Genesis 19

And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, while Lot was sitting at the gates of the city. Not without cause, the angels who had come to Abraham at midday are reported to have come to Sodom in the evening, because they came to announce prosperity and joy to the former, but to bring adversity to the latter; he was burning with the fruit of light towards heavenly things, but this one, besieged by the darkness of vices, was approaching eternal perdition.

When he saw them, he rose, and went to meet them; he bowed down with his face to the ground and said: I beg you, my lords, turn aside to your servant's house and stay there, and so on. In blessed Lot a great and perfect example of godly hospitality is shown, who, seeing the guests entering the city, was not only prepared to meet and welcome them but also persistently asked them to turn aside to his house and rest with him. At first, they refused to enter his house, but eventually, at his urging, agreed to do so, so that they might more thoroughly test his hospitality's diligence and more worthily reward it, delivering him from the destruction of the sinners along with his house.

"Now, the two angels," the text says, "arrived at Sodom in the evening." The time in particular shows us this good man's extraordinary virtue in the fact that even despite the coming of evening he stayed at his post and did not leave it. That is to say, since he realized the advantage accruing to him from that, consequently he was anxious to attain the wealth and brought great vigilance to bear, not even desisting at the end of the day. This, you see, is what a fervent and vigilant soul is like. Far from being impeded by any obstacles from giving evidence of its virtue, it is spurred on to greater heights by the very impediments in particular and burns with a brighter flame of desire.

"Now, on seeing them," the text goes on, "Lot rose to meet them." Let this be heeded by those who are given to repulsing people who call on them with requests to make and causes to plead and who show them great inhumanity. I mean, see how this good man did not wait until the visitors reached him but like the patriarch, without knowing who the visitors were but presuming that they were travelers of some kind, well nigh jumped for joy on seeing them, as though falling upon his prey and not missing the object of his desire.

Lot was not inside Sodom "but at the gate." I might have said, just as Abraham was sitting outside his tent, out of hospitality, even at an inconvenient time (for it was the middle of the day) on the lookout for travelers, so his relative and the imitator of his morality "was sitting at the gate" ready to invite those passing through the land, even though evening had now come. For he surely knew the impiety of the Sodomites and that there was no rest for the stranger in that place.

Scripture seems to have made no mention at all of angels before the flood. Only now [does it mention angels], as though seeing fit to have instructed people abundantly, by the length of the time past, to regard as God and Lord of the universe only that one Being who had made the created universe and supplied human beings, beginning with Adam, with the appropriate knowledge. [This knowledge was supplied] by his providence and through a variety of visions, guiding its transmission from the first people to those who followed in order.

It was "three men" who came to Abraham, and "in the heat of the day"; but in the case of Sodom, "two angels, and in the evening." Good things are likened to light, bad things to evening, since the "sun of justice" has set on them. For the punishment of the wicked is night and darkness, but the righteous "will shine like light." It is significant too that where there was an announcement of good things, the Lord was present. But when the subject is punishment, he does not appear in person, showing that when people have good experiences, it is his pleasure, so that he chooses, as it were, to act directly in such matters. Since he takes no pleasure in punishments but inflicts them only because of necessity, he makes use of underlings.

"On seeing them," the text says, note, "he rose to meet them and prostrated himself on the ground." He gave thanks to God for being found worthy to welcome the visitors. Notice his virtue of soul: he considered it a great kindness on God's part to encounter these men and by welcoming them to fulfill his private longing. Now don't tell me they were angels; remember, rather, that this good man did not realize that yet but behaved as though receiving unknown travelers. "He said, 'Lo, sirs, break off your journey at your servant's house. Rest and bathe your feet; then rise early and resume your journey.' " These words are sufficient to reveal the virtue residing in the good man's soul. How could you help being amazed at his exceeding humility and the fervor with which he displayed his hospitality? "Lo, sirs," he said, "break off your journey at your servant's house." He addresses them as "sirs" and calls himself their servant. Let us listen precisely, dearly beloved, to these words and learn how we too can do likewise. This man of good name and reputation, enjoying great prosperity, a householder, addresses as master these travelers, these strangers, unknown, unprepossessing wayfarers, no connections of his, and says, "Break off your journey at your servant's house and rest." You see, evening has fallen, he says; accede to my wish and assuage the day's hardship by resting in the home of your servant. I mean, surely I'm not offering you anything wonderful? "Bathe your feet" wearied with traveling, "and rise early and resume your journey." So do me this favor, and don't refuse my entreaty.

"They replied," the text goes on, "No, instead, we shall rest in the street." Seeing that despite his entreaty they declined, he did not lose heart, he did not give up what he was intent on, he did not have the kinds of feelings we often do. If at any time we want to win someone over and then we see them somewhat reluctant, we immediately desist; this is due to our doing it without ardor and longing and especially to our thinking that we have excuse enough to be able to say that at any rate we did our best. What do you mean, you have done your best? You have let slip the prey, you have missed the treasure—is this doing your best? Then you would have done your best if you hadn't let the treasure slip through your fingers, if you hadn't bypassed the prey, if your display of hospitality was not limited to a perfunctory remark.

When he saw them resisting and bent on resting in the street (the angels did this out of a wish to reveal more clearly the just man's virtue and to teach us all the extent of his hospitality), then he in turn did not stop at making entreaty in words but also applied force. Hence Christ also said, "Men of violence seize the kingdom of heaven." … "He compelled them," the text says. It seems to me he drew them in against their will. Then when they saw the just man applying this effort and not desisting until he should achieve the object of his desire, "they turned aside to him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, cooking flat bread for them; they ate before lying down." Do you see here as well hospitality manifested not in richness of fare but in generosity of attitude? I mean, when he succeeded in bringing them into his house, at once he gave evidence of the signs of hospitality. He occupied himself in attending on them, providing something to eat and giving evidence of respect and attention to the visitors in his belief that they were only human beings, travelers of some kind.

