The messengers (angels) sent by Jehovah to Sodom, arrived there in the evening, when Lot, who was sitting at the gate, pressed them to pass the night in his house. The gate, generally an arched entrance with deep recesses and seats on either side, was a place of meeting in the ancient towns of the East, where the inhabitants assembled either for social intercourse or to transact public business (vid., Genesis 34:20; Deuteronomy 21:19; Deuteronomy 22:15, etc.). The two travellers, however (for such Lot supposed them to be, and only recognised them as angels when they had smitten the Sodomites miraculously with blindness), said that they would spend the night in the street - בּרחוב the broad open space within the gate - as they had been sent to inquire into the state of the town. But they yielded to Lot's entreaty to enter his house; for the deliverance of Lot, after having ascertained his state of mind, formed part of their commission, and entering into his house might only serve to manifest the sin of Sodom in all its heinousness. While Lot was entertaining his guests with the greatest hospitality, the people of Sodom gathered round his house, "both old and young, all people from every quarter" (of the town, as in Jeremiah 51:31), and demanded, with the basest violation of the sacred rite of hospitality and the most shameless proclamation of their sin (Isaiah 3:9), that the strangers should be brought out, that they might know them. ידע is applied, as in Judges 19:22, to the carnal sin of paederastia, a crime very prevalent among the Canaanites (Leviticus 18:22., Leviticus 20:23), and according to Romans 1:27, a curse of heathenism generally.

Genesis 19:9 Parallel Commentaries

Stand.

1 Samuel 17:44 And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.

1 Samuel 25:17 Now therefore know and consider what you will do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household...

Proverbs 9:7,8 He that reproves a scorner gets to himself shame: and he that rebukes a wicked man gets himself a blot...

Isaiah 65:5 Which say, Stand by yourself, come not near to me; for I am holier than you. These are a smoke in my nose...

Jeremiah 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; and you had a whore's forehead, you refused to be ashamed.

Jeremiah 6:15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? no, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush...

Jeremiah 8:12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? no, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush...

Matthew 7:6 Give not that which is holy to the dogs, neither cast you your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet...

This.

Genesis 13:12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

Exodus 2:14 And he said, Who made you a prince and a judge over us? intend you to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said...

Acts 7:26-28 And the next day he showed himself to them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, you are brothers...

2 Peter 2:7,8 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked...

pressed.

Genesis 11:6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do...

1 Samuel 2:16 And if any man said to him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as your soul desires...

Proverbs 14:16 A wise man fears, and departs from evil: but the fool rages, and is confident.

Proverbs 17:12 Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.

Proverbs 27:3 A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.

Ecclesiastes 9:3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes...

Ecclesiastes 10:13 The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.

Daniel 3:19-22 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego...