The scene is a compelling one of deep pathos. Lot and his family are being evacuated by angels from the impending doom of the city of Sodom. Lot appreciates the danger he is facing. He is fleeing for his life with his wife and daughters.
And yet, standing on the cusp of safety, Lot does the inexplicable: he hesitates. He dithers and delays. Something has stopped his flight, and so the angels seize him and his family and lead them to safety.
The significance of this hesitation in the story of Lot’s flight is highlighted by the rare cantillation mark, shalshelet, that appears on the word vayitmahmah, “he hesitated” — a long, drawn-out note that appears only four times in the entire Chumash.
What could possibly have caused his hesitation, this tarrying in the face of certain death and destruction?
Rashi, based on the Midrash, explains this hesitation as the result of Lot’s over-attachment to the material. He risks his life in order to save his money, or, as the Midrash Yalkut Shimoni evocatively describes it, he is almost fatally delayed by his dilemma over which of his valuables to save, thereby risking the most precious of all, his life, and the lives of his family.
But there are other interpretations. Ibn Ezra understands Lot’s hesitation not as an active choice but as the very natural response of a man overwhelmed by the horror of what he was experiencing. For Ibn Ezra, Lot was robbed of his ability to act by fear, which rendered him frozen and immobile.
And so the Lord had mercy on him. The angels seized him and carried him and his family to safety.
We may be able to sympathise with Lot in this position. Both as a community and as individuals, we too may sometimes find ourselves beset by huge challenges and problems that are bigger than us, caught in circumstances that we did not choose and unable to respond as effectively as we would like.
In dark times such as these, the story of Lot and the angelic hands that led him to safety reminds us of the Divine mercy that never leaves us.
Our faith is what sustains us: the knowledge that God has never abandoned us and never will gives us strength and courage even when we feel none.
“Fear not, My servant Jacob, says the Lord, and do not be dismayed, O Israel… For I am with you, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 30:10-11).
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