But before they lay down, the men of the city, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot and said to him: Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them, etc. This is what the prophet Isaiah said about the exceedingly sinful people of Israel: They proclaim their sin like Sodom, they do not hide it (Isaiah 3:9). Indeed, they proclaimed their sin like the Sodomites, they did not hide it, for without any sense of shame, all, from youth to extreme old age, used to practice abominations with men; so much so that they did not even hide their crimes from guests and strangers and sought to make them alike in crime by force and to involve them in their wicked deeds.

Indeed, when they [the men of Sodom] were raging to commit such a crime, Lot says among other things: "I have two daughters who have not yet known a man. I will bring them out to you, and you may abuse them as it pleases you, provided that you do nothing evil to these men." Because he wanted to offer his daughters as a form of compensation so that his male guests would not suffer such an outrage from the Sodomites, it is rightly questioned whether such a compensation of crimes or any sins should be admitted, that we might do something evil in order to prevent another from doing a greater evil, or whether it should rather be attributed to the disturbance of Lot's mind rather than his intention, since he said this; indeed, this compensation is most perilously admitted; but if it is attributed to human disturbance and a mind disturbed by such great evil, it should in no way be imitated.

Now this is the first lust which conquered the world, and because of it the first transgression of the law took place. It brought the Sodomites unto the work of impurity. For the lust of the belly is the captain of the host of the left side, and to it are fettered all the hosts of sin, and as captains of hosts go forth to war at the head of their companies against the enemy, even so also doth it, as the captain of the host of all wickedness, go forth to war against that which is good.

And behold, the men reached out their hands and brought Lot to them and closed the door, and they struck with blindness those who were outside, from the least to the greatest, so that they could not find the door. And the rest is up to the point that Lot said to his sons-in-law: "Get up, leave this place, for the Lord will destroy this city," and he seemed to be speaking jestingly. That the angels closed Lot's door, so that neither he nor anyone from his house could be taken by the Sodomites to destruction, clearly indicates that none of God's elect will be lost to the impiety and persecution of the reprobates, as the Lord says about his sheep: "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:28). That Lot, having the authority given by the angels, could not bring back to salvation any of the wicked citizens, not even his own relatives or friends, even though he tried very much, signifies that no human effort can add even one soul to the number of the predestined, who were chosen by the Lord before the foundation of the world; for the Lord knows who are his own. Indeed, although the weakness of our condition may hide from us the fate of those who belong to the lot of the elect, we must not cease from caring about our own salvation, nor should we be silent in instructing our neighbors. But, following the example of the blessed Lot, we ought to live chastely and devote ourselves to the correction of those who err, for it is certain that even though we cannot save those predestined to destruction, we do not lose the reward of our kindness, which we extend toward their salvation.

However, how do we account for the fact that the Savior himself has brought to mind that all who spurned the gospel were worse? Finally to Capernaum he said, "If in Sodom had been wrought the miracles that had been wrought in you, perhaps it would have remained unto this day. But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you." If he says the people of Sodom are less worthy of damnation than all those who neglect the Gospels, then it is most certainly reasonable that we, who neglect the Gospels in most things, should have all the more fear. This is especially so because we are unwilling to be content with sins to which we are already long accustomed and, as it were, on daily familiarity.

(Chapter 19, Verse 14) And he spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters. For afterward, it is said that the two daughters of Lot were virgins (about whom he himself had said long ago to the Sodomites: Behold, my two daughters, who have not known man), and now the Scripture mentions that he had sons-in-law; some think that those who had husbands remained in Sodom, and the ones who were virgins left with their father. And since the Scripture does not say, the Hebrew truth must be explained, in which it is written: Lot went out and spoke to the fiancés who were to receive his daughters. Therefore, the virgin daughters had not yet been joined in marriage.

(Verse 21) And he said to him: Behold, I am amazed by your face. In Hebrew it is: Behold, I have received your face: that is, I accept your prayers. Symmachus, interpreting according to the sense, says, 'I was displeased with the sight of your face.'

Let us flee like Lot, who feared the crimes of the people of Sodom more than their punishments. A holy man surely, he chose to shut his house to the men of Sodom and flee the contagion of their offenses. When he dwelt with them, he did not come to know them, for he did not know their outrages and turned away from their disgraces. When he fled, he did not look back on them, for he did not desire to associate with them. The one who renounces the vices and rejects the way of life of his fellow citizens is in flight like Lot. Such a person does not look behind himself but enters that city which is above by the passageway of his thoughts, and he does not withdraw from it until the death of the chief priest who bore the sin of the world. He indeed died once, but he dies for each person who is baptized in Christ's death, that we may be buried together with him and rise with him and walk in the newness of his life. Your flight is a good one if your heart does not act out the counsels of sinners and their designs. Your flight is a good one if your eye flees the sight of cups and drinking vessels, so that it may not become envious as it lingers over the wine. Your flight is good if your eye turns away from the woman stranger, so that your tongue may keep the truth. Your flight is a good one if you do not answer the fool according to his folly. Your flight is good if you direct your footsteps away from the countenance of fools. Indeed, one swiftly goes astray with bad guides; but if you wish your flight to be a good one, remove your ways far from their words.

On account of his hospitality and godliness, Lot was saved out of Sodom when all the country round was punished by means of fire and brimstone, the Lord thus making it manifest that He does not forsake those that hope in Him, but gives up such as depart from Him to punishment and torture. [Genesis 19:15-26, 2 Peter 2:6-9] For Lot's wife, who went forth with him, being of a different mind from himself, and not continuing in agreement with him [as to the command which had been given them], was made an example of, so as to be a pillar of salt unto this day. This was done that all might know that those who are of a double mind, and who distrust the power of God, bring down judgment on themselves and become a sign to all succeeding generations.

