bore, but I'm not quite satisfied with our contract and
should like to re-open it. I don't wish to be importunate, but will you
knock off another ten?" "With all my heart," replied the Lord, "we'll
say twenty." Still dissatisfied, Abraham resolved on a final effort. "My
good Lord," said he, "this is really the last time of asking. I promise
to bother you no more. Will you knock off another ten?" "All right," was
the reply, "anything to oblige. Well say ten altogether. If there are so
many righteous men in Sodom I'll spare it. Good afternoon, Abraham,
good afternoon." And the Lord was off. Abraham ruefully watched the
retreating figure, perfectly assured that the Lord had got the best of
the bargain, and that he himself had been duped, worsted, and befooled.

God did not go to Sodom himself, but sent two angels to inspect it. They
reached its gate in the evening, and found Lot sitting there. In eastern
towns the places before the gate are the appointed localities for
meetings; and in ancient times they were used for still more extensive
purposes. There the judge pronounced his decisions, and even kings held
there occasionally their courts of justice; there buying and selling
went on; the people assembled there to see each other and hear the news;
and almost all public affairs were transacted there, from religious
worship to the smallest details of civil life. It is not surprising,
therefore, that Lot should be sitting in the gate when the two strangers
arrived at the city. Some commentators have even conjectured that he
went out to meet them; but others object that this is contradictory to
the narrative, which does not exhibit Lot as recognising the angels, and
that it implies "too ideal a notion of its virtue." Some have supposed
that Lot had attained to the dignity of a judge, and that he was sitting
to act in that capacity on this occasion; but later circumstances refute
this supposition; for, in the quarrel which ensued, the people of Sodom
reproached him as "a stranger" who set himself up as a judge of their
conduct.

Lot advanced to the strangers, greeted them with a profound bow,
addressed them as "my lords," and asked them to stay over night at his
house, where he would wash their feet, give them something to eat, and
find them a bed. They declined his frank hospitality, and said they
meant to pass the night in the streets. Kalisch observes, as though he
knew all about their motives, that "it was their intention