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

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tion of human nature, the phrase recurs only Sir. 109 1732.—28. (Symbol missingHebrew 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. (Symbol missingHebrew characters), 13. 14. 16. 24. 27; (Symbol missingHebrew characters), 2. 7. 8. 18. 19. 20; (Symbol missingHebrew characters), 4; (Symbol missingHebrew characters), 8; (Symbol missingHebrew characters), 1; (Symbol missingHebrew characters), 3. 9; (Symbol missingHebrew characters), 28.—The summary in 29 is from P: cf. (Symbol missingHebrew characters), (Symbol missingHebrew characters) (cf. 617 911. 15).—The passage continues 1822a. 33b (Jh), and forms an effective contrast to the scene in Abraham's tent (181-15). 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. 1915-21.—1a. the two angels] Read 'the men,' as 1816 [195. 8] 10. 12. 16; see the footnote.—in the gate] the place of rendezvous in Eastern cities for business or social intercourse; Ru. 41ff. 11, Jb. 297 etc.—1b, 2a. Cf. 182.—(Symbol missingHebrew characters)] Sirs! See on 183.


mistake the sense.—28. (Symbol missingHebrew characters)] The regular use of the ending (Symbol missingHebrew 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. (Symbol missingHebrew characters)] see on 223.

1. (Symbol missingHebrew 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 (Symbol missingHebrew 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. (Symbol missingHebrew characters)] so pointed