Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Lot said to them, “Oh, not so, my lord. See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can’t escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die. See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn’t it a little one?), and my soul will live.””
(Genesis 19:18-20)

Lot once again chooses the convenient over the effort. He picked the lushest ground, not wanting to struggle to provide for his herds (Genesis 13:10-13). He let his daughters inter-marry with people who he struggled with spiritually in order to be better accepted by the community (Genesis 19:14; 2 Peter 2:7). He offered to let the men sexually assault his daughters instead of taking a firm ‘no assault here’ when trying to defend his hospitality toward guests (Genesis 19:8). Lot was a compromiser seeking an easier path. As such, he had not developed the muscles needed to WORK through difficulty for something. He recognizes that these men are really angels and he is prepared to obey them – but he is haggling to make things easier on himself (and his family).

Lot has no trust in his own power (the ability to outrun the judgment). But Lot also hasn’t developed proper trust in the Lord. He does not think he can do what he has been told to do. God never asks us to do something if He hasn’t already provided the equipment to do it. All we need to do is trust Him and believe what He says. This is not the place Lot is. Lot is in the ‘I can’t’ ‘it’s too hard’ camp. Even though he was a righteous individual, his trust had not been developed. It was too weak.

Lot also seems to not grasp the severity of what is coming. He should have perceived by the attitude and words of the angels that something MAJOR was coming. He should have lit off running, dragging his family along as well. Whether his eyes were still on the profitable association with this valley or his desire for city life was high or whatever, Lot didn’t act fast and with all his might. The angels, at the behest of the Lord, again showed him mercy.

The sage Radak writes: ‘ויאמר…אל נא, he begged them not to make him rush up the mountain as he was physically unable to move so quickly. הנה נא מצא עבדך חן בעיניך, seeing that the angel had told him המלט על נפשך, “save yourself,” it had become clear that the angel’s mission was to save him. Actually, both angels were on a mission of both saving Lot and destroying Sodom. The one who was speaking did so only because he was the senior of the two. The one who tried to save Lot said לבלתי הפכי את העיר, “I cannot yet overturn the city.” (verse 21) He also admitted that he was unable to destroy the town until Lot had been saved (verse 22). הנה נא העיר הזאת קרובה,“near” in the sense of “easy to escape to.” והיא מצער, it is also a small town with few inhabitants. Even though the inhabitants are admittedly wicked, they are but few in number. They appear to have been spared from the destruction on my account. הלא מצער היא, he repeated the insignificance of the town due to its few inhabitants. Our sages understand the word מצער as meaning מזער, “young,” of recent origin; they therefore could not yet have accumulated so many demerits as the more established cities of the valley. (based on Shabbat 10) According to some sages Tzoar had been founded only 51 years previously, equaling the numerical value of the word נא used by Lot in his plea.’

The sage Rav Hirsch writes: ‘V. 19. I do not deserve even to be saved at all, and that you save my life is already a great favour on your part, but if it is only to be achieved by unbroken flight right into the mountains, the journey itself will kill me. V. 20. He repeatedly dwells on the fact that the city is מצער. The word, by its form, is not an adjective but a noun. Not: “it is small”, but, “it is a petty thing”,tiny, of little importance, offering no wealth or comfort. By the prohibition to look back Lot recognised that the loss of all his possessions had been deliberately imposed upon him, it was intended that he should escape with his bare life and leave everything behind him. But he thinks that this city offers so little, is such a mean little place, that if I am allowed to stay there, after the luxury of Sodom, it can still be considered that my life, and my life only, has been saved.’

The sage Siftei Chakhamim writes: ‘And I appeared as a righteous person and worthy of rescue. [You might ask: Does this not contradict what] Rashi explained before, that Lot too participated in the evil ways of Sedom and was saved only in Avraham’s merit? The answer is: [What Rashi said before] is the truth. But Lot mistakenly thought he was saved in his own merit. Accordingly, when Rashi explains on v. 21: “I will spare the entire city for your sake,” it does not mean, “In your merit.” Rather it means, “In order that you will be saved.” Nonetheless, everything that is happening is in Avraham’s merit. (Nachalas Yaakov) But this is difficult: How could Lot make such a mistake after hearing the angel say, “Do not look back,” implying, “You did evil and are saved only in Avraham’s merit”? The answer is: Lot was not saying [that he appeared as a righteous person] to explain why he was being saved from Sedom’s upheaval. He was speaking generally about his residence in Sedom, during which time he was saved from punishment for his deeds because he was considered to be righteous when compared to them. (R. Meir Stern).’