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Genesis 19:24
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Context
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
23And by the time the sun had risen over the land, Lot had reached Zoar.24Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.25Thus He destroyed these cities and the entire plain, including all the inhabitants of the cities and everything that grew on the ground.
Sermons
David Wilkerson
Paris Reidhead
C.H. Spurgeon
Chuck Smith
Aaron Dunlop
Keith DanielSummary
Commentary
- Adam Clarke
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
- Matthew Henry
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
The Lord rained - brimstone and fire from the Lord - As all judgment is committed to the Son of God, many of the primitive fathers and several modern divines have supposed that the words ויהוה vaihovah and מאת יהוה meeth Yehovah imply, Jehovah the Son raining brimstone and fire from Jehovah the Father; and that this place affords no mean proof of the proper Divinity of our blessed Redeemer. It may be so; but though the point is sufficiently established elsewhere, it does not appear to me to be plainly indicated here. And it is always better on a subject of this kind not to have recourse to proofs which require proofs to confirm them. It must however be granted that two persons mentioned as Jehovah in one verse, is both a strange and curious circumstance; and it will appear more remarkable when we consider that the person called Jehovah, who conversed with Abraham, (see Genesis 18)., and sent those two angels to bring Lot and his family out of this devoted place, and seems himself after he left off talking with Abraham to have ascended to heaven, Gen 19:33, does not any more appear on this occasion till we hear that Jehovah rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven. This certainly gives much countenance to the opinion referred to above, though still it may fall short of positive proof. Brimstone and fire - The word גפרית gophrith, which we translate brimstone, is of very uncertain derivation. It is evidently used metaphorically, to point out the utmost degrees of punishment executed on the most flagitious criminals, in Deu 29:23; Job 18:15; Psa 11:6; Isa 34:9; Eze 38:22. And as hell, or an everlasting separation from God and the glory of his power, is the utmost punishment that can be inflicted on sinners, hence brimstone and fire are used in Scripture to signify the torments in that place of punishment. See Isa 30:33; Rev 14:10; Rev 19:20; Rev 20:10; Rev 21:8. We may safely suppose that it was quite possible that a shower of nitrous particles might have been precipitated from the atmosphere, here, as in many other places, called heaven, which, by the action of fire or the electric fluid, would be immediately ignited, and so consume the cities; and, as we have already seen that the plains about Sodom and Gomorrah abounded with asphaltus or bitumen pits, (see Gen 14:10), that what is particularly meant here in reference to the plain is the setting fire to this vast store of inflammable matter by the agency of lightning or the electric fluid; and this, in the most natural and literal manner, accounts for the whole plain being burnt up, as that plain abounded with this bituminous substance; and thus we find three agents employed in the total ruin of these cities, and all the circumjacent plain: 1. Innumerable nitrous particles precipitated from the atmosphere. 2. The vast quantity of asphaltus or bitumen which abounded in that country: and, 3. Lightning or the electric spark, which ignited the nitre and bitumen, and thus consumed both the cities and the plain or champaign country in which they were situated.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
Then the Lord rained . . . brimstone and fire from . . . heaven--God, in accomplishing His purposes, acts immediately or mediately through the agency of means; and there are strong grounds for believing that it was in the latter way He effected the overthrow of the cities of the plain--that it was, in fact, by a volcanic eruption. The raining down of fire and brimstone from heaven is perfectly accordant with this idea since those very substances, being raised into the air by the force of the volcano, would fall in a fiery shower on the surrounding region. This view seems countenanced by Job [Job 1:16; Job 18:15]. Whether it was miraculously produced, or the natural operation employed by God, it is not of much consequence to determine: it was a divine judgment, foretold and designed for the punishment of those who were sinners exceedingly.
