Lot (Bible)
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In the Bible, Lot (Arabic: لوط, Lūṭ ; Hebrew: לוֹט, Standard Lot Tiberian Loṭ ; "Hidden, covered") was the nephew of the patriarch, Abraham or Abram. He was the son of Abraham's brother Haran. (Gen. 11:27)
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[edit] Lot in the Hebrew Bible
The story of Lot is told in the Book of Genesis. Lot is mentioned in chapters 11-14 and 19.
Lot followed his uncle from Ur. He accompanied Abraham and his family in his journeys to Egypt. When Abraham traveled to the Land of Canaan at the command of God, Lot accompanied him. (Gen 12:1-5). Abraham had always a great affection for him, and when they could not continue longer together in Canaan because they both had large flocks and their shepherds sometimes quarelled (Gen 13:6,7) he gave Lot the choice of his abode. Lot went southeast to plains near the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, since the land there was well watered. (Gen. 13:10-12).
About eight years after this separation, Chedorlaomer and his allies attacked the kings of Sodom and the neighbouring cities, pillaged Sodom, and took many captives, including Lot. Abraham armed his servants, pursued the confederate kings, and overtook them near the springs of Jordan. He recovered the spoils they had taken and brought back Lot with the other captives. Abraham was offered a reward by the King of Sodom, but refused even a shoelace.
In Gen. 19, when God decided to overturn and destroy the five cities of the plain, he sent angels to rescue Lot and his family. The men of Sodom sought to rape (in some translations, meet) the angels (19:5). Lot offers the men his virgin daughters instead (19:8), but the men are not interested.
When the sins of the Sodomites and of the neighboring cities had called down the vengeance of God to punish and destroy them, two angels were sent to Sodom to forewarn Lot of the dreadful catastrophe about to happen. The angels took Lot, his wife, and his daughters by hand and drew them forcibly out of their house, saying, "Save yourselves with all haste. Look not behind you. Get as fast as you are able to the mountain, unless you be involved in the calamity of the city." Lot entreated the angels, who consented that he might retire to Zoar, which was one of the five doomed cities. His wife, looking back on Sodom, was turned into a pillar of salt.
Lot left Zoar and retired with his two daughters to a cave in an adjacent mountain. In Gen. 19:30-38, Lot's daughters incorrectly believed they were the only females to have survived the devastation. They assumed it was their responsibility to bear children and enable the continuation of the human race. On two subsequent nights, according to the plan of the older daughter, they got their father drunk enough to have sexual intercourse with them, drunk enough that he is described as being unaware of what was happening. By him each became pregnant. The first son was named Moab (Hebrew, lit., "from the father" [meh-Av]). He was the patriarch of the nation known as Moab. The second son was named Ammon or Ben-Ammi (Hebrew, lit., "from our nation"). He became the patriarch of the nation of Ammon.
[edit] Lot's wife and the pillar of salt
Jewish tradition names Lot's wife Edith or Ildeth and several questions are proposed concerning Lot's wife being changed into a pillar of salt. Some suggest that being surprised and suffocated with fire and smoke, she remained in place, as immovable as a rock of salt. Others say that a column or monument of salt stone was erected on her grave, or that she was stifled in the flame and became a monument of salt to posterity; that is, a permanent and durable monument of her impudence. Yet another interpretation is that during the cataclysm that destoryed the city, which might have occured in the form of an earthquake or meteor strike, large blocks of salt that form in the hypersaline Dead Sea may have beached themselves, creating the impression that missing persons had been turned into "pillars" of salt. Finally, it has been suggested this is a metaphor meaning she was made barren, in allusion to salting fields making them infertile.[citation needed]
A literal interpretation is that she was suddenly petrified and changed into a statue of rock salt, which is a soft rock or a halite.
[edit] Midrash
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Jewish midrash records a number of additional stories about Lot, not present in the Tanakh. These include:
- Abraham took care of Lot after Haran was burned in a gigantic fire in which Nimrod, King of Babylon, tried to kill Abraham.
- While in Egypt, the midrash gives Lot much credit because, despite his desire for wealth, he did not inform Pharaoh of the secret of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
[edit] Criticism
Some have described the Biblical narration as Lot offering his daughters for gang-rape [1], adding "so much for Lot being a righteous man!" [2] and "supports the idea that God considers women to be of the same worth as farm animals, definitely of less value than two strangers who have stopped by for a visit." [3]
The Islamic view denounces [4]the Biblical account of Lot offering his daughters to be gang-raped (Genesis 19:8)[5] and later impregnating both of them due to excessive alcohol consumption (Genesis 19:30-36)[4].
[edit] Notes
- ^ http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_bibg.htm
- ^ http://www.atheistresource.co.uk/sexandsexism.html
- ^ http://www.jesus21.com/content/sex/index.php?s=bible_homosexuality_1
- ^ a b http://www.quranicstudies.com/article22.html
- ^ http://www.answering-christianity.com/bassam_zawadi/prophet_lots_offering.htm
[edit] References
- Calmet, Augustin (1837). Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible. Boston: Crocker & Brewster. LCC BS440.C3.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
