THE PATRIARCH AND THE FIVE KINGS. ll

that they would stay in the street all night; but he
pressed them greatly, and they went in. Then the
people of the place came demanding the strangers. Lot
went out to speak to them, but they listened not to him;
they pressed upon him, and nearly broke the door. His
guests then drew Lot in to them, and smote the people
outside with blindness, so that they could not find the
door. The angels—for Lot’s visitors were not mortals
_told him now to collect his family and flee from this
place, for the Lord had sent them to destroy it. Lot
told his sons-in-law, but they did not heed ; it seemed a
jest to them.

“The morning dawned. ‘ Arise, take thy wife and
thy two daughters which are here,’ the angels said to
Lot. He lingered, unwilling, it may be, to leave all his
riches behind him. They kindly took his hand and led
him away.

«“ ¢ Escape,’ they said, ‘ to the mountain; stay not. in
all the plain, lest thou be consumed.’ Lot entreated leave
to go into the city of Bela, which was near, thinking him-
self not able to go to the mountain, as if the God who
had saved him out of Sodom could not give him strength
for the journey he had commanded him to take. But
God was merciful; his petition was granted ; for his
sake the city was spared; and because he had pleaded
its being little, as a reason for its not being destroyed, it
was called Zoar, which means a little one. On the way,
Lot’s wife looked back from behind him, and for that she
died. Some of the fiery particles that were in the air