Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/408

tion of human nature, the phrase recurs only Sir. 10⁹ 17³².—28. (Hebrew characters)] lit. 'on account of the 5'; a somewhat paradoxical form of expression.—30-32. Emboldened by success, Abraham now ventures on a reduction by 10 instead of 5 (De.); this is continued till the limit of human charity is reached, and Abraham ceases to plead.—33. went] not to Sodom, but simply 'departed.'—33b would be equally appropriate after ^33a or ^22a.

XIX. 1-29.—The Destruction of Sodom and Deliverance of Lot (J and P).

The three men (see on v.¹) who have just left Abraham reach Sodom in the evening, are received as guests by Lot (^1-3), but are threatened with outrage by the Sodomites (^4-11). Thus convinced of the depravity of the inhabitants, they secure the safety of Lot's household (^12-22), after which the city is destroyed by fire and brimstone (^23-28).

Thus far J: cf. (Hebrew characters), ^{13. 14. 16. 24. 27}; (Hebrew characters), ^{2. 7. 8. 18. 19. 20}; (Hebrew characters), ⁴; (Hebrew characters), ⁸; (Hebrew characters), ¹; (Hebrew characters), ^{3. 9}; (Hebrew characters), ²⁸.—The summary in ²⁹ is from P: cf. (Hebrew characters), (Hebrew characters) (cf. 6¹⁷ 9^{11. 15}).—The passage continues 18^{22a. 33b} (J^h), and forms an effective contrast to the scene in Abraham's tent (18^1-15). The alternation of sing. and pl. is less confusing than in 18; and Kraetzschmar's theory (see p. 298 f.) does less violence to the structure of the passage. Indeed, Gu. himself admits that the sing. section ^17-22 (with ²⁶) is an 'intermezzo' from another Yahwistic author (Gu. 181).

1-3. Lot's hospitality.—Comp. Ju. 19^15-21.—1a. the two angels] Read 'the men,' as 18¹⁶ [19^{5. 8}] ^{10. 12. 16}; see the footnote.—in the gate] the place of rendezvous in Eastern cities for business or social intercourse; Ru. 4^{1ff. 11}, Jb. 29⁷ etc.—1b, 2a. Cf. 18².—(Hebrew characters)] Sirs! See on 18³.

mistake the sense.—28. (Hebrew characters)] The regular use of the ending (Hebrew characters) (G-K. § 47 m) from this point onwards is remarkable (Di.). The form, though etymologically archaic, is by no means a mark of antiquity in OT, and is peculiarly frequent in Deut. style (Dri. on Dt. 1¹⁷).—32. (Hebrew characters)] see on 2²³.

1. (Hebrew characters)] This word has not been used before, and recurs only in v.¹⁵ (in [E] also v.¹², and in G v.¹⁶). The phrase is, no doubt, a correction for (Hebrew characters), caused by the introduction of ^22b-33a, and the consequent identification of Yahwe with one of the original three, and the other two with His angels (We. Comp.² 27 f.).—2. (Hebrew characters)] so pointed