Genesis 19:3

Gen 19:3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

Ver. 3. And they did eat.] They made as if they did eat and drink, saith the Hierosolymi-Targum, but not well. {See Trapp on "Gen 18:8"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gen 19:3. He pressed upon them greatly — Partly because he would by no means have them to expose themselves to the perils and insults which he was aware awaited their lodging in the street of Sodom, and partly because he was desirous of their converse.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Not for that they had necessity, but because the time was not yet come that they would reveal themselves.

That is, he prayed them so instantly.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

entered into his house--On removing to the plain, Lot intended at first to live in his tent apart from the people [Gen 13:12]. But he was gradually drawn in, dwelt in the city, and he and his family were connected with the citizens by marriage ties.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

3. And he made them a feast. By these words, and others following, Moses shows that the angels were more sumptuously entertained than was customary: for Lot did not act thus, indiscriminately, with all. But, when he conceived, from the dignity of their mien and dress, that they were not common men, he baked cakes, and prepared a plentiful feast. Again, Moses says that the angels did eat: not that they had any need to do so; but because the time was not yet come, for the manifestation of their celestial nature.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(3) He pressed upon them greatly.—This he did as knowing the licentiousness of the people; but the angels do not readily accept his hospitality, as they had done that of Abraham, because his character had deteriorated.

Unleavened bread.—Heb., thin cakes, like those now eaten by the Jews at the Passover. They took little time in preparation, for which reason we find them also used by the witch of Endor (1Sa_28:24).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. he urged them greatly] The gentle compulsion of Oriental courtesy. To let a stranger sleep out at night would be contrary to all canons of civility, cf. Jdg_19:16-22.

a feast] Lit. “a drinking feast,” and thence “a banquet.” Perhaps we may assume that the Angels appeared as poor men needing food and shelter. The neglect of the poor and needy is part of the prophet’s reproach against Sodom in Eze_16:49.

unleavened bread] Cakes baked hastily without leaven or yeast; the “unleavened cakes” of Jdg_6:19.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he pressed them greatly,.... He prayed, he entreated, he persuaded, he made use of a multitude of words, and of all the arguments he could think of, to prevail upon them; and might not only press them with words, but make use of gestures, as taking them by the hand, or by their clothes, and as it were forcing them into his house, whereby it plainly appeared he was cordial and hearty in his invitation:

and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house: went along with him to it, and instead of proceeding forward, or continuing where they were, or steering their course to a street in the city, they turned in to Lot's house:

and he made them a feast; a large, liberal, and generous entertainment, as Abraham did, consisting of a variety of eatables and drinkables; indeed it has its name only from drinking, wine being a principal part of a banquet:

and did bake unleavened bread; not because it was the time of the passover, as Jarchi suggests, for as yet that was not instituted; but for quicker dispatch, that his guests might have their supper the sooner, and get to bed the earlier, and rest themselves; bread without leaven in it being sooner baked than that which is made with it:

and they did eat; the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem are,"they seemed as if they ate.''See Gill on Gen 18:8;

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He did bake unleavened bread, because that was sooner prepared, that so they might eat it, and after that go to bed in due time.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Made them a feast — משׁתה, a feast, is the name usually given to a great feast or banquet. Comp. Gen_21:8; Gen_26:30; Gen_40:20; 1Sa_25:36.

Unleavened bread — This is the first occurrence of the word מצות, found nearly always in the plural, and translated unleavened bread. It means sweetness, (Gesenius, Lex.,) and denotes bread not made sour by leaven — not allowed time to ferment.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he pressed upon them greatly. Being himself sincerely desirous to extend to them hospitality, and knowing well the danger to which they would be exposed from the violence and licentiousness of the townsmen. And they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a toast,mishteh, from shathah, to drink, is rightly rendered poton (LXX), a drink, or refreshing beverage (cf. Est_5:6 Est_7:7) and did bake unleavened broad literally, bread of sweetness, that is, bread not soured by leaven. The banquet was thus of the simplest kind, chiefly, it may be hoped, for the sake of dispatch. And they did eat.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he pressed upon them greatly - Partly because he would by no means have them to expose themselves to the perils of lodging in the streets of Sodom, and partly because he was desirous of their converse.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

ויסרו אליו AND THEY TURNED ASIDE UNTO HIM — They took a circuitous route towards his house (Genesis Rabbah 50:4).

ומצות אפה AND HE BAKED UNLEAVENED BREAD —It was Passover (Genesis Rabbah 48:12).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND HE URGED THEM GREATLY. His urging them was meritorious on the part of Lot, and he indeed had a sincere desire to welcome wayfarers. They, however, at first refused in order to increase his merit, and therefore they finally listened to him; but originally they did not want to come into his house as he was not a perfectly righteous man. But our Rabbis have said [in order to explain their original refusal]: “One may decline an offer from an inferior person, but not from a superior person.”, (above, 18:5), but with Lot, they at first declined. If so, their declining his offer at first was merely an act of ethical conduct.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

A feast. Literally, “a drinking feast.” Lot offered them wine because he was fond of it himself.

Sforno on the Tanakh — English translation: “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ויפצר בם מאד, he spoke to them intently on the subject, urging them to accept his invitation, until eventually, they did come to his house. Onkelos writes ותקיף בהם, that he actually took hold of these men until they concurred to spend the night with him.

ויעש להם משתה, seeing it was night he did not have time to slaughter an animal in their honour, but he prepared something at short notice, served them drinks, and unleavened bread which can be prepared at short notice. It is good manners to prepare something at short notice for guests who arrived unexpectedly. The guest arriving at such a time is usually tired and does not care to wait until an elaborate meal can be prepared in his honour. The story has been recorded for all times in order to teach us how to serve unexpected guests arriving at night.

ויאכלו. If the whole sequence is a vision which Lot did not actually experience, the meaning of the word ויאכלו must be understood literally; if the Torah describes actual events, the word means that Lot had the impression as if the angels ate and drank his food. The food and drink, which are composed of different components, simply dissolved into their basic ingredients so that they were not visible as such. [imagine water, i.e. H20, being dissolved into the gases oxygen and hydrogen, becoming invisible in the process. Ed.] This, of course, would occur miraculously.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.