“A treacherous brother goes from a fortified city” (Proverbs 18:19). “A brother” – this refers to Lot, who was the son of Abraham’s brother. “Treacherous…goes from a fortified city” – you betrayed Abraham,4Abraham is the “fortified city” that had protected Lot when he was with him. you denied him, you were false to him.5By moving to the evil city of Sodom, thus turning against Abraham’s righteous way of life.
And what did it cause to you? “Ordinances like the bars of a palace” (Proverbs 18:19) – he brought ordinances upon himself like the bars of the Temple. Just as [it is stated] elsewhere, [regarding the Temple]: “Anyone impure may not enter” (II Chronicles 23:19), so, too, here: “An Amonite or a Moavite shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord…forever” (Deuteronomy 23:4).6Lot’s abandonment of Abraham’s ways ultimately led to his fathering Amon and Moav, who were locked out of intermarrying with the assembly of the Lord.