They smote the men, Heb. with blindness, i.e. with a blindness both of body and mind. It was not a total blindness, as if they quite lost the use of their eyes, for they saw the house, though not the door, but it was a great dimness and confusion of their sight, and a disturbance in their common sense, by which they were made unable to distinguish between differing persons or places; as it was also with the Syrians, 2 Kings 6:18; as it is in some measure with some drunkards, who, though their eyes be open, cannot distinguish between things that differ. And this was very easy for angels to do by a small alteration either in their sight, or in the air, whereby either the door might appear like the solid wall, or the several parts of the wall like so many doors.
Related Commentaries of Genesis 19:11
Genesis 19:11
11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.