Genesis 19:24 explained: Who are the two Yahwehs?

Nov 9, 2024

Genesis 19:24

Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky.

Genesis 19:24 explained: This intriguing verse has sparked countless discussions about God’s nature.

In this dramatic verse, Yahweh on earth rains down fire and sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah from Yahweh out of heaven.

How could there be “two Yahwehs,” and who are they?

That’s what you are about to find out.

Contents

Genesis 19:24 explained by Yahweh and two angels

Let’s start our explanation from Genesis 18. In Genesis 18:1, Yahweh appears to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre. Three men come to meet with Abraham, and at least one of them is Yahweh because 18:1 says that Yahweh appeared to Abraham.

Genesis 18:1-2

Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood near him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,

The three men have real, tangible human bodies as they eat, talk, and travel with Abraham, and Abraham offers them water so that they can wash their feet. Yahweh hasn’t assumed human nature but appears in a human body.

Genesis 18:4-5

Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. I will get a piece of bread so you can refresh your heart. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant.”

Abraham eats with God, and God again repeats His promise to Abraham that he will have a son and that all nations will be blessed in him.

After the meal, Yahweh and the other two men start to prepare for their journey to Sodom. Abraham joins them for some part of the journey to a place where the four men can see the city of Sodom.

From that place, the two other men continue down to Sodom and Abraham stays in the place with Yahweh.

Genesis 18:22

The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before Yahweh.

As Abraham realizes that Yahweh is about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, he starts negotiating with Him to spare Sodom, where his nephew, Lot, lives.

Abraham succeeds so far that the other two men rescue Lot and his family away from Sodom before its destruction.

After the negotiation, Abraham returns home, and Yahweh departs the place.

Genesis 18:33

Yahweh went his way as soon as he had finished communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

In chapter 18, the two men with Yahweh are called “men,” but Genesis 19:1 uses the plural Hebrew term “malakim,” which means “messengers.” A singular form of this word is malak. A messenger can be a man or a spiritual being (an angel) sent by someone to accomplish a mission.

The same goes for the Greek word “angelos,” from which we get the English term “angel.” In English, “angel” means a spiritual being with wings, but in Hebrew and Greek, “malak” and “angelos” mean “a messenger” that can be either a human, spiritual being, or even an uncreated messenger, as you will see later in the article.

Most Bible translations use angels in Genesis 19:1, but few opt for messengers. Thus, these translations convey the idea that the two men are spiritual beings appearing as men.

Most translations probably opt for the angels because the two men don’t look or act like ordinary men. Lot recognizes this and bows down before them, calls them lords, and invites them to his home. Later, the two men rescue Lot from the sex-hungry Sodomites by blinding them.

However, it would be better to use the term messenger in Genesis 19:1. The two men are called men elsewhere in chapters 18-19. Notice that verses 19:10, 12, and 16 call them again “men” after calling them angels in 19:1.

Also, bowing down for respect doesn’t mean that the two men are spiritual beings since the Bible shows men bowing down to men on many occasions.

David bows down to Saul (1 Samuel 24:8-10).
Joseph’s brothers bowing down to Joseph (Genesis 42:5-6).
Abraham bowed down before Ephron the Hittite (Genesis 23:12).

Genesis 19:1-2

The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth, and he said, “See now, my lords, please come into your servant’s house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early, and go on your way.”

Genesis 19:10-11

But the men reached out their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

Once the two angels rescue Lot and his family out of Sodom, at the break of dawn, “Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky.” The quote is from Genesis 19:24, the famous two Yahwehs verse.

Genesis 19:24

Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky.

According to Genesis 18 and 19, Yahweh is on earth with His two messengers, who go to Sodom and save Lot from destruction. Abraham converses with Yahweh and negotiates Lot’s rescue. Abraham goes to his place, and some hours after this, at dawn, “Yahweh rains (who is on the earth) on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky.”

There are two Yahwehs on the scene: one on earth and one in heaven. Abraham ate with Yahweh, talked with Yahweh, traveled with Yahweh, and negotiated with Yahweh, who rained fire on the cities from Yahweh out of the sky.

Genesis 19:24 explained by the Trinity

Genesis 19:24 explained - two Yahwehs verse

Let’s read Genesis 18:9-14 first.

Genesis 18:9-14

They asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?”

He said, “There, in the tent.”

He said, “I will certainly return to you at about this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”

Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child when I am old?’ Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes around, and Sarah will have a son.”

In verse 9, the three men ask Abraham, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” When Abraham answers, only one of the three men replies to him. Verses 13-14 reveal that the man who replies is Yahweh. It is as if “they” in verse 9 is equaled to “he” in verse 10.

Verse 19 mentions Yahweh three times in three separate actions:

“For I (Yahweh) have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him,
that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice;
to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him.”

Genesis 18:19

For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him.”

In verses 20-21, Yahweh says He will go down at that moment, “now,” to Sodom to see whether the bad reports about the Sodomites are accurate.

Genesis 18:20-21

Yahweh said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now, and see whether their deeds are as bad as the reports which have come to me. If not, I will know.”

The next verse, 18:22, tells us that while two of the three men leave for Sodom, Abraham stays where he is still standing before Yahweh.

