly appeared, because all who serve vices secretly in the blindness of their minds are openly struck in the knowledge of their crime by the stern judge. Also, it should be noted that on one and the same night while Lot was rejoicing with the Lord as his guest and was being defended from enemies, the Sodomites were laboring to accumulate their crimes, even desecrating Lot with his guests; but at sunrise, Lot was liberated for his righteousness, and they were condemned for their impiety, because indeed in the night of this world holy people also rejoice in welcoming Him who said: 'Behold, I will come and dwell in the midst of you' (Zech. x, 11), and in Revelation: 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me' (Rev. iii, 20). And the wicked seek to corrupt either the works of the faithful or the very faith itself with their temptations; but when the morning of the future age appears, they receive the crown of life, and the others incur the punishment of perpetual death. The Sodomites therefore perish with a punishment worthy of their crimes. For since they led an impious life in the filth of luxury and the burning of lust, they are deservedly punished with flames of fire and the stench of sulfur. Nor should it be doubted that by such punishment they were not only condemned to present suffering but are also to be condemned perpetually, as the apostle John says: 'But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone' (Rev. xxi, 2). The punishment and retribution are therefore made equal to the kinds of sins, according to the saying of the wise man, interpreting the plagues of the Egyptians: 'That they might know, that by the same things wherewith a man sins, by the same also he is tormented' (Wis. xi, 17), just as the blessed Lot deserved to be freed according to the mode of life he led; for since he was hospitable, it happened that he was saved from destruction by receiving good guests. Nor should it be doubted that after death he was received into eternal tabernacles by these same guests; so that he who introduced the citizens of heaven into his own lodging and refreshed them with his feasts would himself be led by them into the heavenly dwellings, where he would be perpetually refreshed with the bread of angels, that is, the glory of the vision of divine brightness. And as it is said that the Lord rained sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven, the person of the Father and the Son is clearly distinguished, and the heresy of Sabellius is repudiated, which says that the Father is the same as the Son. The Lord rained from the Lord, the Son from the Father; hence it is also elsewhere said to the Father: 'You have made all things in wisdom' (Ps. 104:24), that is, in the Son. Similar to this is what the Psalmist says, describing the two persons of the Father and the Son in such a way that he nevertheless indicates one divinity in the two persons: 'Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom; you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness, therefore God, your God, has anointed you' (Ps. 45:6-7). 'Your throne, O God,' is said to God the Son; 'God, your God, has anointed you,' he adds concerning God the Father.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

For God looks closely at the actual inner purpose, as when Lot’s wife was the only one to turn of her own free will toward the wickedness of the world. He left her insensible, giving her the likeness of a pillar of salt and leaving her without the power of forward movement, a statue, yet not one without a useful message but one intended to season and salt the person capable of spiritual perception.

The Stromata Book 2

But let us return to Lot, who, fleeing the destruction of Sodom with his wife and daughters after he had received the command from the angels to not look back, was proceeding to Zoar. But his wife became negligent of the command. “She looked back”; she violated the imposed law; “she became a little statue of salt.” Do we think there was so much evil in this transgression, that the woman, because she looked behind her, incurred the destruction that she appeared to be fleeing by divine favor? For what great crime was it, if the concerned mind of the woman looked backward whence she was being terrified by the excessive crackling of the flames?But because “the law is spiritual” and the things that happened to the ancients “happened figuratively,” let us see if perhaps Lot, who did not look back, is not the rational understanding and the courageous soul, and his wife here represents the flesh. For it is the flesh which always looks to vices; when the soul is proceeding to salvation, the flesh looks backward and seeks after pleasures. For concerning that the Lord also said, “No man putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.” And he adds, “Remember Lot’s wife.” But the fact that “she became a little statue of salt” appears to be an open indication of her folly. For salt represents the prudence which she lacked. Lot therefore pushed on to Zoar. After he had gained strength there for a while, which he could not have in Sodom, he ascended the mountain and dwelt there, as the Scripture says, “he and his two daughters with him.”

