Comentario sobre Génesis 19:3

ויסרו אליו AND THEY TURNED ASIDE UNTO HIM — They took a circuitous route towards his house (Genesis Rabbah 50:4).

AND HE URGED THEM GREATLY. His urging them was meritorious on the part of Lot, and he indeed had a sincere desire to welcome wayfarers. They, however, at first refused in order to increase his merit, and therefore they finally listened to him; but originally they did not want to come into his house as he was not a perfectly righteous man. But our Rabbis have said [in order to explain their original refusal]:¹⁷²Baba Metzia 87a. “One may decline an offer from an inferior person, but not from a superior person.”¹⁷³Hence, to Abraham the angels immediately said, So do, as thou hast said, (above, 18:5), but with Lot, they at first declined. If so, their declining his offer at first was merely an act of ethical conduct.

A feast. Literally, “a drinking feast.” Lot offered them wine because he was fond of it himself.

ויעש להם משתה. He prepared a feast for them. The correct meaning of the verse is that while Lot prepared a meal for them the angels ate only matzot. This was because Lot did not observe the commandments of the Torah as did Abraham. At Abraham's home the angels had no compunction about eating meat. The angels either knew that Lot had tithed the flour he used for baking the matzot, or they reasoned that in the absence of priests to give the tithe (תרומה) to, they assumed that function themselves and ate the part which could be considered terumah whereas they did not eat the regular matzah. According to our sages (Midrash Hagadol), the date was the 16th of Nissan and Lot had baked matzah in anticipation of the eventual Passover holiday some 400 years hence.

ויפצר בם מאד, he spoke to them intently on the subject, urging them to accept his invitation, until eventually, they did come to his house. Onkelos writes ותקיף בהם, that he actually took hold of these men until they concurred to spend the night with him.

ויפצר בם מאד, “he urged them very strongly.” They had first refused, in order to increase his merit if he kept insisting to host them.

ומצות אפה ויאכלו, “and he had baked unleavened bread, and they ate.” The reason the Torah mentions the kind of bread being served was to contrast it with the fact that Avraham never did serve bread to the angels. Here the Torah wanted to alert us to this. Here the angels did eat the bread as opposed to the meat which disappeared when it was served by Avraham to the angels. The “meal” when the angels were at Avraham’s resembled a sacrifice on the altar (compare our comments on 18,8).

It was Pesachhy, concerning Avraham, does it say (18:6), “Knead it and make rolls,” rather than matzos? It was Pesach, so it should have said “matzah rolls”! The answer is: Avraham ordered rich matzos to be made, [e.g. kneaded with oil and honey,] in honor of the guests.

פצר :durch Eindringen in einen Gegenstand ihm etwas abgewinnen, daher: פצירה die Feile. Verwandt mit בצר, die Weinlese. — Er bereitete das Mahl, er backte den Kuchen — wie sticht diese öde Isoliertheit trüb ab gegen die freudige Beweglichkeit im Abrahamshause, wenn es galt, die Mizwa der Gastfreundschaft zu üben! Nicht Frau, nicht Kind nahmen in Lots Hause Teil an der Mizwa des Vaters und Gatten. Mit dem, was er bei Abraham gelernt, stand er im eigenen Hause selber allein.

ומצות אפה AND HE BAKED UNLEAVENED BREAD —It was Passover (Genesis Rabbah 48:12).

ויעש להם משתה, seeing it was night he did not have time to slaughter an animal in their honour, but he prepared something at short notice, served them drinks, and unleavened bread which can be prepared at short notice. It is good manners to prepare something at short notice for guests who arrived unexpectedly. The guest arriving at such a time is usually tired and does not care to wait until an elaborate meal can be prepared in his honour. The story has been recorded for all times in order to teach us how to serve unexpected guests arriving at night.

ויאכלו. If the whole sequence is a vision which Lot did not actually experience, the meaning of the word ויאכלו must be understood literally; if the Torah describes actual events, the word means that Lot had the impression as if the angels ate and drank his food. The food and drink, which are composed of different components, simply dissolved into their basic ingredients so that they were not visible as such. [imagine water, i.e. H20, being dissolved into the gases oxygen and hydrogen, becoming invisible in the process. Ed.] This, of course, would occur miraculously.