Synopsis:
Two angels arrive in Sodom. They meet Lot at the gate. Lot
encourages them to come into his house to eat and sleep, which they do. For some reason, the men of Sodom come to the
house demanding the angels be brought forth so they can be raped. Lot refuses and offers up his two virgin
daughters instead. The men of Sodom
refuse the offer of the virgin girls and again demanded the two angels. They start
to advance on Lot but the two angels pull him back into the house and
blind the men outside. The angels then
tell Lot to take his sons and daughters and to leave because they plan to
destroy the city of Sodom. Lot tries to
tell his son in laws to take his daughters away, but they think he is crazy. In
the morning Lot takes his wife and his two daughters with him and the angels
transport them all outside of the city and tell them to go to the mountain as
there they will be safe. Lot asks if he can go to the city of Zoar instead, the
angels agree. But as the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are being destroyed with
brimstone and fire, Lot’s wife looks back at the carnage and becomes a pillar
of salt. Lot left Zoar and went up to the mountains to live in a cave. His
daughters, despairing of ever having a man, get their father drunk and have sex
with him so that they can get pregnant and carry on his seed. One child is Moab
and becomes the father of the Moabites. The other is Benammi and is the father
of the Ammonites.
In other words:
Two angels head to Sodom and if it weren’t for the good will
of Lot, they would have been raped. The angels transport Lot and his daughter
and wife away, but his wife is turned into a pillar of salt for looking back at
the destruction of the cities of Sodom and
His daughters get him drunk and have babies with him.
The big unanswered question:
The story of the men of Sodom wanting to rape the angels is
really strange. I mean, who looks at an angel and thinks – yup – I want to rape
that? Perhaps angel is a metaphor for an effeminate person? Could they perhaps be gay men? That would
make a lot more sense.
Also – is it possible that Lot was crazy? After all, his son in laws certainly
thought he was and didn’t heed his warning to take his daughters away to
safety. On the other hand, the “angels” certainly destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah. Perhaps they set fire to the
place?
Favorite bit:
Genesis 19:16 – it appears that the “angels” teleport Lot
and his wife and his daughters outside of the city simply by laying hands on
them. So perhaps, something supernatural happens after all. Or, the ancient
alien theorists are right and these are aliens with advanced teleporting
technology.
Lot has schizophrenia and the angels were hallucinations as was the mob - this would explain why his sons, living in his house witnessed none of this and thought the old man was crazy. I think he went on a rampage, set fire to the town, somehow his wife was killed and he took his daughters away and didn't come to his senses until he was on the road out of town, which is why it seemed he was teleported by the angels.
What I think really happened:
Lot has schizophrenia and the angels were hallucinations as was the mob - this would explain why his sons, living in his house witnessed none of this and thought the old man was crazy. I think he went on a rampage, set fire to the town, somehow his wife was killed and he took his daughters away and didn't come to his senses until he was on the road out of town, which is why it seemed he was teleported by the angels.
Moral Lesson learned:
The moral lessons learned in this chapter are really not all
that great.
1)
Raping men is bad (Genesis 19:7)
It’s unfortunate that this is very specific to men and that
raping women is apparently ok. As a woman, I’m not entirely happy with this
lesson.
2)
A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do
(Genesis 19:31)
Again – not happy with this because of the incestuous way
they have their children. But then, the Lot family line is clearly not of
concern to God so I suppose it doesn’t matter. (still – ugh)
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