פרשת וירא תש"י - לוט

וישלח And HE SENT FORTH — This does not mean merely “sending on an errand”, but “sending away”, “letting go” — he freed her to go where she liked, and thus he could see whether the waters abated, because if she could find a resting place she would not return to him.

וישלחנו, although in other instances when the word שלח is used it never has a dagesh, reinforcing it, here, seeing the dispatch of these angels was not in order to assist, but in order to destroy, this is indicated by the change in the mode and reinforcing the word with the dot in the letter ל. We find another example of this construction in a similar context in Deut. 32,24, ושן בהמות אשלח בם, “the teeth of beasts I will set loose against them,” where the verb שלח is also used destructively. The same is true of Psalms 78,45, ישלח בהם ערב “He dispatched ferocious beasts against them.”

כי משחיתים.... כי גדלה צעקתם, the outcry to G’d by the victims of the cruelties of the Sodomites has become too great. In this construction the pronoun ending has been appended to the subject as well as to the predicate, just as in Isaiah 56,7 ושמחתים בבית תפלתי it has been appended to the predicate or in Isaiah 38,1 שמעתי את תפלתך where it has been appended to the subject.

בערב AT EVENTIDE — Did it, however, take the angels such a long time to travel from Hebron to Sodom? But they were angels of mercy and so they tarried — perhaps Abraham would succeed in his advocacy for them (Genesis Rabbah 50:1).

רנה נא אדני BEHOLD NOW, MY LORDS — Behold now you are my lords since you have passed by me. Another explanation is: Behold now you should be careful with respect to these wicked people that they should not observe you, and, therefore this is the good advice that I give you, viz.:

ויתמהמה BUT HE LINGERED in order to save his property.