And they led him out and placed him outside the city. There he spoke to him: "Save your soul, do not look back, nor stay in any region around, but save yourself on the mountain, lest you also perish together." Generally, indeed, the fire and destruction of Sodom, from which Lot was rescued, designates the punishment of ultimate severity; when, with the completion at the end of the age of the total number of the elect, all the impious will be seized into eternal fire, the Lord explaining, who said: "Similarly as it happened in the days of Lot, they ate and drank, bought and sold, planted and built; but the day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed" (Luke 17:28). To which the apostle Jude also attests, saying: "Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire" (Jude 7). However, the same fire of Sodom can also, not incongruously, suggest the flames of the vices with which the reprobate are burned in this life and are thus prepared for eternal fire; who, although they now do not cease to burn with earthly desires and carnal allurements, then will never cease to burn with the fire of vengeance. This sense, too, the Lord affirms, indeed even teaches, who says: "In that hour, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away; and likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17:31). For we are not taught that in the approaching moment of the final judgment, deserting the peak of upright conduct, we should turn our mind to the depths of worldly desire; or, leaving the plow of spiritual agriculture, that we should look back, when no further correction of our works remains to us, but rather the reckoning of what we have worked is at hand. Rather, indeed, as judgment approaches, the faithful are given this exhortation, to persist in good and wholesome beginnings, lest, repeating the contagions of sins which they had left behind, they imitate Lot's wife, who, when she looked back heedlessly at the sulfurous burning Sodom, was turned into a pillar of salt. Therefore, as the Lord forbids us from imitating Lot's wife, he certainly shows that the burning of the city, to which she had looked back, expresses the flames of vices which we are both able and ought to avoid. Hence now the exhortation of the angels, by which they had admonished Lot, who was led out of Sodom, not to look back, nor to stay in any region around, but to seek the mountain to be saved, must be spiritually understood and followed with the utmost intention by us; lest we carelessly repeat the ardor and incentives of the vices we seemed to have momentarily escaped, nor consent to remain, as much as possible, in the vicinity of sinners, lest by their example we deviate from the rectitude of our path, as the Psalmist says of the blessed man: "And he does not stand in the way of sinners" (Psalm 1:1), but we should quickly strive to ascend to the height of elevated conduct.

The angels sent for the overthrow of Sodom, though they were eager to hasten the business enjoined upon them, first take care of Lot their host, so that out of regard for his hospitality they might rescue him from the impending destruction by fire. Hear this, you who shut your houses against strangers; hear this, you who shun a guest as though he were an enemy. Lot dwelt in Sodom. We do not read of other good deeds of his; his hospitality alone, arising from habitual practice, is recorded. He escapes the fires, he escapes the flames, for this reason alone, that he threw open his house to guests. The angels entered a hospitable house; the fire entered the houses shut against guests. Let us see, then, what the angels say to their host in return for the offices of hospitality. "On the mountain," he says, "save your soul, lest perhaps you be caught." Lot was indeed hospitable, and, as Scripture bore witness to him, he escaped destruction by receiving the angels into his lodging. But he was not so perfect that, upon coming out of Sodom, he could at once ascend the mountain; for it belongs to the perfect to say: "I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence shall come my help." This man, therefore, was neither such a one as ought to perish among the Sodomites, nor was he so great that he could dwell with Abraham in the loftier places. For if he had been such, Abraham would never have said to him: "If you go to the right, I will go to the left, or if you go to the left, I will go to the right," nor would the dwellings of Sodom have pleased him. He was, therefore, a kind of middle sort between the perfect and the lost. And knowing that it was not suited to his strength to ascend the mountain, he devoutly and humbly excuses himself, saying: "I cannot be saved on the mountain, but behold this city is small, here I shall be saved, and it is not small." And having entered Segor, the small city, he is saved in it. And after this he ascended into the mountain with his daughters. For he could not have ascended into the mountain from Sodom, although it is written of the land of Sodom, before it was overthrown, at the time when Lot chose it for his dwelling, that it "was like the paradise of God and like the land of Egypt." And yet — to make use of a small digression — what likeness can there seem to be between the paradise of God and the land of Egypt, that Sodom should be compared equally to both? But I think this: that before Sodom sinned, while it still kept the simplicity of an uncontaminated life, it was "like the paradise of God"; but when it began to be discolored and darkened by the stains of sins, it became "like the land of Egypt." But we also inquire into this: since indeed the prophet says that "your sister Sodom shall be restored to her former state," whether her restoration also admits of this, that she be "like the paradise of God," or only "like the land of Egypt." For my part I doubt whether the sins of Sodom can be boiled down so far and her crimes purged to such a degree that their restoration be so great as to be compared not only to the land of Egypt but even to the paradise of God. Yet those who wish to affirm this will press us, chiefly from that phrase which seems to be added to this promise; for he did not say "Sodom shall be restored" and stop there, but he said: "Sodom shall be restored to her former state." And they will maintain that her former state was not "like the land of Egypt," but "like the paradise of God."

For as it was in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as they were in the days before the flood, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until Noah entered into the ark, and they knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

For those who understand the plain text of the present words, whether they wish to understand it spiritually or simply, it is consistent to say concerning the consummation of this world that "it shall come suddenly," like one who has already fallen sick beforehand with a sickness fit to make manifest his coming corruption. For this is shown especially from what he says, that the coming of the Son of man will be like the days of Noah; for then all things that were upon the earth suddenly perished. But whoever wishes to say that the consummation of the world will happen gradually will say that likewise it happened in the days of Noah. For with the rain descending for forty days and forty nights, it followed that those first perished who dwelt in the lower parts of the earth, and after them those who dwelt somewhat in the higher parts, and thus last of all those who dwelt in the highest mountains. So too (he says) in the consummation of the world, when the fire has descended, it will indeed begin from the more elevated places and gradually descend to the lower. But Luke, subjoining also the similitude of the fire of Sodom, gives us occasion to understand that the consummation is to come suddenly. But someone will say that by this it is declared that that rain, or that fire, did not happen according to the order of nature, but on account of the abundance of the sins of men.

