Knowing the Word in Genesis 19:12-22, The Rescue Continues

12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. 13 For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” [This should remind us of Noah who takes his family into the ark. The angels have Lot’s attention, and he is ready to act.] 14 So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting. [They reject the offer of salvation and now judgment awaits them.]

15 As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” 16 But he lingered. [He was about to lose his possessions and perhaps other family members not in the house.] So the men seized him [an act of compassion] and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. [Each angel had two people. Both apparently forgot about free will and made these four individuals follow them to salvation] 17 And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back [an explicit command] or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” 18 And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. 19 Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. [Lot seems to doubt God’s ability to save him.] 20 Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” [He comes up with his own plan of salvation that will come back to haunt him.] 21 He [who is he?] said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. [Does it deserve the same fate as Sodom and Gomorrah?] 22 Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar [“to be small,” which is the basis of Lot’s appeal].