The angels left Abraham at noon time, and they reached Sodom at the
approach of evening. As a rule, angels proclaim their errand with the
swiftness of lightning, but these were angels of mercy, and they
hesitated to execute their work of destruction, ever hoping that the
evil would be turned aside from Sodom.[169] With nightfall, the fate of
Sodom was sealed irrevocably, and the angels arrived there.[170]
Bred in the house of Abraham, Lot had learnt from him the beautiful
custom of extending hospitality, and when he saw the angels before him
in human form, thinking they were wayfarers, he bade them turn aside
and tarry all night in his house. But as the entertainment of strangers
was forbidden in Sodom on penalty of death, he dared invite them only
under cover of the darkness of night,[171] and even then he had to use
every manner of precaution, bidding the angels to follow him by devious
ways.
The angels, who had accepted Abraham's hospitality without delay, first
refused to comply with Lot's request, for it is a rule of good breeding
to show reluctance when an ordinary man invites one, but to accept the
invitation of a great man at once. Lot, however, was insistent, and
carried them into his house by main force.[172] At home he had to
overcome the opposition of his wife, for she said, "If the inhabitants
of Sodom hear of this, they will slay thee."
Lot divided his dwelling in two parts, one for himself and his guests,
the other for his wife, so that, if aught happened, his wife would be
spared.[173] Nevertheless it was she who betrayed him. She went to a
neighbor and borrowed some salt, and to the question, whether she could
not have supplied herself with salt during daylight hours, she replied,
"We had enough salt, until some guests came to us; for them we needed
more." In this way the presence of strangers was bruited abroad in the
city.[174]
In the beginning the angels were inclined to hearken to the petition of
Lot in behalf of the sinners, but when all the people of the city, big
and little, crowded around the house of Lot with the purpose of
committing a monstrous crime, the angels warded off his prayers,
saying, "Hitherto thou couldst intercede for them, but now no longer."
It was not the first time that the inhabitants of Sodom wanted to
perpetrate a crime of this sort. They had made a law some time before
that all strangers were to be treated in this horrible way. Lot, who
was appointed chief judge on the very day of the angels' coming, tried
to induce the people to desist from their purpose, saying to them, "My
brethren, the generation of the deluge was extirpated in consequence of
such sins as you desire to commit, and you would revert to them?" But
they replied: "Back! And though Abraham himself came hither, we should
have no consideration for him. Is it possible that thou wouldst set
aside a law which thy predecessors administered?"[175]
Even Lot's moral sense was no better than it should have been. It is
the duty of a man to venture his life for the honor of his wife and his
daughters, but Lot was ready to sacrifice the honor of his daughters,
wherefor he was punished severely later on.[176]
The angels told Lot who they were, and what the mission that had
brought them to Sodom, and they charged him to flee from the city with
his wife and his four daughters, two of them married, and two
betrothed.[177] Lot communicated their bidding to his sons-in-law, and
they mocked at him, and said: "O thou fool! Violins, cymbals, and
flutes resound in the city, and thou sayest Sodom will be destroyed!"
Such scoffing but hastened the execution of the doom of Sodom.[178] The
angel Michael laid hold upon the hand of Lot, and his wife and his
daughters, while with his little finger the angel Gabriel touched the
rock whereon the sinful cities were built, and overturned them. At the
same time the rain that was streaming down upon the two cities was
changed into brimstone.[179]
When the angels had brought forth Lot and his family and set them
without the city, he bade them run for their lives, and not look
behind, lest they behold the Shekinah, which had descended to work the
destruction of the cities. The wife of Lot could not control herself.
Her mother love made her look behind to see if her married daughters
were following. She beheld the Shekinah, and she became a pillar of
salt. This pillar exists unto this day. The cattle lick it all day
long, and in the evening it seems to have disappeared, but when morning
comes it stands there as large as before.[180]
The savior angel had urged Lot himself to take refuge with Abraham. But
he refused, and said: "As long as I dwelt apart from Abraham, God
compared my deeds with the deeds of my fellow-citizens, and among them
I appeared as a righteous man. If I should return to Abraham, God will
see that his good deeds outweigh mine by far."[181] The angel then
granted his plea that Zoar be left undestroyed. This city had been
founded a year later than the other four; it was only fifty-one years
old, and therefore the measure of its sins was not so full as the
measure of the sins of the neighboring cities.[182]
The destruction of the cities of the plain took place at dawn of the
sixteenth day of Nisan, for the reason that there were moon and sun
worshippers among the inhabitants. God said: "If I destroy them by day,
the moon worshippers will say, Were the moon here, she would prove
herself our savior; and if I destroy them by night, the sun worshippers
will say, Were the sun here, he would prove himself our savior. I will
therefore let their chastisement overtake them on the sixteenth day of
Nisan at an hour at which the moon and the sun are both in the
skies."[183]
The sinful inhabitants of the cities of the plain not only lost their
life in this world, but also their share in the future world. As for
the cities themselves, however, they will be restored in the Messianic
time.[184]
The destruction of Sodom happened at the time at which Abraham was
performing his morning devotions, and for his sake it was established
as the proper hour for the morning prayer unto all times.[185] When he
turned his eyes toward Sodom and beheld the rising smoke, he prayed for
the deliverance of Lot, and God granted his petition—the fourth time
that Lot became deeply indebted to Abraham. Abraham had taken him with
him to Palestine, he had made him rich in flocks, herds, and tents, he
had rescued him from captivity, and by his prayer he saved him from the
destruction of Sodom. The descendants of Lot, the Ammonites and the
Moabites, instead of showing gratitude to the Israelites, the posterity
of Abraham, committed four acts of hostility against them. They sought
to compass the destruction of Israel by means of Balaam's curses, they
waged open war against him at the time of Jephthah, and also at the
time of Jehoshaphat, and finally they manifested their hatred against
Israel at the destruction of the Temple. Hence it is that God appointed
four prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zephaniah, to proclaim
punishment unto the descendants of Lot, and four times their sin is
recorded in Holy Writ.[186]
Though Lot owed his deliverance to the petition of Abraham, yet it was
at the same time his reward for not having betrayed Abraham in Egypt,
when he pretended to be the brother of Sarah.[187] But a greater reward
still awaits him. The Messiah will be a descendant of his, for the
Moabitess Ruth is the great-grandmother of David, and the Ammonitess
Naamah is the mother of Rehoboam, and the Messiah is of the line of
these two kings.[188]