An Atheistic Bible Study Of Genesis Chapter 19 Sodom And Gomorrah

Tweet

One of God’s most disgraceful actions dominates this chapter. While God is talking to Abraham, who is begging God not to destroy the cities, the two angels accompanying God, break away and travel to Sodom. Lot, Abraham’s nephew, meets them on the outskirts and invites them to enjoy the hospitality of his house for the night, but they refuse, as they plan to stay in the town square overnight (presumably in some sort of lodgings or inns). Lot argues on with them, and they change their minds. His hospitality to them is very similar to that offered by Abraham in the preceding chapter. Bizarrely, the men of Sodom suddenly angrily surround Lot’s house and demand that he sends out the visiting strangers (angels but disguised as men), so they can rape them. The entire male population of Sodom seeks a chance to sodomize the visitors (the very offence of sodomy is named after this intended rape assault). Lot goes out alone to negotiate with the sodomites, and offers them his own daughter to rape instead of the strangers because he has promised them his protection. ??? The attackers threaten to rape Lot himself and tell him that as an outsider (he was not born in Sodom), he has no right to judge them. They try to attack him and storm the house but the angels strike the attackers blind and draw Lot back into the house to save his life and dignity. Why an entire city population of men would want to rape two visitors is unstated, as is why the angels don’t deal with the assailants immediately. Clearly they were in no danger given their powers. Why does Lot even contemplate sending his own daughter out to be raped instead of anyone, even angels? This whole section of the book of Genesis is truly disgusting. The angels now tell Lot to get any sons, daughters or other relatives out of Sodom as God is about to destroy it. Lot runs to warn his future sons-in-law, but they think he is joking when he tells them the angels are about to wipe out the city in God’s name. As the party of rapists who attacked Lot’s house involved every man in Sodom, it must also have included these sons-in-law who should now be as blind as every other male in the city. The great destruction looms, so the angel tells Lot to flee right away with all the relatives who have heeded him (leaving the sons-in-law behind to die). When Lot and others in the escape party hesitate, the angels grab them by the hand to run with them, warning them not to stop until they have cleared the plains surrounding Sodom or look back behind them at the pending destruction. Lot tells them that he cannot run quickly enough to reach the mountains before the destruction comes and begs permission to seek shelter in a small town called Zoar. The angel agree to his plan. As Lot reaches Zoar, God destroys both Sodom and Gomorrah and all the vegetation on the plains with fire and brimstone. Lot’s wife, still running for the mountains, rather than going with Lot to Zoar, ignores orders not to look at the destruction and God turns her into a pillar of salt for ignoring his instructions. Abraham sees the distant smoke of the burning cities jut as God gives Lot the all clear. Abraham does nothing and makes no comment on what he has observed despite all his efforts to save the cities before. Why wipe out the entire populations of two cities including infants and women? Why wipe out vegetation new settlers could have made use of? Why turn a woman to salt? Looking at a fireball might blind someone, but nothing on Earth turns anyone to salt. Lot and his two daughters (including the one he was prepared to have raped by every man in Sodom) have survived in Zoar, but Lot is afraid of continuing to stay there (we are never told why this is). He moves himself and his daughters to a mountain cave. They stay there so long that the daughters begin to get frightened that they will grow too old to get husbands or have children. They therefore conspire to get Lot very drunk and then make love to him (raping their own father in his sleep) to get themselves pregnant and maintain their bloodline through him. The daughters take turns, over two nights and get pregnant with two sons. The first son is Moab, from who the Moabites would descend. The second daughter gives birth to Ben-Ammi, father of the Ammonite peoples. Poor lot, despite Abraham’s respect for him, he was so enamoured of God and his angels that he was prepared to try to have his daughters raped. He lost his wife, and then grew too afraid of being near other people in towns so that his agoraphobia drove him to live in a cave. Then his daughters raped him after getting him drunk. It would be interesting to know what happened to Lot next, but we never find out what he said or did on learning his daughters were pregnant. Nor does Abraham try to go and see Lot after struggling so long to how concern for his survival. In fact, Lot is never mentioned again in the entire Bible. Even the Flood story seems tame compared to God’s cruelty in this chapter. Lot is supposed to be one of the good guys. Arthur Chappell