John Gill Bible Commentary
And he overthrew those cities,.... Of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim: very probably at the same time that this fiery tempest was in the heavens, there was an earthquake which overthrew the cities; and so Strabo (h) makes the lake, which is now the place where they stood, to be owing to earthquakes and eruptions of fire, and of hot bituminous and sulphurous waters; and says nothing of fire from heaven, which yet Tacitus and Solinus do, being unacquainted with the sacred history: and all the plain; the plain of Jordan, and the cities on it, all but Zoar; not all the five cities, as Josephus (i): Egesippus (k) and other authors mistake, only the four above mentioned. Strabo (l) speaks of thirteen cities being formerly upon this spot, of which Sodom was the metropolis: and all the inhabitants of the cities; none were spared, all were destroyed, but Lot, his wife, and two daughters: and that which grew upon the ground; the trees, herbs, and plants; these were all turned up by the earthquake, and burnt with fire from heaven: Tacitus, in his account of this conflagration, says,"the fields, which were formerly fruitful, and inhabited by many cities, were burnt up with lightning; and there are traces (he adds) yet remain; the earth itself looks torrid, and has lost its fruitful virtue; for whatsoever grows up of itself, or is sown and rises up in the plant or flower, or grows up to its usual species, becomes black and empty, and vanishes into ashes.''The place where those cities stood is now a lake, and is sometimes called the salt sea, Gen 14:3; and sometimes the dead sea, because it is said, no creature can live in it; and sometimes called the Lake Asphaltites, from its bituminous and pitchy quality: though Reland (o) has attempted to confute the notion that the cities of Sodom, &c. stood where this lake now is: and the many things that have been reported of this lake and parts adjacent, by various historians, supposed to be of good credit, are by modern travellers exploded (p); as those of no living creature being bred in it; of bodies not sinking in it; and of birds being unable to fly over it; and of the cities appearing under water in a clear day; and of the apples of Sodom, which look beautiful to the eye, but when touched fall into ashes; many of which Josephus (q) himself relates: indeed, Ludovicus Vartomanus (r), a traveller in those parts in the beginning of the sixteenth century, says,"there yet remain the ruins of the destroyed city, as a witness of God's wrath; we may affirm, there are three cities, and each of them situated on the decline of three hills, and the ruins appear about the height of three or four cubits; there is yet seen, I scarce know what, something like blood, or rather like red wax mixed with earth:''and our countryman Mr. Sandys (s), though he questions some of the above things before related, especially concerning the apples, yet says,"not far from thence grows a tree whose fruit is like a green walnut, which he saw, and which they say never ripens.''This lake of Sodom, according to Josephus (t), is five hundred and eighty furlongs in length unto Zoar, and one hundred fifty broad; but, according to modern accounts, it is twenty four leagues in length, and six or seven in breadth (u); the Arabic geographer (w) says, it is sixty miles in length, and twelve in breadth; it is now called by the Arabs, Bahar Louth, Lot's lake. (h) Geograph. l. 16. p. 526. (i) De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 4. (k) De excidio urb. l. 4. c. 18. (l) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 16. p. 526.) (o) Palestina illustrata, tom. 1. l. 1. c. 38. p. 254, &c. (p) Vid. Universal History, vol. 2. p. 421, &c. See Egmont and Heyman's Travels, vol. 1. p. 341. (q) De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 4. (r) Navigat. l. 1. c. 10. (s) Travels, l. 3. p. 110, 111. Ed. 5. (t) Ut supra. (De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 4.) (u) Universal History, ib. p. 424. See Egmont, &c. ib, p. 342. (w) Scherif Ibn Idris, apud Reland. ib. p. 249.