Genesis 18:22

The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before Yahweh.

Why would Yahweh say in verse 21 that He will go down now if He remained with Abraham and departed only after their negotiation? It looks like there are already two Yahwehs present in verses 20-22.

After the negotiation, Abraham returns home, and Yahweh departs the place.

Genesis 18:33

Yahweh went his way as soon as he had finished communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Now, let’s continue to chapter 19.

As mentioned earlier, “malakim” in Hebrew means messengers, and they can be human beings, angelic beings, or even uncreated beings. For example, the Son and the Holy Spirit, whom God the Father sends to the world using them as messengers (see verses below).

Malachi 3:1

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies.

John 8:42

Therefore Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me.

John 14:26

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.

In the Old Testament, you will encounter another uncreated being who is a messenger of God. He is the Angel of the LORD, a messenger sent by Yahweh, just like we read in Exodus 23:20-21. This Angel has divine attributes and carries out actions only God can do. In Exodus 23:20-21, he is said to pardon sins.

Hosea 12:3-4 is another place where you will find God as a messenger.

Hosea 12:3-4 GW

Their ancestor Jacob held on to his brother’s heel
while the two of them were in their mother’s womb.
When Jacob became a man, he struggled with God.
He struggled with the Messenger and won.
Jacob cried and pleaded with him.
Jacob found him at Bethel,
and he talked with him there.

When Lot meets the two men, he acts the same way as Abraham did when he met the three men by the oaks of Mamre: Lot bows down, calls them lords like Abraham did in Genesis 18:2-3, offers them a meal and a chance to wash their feet.

Genesis 19:1-2

The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth, and he said, “See now, my lords, please come into your servant’s house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early, and go on your way.”

Let’s read verses 19:12-13, 15-24 next.

Genesis 19:12-13, 15-24

12 The men said to Lot, “Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place: 13 for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown so great before Yahweh that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it.”

15 When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city.” 16 But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and his two daughters’ hands, Yahweh being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city. 17 It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, “Escape for your life! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!”

18 Lot said to them, “Oh, not so, my lord. 19 See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can’t escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die. 20 See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn’t it a little one?), and my soul will live.”

21 He said to him, “Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 22 Hurry, escape there, for I can’t do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24 Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky.

Verse 13 says that Yahweh sent the two men to destroy Sodom. They rescue Lot and his family from the city, and because of saving him, verse 16 interestingly says that Yahweh is merciful to Lot. However, in verse 19, Lot compliments the two men for their loving kindness in saving his life.

According to Jewish tradition, a group of Jewish scribes called the “Sopherim” altered the pronunciation of God’s name, YHWH (Yahweh or Jehovah), to “Adonai” in approximately 134 places in the Hebrew Scriptures, Genesis 19:18 being one of the places where they did this (Source).

In the unaltered version, Genesis 19:18 reads, “Lot said to them, “Oh, not so, Yahweh.” Lot called them both Yahweh. And now, 19:19 would give the compliment of saving Lot’s life directly to Yahweh, as did verse 16.

In verses 21-22, one of the men says that he won’t overthrow Zoar and that he can’t do anything until Lot gets to Zoar. Once Lot is in Zoar, they can destroy the cities, and this is when “Yahweh rains on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky.”

One of the two men is Yahweh on earth, who rains down sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of heaven.

According to this interpretation, all three persons of the Trinity meet with Abraham, appearing as men. The Father stays with Abraham when Jesus and the Holy Spirit go down to Sodom as messengers of the Father.

Once the Father finishes conversing with Abraham, He departs to heaven. Abraham negotiates Lot’s rescue with the Father, and it is the Father’s will that Lot be rescued before Sodom is destroyed. That’s why the two messengers can’t destroy the city until Lot is rescued.

Jesus and the Holy Spirit rescue Lot from Sodom, and Jesus, on the earth, rains down sulfur and fire from the Father out of heaven.

Genesis 19:24 event elsewhere in the Bible

Does the Bible mention the two Yahwehs in Genesis 19:24?

Yes, it does. Three verses in the Old Testament mention the event.

In Amos 4:11, Yahweh says, “I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.”

In Jeremiah 50:40, Yahweh says, “As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and its neighbor cities.”

In Isaiah 13:19, Yahweh says, “the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.”

Amos 4:11

“I have overthrown some of you,

    as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,

    and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire;

    yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.

Jeremiah 50:40

As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and its neighbor cities,” says Yahweh,

“so no man will dwell there,

neither will any son of man live therein.

Isaiah 13:17-19

Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver, and as for gold, they will not delight in it. Their bows will dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb. Their eyes will not spare children. Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

In all three verses, like in Genesis 19:29, Yahweh refers to Himself as “Elohim.” Elohim is a plural noun meaning God or gods. Interestingly, Elohim is used in these three verses, just like in Genesis 1:1, when God created the world in a famous Trinitarian act.

Why isn’t Yahweh simply saying, “as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,” but refers to Himself as Elohim?

It’s because overthrowing Sodom and Gomorrah is a Trinitarian act backed by Genesis 19:24 and 18:20-22.