2 Peter 2:6

And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) And turning. . . .—The construction still depends upon the “if” in 2Peter 2:4. (See Note on Jude 1:7.)

Condemned them with an overthrow.—Or, perhaps, to an overthrow, like “condemn to death” in Matthew 20:18. The very word here used for “overthrow”—catastrophe—is used by the LXX. of the overthrow of these cities (Genesis 19:29); in the New Testament it occurs in 2Timothy 2:4 only.

An ensample unto those.—Literally, an ensample of those—i.e., of the punishment which such sinners must expect. (Comp. “Are set forth for an example,” Jude 1:7.)

Benson Commentary

2 Peter 2:6-8. And turning the cities of Sodom, &c., into ashes — When the inhabitants of those places were sunk into the lowest degeneracy; and condemned them with an overthrow — Punished them with utter destruction, both of their persons and habitations; making them an ensample — Not an example to be imitated, but an example to be avoided, as the word υποδειγμα, here used, signifies. Hence Jude, to express the same idea, uses the word δειγμα. And delivered just Lot — By the miraculous interposition of his providence; vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked — Exceedingly grieved by the lewd behaviour of the lawless Sodomites. For that righteous man, dwelling among them — Lot appears to have dwelt sixteen years in Sodom, after he parted from Abraham; a long space to abide in one of the lewdest and most outrageously wicked cities in the world, and not be tainted with their vices. Doubtless, as he was so exceedingly grieved with their lewd conduct from day to day, he often earnestly desired to leave the place, but he was directed, it seems, by God, to remain, that he might be an example of the divine goodness and power in delivering the godly from temptation, sin, and punishment. In seeing their base actions, and in hearing their lewd speeches, he vexed — Εβασανιζεν, tormented; his righteous soul from day to day — For their wickedness was incessant; with their unlawful deeds — The cry of which came up at length to heaven, and brought down upon them flaming destruction.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:1-9 Though the way of error is a hurtful way, many are always ready to walk therein. Let us take care we give no occasion to the enemy to blaspheme the holy name whereby we are called, or to speak evil of the way of salvation by Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. These seducers used feigned words, they deceived the hearts of their followers. Such are condemned already, and the wrath of God abides upon them. God's usual method of proceeding is shown by examples. Angels were cast down from all their glory and dignity, for their disobedience. If creatures sin, even in heaven, they must suffer in hell. Sin is the work of darkness, and darkness is the wages of sin. See how God dealt with the old world. The number of offenders no more procures favour, than their quality. If the sin be universal, the punishment shall likewise extend to all. If in a fruitful soil the people abound in sin, God can at once turn a fruitful land into barrenness, and a well-watered country into ashes. No plans or politics can keep off judgments from a sinful people. He who keeps fire and water from hurting his people, Isa 43:2, can make either destroy his enemies; they are never safe. When God sends destruction on the ungodly, he commands deliverance for the righteous. In bad company we cannot but get either guilt or grief. Let the sins of others be troubles to us. Yet it is possible for the children of the Lord, living among the most profane, to retain their integrity; there being more power in the grace of Christ, and his dwelling in them, than in the temptations of Satan, or the example of the wicked, with all their terrors or allurements. In our intentions and inclinations to commit sin, we meet with strange hinderances, if we mark them When we intend mischief, God sends many stops to hinder us, as if to say, Take heed what you do. His wisdom and power will surely effect the purposes of his love, and the engagements of his truth; while wicked men often escape suffering here, because they are kept to the day of judgment, to be punished with the devil and his angels.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes - Genesis 19:24-25. This is a third example to demonstrate that God will punish the wicked. Compare the notes at Jde 1:7. The word here rendered "turning into ashes" τεφρωσας tephrōsas, occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It is from τέφρα tefra, ashes, and means to reduce to ashes, and then to consume or destroy.

Condemned them with an overthrow - By the fact of their being overthrown, he showed that they were to be condemned, or that he disapproved their conduct. Their calamity came expressly on account of their enormous sins; as it is frequently the case now that the awful judgments that come upon the licentious and the intemperate, are as plain a proof of the divine disapprobation as were the calamities that came upon Sodom and Gomorrah.

Making them an ensample ... - That is, they were a demonstration that God disapproved of the crimes for which they were punished, and would disapprove of the same crimes in every age and in every land. The punishment of one wicked man or people always becomes a warning to all others.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. with, &c.—"TO overthrow" [Alford].

ensample—"of (the fate that should befall) those who in after-time should live ungodly." Compare Jude 7, "set forth for an example."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The cities of Sodom and Gomorrha; which being the chief of the five, include Admah and Zeboim, Zoar, the fifth, being spared for Lot’s sake, Genesis 14:18, compared with Genesis 19:25.

