Loathsome Lot

Few who are not regulars at church or temple would be able to describe Abraham as the father of the Hebrews, yet almost every Westerner knows the story of Abraham's nephew, Lot. Probably this is because the graphically intense image of Lot's wife turning in-to a pillar of salt is so unforgettable.

There is actually very little said about Lot in the Bible, but little things sometimes come in lurid packages. You might have learned in Sunday School that Lot was the only good man in the degenerate city of Sodom; but your teacher likely rushed past the salacious parts.

Lot was living in Sodom when two angels — who apparently were physically indistinguishable from normal men — entered the city to see if its citizens were as evil as had been reported. When Lot sees the strangers arrive, he offers them food and shelter, which they accept. They eat and prepare for bed, but then a most fantastic event occurs: all the males in the city, "both young and old, to the last man," surround the house and demand that Lot "bring [the strangers] out to us, so that we may know them." [Gen 9:1 8] The implication here is that the Sodomites desired to have homosexual relations with the strangers. But there were only two strangers, and there must have been hundreds (if not thousands) of men outside Lot's door. This scenario boggles the mind even more than all those millions of critters crammed into Noah's boat.

Lot's reaction is no less outrageous. He says to the mob, "Behold, I have two daughters who have not known man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men." Yes, you read it right; Lot —the most morally upright man in town — offers his virgin daughters to the crowd in place of the strangers!

The epilogue to this story is rarely mentioned. In it, Lot and his two daughters are living in a cave. Since the daughters have no man around to satisfy their re-productive desires, they conspire to get their father drunk and have sex with him. Apparently, the alcohol of the time did not have the inhibiting influence on male sexual performance that it does today, for they are successful in this escapade … two nights in a row.

We never are told the type and extent of the sins of Sodom that prompted God to destroy that city, but if, by comparison, Lot was considered a good guy, then the rest of the townsfolk must have been true scum.

As for all the little children that got barbequed in God's cleansing fire, we can only speculate about their moral character. .