Lot

Lot, the son of Haran and nephew of Abram, is the figure through whom the early chapters of Genesis trace the costs of choosing the well-watered cities of the Plain. He travels with Abram from Ur to Canaan, separates over grazing rights, settles in Sodom, is captured and rescued in war, is dragged out of the city the night before its destruction, loses his wife on the road, and ends in a mountain cave fathering Moab and Ben-ammi. Jesus and 2 Peter both reach back to him: Jesus as a measure of how the day of judgment comes upon the unwary, 2 Peter as the rescued righteous man tormented by lawless surroundings.

House of Haran

Lot first appears as a grandson of Terah inside Genesis 11's genealogy: "Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran begot Lot" (Gen 11:27). When Terah leaves Mesopotamia for Canaan, Lot is taken along with his uncle Abram and Sarai: "And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and he had them go out from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran, and dwelt there" (Gen 11:31).

When Yahweh's call moves Abram on from Haran, Lot moves with him: "So Abram went, as Yahweh had spoken to him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran" (Gen 12:4). After the sojourn in Egypt the pair return together into the Negeb: "And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the South" (Gen 13:1).

The parting at Bethel

In Canaan the two households grow too prosperous to share a single range. Abram is "very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold" (Gen 13:2); "And Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. And the land wasn't able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land" (Gen 13:5-7).

Abram refuses to let kin quarrel and gives Lot first pick: "Let there be no strife, I pray you, between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brothers. Isn't the whole land before you? Separate yourself, I pray you, from me. If [you will take] the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if [you take] the right hand, then I will go to the left" (Gen 13:8-9).

Lot's choice runs by the eyes: "And Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the Plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before [the Speech of] Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar" (Gen 13:10). The narrator already knows what is coming. "So Lot chose for himself all the Plain of the Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the Plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom" (Gen 13:11-12). The quiet warning follows immediately: "Now the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against Yahweh exceedingly" (Gen 13:13). Only after Lot is gone does Yahweh speak again to Abram: "And [the Speech of] Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, Lift up now your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward" (Gen 13:14).

Captive and rescued

Lot's residence in Sodom puts him under the politics of the cities of the Plain. Genesis 14 opens on a coalition war: Amraphel of Shinar, Arioch of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer of Elam, and Tidal of Goiim march against the five Plain kings, including Bera of Sodom (Gen 14:1-3). After twelve years of vassalage and a thirteenth year of revolt (Gen 14:4), Chedorlaomer's coalition sweeps through the Rephaim, Zuzim, Emim, Horites, Amalekites, and Amorites (Gen 14:5-7) before meeting the Plain kings in the valley of Siddim, where the Sodomite line breaks: "Now the valley of Siddim was full of slime pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and those who remained fled to the mountain. And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way" (Gen 14:10-11).

Lot is taken with the city's plunder: "And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed" (Gen 14:12). Word reaches Abram at the oaks of Mamre, and he marches: "And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he mobilized his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan. And he divided himself against them by night, he and his slaves, and struck them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people" (Gen 14:14-16).

The night Sodom fell

The two angels of Genesis 19 find Lot in the city he had only camped near in chapter 13: "And the two angels came to Sodom at evening; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face to the earth" (Gen 19:1). He presses them to lodge with him: "Look now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you⁺, into your⁺ slave's house, and spend the night, and wash your⁺ feet, and you⁺ will rise up early, and go on your⁺ way" (Gen 19:2). When they protest that they will sleep in the street, "he urged them greatly; and they turned in to him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate" (Gen 19:3).

The city closes in. "But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; and they called to Lot, and said to him, Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them" (Gen 19:4-5). Lot goes outside, shuts the door, and pleads: "I pray you⁺, my brothers, don't act so wickedly. Look now, I have two daughters who haven't had any sex with a man; let me, I pray you⁺, bring them out to you⁺, and do to them as is good in your⁺ eyes: only to these men do nothing, since they have come under the shadow of my roof" (Gen 19:7-8). The crowd turns on him: "Stand back. … This one fellow came in to sojourn and always judges: now we will deal worse with you, than with them. And they pressed intensely on the man, even Lot, and drew near to break the door" (Gen 19:9). The angels intervene by hand and by miracle: "But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. And they struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door" (Gen 19:10-11).

The angels disclose their commission and tell Lot to gather his household: "Whomever belongs to you here, a son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place: for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxed great before Yahweh: and Yahweh has sent us to destroy it" (Gen 19:12-13). Lot tries: "And Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who married his daughters, and said, Get up, go out of this place; for Yahweh will destroy the city. But he seemed to his sons-in-law as one who mocked" (Gen 19:14). At dawn the angels press him harder, "Arise, take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the iniquity of the city" (Gen 19:15). Lot lingers; the rescue is finally compelled: "But he lingered; and the men laid hold on his hand, and on the hand of his wife, and on the hand of his two daughters, Yahweh being merciful to him; and they brought him forth, and set him outside the city" (Gen 19:16).

The order outside the city is absolute: "Escape for your soul; don't look behind you, neither stop in all the Plain; escape to the mountain, or else you will be consumed" (Gen 19:17). Lot bargains for a smaller shelter: "Oh, not so, my lord: now see that your slave has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving-kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my soul; and I can't escape to the mountain, or else evil will stick to me, and I will die: now see this city that is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there—isn't it a little one?—and my soul will live" (Gen 19:18-20). The angel concedes: "See, I have accepted you concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there; for I can't do anything until you have come there. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar" (Gen 19:21-22). "The sun was risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar" (Gen 19:23).

What Lot escapes is total: "Then [the Speech of] Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground" (Gen 19:24-25). Abraham, watching from the place of his earlier intercession, sees the smoke: "And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yahweh: and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and over the whole surface of the land (of the [Jordan] valley), and looked, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace" (Gen 19:27-28). The rescue itself is filed under Abraham, not Lot: "And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt" (Gen 19:29).

Lot's wife

Of the four who left Sodom, only three reach Zoar: "But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt" (Gen 19:26). Jesus brings her up directly: "Remember Lot's wife" (Lu 17:32).

The cave above Zoar

The city Lot bargained for he then will not stay in: "And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters" (Gen 19:30). Isolated, the daughters reason among themselves about lineage: "Our father is old, and there is not a man on the earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth: come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will plow him, that we may preserve seed of our father" (Gen 19:31-32). The narrative records the act and Lot's unawareness twice over: "And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and plowed her father; and he didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, Look, I plowed my father last night: let us make him drink wine this night also; and you go in, and plow him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and plowed him; and he didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot pregnant by their father" (Gen 19:33-36).

The two sons born to Lot in the cave are nation-fathers: "And the firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites to this day. And the younger, she also bore a son, and named him Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day" (Gen 19:37-38).

Lot in the prophets and the New Testament

Sirach uses Sodom as a stock example of pride that drew judgment, naming Lot as the marker for the place: "And he did not spare the place where Lot sojourned; Those who were furious in their pride" (Sir 16:8).

Jesus uses Lot's exit as a paradigm for the suddenness of judgment on the unsuspecting: "Likewise even as it came to pass in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all" (Lu 17:28-29). The wife is offered as the counter-image: "Remember Lot's wife" (Lu 17:32).

2 Peter, looking back at the Genesis 19 rescue, calls Lot righteous and reads his Sodom years as a long ordeal: "and delivered righteous Lot, very distressed by the sexual depravity of the wicked (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed [his] righteous soul from day to day with [their] lawless deeds)" (2Pe 2:7-8).