Comentário sobre Gênesis 19:1

שני TWO — One to destroy Sodom, the other to rescue Lot — it was he who had come to heal Abraham — whilst the third, who had come to make the announcement to Sarah, had departed as soon as he had carried out his mission (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 8).

ויבאו שני המלאכים סדומה בערב, even though they arrived at that city without “time” having elapsed since they departed from Avraham, (compare Berachot 4 the angel Gavriel needing two steps, and the angel Michael only one step) they remained outside the city gates, invisible, not entering and appearing to Lot until evening. The same is true of 18,22 וילכו סדומה. Avraham had concluded his dialogue with G’d already some time previously.

ויבאו…בערב. They arrived in the evening. The reason for this whole story of the angels being hosted by Lot was to afford Lot the opportunity to justify his being saved. Although Bereshit Rabbah 50,11 attributes Lot's escape to Abraham's merit, we still need to find some redeeming feature in Lot's conduct to understand the efforts made by G'd to save him. Had the angels arrived at Sodom in daylight Lot would have lacked the moral courage to offer them hospitality even by devious means.

ויבאו שני המלאכים, these were the two who had previously been described as שני האנשים, “the two men.” When next to Avraham, they did not outrank him; therefore the Torah did not accord them the title “angels.” When compared to Lot, they outclassed him spiritually so much that they could not be described as אנשים, men. (Bereshit Rabbah, 50,2)

ולוט יושב בשער סדום, “and Lot was sitting in the public square of Sodom.” He distanced himself somewhat from the residential areas of the born and bred Sodomites. Alternately, the Torah writes these words to forestall your asking how he managed to bring the angels to his home without being afraid of being seen. When the angels arrived they found him a good distance away from the local citizenry [it was evening, after all. Ed.] He was therefore confident that he would escape detection when bringing guests to his house.

Elsewhere they are called men. Rashi is answering the question: By calling them angels, the verse implies that they [appeared as angels and] wore angels’ garments. But this cannot be; why then would Lot bake matzos [for them]? Perforce, they appeared to him as men. Thus Rashi explains, “Elsewhere they are called men...” I.e., they are merely called so, not that they [now] divested themselves of physicality. Regarding Avraham they were called men, out of respect for the Divine Presence. But with Lot, the Divine Presence was not there — so they are called angels.

ישב בשער העיר. Das Tor war nicht ein Sitz für Privat leute. Nur von Königen finden wir ein Sitzen im Tore (Sam. 11. 19, 9. Jirmij. 38, 7). oder wie bei Boas (Ruth 4, 1) zur Vornahme einer öffentlichen, amtlichen Handlung. Auch an ein Wohnen im Tore ist nicht zu denken, es müsste dann wie bei Rachab -heißen. Es bezeichnet daher, wie die Weisen bemerken, eine hervorragende öffent בחומה liche Stellung, die Lot in der Kommune inne hatte.

ויבואו שני המלאכים סדומה בערב, “two of the angels arrived in Sodom in the evening;” when Lot saw them, he asked them for the purpose of their visit. They told him that it was their mission to destroy the city. The reason why they volunteered this information was that they said to themselves that if they were simply to order him to leave town with their families without giving them a plausible reason, they would simply ignore them. But, since they had taken it upon themselves to reveal something G–d had not intended to be revealed at that time, they were punished by Him, by being exiled from the celestial regions for 138 years. This was in spite of the fact that what they had done had been well intentioned. Angels are subject to penalties even for committing “minor” errors by not having checked with their Master first, relying on the superior wisdom with which they had been endowed. This superior knowledge enables them to know what goes on in the minds of human beings. We find another example of punishment as warnings for celestial creatures where Mattatron, G–d’s “general manager” for running the universe on His behalf, was punished as stated in the Talmud tractate Chagigah, folio 15. This angel was expelled (temporarily) from the celestial regions and punished with sixty fiery strokes, in order to warn him not to fall victim to the same error as Elisha ben Avuyah on earth, who had arrived at the conclusion that Satan is an independent force in the universe rather than also a messenger carrying out missions on behalf of his Divine master. Rabbi Yehudah hachassid said that angels are punished with sixty lashes whereas human beings are not punished by more than forty (39) lashes, is that on earth already thirteen year olds qualify for such punishment, whereas such punishments are inflicted on over twenty year olds in the celestial regions. Just as 39 lashes on earth are three times thirteen so sixty is three times twenty.