Matthew Henry Bible Commentary
Then, when Lot had got safely into Zoar, then this ruin came; for good men are taken away from the evil to come. Then, when the sun had risen bright and clear, promising a fair day, then this storm arose, to show that it was not from natural causes. Concerning this destruction observe, 1. God was the immediate author of it. It was destruction from the Almighty: The Lord rained - from the Lord (Gen 19:24), that is, God from himself, by his own immediate power, and not in the common course of nature. Or, God the Son from God the Father; for the Father has committed all judgment to the Son. Note, He that is the Saviour will be the destroyer of those that reject the salvation. 2. It was a strange punishment, Job 31:3. Never was the like before nor since. Hell was rained from heaven upon them. Fire, and brimstone, and a horrible tempest, were the portion of their cup (Psa 11:6); not a flash of lightning, which is destructive enough when God gives it commission, but a shower of lightning. Brimstone was scattered upon their habitation (Job 18:15), and then the fire soon fastened upon them. God could have drowned them, as he did the old world; but he would show that he has many arrows in his quiver, fire as well as water. 3. It was a judgment that laid all waste: It overthrew the cities, and destroyed all the inhabitants of them, the plain, and all that grew upon the ground, Gen 19:25. It was an utter ruin, and irreparable. That fruitful valley remains to this day a great lake, or dead sea; it is called the Salt Sea, Num 34:12. Travellers say that it is about thirty miles long and ten miles broad; it has no living creature in it; it is not moved by the wind; the smell of it is offensive; things do not easily sink in it. The Greeks call it Asphaltites, from a sort of pitch which it casts up. Jordan falls into it, and is lost there. 4. It was a punishment that answered to their sin. Burning lusts against nature were justly punished with this preternatural burning. Those that went after strange flesh were destroyed by strange fire, Jde 1:7. They persecuted the angels with their rabble, and made Lot afraid; and now God persecuted them with his tempest, and made them afraid with his storm, Psa 83:15. 5. It was designed for a standing revelation of the wrath of God against sin and sinners in all ages. It is, accordingly, often referred to in the scripture, and made a pattern of the ruin of Israel (Deu 29:23), of Babylon (Isa 13:19), of Edom (Jer 49:18), of Moab and Ammon, Zep 2:9. Nay, it was typical of the vengeance of eternal fire (Jde 1:7), and the ruin of all that live ungodly (Pe2 2:6), especially that despise the gospel, Mat 10:15. It is in allusion to this destruction that the place of the damned is often represented by a lake that burns, as Sodom did, with fire and brimstone. Let us learn from it, (1.) The evil of sin, and the hurtful nature of it. Iniquity tends to ruin. (2.) The terrors of the Lord. See what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God!
Genesis 19:24
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
23And by the time the sun had risen over the land, Lot had reached Zoar.24Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.25Thus He destroyed these cities and the entire plain, including all the inhabitants of the cities and everything that grew on the ground.
- Scripture
- Sermons
- Commentary
Enter Into His Rest
By David Wilkerson4.3K1:06:37RestGEN 14:23GEN 19:17GEN 19:24PSA 29:10EPH 2:6HEB 3:17In this sermon, the preacher begins by leading the congregation in praise and worship, emphasizing the importance of praising and magnifying the name of Jesus. He encourages the believers to thank God for what He is doing and to enter into His rest by faith. The preacher then reads from Hebrews 3:17-4:1, highlighting the consequences of unbelief and the need to fear falling short of God's promise of entering into His rest. He concludes by expressing gratitude for the growth and unity of the church and the hunger for a deeper walk with God, and prays for the Holy Spirit to continue leading and sanctifying the body of believers.
What Kind of Being Is Man - Part 3
By Paris Reidhead3.1K51:27Sinful NatureGEN 6:5GEN 11:9GEN 19:24MAT 6:33ACT 17:112CO 4:42PE 2:5In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the intelligence and ability of humans to organize and change their environment. He also highlights the presence of a sinful nature within every individual. The speaker references the story of Abel and Cain, where Abel offers a sheep as a sacrifice, acknowledging his own guilt and need for forgiveness. The sermon encourages listeners to study the Bible and understand the nature of man, his weaknesses, crimes, and potential for change. The speaker also mentions God's disapproval of sin, as seen through various biblical events such as the flood and the destruction of cities.
Mercy, Omnipotence, and Justice
By C.H. Spurgeon2.1K51:35GEN 6:17GEN 19:24ISA 44:22NAM 1:3MAT 24:37In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the urgency of recognizing the reality of death and the need for salvation through Christ. He highlights the role of Satan as a destructive force and warns of the consequences of procrastination in seeking God. The preacher calls for repentance and emphasizes that God's power and mercy are the reasons for his patience in judgment. The sermon ends with a prayer for sinners to come to Christ and find salvation.