In two ways, then, is the coming corruption of the world reckoned: in one way according to a natural descent of fire, in another according to the judgment of God. But the Gentiles do not say that those sins were the burning, or the cause of that burning, but that it was the power of fire. The divine discourses, however, teach that all things are held and governed by God, and they do not blame the violence of fire, but proclaim it the will of God — of God who saves upon the earth those who are worthy of salvation in it, but destroys those in whom, on account of the abundance of iniquity, "charity grows cold." For the comparison with the fire of Sodom teaches most manifestly that the corruption of the world will be sudden. This is clear from what the angel said to Lot: "behold, I have admired your face in this word, that I will not destroy the city of which you have spoken; hasten therefore to be saved there; for I cannot do anything until you go thither." You see that that fire which was sent upon Sodom was held back by the divine will, until Lot entered into Zoar. So I think it will be also in the consummation (according as Lot too was saved), that then that fire of the consummation will lay hold of the world according to the judgment of God, when the saved righteous shall shine "as the sun in the kingdom of their Father": then "they will gather the wicked out of the kingdom of Christ and cast them into the furnace of fire."

For how is it not manifest that the corruption of the world will be sudden, from what he says: they will be eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, which are signs of peace and security? For famines and pestilences will perhaps be some time before the consummation; but around the consummation itself there will be neither famine nor war. And how are eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, planting and building, buying and selling to be understood, unless it is so ordered? But this too makes it manifest, what the Apostle says: "that the day of the Lord shall so come as a thief in the night. When they shall say: peace and security, then sudden destruction shall come upon them, as the pain of childbirth upon her that is with child, and they shall not escape"; for he teaches us that the day of consummation will come upon men suddenly and unexpectedly, when the state of things shall seem to have been turned as it were for the better — from the former famine to abundance, from pestilence and battles to peace and security.

But those who hear the Gospel more deeply and do all things so that the Gospel may be in no part at all veiled to them, do not much care about the general consummation of the age, whether it is to be sudden and general or by parts; but they consider only this, that the consummation of each single person happens without his knowing either the day or the hour of his own departure, and that upon each one of us "the day of the Lord will so come as a thief." On which account it is needful to watch, whether in the evening (that is, in youth) or at midnight (that is, in the midst of dark human life) or at cockcrow (when one is now older) or in the morning (when one is now in advanced old age), so that when God the Word comes bringing the consummation of the setting-out of this life, he may be found who did not give "sleep to his eyes" nor "slumber to his eyelids," and who kept the commandment of him who says: "watch at all times." Yet all are vain, whether those who profess to know the consummation of the world, when it will be, or those who boast that they know the end of their own life, seduced either by the signs of birds or by ventriloquists or by magicians, and thinking to know the day and hour of their own departure. For as it is, no one can know, unless perhaps he be some prophet illumined by the Holy Spirit — like him who prophesied to the king's wife who wished to know whether her son would rise from his infirmity, and like Elijah who prophesied to Ahaziah, saying what had been determined for him by the Lord: "thus says the Lord: because there was no God in Israel, do you go to seek unto Baal the fly, the god of Ekron? not so; the bed upon which you have gone up, you shall not come down from it, for you shall surely die."

These things, even though we have said them in a digression, we have nevertheless introduced as useful, since concerning the consummation of each single person also (that is, concerning the day of his departure) no one can know — although many profess to know such things — except perhaps those who have heard from the prophets. I know also another consummation of the righteous man, who with apostolic advancement can say: "but far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world." For to him to whom the world is crucified, for him in a certain way the consummation of the world has already come; and he who is dead to worldly things, to him (having passed over days not of the Lord) there comes the day of the Lord, on which the coming of the Son of man takes place upon his soul, because he now no longer lives to sin and to the world.

It seems that now, after the exodus from Sodom, the conversation is no longer with angels but with the Lord. For when one leaves the territory of evil he will find God conversing with him, and he will have the courage and confidence to ask for whatever he wishes.

And Lot said to them: "Please, my lord, because your servant has found favor before you, and you have magnified your mercy, which you have done with me, to save my life, I cannot be saved in the mountain, lest some evil overtake me. There is a city nearby to which I can flee, a small one, and I will be saved there." Blessed Lot did not seek the protection of the nearby city as if he feared some plague would overtake him if he reached the mountain; rather, he desired to turn to the nearby city with this intention, lest while seeking the height of the mountain, which was farther away, he would be consumed by the flame threatening nearby the impious on the way.

And he said to him: "Behold, I have also accepted your request in this matter, that I will not overthrow the city you have spoken of, etc." Oh, how great is the compassion of divine mercy! Not only does it deliver the just man from the destruction of the wicked, but it also grants life to many of them on account of the same just man's safety, which they did not deserve, so that it might show in those who perished what impiety deserved, and in those who remained how much the intercession of the pious prevailed with God.

Therefore, the name of that city was called Segor. Segor is interpreted as "Little," which for this reason was so called because Lot had said, "Is it not small?" Previously it was called Bale, as mentioned above: "Against the king of Bale, this is Segor." Bale is interpreted as "devour," which the Hebrews say was called such because it was swallowed up by a third earthquake. But just as Sodom burns with the flames of vices, and the mountain to which Lot is ordered to ascend indicates the summit of virtues, so Segor designates a certain lesser mode of good behavior; although it is far from the heights of the perfect, it is still separated from the contagion of the wicked. For example, one who rightly keeps a conjugal life escapes the sulfurous flame of fornication but does not yet ascend the mountain of continence; he who turns his hand and mind away from rapine and avarice, and is accustomed to give what he has to the poor, cannot yet leave everything behind. He indeed escapes the fire of the Sodomites, enters the walls of the small city where he avoids the danger of destruction, but has not yet ascended the fortress of virtue where he would already shine as perfect, and other such things.

