וַיְהִי כְהוֹצִיאָם אֹתָם הַחוּצָה וַיֹּאמֶר הִמָּלֵט עַל נַפְשֶׁךָ אַל תַּבִּיט אַחֲרֶיךָ וְאַל תַּעֲמֹד בְּכָל הַכִּכָּר הָהָרָה הִמָּלֵט פֶּן תִּסָּפֶה: וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹט אֲלֵהֶם אַל נָא אֲדֹנָי:הִנֵּה נָא מָצָא עַבְדְּךָ חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ וַתַּגְדֵּל חַסְדְּךָ אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתָ עִמָּדִי לְהַחֲיוֹת אֶת נַפְשִׁי וְאָנֹכִי לֹא אוּכַל לְהִמָּלֵט הָהָרָה פֶּן תִּדְבָּקַנִי הָרָעָה וָמַתִּי : הִנֵּה נָא הָעִיר הַזֹּאת קְרֹבָה לָנוּס שָׁמָּה וְהִוא מִצְעָר אִמָּלְטָה נָא שָׁמָּה הֲלֹא מִצְעָר הִוא וּתְחִי נַפְשִׁי: וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו הִנֵּה נָשָׂאתִי פָנֶיךָ גַּם לַדָּבָר הַזֶּה לְבִלְתִּי הָפְכִּי אֶת הָעִיר אֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְתָּ:בראשית י”ט:י”ז-כ”א
And when they (the angels) took them (Lot and his family) outside (the city), he (the angel) said, “Escape for the sake of your life, do not look behind you, and do not remain in the entire plain, flee to the mountain, lest you be destroyed”.
And Lot said to them, “Please, no, my Lord. Behold, please, your servant has found grace in your eyes, and you have dealt very kindly with me to give life to my soul. And I cannot flee to the mountain, lest the evil cling to me and kill me. Behold, please, this city which is near enough to flee there, and it is young-- I shall escape there, please -- is it not small? And my soul shall live.”
And he (the angel) said to him (Lot), “Behold, I have accepted your plea also for this thing, and will not destroy the city that you mentioned”.
Genesis 19:17-21
The verses above narrate how Avraham’s nephew Lot was saved from the destruction of the city of Sodom. From what we see of Lot in the verses prior to this episode, we might be inclined to think that he is a righteous person - he risks his life to extend hospitality to two strangers (who are actually angels in disguise) and to protect them from the evil inhabitants of the city.
However, the commentators point take a dim view of Lot’s behavior, and consider him immoral and unworthy. In the previous parsha (Lech Lecha), Lot separates from Avraham, and he voluntarily moves into the neighborhood of Sodom, in spite of its reputation for wickedness. This act, together with his lack of concern over grazing his flocks on other people’s land, and other hints from the Torah, bring the commentators to brand him as a wicked person.
In his comments on verse 17 (above), Rashi is careful to point out that Lot only merits to be saved from Sodom on account of Avraham’s merit:
רש”י:יז) אל תביט אחריך: אתה הרשעת עמהם ובזכות אברהם אתה ניצול, אינך כדאי לראות בפורענותם ואתה ניצול.Rashi:
17) do not look behind you: You behaved immorally with them, and it is in Avraham’s merit that you are saved. You are not worthy to be saved, and to see their punishment (as well).
We should clarify, however, that G-d deals with Lot favorably because Lot did not reveal to the Egyptians that Sarah was Avraham’s wife (when Avraham told the Egyptians that she was his sister):
We can understand Rashi’s earlier comment, “it is in Avraham’s merit that you are saved”, with a little more subtlety now. We can say it was because of Lot’s kindness to Avraham, whose merit is so great, that Lot is saved.כ”ט)…וַיִּזְכֹּר אֱלֹהִים אֶת אַבְרָהָם וַיְשַׁלַּח אֶת לוֹט מִתּוֹךְ הַהֲפֵכָה...29) …and G-d remembered Avraham, and He sent Lot out of the destruction...רש”י:כ”ט) ויזכור אלהים את אברהם: … לוט יודע ששרה אשתו של אברהם ושמע שאמר אברהם במצרים על שרה “אחותי היא” ולא גילה הדבר, שהיה חס עליו, לפיכך חס הקב”ה עליו.21) … Lot knew that Sarah was Avraham’s wife, and he heard Avraham say in Egypt about Sarah, “She is my sister”, and he (Lot) did not reveal the matter, because he took pity on Avraham. Therefore the Holy One took pity on him.
