Lecture Six - The Patriarchs (2)

Abraham is also part of another fascinating story involving his nephew Lot.  Lot lives in the wicked city of Sodom and the people have displeased God to such a degree that he plans to completely destroy it and the other wicked cities of the plain. But Abraham intervenes.  He barters with God, asking if He would save the city if there were 50 good men.  God agrees.  Abraham then asks if God would save the city if there were 45, then 40, then 30 and then finally 10 good men.  God agrees each time.  Unfortunately, there are not even 10 good men, so the town will be destroyed but two angels will be sent to the city to help Lot escape.

What is with the bartering?  Is God not smart enough to realize that he shouldn’t be destroying whole territories that will include innocent people?  (Of course, today’s natural disasters “Acts of God”, kill the innocent as well as the guilty so we shouldn’t be surprised.)  And what does Abraham think of God if he feels so free to question God and argue with him.  (More on that in the next story.)    This story, like most of the Bible stories, lack so much detail that we are never sure what to make of them.   How evil were the people of Sodom?  What were their sins?  Were they harmful to others or were they living and enjoying a life of drunkenness and debauchery affecting only themselves.   How innocent was Lot?  Is he a worthy man or is his rescue just God’s favour to Abraham?

The next part of the story gets even stranger.  Lot invites the angels into his house which is what was expected to happen when visitors came through a town.  However, the rest of the town is not so welcoming.   All the men of the town come to Lot’s house demanding that the visitors come outside with the intent to gang rape them.   Lot tries to protect them further by offering to send out his two unmarried daughters.  WHAT!?  Luckily for the girls that isn’t what the villagers want.  Finally, the angels blind all the townsmen to end the threat.  

The next day, Lot, his wife and two daughters escape while fire and brimstone fall on the city.  Lot had tried to get his married daughters to join them but they had refused.   As they escape, Lot’s wife looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt.  What are we to make of the fate of Lot’s unnamed wife?  Why was she looking back?  Did she miss the evil of Sodom or was she looking back in hopes that her other daughters had changed their minds?  Was she turned into a pillar of salt as an accidental result of not moving away fast enough or was this purposeful punishment from God?  No answer is given.

Still, the story is far from over.   Thinking that they were alone without the possibility of husbands, the daughters get Lot drunk and each sleeps with their father.  Both become pregnant and their children become the Moabites and the Ammonites, later enemies of the Hebrews.  I don’t recall that episode being emphasized in Sunday School. 

So what we have here is a morality play in which we are told to live a righteous love or face God’s wrath and destruction.  We should be kind to wayward travelers.  We shouldn’t look back, advice given by many including Orpheus, Satchel Paige and Bob Dylan, and most importantly, we shouldn’t drink with much younger women, especially our daughters, lest we father an evil race of people.  

That last one was a bit of a joke, but despite how much I enjoy these stories I am still mystified by the reverence given to them.  Without, the historical context and by history I mean the history of the Bible and its effect on our modern culture, how much authority would we give them? 

The lectures are not giving me the answers as I assume those questions are being discussed in the seminars.  Perhaps I need to visit a minister.

More tomorrow.