(Through the Bible) Exodus 1-5
By Chuck Smith1.8K1:23:21ExpositionalGEN 50:26EXO 2:15EXO 4:1EXO 4:10In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes that God is not just a passive observer of our struggles and suffering. He takes action to deliver His people from their hardships. The preacher also highlights the importance of not getting too attached to material possessions, as they can easily be taken away. Instead, our focus should be on the things of the Spirit and God's eternal kingdom. The sermon references the story of Moses and the Israelites in Egypt, where they faced oppression and hardship, but ultimately God delivered them.
The Call for the Church to Leave the Plains of Sodom and Gomorrah
By Steve Hill1.8K44:47GEN 19:24This sermon delves into the story of Abram and Lot, focusing on the consequences of separating from godly influences and dwelling in sinful environments like Sodom and Gomorrah. It emphasizes the need to flee from sin, not hide or minimize it, and to seek refuge in God's presence away from worldly temptations.
The Decree of Judgment
By Aaron Dunlop1.7K33:04JudgmentGEN 19:24ISA 3:6JOL 1:15MAT 5:38ROM 12:21ROM 13:3In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the concept of judgment and the decree of judgment as prescribed by the Lord. The sermon explores the idea that what we sow, we will reap, and uses the example of Edom suffering the consequences of their actions towards Judah. The preacher also discusses the three types of suffering in the world: calamity, which is the result of the fall but not guilt; judgment prepared for the ungodly; and judgment precipitated by the ungodly. The sermon emphasizes that while judgment is sanctioned by God, it is not compulsory and can be carried out in different ways, including monetary compensation.
Open Your Eyes: Soul Winning!
By Keith Daniel1.5K51:29Soul WinningGEN 19:24PRO 4:23MAT 6:33ACT 6:2ROM 1:281TI 2:122TI 3:16In this sermon, the speaker shares a powerful testimony of a woman who was equipped with God's word and had a burning passion to share it with others. The speaker observes how people initially seem disinterested in the message, but are eventually drawn in by the magnetic power of the Gospel. The speaker reflects on their own limitations and lack of formal theological training, but realizes that every soul they encounter can be their congregation. They emphasize the importance of proclaiming the message of salvation and being willing to endure personal hardships for the sake of saving souls. The sermon references John 4:35 and quotes Zinzendorf, David Brainerd, and Henry Martin to emphasize the urgency and dedication required in spreading the word of God.
The Current Apostasy
By Ian Paisley1.1K36:55GEN 19:24
This sermon delves into the theme of apostasy, focusing on the failure of those who should preach the gospel but compromise instead. It explores the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis, highlighting the dangers of compromising one's faith and the consequences of aligning with false teachings. The narrative contrasts the faithful stance of Abraham with the compromising actions of Lot, emphasizing the importance of standing firm in the truth of the gospel amidst a world filled with deception and false doctrines.
Sinfulness of Sin (Compilation)
By Compilations1.0K05:03CompilationGEN 19:24MAT 5:28JHN 14:23ROM 6:23EPH 2:11JN 2:11JN 3:9In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes that Jesus did not come to make bad men good, but to make dead men live. He highlights that Christianity is unique because it allows a person's God to come and live inside of them. The preacher also discusses the consequences of sin and the need for repentance. He emphasizes that sin is not normal in the Christian life and that when a Christian slips into sin, they should flee to Christ's mercy with a broken heart. The sermon references the book of John and emphasizes the importance of living a life free from sin.
Prophets Who Are False and the One That Is True
By L.R. Shelton Jr1.0K00:00GEN 19:24GEN 19:26MAT 6:332PE 2:42PE 2:9In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of understanding God's judgment and the consequences of sin. He highlights the need to preach the truth, even if it is difficult or unpopular. The preacher also discusses the example of Jesus Christ, who humbly renounced everything and came to earth to redeem mankind. The sermon references biblical stories such as Noah and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to illustrate God's judgment and the importance of living a righteous life.