Great is the loving kindness of God. He who is all-powerful says, "I can do nothing until you arrive there." He accommodates even the weakness of his servant and tolerates his delay.

The sun rose upon the earth, and Lot entered Zoar; then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities and all the surrounding region. The sunrise upon the earth, at which Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown, marks the manifestation of the final judgment, when, after all the righteous have been rescued, the wicked will be suddenly overwhelmed by destruction. And surely it was rightly done by the judgment of God that those who had tried to snare the blessed Lot in the darkness of night, laboring much and resisting with their crimes, when day suddenly came upon them, saw him rescued while they themselves perished entirely; and they who had burned with vile pleasures of the flesh in darkness, were consumed with sulfur and fire once morning suddenly appeared, because all who serve vices secretly in the blindness of their minds are openly struck in the knowledge of their crime by the stern judge. Also, it should be noted that on one and the same night while Lot was rejoicing with the Lord as his guest and was being defended from enemies, the Sodomites were laboring to accumulate their crimes, even desecrating Lot with his guests; but at sunrise, Lot was liberated for his righteousness, and they were condemned for their impiety, because indeed in the night of this world holy people also rejoice in welcoming Him who said: 'Behold, I will come and dwell in the midst of you' (Zech. x, 11), and in Revelation: 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me' (Rev. iii, 20). And the wicked seek to corrupt either the works of the faithful or the very faith itself with their temptations; but when the morning of the future age appears, they receive the crown of life, and the others incur the punishment of perpetual death. The Sodomites therefore perish with a punishment worthy of their crimes. For since they led an impious life in the filth of luxury and the burning of lust, they are deservedly punished with flames of fire and the stench of sulfur. Nor should it be doubted that by such punishment they were not only condemned to present suffering but are also to be condemned perpetually, as the apostle John says: 'But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone' (Rev. xxi, 2). The punishment and retribution are therefore made equal to the kinds of sins, according to the saying of the wise man, interpreting the plagues of the Egyptians: 'That they might know, that by the same things wherewith a man sins, by the same also he is tormented' (Wis. xi, 17), just as the blessed Lot deserved to be freed according to the mode of life he led; for since he was hospitable, it happened that he was saved from destruction by receiving good guests. Nor should it be doubted that after death he was received into eternal tabernacles by these same guests; so that he who introduced the citizens of heaven into his own lodging and refreshed them with his feasts would himself be led by them into the heavenly dwellings, where he would be perpetually refreshed with the bread of angels, that is, the glory of the vision of divine brightness. And as it is said that the Lord rained sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven, the person of the Father and the Son is clearly distinguished, and the heresy of Sabellius is repudiated, which says that the Father is the same as the Son. The Lord rained from the Lord, the Son from the Father; hence it is also elsewhere said to the Father: 'You have made all things in wisdom' (Ps. 104:24), that is, in the Son. Similar to this is what the Psalmist says, describing the two persons of the Father and the Son in such a way that he nevertheless indicates one divinity in the two persons: 'Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom; you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness, therefore God, your God, has anointed you' (Ps. 45:6-7). 'Your throne, O God,' is said to God the Son; 'God, your God, has anointed you,' he adds concerning God the Father.

And his wife, looking back, was turned into a pillar of salt. This indeed must be believed to have happened literally. Finally, Josephus reports that even up to his time the same pillar of salt had endured at the gates of the same city. And indeed, the wife, out of fear due to her feminine frailty at the sudden clamoring of the perishing and the crashing of the flames falling from the sky, looked back; but it nonetheless holds their figure in this infirmity, who, once renouncing the world and beginning the arduous journey of virtues, suddenly return with an unstable and almost feminine heart to the desires of the world they had forsaken; about whom the apostle Peter says: "It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them" (2 Peter 2:21); as, conversely, Lot, who left behind everything he possessed that was destined to perish with the sinners, suggests those who truly renounce the world, and regret not their renunciation; those whom also the blessed Noah, who left behind all his possessions to be destroyed by the floods with the reprobates, just as [Lot] did with the fire, clearly denotes; but the fact that the wife of Lot, when she turned away from the path which the Lord showed, perished and was turned into a pillar of salt; aptly signifies that those who deviate from the way of truth by returning to sins perish in their own depravity; yet by the example of their perdition they leave behind, as it were, a seasoning of wisdom for others, so that those remembering their destruction may guard themselves more cautiously and circumspectly in the purpose of righteousness they have taken up. Finally, the Lord, warning the faithful not to abandon the path of faith they have begun, employs for them, as it were, a rock of salt that they may more sweetly savor His words, when He says among other things: "Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17:32). Therefore, anyone who desires to escape the fire of vices, which is the final judgment, must forget what is past and always strive towards the joys of divine promise that lie ahead.

For God looks closely at the actual inner purpose, as when Lot's wife was the only one to turn of her own free will toward the wickedness of the world. He left her insensible, giving her the likeness of a pillar of salt and leaving her without the power of forward movement, a statue, yet not one without a useful message but one intended to season and salt the person capable of spiritual perception.

