Genesis 19:11 - Exposition

And they smote the men that were at the door —the pethaeh, or opening ( vide Genesis 19:6 )— of the house with blindness ,— סַגְוֵרִים (sanverim), from an unused quadrilateral signifying to dazzle, is perhaps here intended not for natural blindness, but for confused or bewildered vision, involving for the time being loss of sight, and accompanied by mental aberration; what Aben Ezra calls "blindness of eye and mind" (cf. 2 Kings 6:18 )— both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door— which they would hardly have done bad it been natural blindness only.