The Leading of the Lord
By George Warnock1501:13:25Holy SpiritGEN 19:24EXO 17:7EXO 19:18DEU 6:13MAL 3:3MAT 4:1HEB 12:22In this sermon, the preacher discusses God's dealings with the saints and the importance of being a holy and cleansed people. He references the book of Job and the sayings of Elihu, emphasizing the climax of God's appearance in chapters 40 and 41. The preacher also highlights God's anger towards the desolation caused by the world and religious systems. He emphasizes the need for a longing and hunger for God's righteousness, comparing it to the Israelites' dissatisfaction with the manna provided in the wilderness.
Worse Than Sodom?
By Anton Bosch0GEN 19:242CH 7:14ISA 58:1MAT 5:13LUK 17:26EPH 5:31TH 5:17JAS 5:161PE 1:16JUD 1:23Anton Bosch addresses the alarming trend of churches using worldly tactics like sex-themed promotions to attract people, emphasizing the dangerous consequences of compromising the Gospel for numbers, money, and power. He highlights the urgent need for the true church to wake up, cleanse their hearts, families, and churches, and be the holy, set-apart people God has called them to be. Bosch urges believers to fervently pray for God's will to be done, for the salvation of souls, and to intercede for those caught up in false teachings. He emphasizes the importance of preaching the gospel, teaching the Bible, and upholding Godly standards of holiness in a world where the lines between right and wrong have been blurred.
2 Peter 2:6
By John Gill0JudgmentConsequences of SinGEN 19:24DEU 29:25MAT 10:15ROM 9:29JUD 1:7John Gill emphasizes the severe judgment of God on Sodom and Gomorrah, illustrating how their destruction serves as a warning to future generations about the consequences of ungodliness. He notes that despite previous mercies and intercessions, the cities were ultimately condemned for their wickedness, which serves as an example for those who engage in similar sinful behaviors. The sermon highlights the eternal implications of their actions, suggesting that their fate is a foreshadowing of the judgment awaiting those who persist in sin.
The Pouring Forth of All His Wrath
By Thomas Brooks0Divine JusticeGod's MercyGEN 3:23GEN 19:24PSA 101:1ISA 30:18MAT 10:15JHN 3:36ROM 2:5HEB 10:312PE 2:42PE 3:9Thomas Brooks emphasizes the duality of God's nature, portraying Him as both merciful and just. He illustrates that while God extends mercy to humanity, His justice will prevail if that mercy is rejected. Brooks uses biblical examples of divine judgment to highlight the seriousness of despising God's grace, culminating in the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus, who bore the weight of humanity's sins. He warns that those who abuse God's mercy will face severe consequences, as the rejection of mercy leads to greater misery. The sermon serves as a sobering reminder of the balance between God's love and justice.
- Adam Clarke
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
- Matthew Henry
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
The Lord rained - brimstone and fire from the Lord - As all judgment is committed to the Son of God, many of the primitive fathers and several modern divines have supposed that the words ויהוה vaihovah and מאת יהוה meeth Yehovah imply, Jehovah the Son raining brimstone and fire from Jehovah the Father; and that this place affords no mean proof of the proper Divinity of our blessed Redeemer. It may be so; but though the point is sufficiently established elsewhere, it does not appear to me to be plainly indicated here. And it is always better on a subject of this kind not to have recourse to proofs which require proofs to confirm them. It must however be granted that two persons mentioned as Jehovah in one verse, is both a strange and curious circumstance; and it will appear more remarkable when we consider that the person called Jehovah, who conversed with Abraham, (see Genesis 18)., and sent those two angels to bring Lot and his family out of this devoted place, and seems himself after he left off talking with Abraham to have ascended to heaven, Gen 19:33, does not any more appear on this occasion till we hear that Jehovah rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven. This certainly gives much countenance to the opinion referred to above, though still it may fall short of positive proof. Brimstone and fire - The word גפרית gophrith, which we translate brimstone, is of very uncertain derivation. It is evidently used metaphorically, to point out the utmost degrees of punishment executed on the most flagitious criminals, in Deu 29:23; Job 18:15; Psa 11:6; Isa 34:9; Eze 38:22. And as hell, or an everlasting separation from God and the glory of his