Lot Lingered and Wealth Kept to Its Owner's Harm

"And he lingered" (Genesis 19:16). Bewilderment after bewilderment. He said: With what shall I escape? With silver and gold, with precious stones and pearls? This is the meaning of what is written, "Riches kept by their owner to his harm" (Ecclesiastes 5:12). Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: This is Lot. Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman said: This is Korah. Rabbi Yehudah bar Simon said: This is Naboth. Rabbi Levi said: This is Haman. Rabbi Yitzchak said: This is the tribe of Reuben and Gad. The rabbis say: This is Job, who became impoverished and then returned to what he had been (another version: this is the tribe of Levi, which was wealthy and became impoverished and then returned to what it had been). "And the men seized his hand, and the hand of his wife, and the hand of his two daughters, in the LORD's compassion upon him" (Genesis 19:16). Who was this? This was Raphael. They objected: but is it not written, "and they brought him out," and it is written, "and it came to pass, when they had brought them out"? He said to him: Read what follows: it is not written here "and they said, Escape for your life," but rather "and he said, Escape for your life" (Genesis 19:17). "Escape to the mountain" (Genesis 19:17) means by the merit of Abraham, who is great as a mountain, as you say, "leaping upon the mountains" (Song of Songs 2:8). "Behold now, your servant has found favor in your eyes" (Genesis 19:18-19). Rabbi Berekhiah and Rabbi Levi in the name of Rabbi Chama bar Chanina: Two people said one and the same thing, Lot and the woman of Zarephath. The woman of Zarephath said: Before you came to me, the Holy One, blessed be He, would see my deeds and the deeds of my city, and my deeds were many beside the deeds of my city; now that you have come to me, you have come to bring my sin to remembrance and to kill my son (1 Kings 17:18). And Lot said: Before I went to Abraham, the Holy One, blessed be He, would see my deeds and the deeds of my city; now that I am going to Abraham, his deeds are many beside mine, and I cannot stand against his glowing coal. This is the meaning of what is written, "and I cannot escape to the mountain" (Genesis 19:19). Rabbi Berekhiah in the name of Rabbi Levi: From here we have learned that just as a bad dwelling tests a man, so a good dwelling tests him. From where? From this: "and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest the evil overtake me" (Genesis 19:19). And Sodom lay in the depths. Therefore he says, "I cannot escape to the mountain." He was dwelling in the depths, and they were saying to him, Go out to the mountain, and he kept saying, "I cannot escape to the mountain." This teaches that even moving from a bad dwelling to a good dwelling, the good dwelling itself tests him.