Genesis 19:24 Douay-Rheims

And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.

Ramban

1194–1270 Jewish

AND THE ETERNAL CAUSED TO RAIN UPON SODOM (AND UPON GOMORRAH BRIMSTONE AND FIRE FROM THE ETERNAL OF HEAVEN). Rashi wrote: “Wherever it is said, And the Eternal it means Him and His Celestial Court. From the Eternal. It is not written ‘from Him,’ [with the pronoun ‘Him’ replacing the noun ‘Eternal’ in the second part of the verse, for] this is the Scriptural way of speaking. For example, Ye wives of Lamech, and he did not say ‘my wives.’ And David also said, Take you the servants of your lord, and he did not say, ‘my servants.’ Ahaseurus also said, Write ye… in the name of the king, and he did not say, ‘in my name.’” Now I wonder about the Rabbi, Note 139. who wrote down conflicting opinions and made them alike for there is a division of opinion on this matter in Bereshith Rabbah. And there is yet a third opinion: “Aba Chilfi, the son of Rabbi Simki, said in the name of Rabbi Yehudah the son of Rabbi Simon: ‘And the Eternal caused to rain upon Sodom — this refers to the angel Gabriel. From the Eternal out of heaven — this refers to the Holy One, blessed be He.’ Rabbi Eleazar said, ‘Wherever it says, And the Eternal, it means Him and His Celestial Court.’ Rabbi Yitzchak said, ‘We find in the Torah, Prophets, and Writings, that a person mentions his name twice. In the Torah, And Lamech said to his wives, etc.’” Thus there are three conflicting opinions here. Rabbi Yehudah the son of Rabbi Simon ascribes the first Divine Name mentioned in the verse as referring to Gabriel as he was the messenger sent to destroy the city, it being a case of the deputy being referred to by the name of Him Who sent him. And Rabbi Eleazar said that He and His Celestial Court agreed on the judgment, and it was from Him that the brimstone and fire came. And Rabbi Yitzchak said that it is the Scriptural way of speaking. Now if you will understand what I have written above, you will know the intent of the Sages’ expression, “He and His Celestial Court,” and then the plain meaning of the verse will be clear to you. In a similar manner is the verse, That they may keep the way of the Eternal… to the end that the Eternal may bring… He did not say, “that they may keep My way… to the end that I may bring.” Likewise: Because the cry concerning them is great before the face of the Eternal, and the Eternal hath sent us. And similarly: And it came to pass, when G-d destroyed… that G-d remembered.

Hebrew and Aramaic words are the commentator’s citations of the sacred text; the English translation that follows each is the translator’s.

Source details
1270 · Genesis 19:24

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.

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