Homilies on Genesis 5.2

And his wife, looking back, was turned into a pillar of salt. This indeed must be believed to have happened literally. Finally, Josephus reports that even up to his time the same pillar of salt had endured at the gates of the same city. And indeed, the wife, out of fear due to her feminine frailty at the sudden clamoring of the perishing and the crashing of the flames falling from the sky, looked back; but it nonetheless holds their figure in this infirmity, who, once renouncing the world and beginning the arduous journey of virtues, suddenly return with an unstable and almost feminine heart to the desires of the world they had forsaken; about whom the apostle Peter says: "It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them" (2 Peter 2:21); as, conversely, Lot, who left behind everything he possessed that was destined to perish with the sinners, suggests those who truly renounce the world, and regret not their renunciation; those whom also the blessed Noah, who left behind all his possessions to be destroyed by the floods with the reprobates, just as [Lot] did with the fire, clearly denotes; but the fact that the wife of Lot, when she turned away from the path which the Lord showed, perished and was turned into a pillar of salt; aptly signifies that those who deviate from the way of truth by returning to sins perish in their own depravity; yet by the example of their perdition they leave behind, as it were, a seasoning of wisdom for others, so that those remembering their destruction may guard themselves more cautiously and circumspectly in the purpose of righteousness they have taken up. Finally, the Lord, warning the faithful not to abandon the path of faith they have begun, employs for them, as it were, a rock of salt that they may more sweetly savor His words, when He says among other things: "Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17:32). Therefore, anyone who desires to escape the fire of vices, which is the final judgment, must forget what is past and always strive towards the joys of divine promise that lie ahead.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

(Verse 28.) And behold, a flame was rising from the earth like the vapor of a furnace. Regarding this, we read in Hebrew: Behold, a rising (ἀναθυμίασις) of the furnace, which we can call vapor, smoke, or ashes.

Hebrew Questions on Genesis

(Verse 30.) And Lot went up from Segor and settled in the mountain, and his two daughters with him. For he was afraid to stay in Segor. It is asked why, when he first preferred the mountain of Segor for his escape, and wanted to be saved in it as his dwelling, he now flees from Segor back to the mountain? We will answer that the Hebrew conjecture about Segor is true, that it was frequently destroyed by earthquakes, first known as Bale, and later Salisa: and Lot feared, saying, If this place is often destroyed while the other cities still stand, how much more now, in a general destruction, will it not be able to be saved? And because of this occasion of unfaithfulness, they also gave rise to sexual relations with their daughters. For he who had seen other cities being destroyed and this one remaining, and himself being saved by the help of God, should not have doubted what he had heard granted to him. Therefore, the excuse that is given for the daughters, that they believed the human race had perished and therefore slept with their father, does not excuse the father. In fact, the Hebrews, as it follows:

Hebrew Questions on Genesis

Lot went up from Zoar and stayed on the mountain with his two daughters. He had feared to stay in Zoar. He hurried to ascend the mountain from Zoar because he recognized that this was more pleasing to the angels through whom he was rescued, fearing that the city which at the moment of his intercession had escaped the danger of death might later, due to the citizens' sins, be consumed with a similar destruction as the neighboring cities; he feared greatly, since he knew that it had been frequently devastated by earthquakes in earlier times, hence it was called Bela, that is, 'submerging' or 'devouring.' But also according to spiritual understanding, because Sodom represents the flames of vices, Zoar a small beginning of good works, and the mountain the height of virtues, it is necessary that when someone has moved from the fire of vices to the beginning of virtue, they should not remain sluggish at the outset, but should always strive and hurry with a lively step toward higher progress in good action.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

