Genesis 19
What a strange chapter! On so many different levels this passage is disturbing. First we see the two angels headed to Sodom, only to be spotted by Lot at the city gate. Lot knew there was something special about these two -- just as Abraham sensed something about his visitors a chapter earlier. The angels said they were planning on spending the night in the town square -- what a scene that would have been! Odd enough the way it turned out. Lot strongly persuaded the two to spend the night at his house. He fed them, but before bedtime, a crowd gathers outside the house. I get weird flashbacks to watching "Night of the Living Dead" when I was younger from this passage. The text says that "All the men from every part of Sodom -- both young and old -- surrounded the house." They called on Lot to send the two men (angels) out to be raped -- technically sodomized.
Lot knew there was something about these two, as I doubt he would have gone to such lengths to protect two ordinary visitors. Still it's surprising what he offered the mob outside. Two virgin daughters were not a good enough trade for the crowd. 1) What an offer! and 2) How disturbed were these Sodomites, anyway?
It was the angels who pull Lot to safety in the house, then they struck the mob blind. When the mob broke up (apparently) Lot went to recruit his "sons-in-law" to flee with the family while the city would be destroyed. The two who laughed him off. So Lot, his wife and two daughters head for Zoar after convincing the angels that Lot couldn't handle the trip up to the mountains. The next morning the fire and brimstone fell, not only on Sodom, but on Gomorrah and in the entire plain region. A large meteor? Perhaps. Whatever it was, it did the job.
Job's wife looks back on the city as she runs and "she became a pillar of salt." Here's another place I'd love to study the Hebrew. Whatever the exact context, Lot's wife hesitated, looked back in identification with that city. When she did so, she disobeyed the instructions given by the angels in 19:17. Oddly, the instructions were given just after Lot hesitated to leave in 19:16. Now, with the plain charred and smoking, Lot and his two daughters are the only survivors. Lot's wife was dead, perhaps buried by falling debris and buried -- thus causing the pillar of salt reference.
Lot and his daughters left Zoar because Lot was afraid to live in that city. We're not told why. Perhaps he was identified as a Sodomite and the people of Zoar wanted to get rid of him. In any case, Lot takes his daughters and lives in a cave in the mountains -- hermit style. The daughters then devise a plan to keep the family line going. On sucessive nights, the girls get Dad drunk and each sleep with him, conceiving a son. It's hard to get past the "ick-factor" on this one. Comparisons to Abraham and Sarah's plan with Hagar spring to mind. Each plan worked. Ishmael became the father of the arabic peoples. Lot's new children were the fathers of the Moabites and the Ammonites.
Lot knew there was something about these two, as I doubt he would have gone to such lengths to protect two ordinary visitors. Still it's surprising what he offered the mob outside. Two virgin daughters were not a good enough trade for the crowd. 1) What an offer! and 2) How disturbed were these Sodomites, anyway?
It was the angels who pull Lot to safety in the house, then they struck the mob blind. When the mob broke up (apparently) Lot went to recruit his "sons-in-law" to flee with the family while the city would be destroyed. The two who laughed him off. So Lot, his wife and two daughters head for Zoar after convincing the angels that Lot couldn't handle the trip up to the mountains. The next morning the fire and brimstone fell, not only on Sodom, but on Gomorrah and in the entire plain region. A large meteor? Perhaps. Whatever it was, it did the job.
Job's wife looks back on the city as she runs and "she became a pillar of salt." Here's another place I'd love to study the Hebrew. Whatever the exact context, Lot's wife hesitated, looked back in identification with that city. When she did so, she disobeyed the instructions given by the angels in 19:17. Oddly, the instructions were given just after Lot hesitated to leave in 19:16. Now, with the plain charred and smoking, Lot and his two daughters are the only survivors. Lot's wife was dead, perhaps buried by falling debris and buried -- thus causing the pillar of salt reference.
Lot and his daughters left Zoar because Lot was afraid to live in that city. We're not told why. Perhaps he was identified as a Sodomite and the people of Zoar wanted to get rid of him. In any case, Lot takes his daughters and lives in a cave in the mountains -- hermit style. The daughters then devise a plan to keep the family line going. On sucessive nights, the girls get Dad drunk and each sleep with him, conceiving a son. It's hard to get past the "ick-factor" on this one. Comparisons to Abraham and Sarah's plan with Hagar spring to mind. Each plan worked. Ishmael became the father of the arabic peoples. Lot's new children were the fathers of the Moabites and the Ammonites.
posted by rev-ed @ 10:36 PM
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