19:29 So when God destroyed80 the cities of the region,81 God honored82 Abraham’s request. He removed Lot83 from the midst of the destruction when he destroyed84 the cities Lot had lived in.
tn The construction is a temporal clause comprised of the temporal indicator, an infinitive construct with a preposition, and the subjective genitive.
81
tn Or “of the plain”; Heb “of the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.
82
tnHeb “remembered,” but this means more than mental recollection here. Abraham’s request (Gen 18:23–32) was that the Lord not destroy the righteous with the wicked. While the requisite minimum number of righteous people (ten, v. 32) needed for God to spare the cities was not found, God nevertheless rescued the righteous before destroying the wicked.
sn God showed Abraham special consideration because of the covenantal relationship he had established with the patriarch. Yet the reader knows that God delivered the “righteous” (Lot’s designation in 2 Pet 2:7) before destroying their world—which is what he will do again at the end of the age.
83
sn God’s removal of Lot before the judgment is paradigmatic. He typically delivers the godly before destroying their world.