And the elder said to the younger: Our father is old, and there is no man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth; come, let us make him drink wine, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed from our father. And it was related how the daughters of Lot, by making him drunk with wine, lay with him, and conceived and bore Moab and Ammon, the patriarchs of the Moabites and the Ammonites. This story indeed seems to be against the natural custom of human conception, but it cannot be doubted as a fact, because such great authority reports it to have happened. Lot can be seen as excusable, because he suffered such a crime of incest unknowingly rather than committed it; but he is not excused in that, forgetting the recent extermination of the impious, he indulged in wine so much that he could not perceive what was being done to him. The daughters also seem excusable, because they did not commit incest with their father due to lust; but because they believed no men were left on earth, thinking all had been consumed by the same fiery punishment; and they suspected that just as after the flood the human race was restored through the three sons of Noah and as many daughters-in-law, now through themselves and their father, who alone had survived the fires, it must be restored anew; thus they thought it should be done rather in sleep, lest the father, knowing such a marriage, would shun and reject it in scorn. So they can thus seem excusable, for they believed they were performing an act of obedience to divine disposition; but they are not excused in that they neither sought the will or counsel of their father in such a matter, nor waited for time to pass until they could learn more certainly what had happened regarding the human race throughout the earth. In a moral sense, we can understand from this event that no state of earthly habitation, however exalted it may appear, can be free from the contagion of tempting guilt. For behold, the blessed Lot escaped the stinking flames of Sodom, avoided the ruin of the equally sinful city of Zohar, and ascended the peak of a mountain; but where you might think him positioned in the lofty summit of virtues, there you see him, by night, drunk and suddenly defiled by his daughters, because it often happens that those who have conquered other temptations of vice through the enlightenment of heavenly grace, again succumb weakly to others through the inertia of their own weakness. For the assistance of angelic guidance signifies heavenly aid by which we are freed from the dangers of sin; while the daughters of blessed Lot represent even the carnal thoughts of exalted men, which by neglect sometimes subdue them; so that from a pious heart an unworthy word or deed, like nefarious offspring, is conceived. Nor is it to be doubted that the sons born to Lot by his daughters, who begot Gentile peoples and alien to the faith of their father, represent those works of the saints which do not pertain to the rule of holiness, but rather to the depravity of the wicked; such was the adultery of David, the arrogance of King Hezekiah, the rash march of King Josiah to the battle in which he would perish and subsequently betray the Davidic kingdom to enemies; and then the denial of the most blessed prince of the apostles. The times so often correspond with events; for Lot, who had been rescued from Sodom at dawn, was drunk and deceived at night, because of course what saves us from dangers is the grace of God illuminating us; what makes us relapse into vices is our own blindness and weakness. Moab and Ammon are born of Lot's daughters, who also signify sins, as testified by that law's commandment which says: The Moabite and Ammonite shall not enter into the Church of the Lord until the third and fourth generation, and forever, because errors and vices, as we said, of the elect are by no means counted among the virtues by which the Church is perfected and adorned, but are rather covered by an abundance of good works so as not to appear. But the names of Lot's sons, the first of whom is interpreted as "from the father," and the second "my people," are fittingly applied to the nature of vices; which I find divinely implanted not from the Creator God in us, but originating from the first cause of our condition. I call Ammon also "my people," because this also pertains to me, and I recognize that it is not to be ascribed to the Creator of natures. Behold it should be noted that the people are properly interpreted as merosus (rebellious). My people are called Ammon even if this too does not differ from the significance of sins. For just as we should rejoice in the fruit of virtues that are given to us by the Lord, so it is necessary that we be pricked with salutary sorrow at the emergence of vices, which is known to arise from the corruption of our nature. And these are indeed the sons of Lot conceived in incest. But Isaac, who was born of the promise and is interpreted as Joy, designates the grace of virtues.

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

33–35

After these things now that well-known story is related in which it is written that Lot’s daughters cunningly lay with their father by stealth. In this matter I do not know if anyone can so excuse Lot as to free him from sin. Nor again do I think he should be so accused that he ought to become party to such serious incest. For I do not find him to have plotted against or to have violently snatched away the chastity of his daughters but rather to have been the victim of a plot and cunningly ensnared. But neither would he have been ensnared by the girls unless he could have been inebriated. Thus he seems to me to be found partly culpable and partly excusable. For indeed he can be excused because he is free of the offense of concupiscence and pleasure, and because he is shown neither to have wished nor to have consented to those wishing. But he is at fault because he could be trapped, because he indulged in wine too much, and this not once, but he did it a second time.For instance, even Scripture seems to me to make excuse for him in a certain manner when it says, “For he did not know when he slept with them and when he arose.” This is not said of the daughters, who intentionally and cunningly deceive their father. He, however, was so senseless from wine that he did not know that he lay with his older daughter or with the younger. Hear what drunkenness does. Hear what an outrage intoxication produces. Hear and beware, you who do not hold that evil to be a fault but practice it. Drunkenness deceives him whom Sodom did not deceive. He whom the sulphurous flame did not burn is burned by the flames of women.

Homilies on Genesis 5.3

(Verse 35.) And he did not know when she slept with him, and when he got up from her, they stabbed him from above, as if unbelievable, and something that nature cannot comprehend, to have intercourse with someone who is unaware.

Hebrew Questions on Genesis

This had happened without Lot’s knowledge and without his having been a slave to pleasure; it was accomplished wholly by divine arrangement, through which the two synagogues born from one and the same father, without carnal pleasure, were evoked. For there was no one else who could give them vital seed and the fruit of children, as it was written.

