The men reach Sodom at even, and Lot, sitting as was customary in the spacious city gate, invites them, with the same courtesy and hospitality as his uncle, to stay the night in his house. They at first refuse, saying that they will pass the night in the city square. Although this was no special privation, Lot urges his offer, all the more perhaps because he knew the character of the citizens, who, before his guests retired, without exception justified their vile reputation. Lot faced them bravely and alone, pleading with them to desist from the outrage they meditated, and proffering his two virgin daughters to glut their lust. His plea only angered them as coming from an alien, but the men rescued him from their violence, and baffled their attempt on the door by blindness, apparently a form of perverted vision which prevented them from finding it.
1. the two angels: substituted for the men, when Genesis 18:22 b - Genesis 18:33 a was inserted.
Genesis 19:4. The men without exception join in the assault, so the depravity of all is made clear, and the object of the investigation is attained.
Genesis 19:8. The obligations of hospitality are so stringent in the East, that Lot's conduct, different though it seems to us, is probably regarded as creditable. At all costs he must protect his guests. Moreover he risks himself by going out alone and unarmed to face an ugly, unscrupulous mob, on fire with perverted passion, and cuts off his own retreat, that he may the more effectively shield his guests.