Condemned them with an overthrow; i.e. punished them with a total subversion, or brought that destruction upon them to which he had condemned them.

Making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; of his wrath and vengeance ready to be poured out upon others that should live ungodly, to deter them from the imitation of the sins of those that had so miserably perished. The word may be rendered a type, (as it is, Hebrews 8:5, and Hebrews 9:23), viz. of hell-fire, which is to be the punishment of wicked men at the last day: Judges 1:7 implies as much. As the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt was a kind of type of the deliverance of all God’s people to the end of the world; so the subversion of these cities was so memorable an instance of Divine vengeance, that the Scripture frequently alludes to it, as a type or pattern, when it speaks of the general destruction of the wicked of the world.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes,.... By raining brimstone and fire upon them from heaven, Genesis 19:24 which soon reduced them to ashes, with Admah and Zeboiim, Deuteronomy 29:25, cities delightfully situated, which were as the garden of God, and the land of Egypt, together with the inhabitants of them; and after they had received a signal mercy, in being rescued by Abraham from the kings who had carried them captive; and though Abraham, the friend of God, interceded for them, and righteous Lot dwelt among them. The first of these cities is in the Hebrew language called Sedom; Philo the Jew (w) calls it Sodoma, as in Romans 9:29 and in the Septuagint on Genesis 13:10 here it is said to be a city, and Josephus (x) always calls it the city of the Sodomites, but in Matthew 10:15 we read of the land of Sodom; and so Philo (y) the Jew speaks of the region or country of the Sodomites; here the word is of the plural number, as in Matthew 10:15 as it is also in the Septuagint in Genesis 10:19 and in Philo the Jew (z), and so is Gomorrah in some copies of this, place, as in Matthew 10:15. Solinus, the historian, gives an account of these cities, in agreement with this;

"a good way off of Jerusalem (he says (a)) is opened a sorrowful gulf, which the black ground, "in cinerem soluta", "reduced to ashes", shows it to be touched by heaven; there were two towns, or cities, the one called Sodom, and the other Gomorrah; where an apple is produced, which, although it has an appearance of ripeness, cannot be eaten; for the outward skin that encompasses it only contains a sort of soot, or embers within, which, ever so lightly squeezed, evaporates into smoke and dust;''

and so the author of the book of Wisdom 10:7 speaking of the five cities, on which fire fell, says,

"of whose wickedness, even to this day, the waste land that smoketh is a testimony; and plants bearing fruit, that never come to ripeness.''

Philo the Jew (b) says, that

"there are showed to this day in Syria monuments of this unspeakable destruction that happened; as ruins, ashes, sulphur, smoke, and a weak flame, breaking forth as of a fire burning:''

condemned them with an overthrow; by this sad "catastrophe" God condemned the sins of those men of Sodom and Gomorrah, and condemned their persons to everlasting damnation; of which their temporal punishment was an emblem and figure; see Jde 1:7, the word "overthrow" is generally used when this destruction is spoken of, Deuteronomy 29:23 and therefore retained by the apostle here:

making them ensamples unto those who after should live ungodly; in the commission of any sins, and be open, bold, and impudent in them, and declare them as they did; and especially that should live in the commission of the same sins, those unnatural lusts and uncleannesses, which to this day go by the name of "sodomy", and "sodomitical" practices; now the punishment of the inhabitants of these cities was an ensample to such wicked conduct, showing what they must expect, and was a representation of those everlasting burnings, which such sinners, as a righteous retaliation for their burning lusts, shall be cast into. The Jews say (c) the same of the men of Sodom and Gomorrah as of the old world;

"the men of Sodom have no part in the world to come, as is said Genesis 13:13 "but the men of Sodom were wicked, and sinners before the Lord exceedingly"; wicked in this world, and sinners in the world to come;''

See Gill on .

(w) De Temulentia, p. 272. (x) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 8. sect. 3. c. 11. sect. 3.((y) De Abrahamo, p. 381. (z) De Temulentia, p. 272. (a) Polyhistor. c. 48. (b) De Vifa Mosis, l. 2. p. 662. (c) Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 11. sect. 3. Vajikra Rabba, sect. 4. fol. 149. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

2 Peter 2:6. Third example: The overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah; cf. Judges 1:7.

This verse also is still dependent on εἰ. Schott, without any adequate reason, asserts that the author “has even here forgotten the construction of his expression in the protasis with εἰ.”

πόλεις Σοδόμων καὶ Γομόῤῥας] The gen. as apposition.