ויבאו שני המלאכים, “the two angels arrived, etc.;” Rashi points out that when these two individuals arrived in Eloney Mamre in front of Avraham’s tent, the Torah had referred to them as אנשים, men, mortal human beings, whereas now they are described as angels. If you were to counter that in the ensuing argument between the townspeople and Lot they are also described as אנשים, (verses 5,8,12) this sentence has to be understood as follows: “the ones whom the men of the city called אנשים, “men of substance, etc;” the whole dialogue must be understood thus:Alternately; Lot is saying to his fellow citizens: “do not do any harm to the guests in my house to whom you refer as אנשים. He realised that whereas he had recognised these individuals as angels, his fellow citizens obviously had not. This explanation is also applicable to verse 16, ויחזיקו האנשים, “the men” took hold of, etc.”

המלאכים ANGELS — But elsewhere (Genesis 18:2) Scripture calls them men! When the Divine Presence was with them, it speaks of them as men. Another explanation is: in connection with Abraham whose power to receive heavenly visitors was great and whom angels visited as regularly as men, it calls them men, but in connection with Lot it calls them angels (Genesis Rabbah 50:2).

ויקם לקראתם, in order to prevent them from spending the night in the street. This was customary also in cities other than Sodom when no one had offered shelter to unexpected strangers. In such instances there was always the danger that the strangers would be harmed by some of the residents of the city.

וירא לוט ויקם לקראתם, he had learned the virtue of welcoming guests while he had been with Avraham.

וירא לוט ויקם לקראתם, “Lot saw and rose to meet them.” Avraham had beheld these “men” already from afar as it was full daylight, i.e. “during the heat of the day,” and this is why the Torah had underlined “he ran towards them.” Lot, however, did not see them until they were close by as they arrived in the evening. This is why the Torah merely mentions that “he arose (from his seat) to welcome them.”

When the Divine Presence was with them they are called men... There is a difficulty with this explanation: It is obvious that angels have no importance relative to the Divine Presence. [Why does the verse switch terms to teach this?] Thus Rashi offers “another explanation.” And there is a difficulty with that as well: Why not call them men everywhere? And if you object that we would not know they were angels, so call them angels [everywhere]! And if [the term is switched] to teach that angels were common [to Avraham but not to Lot], do we not already know that Avraham was a greater tzaddik than Lot? Therefore, we need the first explanation too. (Maharshal)

וירא לוט ויקם לקראתם. Lot saw and rose to meet them. This means that Lot recognised that these people were of the type familiar to him as ministering angels of the Lord when he still travelled with Abraham. Because Lot realised this he was prepared to take risks for their sake against the inhabitants of his town. He told them to wash their feet, a custom he had learned from the way Abraham conducted himself with his guests. The Torah reports the details to show the difference between Abraham and Lot. Abraham commenced with his guests washing their feet, Lot suggested they sleep first. Lot did not mind if people who were idolators entered his home without first removing the traces of idolatry, something that Abraham was very particular about.

שער ist das jüdische Forum. Während פתח auch die kleinste Öffnung bedeutet, ist שער stets ein öffentlicher Eingang für eine Menge. Verwandt mit שאר und .שחר שאר Rest, Blutsverwandtschaft und Nahrung, insbesondere Fleischnahrung. Der gemeinschaftliche Grundbegriff scheint das Ergänzende zu sein. Daher Rest: das Zurückgebliebene, das, wenn es zu dem andern käme, dasselbe voll machen würde. Daher Nahrung. Daher vielleicht auch Blutsverwandtschaft und Ehefrau; die Frau ist ja ohne weiteres die Ergänzung des Mannes, und Blutsverwandte scheinen zusammen im kleinen eine Gesamtheit zu bilden, die zusammen den Begriff des Menschen verwirklicht, von welchem Begriff ein jeder einen eigentümlichen Bruchteil darstellt. Wir dürfen daher sagen, dass שער für die Gesamtheit ist, was שאר für die Familie. Im שער soll jeder einzelne das finden, was ihm fehlt, die Waise ihren Vater, der Vereinsamte seine Brüder, der Blinde sein Auge, der Elende seine Hülfe etc. etc. und Zwecke, die die einzelnen vereinzelt nie bewirken können, sollen im Vereine der Gesamtheit ihre Verwirklichung finden. So ist die Gesamtheit nicht da, den einzelnen zu drücken, vielmehr in ihrer Ewigkeit und Omnipotenz — אין צבור מת ואין צבור עני — da, den einzelnen zu ergänzen. שער ist somit begrifflich dasjenige Moment, in welchem der einzelne seine Ergänzung findet, und der konkrete Raum, der alle einladet, sich gegenseitig zu ergänzen, und wo jeder seine Ergänzung zu suchen hat, ist: שער.