But let us return to Lot, who, fleeing the destruction of Sodom with his wife and daughters, having received from the angels the command not to look back, was making his way toward Segor. But his wife becomes forgetful of the precept, "she looks back," she breaks the law imposed upon her, "she is made a pillar of salt." Do we suppose there was so much wickedness in this deed committed, that, because the woman looked back after herself, she incurred the destruction which by the divine favor she seemed to have escaped? For what great crime was there, if the anxious mind of the woman looked back to where she was terrified by the excessive crackling of the flames? But because "the law is spiritual" and the things that befell the ancients "befell them as a figure," let us see whether perhaps Lot, who did not look back, is the rational sense and the manly spirit, while the wife here holds the image of the flesh. For it is the flesh that always looks back to vices, which, when the spirit strives toward salvation, looks back and seeks after pleasures. Hence indeed the Lord also said: "No one putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God," and he adds: "Remember Lot's wife." And that "she is made a pillar of salt" seems set forth as an indication of her folly. For salt is put in place of prudence, which she lacked. Lot, therefore, pressed on to Segor, and there, having for a little while gathered the strength which he could not have in Sodom, he ascended into the mountain and dwelt there, as Scripture says, "he and his two daughters with him."

Remember Lot's wife, who, because the love of her kinsfolk and the outcries of her beloved ones constrained her, turned and looked back behind her, and became a pillar of salt, even as is written concerning her; and because her soul had not been salted with the fear of the Highest she became a destructible salted thing. Remember then this woman who was in doubt, and who perished, and be thou not in doubt like unto her, and turn not thyself backwards, lest thou remain in the place where thou art. For the soul that turneth and looketh backward after it hath gone forth on the journey in this path becometh a senseless pillar, and as the wife of Lot ceased from bodily feeling, and thereby became a pillar of salt, even so also here the mind, which looketh behind it always at corruptible things, ceaseth to feel, and becometh stupefied at spiritual things; because the remembrance of the world maketh us to possess dulness of heart, and it defileth the purity and innocency of the soul.

(Verse 28.) And behold, a flame was rising from the earth like the vapor of a furnace. Regarding this, we read in Hebrew: Behold, a rising (ἀναθυμίασις) of the furnace, which we can call vapor, smoke, or ashes.

Lot went up from Zoar and stayed on the mountain with his two daughters. He had feared to stay in Zoar. He hurried to ascend the mountain from Zoar because he recognized that this was more pleasing to the angels through whom he was rescued, fearing that the city which at the moment of his intercession had escaped the danger of death might later, due to the citizens' sins, be consumed with a similar destruction as the neighboring cities; he feared greatly, since he knew that it had been frequently devastated by earthquakes in earlier times, hence it was called Bela, that is, 'submerging' or 'devouring.' But also according to spiritual understanding, because Sodom represents the flames of vices, Zoar a small beginning of good works, and the mountain the height of virtues, it is necessary that when someone has moved from the fire of vices to the beginning of virtue, they should not remain sluggish at the outset, but should always strive and hurry with a lively step toward higher progress in good action.

(Verse 30.) And Lot went up from Segor and settled in the mountain, and his two daughters with him. For he was afraid to stay in Segor. It is asked why, when he first preferred the mountain of Segor for his escape, and wanted to be saved in it as his dwelling, he now flees from Segor back to the mountain? We will answer that the Hebrew conjecture about Segor is true, that it was frequently destroyed by earthquakes, first known as Bale, and later Salisa: and Lot feared, saying, If this place is often destroyed while the other cities still stand, how much more now, in a general destruction, will it not be able to be saved? And because of this occasion of unfaithfulness, they also gave rise to sexual relations with their daughters. For he who had seen other cities being destroyed and this one remaining, and himself being saved by the help of God, should not have doubted what he had heard granted to him. Therefore, the excuse that is given for the daughters, that they believed the human race had perished and therefore slept with their father, does not excuse the father. In fact, the Hebrews, as it follows:

But I know that some, as far as concerns allegory, have drawn Lot to the person of the Lord and his daughters to the two testaments. But whoever knows what Scripture says about the Ammonites and Moabites, who descend from the race of Lot, I do not know whether he would gladly accept this. For how will he be able to fit to Christ the fact that those who are begotten of his seed "even unto the third and fourth generation shall not enter into the church of the Lord"? But we, as far as we are able to understand, set Lot as a figure of the law. And let it not seem incongruous that among us the law is declined in the feminine gender, since it keeps the masculine gender in Greek. His wife we set as that people which, having gone forth from Egypt and been freed from the Red Sea and the persecution of Pharaoh as though from the fires of Sodom, again looked back, longing for the flesh and "the pots and onions of Egypt and the cucumbers," and fell in the desert, having itself also become a memorial of concupiscence in the wilderness. So then the law lost that first people as it looked back like Lot, and left its wife behind. Coming from there, Lot dwells in Segor, of which he says: "This city is small, and my soul shall be saved in it, and it is not small." Let us see, then, what, as far as concerns the law, is the "city small and not small." A city is so called from the association of many, in that it brings together and holds in one the lives of very many. These, therefore, who dwell in the law, have a small and petty way of life, so long as they understand the law according to the letter. For there is nothing great in observing carnally the sabbaths and new moons and the circumcision of the flesh and the distinctions of foods. But if anyone begins to understand spiritually, those very observances, which according to the letter were small and petty, according to the spirit will not be small but great. After these things, therefore, Lot ascends into the mountain and there "dwells in a cave," as Scripture says, "he and his two daughters." And the law too must be thought to have ascended, in that adornment came to it through the temple built by Solomon, when it was made indeed "the house of God, the house of prayer," but evil inhabitants made it "a den of robbers." "Lot dwelt," therefore, "in a cave, and his two daughters." These two daughters the prophet plainly describes, saying that Oolla and Ooliba are two sisters, and that Oolla is "Judah" and Ooliba is "Samaria." The people, therefore, divided into two parts, made two daughters of the law. These, eager that a carnal offspring be propagated and that the strength of an earthly kingdom be fortified by a numerous posterity, lulling their father asleep and bringing sleep upon him — that is, covering and overshadowing his spiritual sense — draw from him only the understanding of the flesh. Thence they conceive, thence they bring forth such sons as the father would neither perceive nor acknowledge. For neither was this the meaning nor this the will of the law, that it should beget carnally, but the law is lulled to sleep, that such a posterity may be begotten as "may not enter into the church of the Lord." "For the Ammonites," it says, "and the Moabites shall not enter into the church of the Lord even unto the third and fourth generation and unto the age"; signifying that the carnal generation of the law does not enter into the church of Christ, neither in the third generation for the Trinity, nor in the fourth for the Gospels, nor unto the age, unless perhaps after the present age, when "the fullness of the Gentiles shall have entered in, and so all Israel shall have been made safe." These things, as far as we could, we have carved out according to the allegorical understanding concerning Lot and his wife and his daughters, prejudging nothing against those who may have been able to understand something more sacred about this.