τεφρώσας] Suidas: equivalent to ἐμπρήσας, σποδώσας: “by burning them to ashes, by reducing them to ashes.”

καταστροφῇ κατέκρινεν] not equal to eversione s. subversione damnavit i. e. unditus evertendo punivit (Gerhard, Dietlein, Schott), but καταστροφῇ is the dative of reference; see Buttmann, p. 144; cf. κατακρ. θανάτῳ, Matthew 20:18; Pott correctly: in cineres redigens damnavit ad eversionem; thus also Wahl, de Wette, Wiesinger, Steinfass, Fronmüller, Hofmann; only it must be here remarked that κατακρίνειν includes within it the punishment, the putting into execution of the judgment of condemnation—which Hofmann, without reason, denies, cf. Romans 8:3.

It is incorrect to connect καταστροφῇ with τεφρώσας (Bengel).

καταστροφή, in the N. T. besides here, only in 2 Timothy 2:14; there, however, in a figurative sense; the same word occurs in the narrative of the destruction of the cities of the plain, Genesis 19:29, LXX.

ὑπόδειγμα μελλόντων ἀσεβεῖν τεθεικώς] Judges 1:7; with ὑπόδειγμα, not equal to “example,” but to “type,” cf. Jam 5:10; Hebrews 4:11, etc. The perf. τεθεικώς corresponds with the πρόκεινται, Judges 1:7; Hofmann correctly: “God has made them, as the perf. shows, a lasting type of those who ever afterwards should live a godless life.”[68]

[68] Hofmann attaches particular importance to the circumstance, that the judgment which was effected by water was followed by another, which was effected by fire.

Expositor's Greek Testament

2 Peter 2:6. πόλεις Σοδ. καὶ Γομορρ. Not genitive of apposition, but cities of the district, where Sodom and Gomorrah were situated. cf. Judges 1:7. Σ. καὶ Γ. καὶ αἱ περὶ αὐτὰς πόλεις καταστροφῇ κατέκρινεν. καταστροφῇ is dative of instrument, “condemned them by overthrow”. Genesis 19:24-25 seems to imply some further destruction after the fire. Perhaps an earthquake is meant, a common accompanying phenomenon of volcanic disturbance. ὑπόδειγμα … τεθεικώς, “constituting them an example to ungodly persons of things in store for them.” With μελλ. cf. Hebrews 11:20, Colossians 2:17. τεφρώσας = “cover up with ashes” (not “reduce to ashes”)—found in a description of the eruption of Vesuvius. (Dio. Cass. lxvi. p. 1094).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes …] The parallelism with Luke 17:26-29 continues and here runs on side by side with Jude (2 Peter 2:7), who omits, however, any reference to the deluge, and does not dwell on the deliverance of Lot.

making them an ensample …] St Peter does not see in the supernatural destruction of the cities of the plain an exception to the normal order of the Divine government. It was rather a pattern instance of the judgment sure to fall, sooner or later, on all who were guilty of like sins. It may be noted that that destruction had been used as an illustration by the older prophets (Isaiah 1:9-10; Ezekiel 16:48-56) as well as by our Lord.

Bengel's Gnomen

2 Peter 2:6. Πόλεις, cities) There were therefore sins of the same description in the neighbourhood of Sodom, Gomorrha, etc.—τεφρώσας καταστροφῇ, turning them into ashes with an overthrow) The words καταστρέφειν and καταστροφὴ are thus used, Genesis 19:25; Genesis 19:29, Septuagint.—τεθεικὼς, placing) [rendering them]. It was an imperishable memorial of God and of the Divine judgment.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow. The striking word τεφρώσας, turning into ashes, occurs nowhere else in the New Testament; and the word for "overthrow" (καταστροφή) only in 2 Timothy 2:14. It is used in the Septuagint Version of Genesis 19:29 of this same judgment. Perhaps "to an overthrow" is a better translation (comp. Luke 17:26-29; Jude 1:7). Making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; rather, having made. The example is to be a lasting warning; literally, an example of those that should live ungodly; i.e., an example of their punishment, their end. In this verse the Vatican Manuscript omits "with an overthrow," and reads "an example of things to come unto the ungodly." 2 Peter 2:6

Vincent's Word Studies

Turning into ashes (τεφρώσας)

Only here in New Testament.

Having made them an example (ὑπόδειγμα τεθεικώς)

Compare 1 Peter 2:21. The word for example is condemned as unclassical by the Attic grammarians, and παράδειγμα is substituted, which means, properly, a sculptor's or a painter's model, or an architect's plan.