פרשה: וירא · עלייה: שלישי (תפארת)

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.

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.

והשכמתם והלכתם לדרככם, "and rise early and be on your way." Lot hinted to the angels that they had to hide from the local population because he was afraid that something like what happened might indeed occur, i.e. that his guests would be molested.

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.

טרם ישכבו, Before they went to sleep. The Torah is careful not to write: "after they had eaten, etc." From this we learn that something transpired between Lot and the angels after the time they completed the meal and before their retiring for the night. Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 50,5 mention that when questioned about the townspeople by the angels Lot said that whereas all over the world there are both good and wicked people in a town, in Sodom the people were mostly wicked. We have previously explained why the angels did not immediately destroy the town when they heard this. Besides, according to the Midrash, Lot asked them to spare the city and they accepted his plea. It was only after they were about to add further sins (verse 5) to their already full register that the angels told Lot to save himself and his relatives (verse 12) prior to their destroying the city. There was an additional reason why the angels did not immediately destroy the town. They waited till morning, a period when the attribute of Mercy is in the ascendancy; at that time they would succeed in saving Lot. They could not have done this during the night. Our sages add that since the Sodomites worshipped both sun and moon they were smitten at a time when the moon is full (middle of the month) and the sun shone, to show that neither force protected them.

כי משחיתים אנחנו את המקום הזה. "For we are about to destroy this place." Although only one of them had been entrusted with that task, the angels used the plural seeing that they were both together. Otherwise the other angel would have appeared as if he was only an assistant.

Possibly, whenever the Torah speaks of the (avenging) angel Gabriel it is understood that the reference is not only to him personally, but includes his army. Alternatively, since Gabriel was not free to act until the angel Raphael had secured Lot's escape their activities were dependent on one another.

ויחזיקו האנשים בידו. The men took hold of his hand. Although only one of them was charged with saving Lot, the other one could not proceed with his task pending Lot's rescue. Perhaps we should see in Raphael the principal agent of Lot's rescue; in that case the fact that Gabriel assisted (by taking Lot by his hand) is not viewed as his performing an additional task. This is especially so because Gabriel helped Lot only in order to be able to carry out his assignment of destroying the city (seeing he did not have permission to do so while Lot was within its borders).

אל תביט אחריך, "do not look behind you!" The reason for this is simple. We believe that by looking at a person's face one (a צדיק) can detect whether he is good or evil. If Lot were to turn his face towards the city his sins would be reflected on his face and there would be no way he could have been spared.

הנה העיד הזאת קרובה, "This town is nearby, etc." The verse is difficult. If the inhabitants of that town were guilty, what difference did it make that it was close by? Moreover, how could the angel say: "I have granted your wish?" Since when was it up to him? If the town was innocent, who had given the angel permission to destroy it even if Lot had not pleaded on its behalf?

We must view the situation in light of the Talmud Shabbat 10 that Tzoar was only 51 years old, whereas the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were founded 52 years previously. Lot knew this and reasoned that Tzoar's measure of guilt was not full as yet. We also have a principle (Baba Kama 60) that once permission has been granted to the destructive angel to execute G'd's judgment, it does not really matter whether the measure of guilt is full. However, the angel Gabriel was then in a position to exercise some discretion. Lot was aware of this and appealed to Gabriel's discretionary powers. Lot left Tzoar as soon as possible because he was afraid that the time limit for the angel's discretionary power would elapse.