Continuing the narrative of Lot’s rescue from Sodom, we find something puzzling. Lot is told by the angel to “flee to the mountain”. Lot responds instead, with a request to go to a nearby city, “lest the evil cling to me and kill me”. What is the reason for this, and what is special about this city?
Rashi tells us that “to the mountain” really meant that Lot should return to living with Avraham (the one who camped on the mountain). Lot, however, is fearful of doing this, and the reason understood by Rashi is:
This idea mentioned by Rashi is similar to the one of the opinions of our sages, ז”ל, on the verse, “Noach was a completely righteous person in his generations”. In this opinion the verse is considered a detrimental statement about Noach, i.e. that would Noach have lived in Avraham’s generation, he would not have been considered righteous at all. And perhaps Rashi’s comment indicates that Lot was concerned about the same problem.יט) פן-תבקני הרעה: כשהייתי אצל אנשי סדום, היה הקב”ה רואה מעשי ומעשה בני העיר והייתי נראה צדיק וכדאי להנצל. וכשאבוא אצל צדיק, אני כרשע...19) lest the evil cling to me: While I was with the people of Sodom, the Holy One May He Be Blessed, would see my actions and the actions of the people of the city, and I would appear to be a righteous person, and worthy of saving. And if I shall go to a (true) righteous person (i.e. Avraham), I would appear as a wicked person.
Rashi further tells us the meaning of the hebrew words describing the city, which help us understand why Lot is asking to be allowed to escape there:The angel accedes to Lot’s request, allowing him to flee to the nearby city, and furthermore stating, that he “will not destroy the city that you mentioned”. Rashi seems to explain however, that the angel’s agreement was not without rebuke:רש”י:הִנֵּה נָא הָעִיר הַזֹּאת קְרֹבָה: קרובה ישיבתה, נתיישבה מקרוב, לפיכך לא נתמלא סארה עדיין...Rashi:
Behold, please, this city which is near: It’s inhabitation is recent, therefore it’s measure (of sin) is not yet filled.
רש”י:כא) גם לדבר הזה: לא דייך שאתה ניצול, אלא אף כל העיר אציל בגללך.Rashi:
21) also for this thing: It is enough for you that you are saved - however, I will even save the entire city on your account.
One of the Sifsei Chachamim (commentators on Rashi), the Nachalas Yaakov, is concerned about possible contradictions we may see when comparing Rashi’s comments from above, regarding Lot and his level of righteousness. Commenting on the reason given by Rashi as to why Lot was afraid to flee to the mountain (i.e. to Avraham), he writes:
So we should understand, according to the Nachalas Yaakov, that when Lot says “I would appear (in G-d’s eyes) to be a righteous person” (as compared with the people of Sodom), we should understand that Lot did not really understand the truth of the situation. The Torah’s point of view is that on his own merit, he is not worthy of being saved. Therefore, Rashi’s comment about Lot appearing as righteous does not contradict the earlier comment which said “you behaved immorally with them”.נחלת יעקוב:והייתי נראה צדיק וכדאי להנצל: ואע”ג דלעיל פירש אתה הרשעת עמהם, ובזכות אברהם אתה ניצול, י”ל שהאמת הוא כן, אבל לוט טעה בזה והיה סבור שבזכות עצמו הוא ניצול. והא דפירש הרב בסמוך, אף כל העיר אציל בגללך, לאו למימר בזכותך אלא שתנצל אתה. ומכל מקום הכל בזכות אברהם...
Nachalas Yaakov:
and I would appear to be a righteous person: even though above (verse 17), Rashi explained: “You behaved immorally with them and it is in Avraham’s merit that you are saved”, (although Lot saw himself as righteous compared with the people of Sodom, and thus merited to be saved), the truth is (that only for the sake of Avraham’s merit he was saved). But Lot was mistaken about this (his own righteousness), and therefore thought that it was in his own merit that he was being saved. And as far as what the Rav (Rashi) explained in the the later verse (21), “however, I will save the even entire city on your account”, it is not to say that in your merit (that the city is saved), rather just so that you are saved, and in any case, all of it is being done in the merit of Avraham.
Most interesting to me, is the problem Nachalas Yaakov attempts to resolve at the end of his comment. Rashi stated that the meaning of the angel’s response to Lot was: “however, I will even save the entire city on your account”. Taken at face value, this seems to imply that in merit of Lot’s righteousness, the angel agreed to spare the city of Tsoar, and this in turn would contradict “You behaved immorally with them...”. Nachalas Yaakov resolves this possible contradiction by explaining that saving the city was only a means of saving Lot, and not a recognition of any merit of Lot’s.
