What did the angels see to hurry Lot because dawn had broken? What is the significance of 'dawn-break' here?
Seforno: The punishment had to take place with sunrise, because the Sodomites worshipped the sun. 1
Rashbam: The Pasuk mentions dawn-break to demonstrate how patient the angels were with Lot, who arrived in Tzo'ar only with sunrise. They waited for him 2 due to their love of Avraham Avinu.
As the Gemara says in Berachos 7a, "When the sun rises and all the kings of the east and the west remove their crowns from their heads and prostrate themselves before the sun," they arouse G-d's anger.
It is not clear, however, how the Rashbam then translates "va'Ya'itzu," which all the other commentaries translate as "and they hurried."
HaSh-m destroyed Sedom at the hour of, "u'Chemo ha'Shachar Alah;" when is this?
Rashi (to 19:24): It is day-break, when both the sun and the moon are in the sky simultaneously. 1 Because some of the people worshipped the sun and, some, the moon, had it been at another time, some could have claimed that had their god been in the sky, he would not have allowed Sedom to be destroyed.
Moshav Zekenim: It is not dawn. If so, it would have said "uch'Alos ha'Shachar"! Rather, it was a bit of light, like dawn.
Riva: Since it was past [the first day of] Pesach, the moon had started to wane, so it was visible at sunrise. Also refer to 19:24:1.4.
"Your two daughters who are present" (ha'Nimtza'os). Why are they referred to as such?
Maharal (Chidushei Agados Vol. 1, p. 143, to Yevamos 77a): The Gemara says that this alludes to the Davidic dynasty, which would descend from them. "Ha'Nimtza'os" (lit. who are found) implies that someone is looking; it was HaSh-m Who was looking to bring about David ha'Melech. "Finding" means something that had not been around before is now available; this event was the initial root of the Davidic dynasty, which in turn perfected the world and actualized its potential. 1
Also see Maharal (Netzach Yisrael Ch. 32, p. 149) - Mashi'ach is a new development, not a continuation of anything that came before. Lot's daughters were fitting for this task; their children Amon and Moav, whose males are forbidden to marry into the Jewish people, are the farthest from the Jewish people as is possible. [See Maharal further as to why Mashi'ach descends specifically from Lot, from Avraham's family, and why specifically from a father's union with his daughters.] (EK)
