Matthew Henry

At daybreak the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of…

“His daughters that were married perished with their unbelieving husbands; but those that continued with him were preserved with him.”

But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters.

“Herein it is said, The Lord was merciful to him; otherwise he might justly have left him to perish, since he was so loth to depart. Note, (1.)”

As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere on the plain!

“Such as these are the commands given to those who through grace are delivered out of a sinful state. [1.] Return not to sin and Satan, for that is looking back to Sodom. [2.]”

“Very well,” he answered, “I will grant this request as well, and will not demolish the town you indicate. Hurry!

“(1.) Zoar was spared, to gratify him. Though his intercession for it was not, as Abraham's for Sodom, from a principle of generous charity, but merely from self-interest, yet God granted him his request, to show how much the fervent prayer of a righteous man…”

But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

“As by the example of Sodom the wicked are warned to turn from their wickedness, so by the example of Lot's wife the righteous are warned not to turn from their righteousness. The sin of Lot's wife: She looked back from behind him.”

Early the next morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD.

“Note, When we have prayed we must look after our prayers, and observe the success of them. We must direct our prayer as a letter, and then look up for an answer, direct our prayer as an arrow, and then look up to see whether…”

He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.

“Thus the saints, when they see the smoke of Babylon's torment rising up for ever (like Sodom's here), will say again and again, Alleluia, Rev. xix.”

So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that destroyed the cities where he had lived.

“He remembered Abraham, and, for his sake, sent Lot out of the overthrow. God will certainly give an answer of peace to the prayer of faith, in his own way and time; though, for a while, it seem to be forgotten, yet, sooner or later…”

One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us, as is the custom over…

“The great sin that Lot and his daughters were guilty of, when they were in this desolate place. His daughters laid a very wicked plot to bring him to sin; and theirs was, doubtless, the greater guilt.”

One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us, as is the custom over…

“Note, [1.] The sight of God's most tremendous judgments upon sinners will not of itself, without the grace of God, restrain evil hearts from evil practices: one would wonder how the fire of lust could possibly kindle upon those, who had so lately been the…”

So that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the firstborn went in and slept with her father; he was not aware when she lay down or when…

“No mountain, on this side the holy hill above, can set us out of the reach of Satan's fiery darts. (2.) The peril of drunkenness.”

Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.

“The peril that Sarah was brought into by this means: The king of Gerar sent, and took her to his house, in order to the taking of her to his bed.”

Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he replied, “Lord, would You destroy a nation even though it is innocent?

“Not such a nation as Sodom, which was indeed justly destroyed, but a nation which, in this matter, was innocent. God gives a very full answer to what he had said.”

Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against Me.

“(2.) It is God that restrains men from doing the ill they would do. It is not from him that there is sin, but it is from him that there is not more sin, either by his influence upon men's minds, checking their inclination to…”

Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet; he will pray for you and you will live.

“(2.) Being a prophet, he shall pray for thee; this is a prophet's reward, and a good reward it is.”

Early the next morning Abimelech got up and summoned all his servants; and when he described to them all that had happened, the men were terrified.

“Abraham himself could not be more careful than he was to command his household in this matter. Note, Those whom God has convinced of sin and danger ought to tell others what God has done for their souls, that they also may be awakened and…”

Then Abimelech called Abraham and asked, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such tremendous guilt upon me and my kingdom?

“(1.) He calls that sin which he now found he had been in danger of a great sin. Note, Even the light of nature teaches men that the sin of adultery is a very great sin: be it observed, to the shame of many who…”

Abraham replied, “I thought to myself, ‘Surely there is no fear of God in this place. They will kill me on account of my wife.’

“1 . [3.] Uncharitableness and censoriousness are sins that are the cause of many other sins. When men have once persuaded themselves concerning such and such that they have not the fear of God, they think this will justify them in the most unjust and…”

Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father—though not the daughter of my mother—and she became my wife.

“Some think she was own sister to Lot, who is called his brother Lot ( ch. xiv. 16 ), though he was his nephew; so Sarah is called his sister.”

And he said to Sarah, “See, I am giving your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is your vindication before all who are with you; you are completely cleared.”

“The law appointed that when restitution was made something should be added to it, Lev. vi. Or, [2.] To engage Abraham's prayers for him; not as if prayers should be bought and sold, but we should endeavour to be kind to those of whose spiritual…”

Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.

“Isaac was born according to the promise. The Lord visited Sarah in mercy, as he had said. Note, No word of God shall fall to the ground; for he is faithful that has promised, and God's faithfulness is the stay and support of his people's…”

So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised.

“Note, God is always punctual to his time; though his promised mercies come not at the time we set, they will certainly come at the time he sets, and that is the best time.”

When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.

“The covenant being established with him, the seal of the covenant was administered to him; and though a bloody ordinance, and he a darling, yet it must not be omitted, no, nor deferred beyond the eighth day.”

Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.”

“(2.) When mercies have been long deferred they are the more welcome when they come. (3.) It adds to the comfort of any mercy to have our friends rejoice with us in it: All that hear will laugh with me; for laughing is catching.”

She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

“Who would have said that God should send his Son to die for us, his Spirit to sanctify us, his angels to attend us?”