Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
Genesis Ch.19 / 50 Ch.s
GE:19
* The destruction of Sodom, and the deliverance of Lot. (1-29)
The sin and disgrace of Lot. (30-38)
#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.
#30-38 See the peril of security. Lot, who kept chaste in Sodom,
and was a mourner for the wickedness of the place, and a witness
against it, when in the mountain, alone, and, as he thought, out
of the way of temptation, is shamefully overtaken. Let him that
thinks he stands high, and stands firm, take heed lest he fall.
See the peril of drunkenness; it is not only a great sin itself,
but lets in many sins, which bring a lasting wound and
dishonour. Many a man does that, when he is drunk, which, when
he is sober, he could not think of without horror. See also the
peril of temptation, even from relations and friends, whom we
love and esteem, and expect kindness from. We must dread a
snare, wherever we are, and be always upon our guard. No excuse
can be made for the daughters, nor for Lot. Scarcely any account
can be given of the affair but this, The heart is deceitful
above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? From
the silence of the Scripture concerning Lot henceforward, learn
that drunkenness, as it makes men forgetful, so it makes them to
be forgotten.