But in that, in the moral treatment above, we drew Lot himself to the rational sense and the manly spirit, but his wife, who looked back, we called the flesh given over to concupiscences and pleasures — do not, O hearer, take these things carelessly. For you ought to observe that perhaps even when you have fled the flames of the world and escaped the fires of the flesh, even when you have surpassed "the small and not small city of Segor," which is a kind of middle and civic advance, and have ascended to the height of knowledge as it were to certain peaks of the mountain: see lest those two daughters lie in wait for you, who do not depart from you but follow you even when you ascend to the mountain — that is, vainglory and her elder sister, pride. See lest those daughters, while you are lulled and sleeping, while you seem to yourself neither to perceive nor to understand, clasp you in their embraces. They are for this reason called daughters, because they do not come upon us from without, but proceed from us and from a kind of integrity, as it were, of our own deeds. Watch, therefore, as much as you can, and take care that you do not beget sons from these, because those who are born of these "shall not enter into the church of the Lord." But you, if you wish to beget, beget in the spirit, since "he who sows in the spirit shall reap of the spirit life eternal." If you wish to embrace, embrace wisdom and "say that wisdom is your sister," that wisdom too may say of you: "He who does the will of my Father who is in heaven, this one is my brother and sister and mother." Which wisdom is Jesus Christ our Lord, "to whom be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen."

But I think the purpose of his daughters also must be more carefully considered, lest perhaps they too deserve to receive not so much blame as is supposed. For Scripture relates that they said to one another: "Our father," it says, "is old, and there is no one upon the earth to come in to us, as befits all the earth. Come and let us make our father drunk with wine and let us sleep with him and raise up seed from our father." As far as concerns the things which Scripture says about them, it seems in some way to make satisfaction even on their behalf. For it appears that the daughters of Lot had learned certain things about the consummation of the world which was to threaten through fire, but, being girls, they had not learned it wholly and perfectly; they did not know that, when the regions of Sodom were laid waste by fire, much space still remained untouched in the world. They had heard that at the end of the age the earth and all the elements were to be boiled away by the burning of fire. They saw the fire, they saw the sulphurous flames, they saw all things laid waste. They saw too that their own mother had not been saved; they suspected that some such thing had happened as they had heard of in the times of Noah, and that they alone had been preserved with their parent for the restoring of the posterity of mortals. They therefore conceive a desire for the recovery of the human race and suppose that from themselves must be given the beginning of restoring the age. And although the stealing of intercourse with their father seemed to them a great crime, yet a graver impiety seemed to them to be, if by keeping their chastity they should destroy the hope, as they thought, of human posterity. For this reason, therefore, they enter upon a plan with less blame, as I judge, though with a greater hope and reasoning: they soften and dissolve their father's sadness or sternness with wine. Entering on separate nights, each singly receives conception from the man who is unaware; they do not repeat it further, they do not seek it again. Where here is the fault of lust, where is the crime of incest shown to be? How shall that be attributed to vice which is not repeated in the deed? I fear to speak out what I feel; I fear, I say, lest the incest of these women may have been chaster than the chastity of many. Let women placed in marriages examine and question themselves, whether they approach their husbands for this reason alone, that they may receive children, whether after conception they desist. For these women, who seem to be accused of incest, once they had obtained conception, did not approach their husband's bed any further. But some women — for we do not brand all alike, but there are certain ones who, like animals without any discretion, unceasingly serve their lust — such women I would not compare even to the dumb beasts. For the cattle themselves also know, when they have conceived, no longer to grant the males intercourse with them. Divine Scripture too marks such women, when it says: "Do not become like the horse and the mule, which have no understanding," and again: "They have become stallion horses." But you, O people of God, "who love Christ in incorruption," understand the word of the Apostle, by which he says: "Whether you eat, or drink, or do anything else, do all to the glory of God." For in that, after eating and drinking, he says: "or do anything else," he marked with a modest expression the immodest affairs of marriage, showing that these too are conducted to the glory of God, if they are managed with a view to posterity alone. We have pursued, as far as we could, both the faults of Lot and his daughters and again their excuses.

