Genesis 19:24

24. The Lord rained… from the Lord The divine names here used are JEHOVAH. Jehovah sent rain, or caused it to rain, ( המשׂיר ,) from Jehovah out of the heavens . Naturally enough have divines discerned in this peculiar statement the idea of some mysterious interaction of Jehovah and his angel . No doubt the truth is, as many put it, that “the Lord rained from himself;” but it is also true that in that mysterious SELFHOOD there are distinguishable powers and forms of self-manifestation, and these are profoundly intimated in such passages as this, and those that speak of the angel of Jehovah . See on Genesis 16:7. Such intimations are not to be pressed as proofs of the divine Trinity, but may be properly regarded as inspired adumbrations of a plurality of persons in the unity of God .

Brimstone and fire These are expressly said to have been rained out of heaven, and the circumstances amply detailed in this and the preceding chapters and the whole context, set forth the manner of the event as miraculous. But we may well believe that in this event, as in the plagues of Egypt, God used natural agencies to accomplish his will. “We know,” says Dr. E. Robinson, “that the country is subject to earthquakes, and exhibits also frequent traces of volcanic action.… Perhaps both causes were at work; for volcanic action and earthquakes go hand in hand; and the accompanying electric discharges usually cause lightnings to play and thunders to roll. In this way we have all the phenomena which the most literal interpretation of the sacred records can demand. Further, if we may suppose that before this catastrophe the bitumen had become accumulated around the sources; and had, perhaps, formed strata spreading for some distance upon the plain; that possibly these strata in some parts extended under the soil, and might thus easily approach the vicinity of the cities, then the kindling of such a mass of combustible materials, through volcanic action or by lightning from heaven, would cause a conflagration sufficient not only to engulf the cities, but also to destroy the surface of the plain, so that ‘the smoke of the country would go up as the smoke of a furnace,’ and the sea, rushing in, would convert it into a tract of waters.” Biblical Researches, vol. ii, p. 190.