Chapter 19 thoughts
God’s traveling companions from chapter 18, two angels, continued to Sodom to meet Lot. Like Abraham, Lot recognizes them as something more than human. But apparently so did some of the residents of the city, who bear down on Lot’s home. Was it an act of intended dominance? Intrigue? Regardless, that sealed the fate of the city. After Lot offered his daughters to the crowd of men (they were rejected) the angels struck the offending men blind and told Lot to pack his bags.
The angels gave Lot a few hours and he tried to rescue his daughters’ fiancées. Why in the world did they treat his pleas as a joke? Then again, I think most Americans would take it as a joke if we heard destruction was imminent. In fact, often when we hear about impending natural disasters we do disregard it, so perhaps the fiancées are very much like us.
I understand Lot’s wife turning into salt for her disobedience. Harsh perhaps, but a time to disregard God’s clear instruction is not in the middle of a time when he’s doling out punishment elsewhere. But I have so many questions about Lot’s daughter’s incest. I wonder if he ever found out: I don’t know the timeline, but I wonder if he chalked up the babies to final flings between his daughters and their fiancées on the eve of Sodom’s destructive. I wonder if Abraham knew, and whether when Lot’s descendants plagued the Israelites they saw their forefather’s failures in their enemies’ spears. But really, I wonder what those girls were thinking. Didn’t God just destroy your city for its wickedness? Didn’t lava just consume everyone you knew? Why would sleeping with your drunk dad seem like a particularly good idea?
Tags: incest, lot, Sodom and Gomorrah
April 29th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
agreed. bizarre.
I’m also struck with the fact that so many people are willing to negotiate with God/angels…and it works! Abraham negotiated, asked, pushed. Same here. Lot was given instruction to go to the mountains and he said “well i’d rather go over there” and the angels agreed. What are the implications for us? Can/should we push back on what God asks? What would life for Lot be like if he had done what the angels originally suggested? I’m really surprised how God and the angels relent upon request.