power, is the utmost punishment that can be inflicted on sinners, hence brimstone and fire are used in Scripture to signify the torments in that place of punishment. See Isa 30:33; Rev 14:10; Rev 19:20; Rev 20:10; Rev 21:8. We may safely suppose that it was quite possible that a shower of nitrous particles might have been precipitated from the atmosphere, here, as in many other places, called heaven, which, by the action of fire or the electric fluid, would be immediately ignited, and so consume the cities; and, as we have already seen that the plains about Sodom and Gomorrah abounded with asphaltus or bitumen pits, (see Gen 14:10), that what is particularly meant here in reference to the plain is the setting fire to this vast store of inflammable matter by the agency of lightning or the electric fluid; and this, in the most natural and literal manner, accounts for the whole plain being burnt up, as that plain abounded with this bituminous substance; and thus we find three agents employed in the total ruin of these cities, and all the circumjacent plain: 1. Innumerable nitrous particles precipitated from the atmosphere. 2. The vast quantity of asphaltus or bitumen which abounded in that country: and, 3. Lightning or the electric spark, which ignited the nitre and bitumen, and thus consumed both the cities and the plain or champaign country in which they were situated.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
Then the Lord rained . . . brimstone and fire from . . . heaven--God, in accomplishing His purposes, acts immediately or mediately through the agency of means; and there are strong grounds for believing that it was in the latter way He effected the overthrow of the cities of the plain--that it was, in fact, by a volcanic eruption. The raining down of fire and brimstone from heaven is perfectly accordant with this idea since those very substances, being raised into the air by the force of the volcano, would fall in a fiery shower on the surrounding region. This view seems countenanced by Job [Job 1:16; Job 18:15]. Whether it was miraculously produced, or the natural operation employed by God, it is not of much consequence to determine: it was a divine judgment, foretold and designed for the punishment of those who were sinners exceedingly.
John Gill Bible Commentary
And he overthrew those cities,.... Of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim: very probably at the same time that this fiery tempest was in the heavens, there was an earthquake which overthrew the cities; and so Strabo (h) makes the lake, which is now the place where they stood, to be owing to earthquakes and eruptions of fire, and of hot bituminous and sulphurous waters; and says nothing of fire from heaven, which yet Tacitus and Solinus do, being unacquainted with the sacred history: and all the plain; the plain of Jordan, and the cities on it, all but Zoar; not all the five cities, as Josephus (i): Egesippus (k) and other authors mistake, only the four above mentioned. Strabo (l) speaks of thirteen cities being formerly upon this spot, of which Sodom was the metropolis: and all the inhabitants of the cities; none were spared, all were destroyed, but Lot, his wife, and two daughters: and that which grew upon the ground; the trees, herbs, and plants; these were all turned up by the earthquake, and burnt with fire from heaven: Tacitus, in his account of this conflagration, says,"the fields, which were formerly fruitful, and inhabited by many cities, were burnt up with lightning; and there are traces (he adds) yet remain; the earth itself looks torrid, and has lost its fruitful virtue; for whatsoever grows up of itself, or is sown and rises up in the plant or flower, or grows up to its usual species, becomes black and empty, and vanishes into ashes.''The place where those cities stood is now a lake, and is sometimes called the salt sea, Gen 14:3; and sometimes the dead sea, because it is said, no creature can live in it; and sometimes called the Lake Asphaltites, from its bituminous and pitchy quality: though Reland (o) has attempted to confute the notion that the cities of Sodom, &c. stood where this lake now is: and the many things that have been reported of this lake and parts adjacent, by various historians, supposed to be of good credit, are by modern travellers exploded (p); as those of no living creature being bred in it; of bodies not sinking in it; and of birds being unable to fly over it; and of the cities appearing under water in a clear day; and of the apples of Sodom, which look beautiful to the eye, but when touched fall into ashes; many of which Josephus (q) himself relates: indeed, Ludovicus Vartomanus (r), a traveller in those parts in