(9) This one fellow came in to sojourn.--Heb. the one came to sojourn, as if an extraordinary concession had been made in Lot's favour in allowing him to dwell within their walls. In ancient times the rights of citizenship were most jealously guarded, and the position of a sojourner made very bitter.
He will needs be a judge.--Heb., is ever acting as a judge. This suggests that Lot had previously reproved the men of Sodom, and agrees with 2 Peter 2:8.
Verse 9. - And they said, Stand back. Ἀπόστα ἐκεῖ (LXX.); recede illuc (Vulgate); "Make way," i.e.for us to enter (Keil, Knobel, Gesenius); Approach hither (Baumgarten, Kalisch); Come near, farther off ('Speaker's Commentary'). And they said again, This one fellow (literally, the one, an expression of the Sodomites' contempt) came in to sojourn, and he will heeds be a judge: - literally, and shall he judge, judging; shall he continually play the judge, referring doubtless to Lot s daily remonstrances against their wickedness (cf. 2 Peter 2:7, 8) - now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they premed Bore upon the man, even Lot (literally, upon Lot, who appears to have offered a sturdy resistance to their violence no less than to their clamors), and came near to break (שָׁבַר, to break to pieces, to shiver) the door.
19:1-29 Lot was good, but there was not one more of the same character in the city. All the people of Sodom were very wicked and vile. Care was therefore taken for saving Lot and his family. Lot lingered; he trifled. Thus many who are under convictions about their spiritual state, and the necessity of a change, defer that needful work. The salvation of the most righteous men is of God's mercy, not by their own merit. We are saved by grace. God's power also must be acknowledged in bringing souls out of a sinful state If God had not been merciful to us, our lingering had been our ruin. Lot must flee for his life. He must not hanker after Sodom. Such commands as these are given to those who, through grace, are delivered out of a sinful state and condition. Return not to sin and Satan. Rest not in self and the world. Reach toward Christ and heaven, for that is escaping to the mountain, short of which we must not stop. Concerning this destruction, observe that it is a revelation of the wrath of God against sin and sinners of all ages. Let us learn from hence the evil of sin, and its hurtful nature; it leads to ruin.
And they said, stand back,.... Turn on one side, get away from the door, that we may come to it:
and they said again: to one another:
this one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge; this one man, and he a stranger and sojourner, no freeman or citizen of this city, sets himself against the whole body of the inhabitants, and takes upon him to judge what is right and wrong to be done; and if he is let alone in "judging he will judge" (m), as it may be rendered; he will take upon him this office, and continue to exercise it, and determine and decide all matters among us at his pleasure. This confutes the above notion of the Jews, that Lot was appointed a judge by the men of Sodom, yea, the president of the court for that day; See Gill on Genesis 19:1,
now will we deal worse with thee than with them: the men in his house, both by abusing his body in their unnatural way, and by beating and bruising him, and pulling him in pieces, limb from limb; something of this kind they seem to threaten him with, and attempted to effect, as follows:
and they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot; not only with words in a bullying way, with menaces and threats, with oaths, and curses, and imprecations; for it is the same word that is used of Lot, pressing the angels with words and arguments to come into his house, Genesis 19:3; but they rushed in upon him in a body, and pushed him away, and pulled him about, and would in all probability have torn him to pieces, had he not been rescued by the angels:
and came near to break the door: that which was shut, the door of the passage that led to the house.
He will needs be a judge.--Heb., is ever acting as a judge. This suggests that Lot had previously reproved the men of Sodom, and agrees with 2 Peter 2:8.
and they said again: to one another:
this one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge; this one man, and he a stranger and sojourner, no freeman or citizen of this city, sets himself against the whole body of the inhabitants, and takes upon him to judge what is right and wrong to be done; and if he is let alone in "judging he will judge" (m), as it may be rendered; he will take upon him this office, and continue to exercise it, and determine and decide all matters among us at his pleasure. This confutes the above notion of the Jews, that Lot was appointed a judge by the men of Sodom, yea, the president of the court for that day; See Gill on Genesis 19:1,
now will we deal worse with thee than with them: the men in his house, both by abusing his body in their unnatural way, and by beating and bruising him, and pulling him in pieces, limb from limb; something of this kind they seem to threaten him with, and attempted to effect, as follows:
and they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot; not only with words in a bullying way, with menaces and threats, with oaths, and curses, and imprecations; for it is the same word that is used of Lot, pressing the angels with words and arguments to come into his house, Genesis 19:3; but they rushed in upon him in a body, and pushed him away, and pulled him about, and would in all probability have torn him to pieces, had he not been rescued by the angels:
and came near to break the door: that which was shut, the door of the passage that led to the house.
(m) "judicabit judicando", Drusius.