Against Heresies 4.31.1

After these things, therefore, Lot ascends into the mountains, and there “he dwells in a cave,” as the Scripture says, “he and his two daughters.” The law also should be thought to have ascended, because an embellishment was added to it by the temple built by Solomon, when it became indeed “the house of God, a house of prayer.” Evil inhabitants, however, made it “a den of thieves.” Therefore “Lot and his two daughters dwelt in a cave.” The prophet evidently describes these two daughters saying that Oholah and Oholibah are two sisters, and Oholah indeed is “Judah” and Oholibah is “Samaria.” The people therefore divided into two parts made the two daughters of the law. Those daughters, desiring carnal offspring to be preserved and the forces of earthly dominion to be fortified by an abundant posterity, depriving their father of sense and making him sleep, that is, covering and obscuring his spiritual understanding, draw only carnal understanding from him. Then they conceive. Then they give birth to such sons as their father neither perceives nor recognizes. For it was neither the understanding nor the will of the law to beget carnally. But the law is deprived of its sense that such posterity might be begotten that “shall not enter the assembly of the Lord.” “For the Ammonites,” Scripture says, “and Moabites shall not enter the assembly of the Lord unto the third and fourth generation and forever.”

Homilies on Genesis 5.5

As we have been able, we have carved out these explanations according to the spiritual understanding of Lot and his wife and daughters. We pass no judgment on those who have been able to perceive something more sacred from this text.But above, in the moral sense, we referred Lot indeed to the rational understanding and the courageous soul; but his wife, who looked back, we said to be the flesh given to concupiscence and pleasures. Do not, O hearer, receive these things carelessly. For you ought to watch lest perhaps even when you have fled the flames of the world and have escaped the fires of the flesh, even when you have risen above “Zoar, the city” that is “small and not small,” which is somewhere in the middle … you seem to have ascended to the height of knowledge, as to some mountain peak. Beware lest those two daughters lie in wait for you, who do not depart from you but follow you even when you ascend the mountain. They are vainglory and her older sister, pride. Beware lest with their embraces those daughters constrict you, deprived of sense and sleeping, while you seem neither to perceive nor know. They are called daughters because they do not come upon us from outside but proceed from us and from a kind of innocence, as it were, of our acts. Be vigilant, therefore, as much as you can, and watch lest you beget sons from these daughters, because those who have been born from them “shall not enter the assembly of the Lord.” But if you wish to beget, beget in the spirit, since “he who sows in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting.” If you wish to embrace, embrace wisdom and “say wisdom is your sister,” that Wisdom also may say of you: He “who shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.” Jesus Christ our Lord is this wisdom, “to whom be glory and sovereignty forever and ever. Amen.”

Homilies on Genesis 5.5-6

36–11

(Versed. 36 seqq.) And the two daughters of Lot conceived by their father, and the firstborn son was born and she called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. And the younger, she also gave birth to a son, and she called his name Ammon, that is, son of my people. He is the father of the Ammonites. The name Moab means 'from the father' and has its etymology in it. But Ammon, whose name is given as if a cause, is derived as son of my race, or as it is better in Hebrew (), son of my people, so it is derived partly from the meaning of the name, partly from the language itself: Ammi, from whom the Ammonites are called, means my people.

Hebrew Questions on Genesis

But I know that some, so far as the story pertains to a spiritual interpretation, have referred Lot to the person of the Lord and his daughters to the two Testaments. But I do not know if anyone freely accepts these views who knows what the Scripture says about the Ammonites and Moabites who descend from Lot’s race. For how will one be able to apply to Christ the statement that those who descend from his seed “shall not enter the assembly of the Lord” “to the third and fourth generation”?But we, as we are able to perceive, consider Lot to be a figure of the law. Let not the fact that the word law is declined in the feminine gender in Latin appear incongruous, since it preserves the masculine gender in Greek. We consider his wife to represent the people who, after they had set out from Egypt and had been delivered from the Red Sea and the persecution of Pharaoh, as if from the fires of Sodom, again desiring the meat and “pots of Egypt and onions and cucumbers,” looked back and fell in the desert. Those people too became a memorial of concupiscence in the wilderness. In regard to that first people, therefore, it was there that the law, like Lot, lost and left his wife looking back. Then Lot comes and dwells in Zoar, about which he says, “This city is small, and my life shall be saved in it; and it is not small.” Let us see, therefore, so far as it pertains to the law what “the city” is that is “small and not small.” A city is so named from the manner of life of the multitude, because it orders and holds together the lives of many in one place. These therefore who live by the law have a small and petty manner of life as long as they understand the law literally. For there is nothing great in observing sabbaths and new moons and circumcision of the flesh and distinctions between foods in a fleshly manner. But if someone should begin to understand spiritually, these same observances, which in the literal sense were small and petty, in the spiritual sense are not small but great.

Homilies on Genesis 5.5