the beginning of the sixteenth century, says,"there yet remain the ruins of the destroyed city, as a witness of God's wrath; we may affirm, there are three cities, and each of them situated on the decline of three hills, and the ruins appear about the height of three or four cubits; there is yet seen, I scarce know what, something like blood, or rather like red wax mixed with earth:''and our countryman Mr. Sandys (s), though he questions some of the above things before related, especially concerning the apples, yet says,"not far from thence grows a tree whose fruit is like a green walnut, which he saw, and which they say never ripens.''This lake of Sodom, according to Josephus (t), is five hundred and eighty furlongs in length unto Zoar, and one hundred fifty broad; but, according to modern accounts, it is twenty four leagues in length, and six or seven in breadth (u); the Arabic geographer (w) says, it is sixty miles in length, and twelve in breadth; it is now called by the Arabs, Bahar Louth, Lot's lake. (h) Geograph. l. 16. p. 526. (i) De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 4. (k) De excidio urb. l. 4. c. 18. (l) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 16. p. 526.) (o) Palestina illustrata, tom. 1. l. 1. c. 38. p. 254, &c. (p) Vid. Universal History, vol. 2. p. 421, &c. See Egmont and Heyman's Travels, vol. 1. p. 341. (q) De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 4. (r) Navigat. l. 1. c. 10. (s) Travels, l. 3. p. 110, 111. Ed. 5. (t) Ut supra. (De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 4.) (u) Universal History, ib. p. 424. See Egmont, &c. ib, p. 342. (w) Scherif Ibn Idris, apud Reland. ib. p. 249.
Matthew Henry Bible Commentary
Then, when Lot had got safely into Zoar, then this ruin came; for good men are taken away from the evil to come. Then, when the sun had risen bright and clear, promising a fair day, then this storm arose, to show that it was not from natural causes. Concerning this destruction observe, 1. God was the immediate author of it. It was destruction from the Almighty: The Lord rained - from the Lord (Gen 19:24), that is, God from himself, by his own immediate power, and not in the common course of nature. Or, God the Son from God the Father; for the Father has committed all judgment to the Son. Note, He that is the Saviour will be the destroyer of those that reject the salvation. 2. It was a strange punishment, Job 31:3. Never was the like before nor since. Hell was rained from heaven upon them. Fire, and brimstone, and a horrible tempest, were the portion of their cup (Psa 11:6); not a flash of lightning, which is destructive enough when God gives it commission, but a shower of lightning. Brimstone was scattered upon their habitation (Job 18:15), and then the fire soon fastened upon them. God could have drowned them, as he did the old world; but he would show that he has many arrows in his quiver, fire as well as water. 3. It was a judgment that laid all waste: It overthrew the cities, and destroyed all the inhabitants of them, the plain, and all that grew upon the ground, Gen 19:25. It was an utter ruin, and irreparable. That fruitful valley remains to this day a great lake, or dead sea; it is called the Salt Sea, Num 34:12. Travellers say that it is about thirty miles long and ten miles broad; it has no living creature in it; it is not moved by the wind; the smell of it is offensive; things do not easily sink in it. The Greeks call it Asphaltites, from a sort of pitch which it casts up. Jordan falls into it, and is lost there. 4. It was a punishment that answered to their sin. Burning lusts against nature were justly punished with this preternatural burning. Those that went after strange flesh were destroyed by strange fire, Jde 1:7. They persecuted the angels with their rabble, and made Lot afraid; and now God persecuted them with his tempest, and made them afraid with his storm, Psa 83:15. 5. It was designed for a standing revelation of the wrath of God against sin and sinners in all ages. It is, accordingly, often referred to in the scripture, and made a pattern of the ruin of Israel (Deu 29:23), of Babylon (Isa 13:19), of Edom (Jer 49:18), of Moab and Ammon, Zep 2:9. Nay, it was typical of the vengeance of eternal fire (Jde 1:7), and the ruin of all that live ungodly (Pe2 2:6), especially that despise the gospel, Mat 10:15. It is in allusion to this destruction that the place of the damned is often represented by a lake that burns, as Sodom did, with fire and brimstone. Let us learn from it, (1.) The evil of sin, and the hurtful nature of it. Iniquity tends to ruin. (2.) The terrors of the Lord. See what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God!