“And it was as dawn broke, the angels urged Lot, saying: Arise; take your wife, and your two daughters who are present, lest you be destroyed in the iniquity of the city” (Genesis 19:15). “And it was as dawn broke, the angels urged Lot, saying” – Rabbi Ḥanina said: [During the interval] from the first gleam of dawn until the illumination of the [entire] eastern horizon,40Referred to generally as the break of dawn. a person can walk four mil; from the illumination of the eastern horizon until sunrise, [he can likewise walk] four mil, as it is stated: “As dawn broke, [the angels urged Lot]” and it is written: “The sun emerged upon the earth [as Lot arrived in Tzo’ar]” (Genesis 19:23).

Now, was it really four mil from Sodom to Tzo’ar?41The distance between the two places is actually five mil. Rabbi Ze’eira said: The angel was leveling the way before them.42Thus they were able to travel five mil in the time that one would normally walk four mil. From where is it derived that from the first gleam of dawn until the illumination of the eastern horizon43Translation follows the emendation of Nezer Hakodesh and Etz Yosef. a person can walk four mil?

“As [kemo],” “and it was as [ukhmo]”44The verse could have said just kemo, but instead it stated ukhemo, adding a vav. – one period is equal to the other period.45The extra vav indicates that the two time periods, the period from the first gleam to the illumination of the east, and the period from the illumination of the east until sunrise, are equal. Rabbi Yosei bar Avin said: If a person says to you that the morning star is the first gleam of dawn he is saying an untruth.

Sometimes it occurs in less time46The morning star sometimes appears before the first gleam of dawn. and sometimes it occurs in more time. It is,47The first gleam of dawn. rather, like two rays of light that ascend in the east and illuminate the world. “And your two daughters who are present [nimtzaot]…” – Rabbi Toviya bar Rabbi Yitzḥak: Two [great] finds [metziot] [would emerge from his daughters] – Ruth the Moavitess and Naama the Amonitess.48Solomon’s principal wife.

Rabbi Yitzḥak said: “I found David My servant” (Psalms 89:21) – where did I find him? It was in Sodom.49David was descended from Ruth.