ולוט יושב בשער סדום, while Lot was seated (as a judge) in the public square of Sodom;” this was at the time when the quarrel about his guests broke out and he returned home, which was close to the gate of the city. This is why he could be so insistent when inviting the angels (verse 3) as the area was narrow and not exposed to the influence of the evil eye. [No one was familiar with the layout of his house.]

בערב AT EVENTIDE — Did it, however, take the angels such a long time to travel from Hebron to Sodom? But they were angels of mercy and so they tarried — perhaps Abraham would succeed in his advocacy for them (Genesis Rabbah 50:1).

וישתחו אפים ארצה, they clearly looked sufficiently imposing to warrant being treated deferentially.

(Ähnlich verhält sich שהר zu בקש und דרש. Während בקש ein Objekt suchen, דרש ein Objekt suchen oder einen Zustand erforschen, also beide etwas Unbekanntes, oder etwas suchen bedeuten, von dem man nicht weiß, ob und wo es zu finden ist, heißt שחר aufsuchen eines Gegenstandes, dessen Ort uns sehr wohl bekannt ist, der aber nicht zu uns kommt, sondern den wir an seinem Orte aufsuchen. Daher auch שחר schwarz, die Farbe, die uns die Gegenstände in den Hintergrund treten lässt, so dass wir sie aufsuchen müssen. Der Moment, in welchem wir dies bereits können, aber noch müssen, heißt: שחר; der noch fortgeschrittenere, in welchem die Gegenstände schon von selbst in ihren Umrissen hervortreten: בקר, so wie im Gegensatz ערב die Zeit, in welcher die Gegenstände sich zu mischen beginnen, לו) ליל) in welcher sie bereits in einander geschlungen sind, und endlich אפל (verwandt mit אול) die Finsternis, die alles zweifelhaft lässt und in welcher nichts mehr zu erkennen ist —).

ולוט ישב בשער סדום AND LOT WAS SITTING IN THE GATE OF SODOM — The word is written without a ו so that it may be read יָשַׁב (he sat) — because that day they had appointed him as their judge (Genesis Rabbah 50:3).

They appointed him to be their judge. You might ask: How does Rashi know that he was a judge? The answer is: It is written he was “sitting at the gate,” and “the gate” is usually the place of judgment, as we find with Boaz (Ruth 4:1). Furthermore, it is written later וישפט שפוט (v. 9), implying he was a judge.

חסר ,ישב wie die Weisen bemerken, er war erst heute zu dieser Stellung gelangt. Es war dann gewiß etwas Ungeheuerliches, dass in Sodom, wo kein Fremder eine Stätte fand, hier sogar ein Fremder zum Vorgesetzten erhoben worden. Lot dürfte sich gefreut haben, heute zum erstenmale gegen den ersten Paragraphen im Kodex Sodoms, kein "׳üben zu dürfen, opponieren zu können. Er muß bis jetzt als "kluger הכנסת אורחים Mann geschwiegen haben, so dass sie ihn sogar zum Richter gemacht. Jedenfalls sehen wir ihn in einer Tätigkeit, wie Abraham sich einen צדיק in Sodom gedacht, wo er in Mitte des Volkes das Beispiel zum Bessern zu geben wagt.

'וירא לוט וגו AND LOT SAW THEM etc. — From the practice in Abraham’s house he had learned to look out for strangers (Genesis Rabbah 50:4).

He had learned from the house of Avraham to seek out travelers. It cannot be because he was [generally] careful about mitzvah performance, as he was not careful about idolatry: he had them lodge before they washed (see Rashi 18:4).