And the elder said to the younger: Our father is old, and there is no man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth; come, let us make him drink wine, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed from our father. And it was related how the daughters of Lot, by making him drunk with wine, lay with him, and conceived and bore Moab and Ammon, the patriarchs of the Moabites and the Ammonites. This story indeed seems to be against the natural custom of human conception, but it cannot be doubted as a fact, because such great authority reports it to have happened. Lot can be seen as excusable, because he suffered such a crime of incest unknowingly rather than committed it; but he is not excused in that, forgetting the recent extermination of the impious, he indulged in wine so much that he could not perceive what was being done to him. The daughters also seem excusable, because they did not commit incest with their father due to lust; but because they believed no men were left on earth, thinking all had been consumed by the same fiery punishment; and they suspected that just as after the flood the human race was restored through the three sons of Noah and as many daughters-in-law, now through themselves and their father, who alone had survived the fires, it must be restored anew; thus they thought it should be done rather in sleep, lest the father, knowing such a marriage, would shun and reject it in scorn. So they can thus seem excusable, for they believed they were performing an act of obedience to divine disposition; but they are not excused in that they neither sought the will or counsel of their father in such a matter, nor waited for time to pass until they could learn more certainly what had happened regarding the human race throughout the earth. In a moral sense, we can understand from this event that no state of earthly habitation, however exalted it may appear, can be free from the contagion of tempting guilt. For behold, the blessed Lot escaped the stinking flames of Sodom, avoided the ruin of the equally sinful city of Zohar, and ascended the peak of a mountain; but where you might think him positioned in the lofty summit of virtues, there you see him, by night, drunk and suddenly defiled by his daughters, because it often happens that those who have conquered other temptations of vice through the enlightenment of heavenly grace, again succumb weakly to others through the inertia of their own weakness. For the assistance of angelic guidance signifies heavenly aid by which we are freed from the dangers of sin; while the daughters of blessed Lot represent even the carnal thoughts of exalted men, which by neglect sometimes subdue them; so that from a pious heart an unworthy word or deed, like nefarious offspring, is conceived. Nor is it to be doubted that the sons born to Lot by his daughters, who begot Gentile peoples and alien to the faith of their father, represent those works of the saints which do not pertain to the rule of holiness, but rather to the depravity of the wicked; such was the adultery of David, the arrogance of King Hezekiah, the rash march of King Josiah to the battle in which he would perish and subsequently betray the Davidic kingdom to enemies; and then the denial of the most blessed prince of the apostles. The times so often correspond with events; for Lot, who had been rescued from Sodom at dawn, was drunk and deceived at night, because of course what saves us from dangers is the grace of God illuminating us; what makes us relapse into vices is our own blindness and weakness. Moab and Ammon are born of Lot's daughters, who also signify sins, as testified by that law's commandment which says: The Moabite and Ammonite shall not enter into the Church of the Lord until the third and fourth generation, and forever, because errors and vices, as we said, of the elect are by no means counted among the virtues by which the Church is perfected and adorned, but are rather covered by an abundance of good works so as not to appear. But the names of Lot's sons, the first of whom is interpreted as "from the father," and the second "my people," are fittingly applied to the nature of vices; which I find divinely implanted not from the Creator God in us, but originating from the first cause of our condition. I call Ammon also "my people," because this also pertains to me, and I recognize that it is not to be ascribed to the Creator of natures. Behold it should be noted that the people are properly interpreted as merosus (rebellious). My people are called Ammon even if this too does not differ from the significance of sins. For just as we should rejoice in the fruit of virtues that are given to us by the Lord, so it is necessary that we be pricked with salutary sorrow at the emergence of vices, which is known to arise from the corruption of our nature. And these are indeed the sons of Lot conceived in incest. But Isaac, who was born of the promise and is interpreted as Joy, designates the grace of virtues.

After these things there is now related that most notorious tale, in which it is written that his daughters by craft stole intercourse with their father. In which matter I do not know whether anyone can so excuse Lot as to make him free from sin. Nor again do I think he should be so accused that he must be made guilty of so grave an incest. For I do not find that he lay in wait or violently seized the chastity of his daughters, but rather that he suffered a snare and was circumvented by craft. Yet neither again would he have been ensnared by the girls, had he not been able to be made drunk. Whence he seems to me to be found partly blameworthy, partly excusable. For he can be excused, in that he is free from the crime of concupiscence and pleasure, and because he is neither shown to have wished it himself nor to have consented to those who wished it; but he is subject to blame, in that he could be deceived, in that he indulged too much in wine, and did this not once but a second time. For Scripture itself too seems to me in some way to make satisfaction on his behalf, when it says: "For he did not know when he slept with them and when he arose." This is not said of the daughters, who by design and craft deceive their father. He, however, was so lulled to sleep by the wine that he did not know that he had slept with the elder daughter nor with the younger. Hear what drunkenness does; hear how great a crime intemperance procures. Hear and beware, you for whom this evil is not a matter of accusation but of habit. Drunkenness deceived him whom Sodom did not deceive. He is burned by the flames of women, whom the sulphurous flame did not burn. Lot, therefore, was deceived by craft, not by will. Therefore he is a kind of middle sort between sinners and the just; seeing that he descended indeed from the kindred of Abraham, yet dwelt in Sodom. For even this, that he escapes from Sodom, as Scripture indicates, pertains more to the honor of Abraham than to the merit of Lot. For thus it says: "And it came to pass," it says, "when God was destroying the cities of Sodom, God remembered Abraham and cast Lot out of that land."

(Verse 35.) And he did not know when she slept with him, and when he got up from her, they stabbed him from above, as if unbelievable, and something that nature cannot comprehend, to have intercourse with someone who is unaware.

For Lot, not acting under the impulse of his own will, nor at the prompting of carnal concupiscence, nor having any knowledge or thought of anything of the kind, did [in fact] work out a type [of future events]. As says the Scripture: "And that night the elder went in and lay with her father; and Lot knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose." And the same thing took place in the case of the younger: "And he knew not," it is said, "when she slept with him, nor when she arose." Since, therefore, Lot knew not [what he did], nor was a slave to lust [in his actions], the arrangement [designed by God] was carried out, by which the two daughters (that is, the two churches), who gave birth to children begotten of one and the same father, were pointed out, apart from [the influence of] the lust of the flesh. For there was no other person, [as they supposed], who could impart to them quickening seed, and the means of their giving birth to children, as it is written...

(Versed. 36 seqq.) And the two daughters of Lot conceived by their father, and the firstborn son was born and she called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. And the younger, she also gave birth to a son, and she called his name Ammon, that is, son of my people. He is the father of the Ammonites. The name Moab means 'from the father' and has its etymology in it. But Ammon, whose name is given as if a cause, is derived as son of my race, or as it is better in Hebrew (), son of my people, so it is derived partly from the meaning of the name, partly from the language itself: Ammi, from whom the Ammonites are called, means my people.