‘And they said, “Stand back”. And they said, “This one fellow came in to sojourn and he must now be a judge over us. Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” '
Some simply tell him to get out of the way, but others begin to bring up the racial factor, and then the moral factor. Lot is not really one of us, they say. He just lives among us. (The previous day they may well have thought differently, but such are men hot after sin). Now he is setting up his standards against ours. This foreigner is setting himself up as our judge. It is interesting to note how even evil men try to persuade their consciences that what they are doing is right. This is their way, they say, and who has the right to criticise?
“Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” His reputation among them is now in tatters. No longer a fellow-citizen but an alien, and therefore a fair target for their evil ways. They will abuse him first, then they will turn to the others.
‘And they pressed sore on the man, even Lot, and drew near to break down the door.'
The writer has a fine touch. ‘The man'. No longer ‘Lot' to them, only to the reader. He is now a stranger. Previously they have held back slightly in deference to their fellow-citizen, but now they are unrestrained, for he is no longer that. Lot is about to be sexually assaulted and worse.