Fear No Fear

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

“He said to him, “Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I can’t do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.”
(Genesis 19:21-23)

The angel is merciful and grants Lot’s request. Again, although they did NOT have to save Lot at all, God still instructed them to save Lot. God is merciful when we don’t deserve it. These angels were prohibited from raining down any destruction until Lot was safe. Only then were they to bring God’s judgment.

Lot came to the outskirts of the city. He passed the border. He was within city limits. Lot never came into the town proper, as we will see.

The sage Rav Hirsch writes: ‘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.’

The sage Radak writes: ‘ויאמר אליו הנה נשאתי פניך, from this verse we may deduce that when G’d dispatches an angel on a major mission, He gives the angel some discretion in the manner in which he is to carry out the task assigned to him. The angel or angels may use their own intelligence in this respect. Clearly, an angel is not like a golem, but is an intelligent being. מהר..כי לא אוכל, because I have been commanded not to destroy the region until you have been saved. קרא, the city formerly known as בלע was renamed on account of what transpired on this occasion. השמש…ולוט בא צוערה. As soon as Lot had entered Tzoar, the angel set in motion the rain that would obliterate Sodom, acting on instructions from G’d.’

The sage Steinsaltz writes: ‘He, the angel, said to him: Behold, not only have I taken you out of the city, but I have granted your request for this matter as well, not to overturn the city of which you spoke. I will destroy only the large cities on the plain, Sodom, Gomorrah, Adma, and Tzevoyim, but I will leave standing the city to which you referred. Hurry and flee there, as I will not be able to do anything until your arrival there. Since an angel is only a messenger of God, he has no choice but to obey the instructions given to him. These angels had been directed to destroy the sinful cities and to save Lot. They could not strike the cities if that would put Lot in danger. The Torah notes: Therefore, because the city was small [mitz’ar], he called the name of the city Tzoar. This became an additional name of the city. Lot and his family left at daybreak. A short while later, the sun rose upon the earth, and Lot came to Tzoar.‘