Komentaryo sa Mga Hukom 19:22: Rashi & Malbim

We want to have relations with him to sodomize him.

While they were enjoying themselves, behold the men of the town, etc.: Wise scholars have already spoken about this, how the matter of Giveah is different from the sin of Sodom, upon which He rained down brimstone and fire and overturned cities from the root, whereas the hands of heaven were stayed about punishing these [men of Giveah] who acted like [in] the story of Sodom. And they said there is a difference between an evildoer and a sinner. That means to say that the sin of the people of Sodom was very great from [their] intellect. For they legislated laws that were not good, and judgments through which they could not live [a proper] civil life. Yet they accepted these laws as righteous justice — that a wayfarer not pass through their land and that one who passed through be punished according to their corrupted mores. So they did not do what they did because of their desires, but rather because of their corrupted mores. Not so with the people of Giveah, it was not their intellect that was [the basis for] this treachery and they did not do it because of laws and mores, but rather out of their desire. As that which they did not host the man was because they were stingy and miserly, and that which they wanted to have intercourse with her was only because of their desire. And the test of this is: A) Lot brought the angels in secretly (as it is explicitly written in the Torah in that which he said, turn aside to your servant’s house [Genesis 19:2]). And the angels wanted to sleep in the square because they were afraid of the mores, whereas the old man in Giveah brought them openly into his house. B) There it is written: when the men of the city, the men of Sodom, encircled over the house, young and old alike (Genesis 19:4), which included all the people of the city, from the angle that they were people of Sodom and hospitality was against their laws. Whereas here it is written, the men of the city, base men, meaning the base men in the city and the rabble that were in it had a desire, not all of [the city's] men. And it was not from the angle of their mores, but rather from the angle that they were base men and doing something against the law and justice. C) There it is written, they encircled over (nasavu al) the house, since they wanted to fight with the homeowner who transgressed their laws. But here it is written: they encircled (nasavu et) the house, to guard that the guest not escape. It was not that they surrounded over the house to fight. And that is why they did not want his daughter. Since they did not want to do harm to the old man. And that is why it is written, "mitdafkim [were pounding]" in the hitpael [reflexive] form, which indicates a feigned action — as in mitasher [acting like a rich person] or mitroshesh [acting like a poor man] (Proverbs 13:7) — as they [only] appeared to be pounding, but were not actually pounding, since they did not come in the way of a fight. This was not the case in Sodom, [there] it is written: and they came near to break the door (Genesis 19:9). And also there, Lot closed the door behind them because he was afraid of them, which is not the case here — it states, And he went out to them — since he knew they would not have the gumption to enter his house. D) Since he said to them that it was a disgrace, behold, their intellect was in place to know that it was a disgrace, which was not the case with Lot. He only mentioned the first argument, that they should not do [the strangers] evil since they had come to his house. But he did not say to them that it was a disgrace, since it was a good thing to them and something fitting according to their statutes.