Another way of understanding the negotiation between Lot and the angel is presented in the commentary of the Ohr HaChaim. This comment offers us another way to look at Rashi, and also the problems raised by Nachalas Yaakov:
אור החיים:הנה נא העיר הזאת: קשה מ”מל אם נתחייבה העיר, מה יועיל בקשתו מהם, ועוד, רואני כי שמעו לקולו ואמרו “נשאתי פניך” וגו’ ואם לא נתחייבה העיר, מבלי בקשתו של לוט אין להם רשות להשחיתה. אכן יתבאר הענין ע”ד אומרם במס” שבת: ישיבתה של צוער נ”א שנה ושל סדום, נ”ב, וכו” ע”כ, וכפי זה, דן לוט לפניהם כי עדיין לא נשלמה סאתם והן אמת, כי ישתנה הדין בין קודם שניתן רשות למחבל לאחר שניתן וכו’ שהגם שעדיין לא נשלמה סאתם, אעפ”כ כיון שניתן רשית למשחית, אין לה זכות להמלט מהדין. וכפי זה הדבר תלוי ביד המשחית. לזה נתהכם לוט, ושאל הדבר ממנו, וקבל דבריו ואמר “נשאתי פניך” וגו’ ותמצא שתכף הלך לו לוט מצוער כי ירא שחגיע זמן תשלום פורענותא.
Ohr HaChaim:
Behold, please, this city: It is difficult to understand what is written here. If the city was deserving (of destruction), what benefit could Lot’s request of them have? And furthermore, I see that they heeded his voice, and said “I have accepted your plea” (etc.). And if the city was not yet deserving of destruction, even without Lot’s request, they would not have been permitted to destroy it. The subject can be explained according to what our sages said in Tractate Shabbos (10b): “The settlement of Tsoar was 51 years (after the scattering at Babel), and of Sodom, 52 (years) (etc)”. According to this logic, Lot judged before them (the angels) that the “their measure was not yet filled” (i.e. the people of Tsoar had not yet sinned as much as Sodom), and this was the case, because the decree was changed from before the time that permission was given to the “destroyer” to after permission was given (etc). Because, although their measure was not yet filled, even so, since permission was given to the destroying angel at the outset (to destroy the entire area), no merit (of the people of Tsoar) could save it from the decree. And if we look at it this way, then the outcome was dependent (on the will of) the destroyer. And Lot was wise to this, and asked this thing from him (the destroying angel), and he accepted his (Lot’s) words, and said “I have accepted your plea” (etc). And it turns out, that Lot immediately left Tsoar (shortly after taking refuge there), because he feared that the time of their punishment was about to arrive.
Ohr HaChaim brings out an important principle regarding decrees of destruction and the fate of the righteous: “since permission was given to the destroying angel at the outset (to destroy the entire area), no merit (of the people of Tsoar) could save it from the decree”. We see this same principle mentioned later in the Torah, in Moshe’s instructions to the children of Israel during the night of the slaying of the first born:
We see from the above that once Hashem has unleashed the powers of destruction, they can destroy whatever is in their path. When this occurs, even the merits of the righteous do not protect them from harm....ואתם לא תצאו איש מפתח-ביתו עד בקרשמות י”ב:כ”ב...And you -- no person shall go out the door of his house until morning...
Exodus 12:22רש”י:ואתם לא תצאו: מגיד שמאחר שניתנה רשות למשחית לחבל, אינו מבחין בין צדיק לרשע...Rashi:
And you -- no person shall go out: This tells us that once permission has been given to the destroyer to harm, he does not distinguish between righteous and wicked.
The Ohr HaChaim however, brings a sharper focus on term רשות (permission) which is used both in his comment on the story of Lot and in Rashi’s comment on the Exodus. It seems from his words, that G-d is actually granting free will (as it were), to the force (or angel) of destruction (within the limits of his decree). According to the Ohr HaChaim, Lot understood this principle as well, which is why he pleaded with the angel to allow him take refuge in the city of Tsoar, rather than fleeing to the mountain as the angel originally instructed. Lot was able to convince the angel that the city of Tsoar should be spared, because “their measure was not yet filled”. And apparently the angel accepted Lot’s argument saying, “I have accepted your plea”.
Seen from the point of view offered by the Ohr HaChaim, we can now revisit Rashi’s comment from above, “however, I will save the even entire city on your account (בגללך)”. This can now be understood as meaning “because you argued on behalf of the city”. Using the Ohr HaChaim’s approach avoids the seeming contradiction which concerned Nachalas Yaakov, since we can now understand the term “your account (בגללך)” as not referring to Lot’s merit or righteousness, but instead referring to the argument he made to the angel.
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