Kommentar zu Bereschit 19:9

ויאמרו גש הלאה AND THEY SAID, STEP BACK — Get you away over there — as much as to say, Take yourself aside and keep away from us. Similarly wherever the word הלאה occurs in Scripture it has the meaning of further away. For example: (Numbers 17:2) “Scatter (הלאה) yonder”; (1 Samuel 20:22) “Behold the arrows are beyond thee (הלאה)” Thus גש הלאה signifies, withdraw yourself further away (old French Retire-toi de nous). It is an expression of contempt, signifying, “we do not take any notice of you!” Of a similar character are: (Isaiah 65:5) “Stand by thyself (אל תגש בי) come not near unto me”, and (Isaiah 49:20) גשה לי “Give place to me that I may dwell” which means “withdraw aside for my sake (לי) that I may dwell where you are now”. — They really meant to say to Lot: “You intercede for these strangers; how dare you!” In reply to what he had said to them regarding his daughters they answered: “Get out of the way” — a somewhat gentle expression — whilst with regard to his advocacy for the strangers they retorted, האחד בא לגור THIS MAN CAME TO SOJOURN — You are the only strange man amongst us, for you have come to sojourn here, וישפוט שפוט and you make yourself a Reprover of us!

AND THEY PRESSED HARD (‘VAYIFTZERU’) UPON THE MAN, EVEN LOT. I have found this word vayiftzeru only in connection with words of pleading. If so, we will explain its usage here as follows: the men of Sodom begged him [Lot] exceedingly to open the door for them, and when he refused to do so, they approached in order to break it. It may be that he stood in front of the door, not letting them come near him, and they begged him to turn aside as they did not want to harm him. This is the meaning of their saying, Stand back,²³¹In the beginning of this verse. meaning “stand in another place.”

גש הלאה, This construction is similar to Isaiah 65.5 אל תגע בי כי קדשתיך, “do not touch me for I have consecrated you.” In other words: “get closer to a more distant place,” or simpler: “flee from us.”

גש הלאה, “away from the door so that we can break it down;”

ויאמרו גש הלאה, they told him to get away from them, to leave and go someplace else.

ויפצרו באיש בלוט מאד, “they coaxed the man Lot urgently;” Nachmanides claims that the word ויפצרו, [i.e. the root פצר, Ed.] only occurs as having a positive meaning, i.e. an attempt to calm someone down, to reconcile one’s differences with a person. When Lot proved impervious to the Sodomites’ attempts to compromise with him, they set about breaking down his door. Alternatively, seeing that Lot stood firm in front of the door and they did not want to harm him personally, they told him to get out of heir way, גש הלאה, i.e. that he should go elsewhere.

This one came as an immigrant. An immigrant is more deserving of punishment for violating local law than a native, especially in a place where immigrants are rarely accepted. And now he wants to be a judge. Lot had in fact been appointed a judge, which made his infringement even more serious.

Back away... גש means to draw close to them, while הלאה means to move away from them. Thus Rashi explains it as קרב להלאה, meaning: go away from us and thereby draw close to where you are going.

גש הלאה "rücke weiter an!" sagten sie einer zum anderen. עתה nun, da du dein Verfahren noch gar verteidigst, bist du noch strafbarer als sie, uns noch gefährlicher. באיש בלוט, Lot hatte sich mit seiner ganzen Manneskraft entgegengestemmt, sie drangen in Lot ein, der wie ein Mann ihnen entgegenstand.

עתה נרע לך מהם, “You are a guest here like they are, yet you conduct yourself like a native (citizen).”

הדלת THE DOOR — This term דלת signifies the wooden frame-work which swings round on hinges to close and open the entrance (cf. Verse 11).

בא לגור, Lot actually dwelled inside Sodom.

האחד בא לגור, “is there even a single man who can be audacious enough to get away with this?”

נרע לך מהם, “we will treat you even worse than them.”

You are the only stranger among us. “The only,” as it is written האחד. “Stranger,” as it is written בא לגור, which denotes a stranger.

נרע לך מהם, we will do more harm to you than to them.

ויפצרו, they became very insistent, speaking very threateningly, beginning to assault him physically.

And you have become our chastiser. As it is written, וישפוט שפוט. It cannot mean actual judgment, because there is no prosecution and defense here.

ויגשו לשבר הדלת, seeing that the door was locked.