15 And when morning came, the angels did all in their power to make Lot go, saying, Get up quickly and take your wife and your two daughters who are here, and go, for fear that you come to destruction in the punishment of the town. 16 But while he was waiting, the men took him and his wife and his daughters by the hand, for the Lord had mercy on them, and put them outside the town. 17 And when they had put them out, he said, Go for your life, without looking back or waiting in the lowland; go quickly to the mountain or you will come to destruction. 18 And Lot said to them, Not so, O my Lord; 19 See now, your servant has had grace in your eyes and great is your mercy in keeping my life from destruction, but I am not able to get as far as the mountain before evil overtakes me and death; 20 This town, now, is near, and it is a little one: O, let me go there (is it not a little one?) so that my life may be safe. 21 And he said, See, I have given you your request in this one thing more: I will not send destruction on this town. 22 Go there quickly, for I am not able to do anything till you have come there. For this reason, the town was named Zoar. 23 The sun was up when Lot came to Zoar.
24 Then the Lord sent fire and flaming smoke raining down from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah. 25 And he sent destruction on those towns, with all the lowland and all the people of those towns and every green thing in the land.
26 But Lot's wife, looking back, became a pillar of salt.
27 And Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had been talking with the Lord: 28 And looking in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the lowland, he saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of an oven.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Genesis 19:15-28
Commentary on Genesis 19:1-29
(Read Genesis 19:1-29)
Lot was good, but there was not one more of the same character in the city. All the people of Sodom were very wicked and vile. Care was therefore taken for saving Lot and his family. Lot lingered; he trifled. Thus many who are under convictions about their spiritual state, and the necessity of a change, defer that needful work. The salvation of the most righteous men is of God's mercy, not by their own merit. We are saved by grace. God's power also must be acknowledged in bringing souls out of a sinful state If God had not been merciful to us, our lingering had been our ruin. Lot must flee for his life. He must not hanker after Sodom. Such commands as these are given to those who, through grace, are delivered out of a sinful state and condition. Return not to sin and Satan. Rest not in self and the world. Reach toward Christ and heaven, for that is escaping to the mountain, short of which we must not stop. Concerning this destruction, observe that it is a revelation of the wrath of God against sin and sinners of all ages. Let us learn from hence the evil of sin, and its hurtful nature; it leads to ruin.