What Does Genesis 19:10 Mean?
But the men stretched out their hand, drew Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.THE KEY
Rescue takes shape as a hand sent out to bring someone in, and a door closed to keep danger out.
THE MEANING
Protection takes a physical shape: a hand reaches across the threshold and draws the threatened person inside, then the door closes between him and the crowd. The verse holds both movements together, welcome in, danger out.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A closed door always means abandonment; here, closing is the act that preserves refuge.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁלְחוּ
vayyishlechu
GROWS FROM
שלח
To send out, extend, or release.
“stretched out their hand” in this verse is vayyishlechu. English hears a hand stretching; Hebrew describes it as sent forth, using the same root that names sending and one who is sent. The hand crosses the threshold toward Lot, Lot is brought inside, and the door then closes.
ALSO GROWS
mishloaḥ: A sending or dispatch.
מִשְׁלוֹחַ
The same root names the outward movement that reaches Lot.
shaliaḥ: A messenger, one who is sent.
שָׁלִיחַ
The hand here acts as an extension sent outward to bring Lot into shelter.
THE PATTERN
A boundary can mark the line that keeps danger outside and refuge intact.
And those who came in, male and female of all flesh, came as God had commanded him, and the LORD shut him in.For the LORD will cross through to strike the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will leap over the opening, and will not give the ruiner leave to come into your houses to strike you.I am the door. Through me, if anyone enters, he shall be delivered, and shall go in and out, and shall find pasture.THE THREAD
And the messenger of the LORD called to him from the heavens, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."“Lay not thine hand” uses the same shalach-plus-hand construction as “put forth their hand” here. In this verse, the sent hand draws Lot into shelter; in Genesis 22, the hand is stopped before it touches Isaac.
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