Reading the Bible 10:
Gen 19: 30 – 20: 18
The story of Lot concludes with an account of Lot and his two
daughters. These were the ones Lot had
offered to the men of Sodom to spare the angelic visitors from abuse or
worse. Of course Lot’s wife is not with
them as she was turned into a pillar of salt for her sin of looking back. As I noted last time, no further mention is
made of his unnamed wife (note that the daughters are not named either).
The account of incest between Lot and his daughters doesn’t
say very much for biblical family values.
However, I wouldn’t want to be accused cultural relativism. There must have been cultural activities that
led to the Levitical laws. It is an interesting account of the foundation
of two other peoples – the Moabites and the Ammonites. They certainly got a bad rap by the writers
of Genesis. I wonder how those people
felt about the account that the Israelites were spreading about their founding
stories?
That is where we leave Lot and his offspring. The story returns to Abraham and Sarah. History repeats itself and Abraham and Sarah
get into trouble in another land, Gerar. The carryings on in Egypt is repeated in this
land. Abraham again passes off Sarah as
his sister to save himself with similar results. There is something of the trickster inn
Abraham. This characteristic will come
to full bloom in his grandson Jacob. It
is interesting how family traits often skip a generation. In any case the founding father of three
religions definitely had a shadow side which seems to not be acknowledged. Whenever that happens serious consequences
are sure to follow.
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