Lot (Bible)

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According to the Bible and the Quran, Lot (Hebrew: לוֹט, Standard Lowt ("veil") Tiberian Loṭ; Arabic: لوط, Lūṭ; "Hidden, covered"^[1]) was the nephew of the patriarch, Abraham or Abram. He was the son of Abraham's brother Haran. (Gen. 11:27) Abram's brother Nahor became Lot's brother in law by the marriage of Nahor (Abraham's brother) to Milcah (Lot's sister).

Contents 1 Religious literature 1.1 The Bible 1.1.1 Genesis 1.1.2 New Testament 1.1.3 Joseph Smith translation of the Bible 1.2 Qur'an 1.3 Midrash 2 Geography 3 Critical viewpoints 3.1 Homosexuality 3.2 Scholarship 4 Science fiction 5 References 6 See also 7 External links

[edit] Religious literature

[edit] The Bible

[edit] Genesis

The story of Lot is told in the Book of Genesis. Lot is mentioned in chapters 11-14 and 19.

Lot was the son of Abraham's brother Haran.^[2] Lot and his family went with Abraham and his family from Ur of the Chaldees to Egypt. When Abraham traveled to the Land of Canaan at the command of God, Lot accompanied him. (Gen 12:1-5). Abraham had always a great affection for him, and when they could not continue longer together in Canaan because they both had large flocks and their shepherds sometimes quarrelled (Gen 13:6,7) he gave Lot the choice of his abode. Lot went southeast to plains near the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, since the land there was well watered. (Gen. 13:10-12).

About eight years after this separation, Chedorlaomer and his allies attacked the kings of Sodom and the neighbouring cities, pillaged Sodom, and took many captives, including Lot. Abraham armed his servants, pursued the confederate kings, and overtook them near the springs of Jordan. He recovered the spoils they had taken and brought back Lot with the other captives. Abraham was offered a reward by the King of Sodom, but refused even a shoelace.

In Gen. 19, when God decided to overturn and destroy the five cities of the plain, he sent angels to rescue Lot and his family. The men of Sodom sought to rape (in some translations, meet) the angels (19:5). Lot offers the men his daughters instead, whom he says are virgins (19:8), but the men are not interested.

When the sins of the Sodomites and of the neighboring cities had called down the vengeance of God to punish and destroy them, two angels were sent to Sodom to forewarn Lot of the dreadful catastrophe about to happen. The angels took Lot, his wife, and his daughters by hand and drew them forcibly out of their house, saying, "Save yourselves with all haste. Look not behind you. Get as fast as you are able to the mountain, unless you be involved in the calamity of the city." Lot entreated the angels, who consented that he might retire to Zoar, which was one of the five doomed cities. His wife, looking back on Sodom, was turned into a pillar of salt.

Lot left Zoar and retired with his two daughters to a cave in an adjacent mountain. In Gen. 19:30-38, Lot's daughters incorrectly believed they were the only people to have survived the devastation. They assumed it was their responsibility to bear children and enable the continuation of the human race. On two subsequent nights, according to the plan of the older daughter, they got their father drunk enough to have sexual intercourse with them. By him each became pregnant. The first son was named Moab (Hebrew, lit., "from the father" [meh-Av]). He was the patriarch of the nation known as Moab. The second son was named Ammon or Ben-Ammi (Hebrew, lit., "Son of my people"). He became the patriarch of the nation of Ammon.

[edit] New Testament

In Luke 17:28-32 Jesus uses Lot's wife as a warning to those who do not watch for the signs of the Apocalypse, and in 2 Peter 2:7-8 Lot is described as a righteous man surrounded by wickedness.

[edit] Joseph Smith translation of the Bible

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints exonerates Lot. In the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible Lot's actions read this way:

"And Lot said, Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, plead with my brethren that I may not bring them out unto you; and ye shall not do unto them as seemeth good in your eyes; For God will not justify his servant in this thing; wherefore, let me plead with my brethren, this once only, that unto these men ye do nothing, that they may have peace in my house; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof." ^[3] In other words, this translation changes his offer of his daughters to the men of Sodom to a plea that they not touch his daughters. Other church readings of Lot match closely the traditional Christian view.

[edit] Qur'an

Main article: Islamic view of Lot

Jews and Christians do not consider Lot a prophet, but Muslims do. The story of Lot impregnating his daughters while drunk (Genesis 19:30-36) is not mentioned in the Qur'an and is considered a lie. The Qur'an does say that when the men continued their ways of homosexuality, he offered his daughters'(meaning his nation's daughters') hands in marriage. And his people came rushing towards him, and they had been long in the habit of practicing abominations. He said: "O my people! Here are my daughters(my nation's daughters): they are purer for you (if ye marry)! Now fear Allah, and cover me not with shame about my guests! Is there not among you a single right-minded man?" ^{[Qur'an 11:78]}.

“	And (remember) Lout (Lot), when he said to his people: "Do you commit the worst sin such as none preceding you has committed in the 'Alamin (mankind and jinns)?" "Verily, you practise your lusts on men instead of women. Nay, but you are a people transgressing beyond bounds (by committing great sins)." And the answer of his people was only that they said: "Drive them out of your town, these are indeed men who want to be pure (from sins)!" Then We saved him and his family, except his wife; she was of those who remained behind (in the torment). And We rained down on them a rain (of stones). Then see what was the end of the Mujrimun (criminals, polytheists, sinners, etc.).	”
	— Qur'an 7:80-84

Today, the meaning of "sodomites" is used after the 'evil' acts of people of Sodom.

[edit] Midrash

This section does not cite any references or sources. (December 2006) Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Jewish midrash records a number of additional stories about Lot, not present in the Tanakh. These include:

• Abraham took care of Lot after Haran was burned in a gigantic fire in which Nimrod, King of Babylon, tried to kill Abraham.
• While in Egypt, the midrash gives Lot much credit because, despite his desire for wealth, he did not inform Pharaoh of the secret of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

[edit] Geography

Main article: Mount Sodom

There currently stands a geological formation overlooking the Dead Sea which is called "Lot's Wife" because of the shape and location of the feature.

[edit] Critical viewpoints

[edit] Homosexuality

This article does not cite any references or sources. (October 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Defenders of homosexuality view the story of Lot in the Bible as supporting rape and homophobia^{[citation needed]} They point to the following:

• Lot offers his daughters to the men of Sodom. Lot seems to value his male guests more highly than his daughters. Some also see in the text a suggestion that raping women is a cure for homosexuality, and that homosexuality is a worse sin than the rape of women. This does not apply to either the Islamic or Latter-day Saint account, and is also a subject of contention and discussion amongst the classical Jewish commentators. It would also suggest that Lot is not the innocent he is often depicted as.^[4]
• The story that Lot was seduced by his daughters seems highly implausible in this view. To some, it seems more likely that Lot would rape his own daughters,^{[attribution needed]} and then attempt to shift the blame on to them for what he did. From a feminist perspective, this is in line with patriarchal society which seeks to make victims of rape and incest responsible for their abuse, rather than the perpetrators. It should be emphasized that a plain reading of the text would seem to give little immediate support to this viewpoint. However, some scholars^{[attribution needed]} have noted the importance of continuing a patriarchal line in the old world and represent that Lot's daughters valued their seed enough to have their own father father their children. Also, some scholars^{[attribution needed]} feel that Lot and his daughters felt that they were the last people alive in the area and the daughters decided to continue their seed the only way they thought possible: their father. Note that some of the above criticisms (e.g. the story of incest) do not apply to the Islamic account, since Islam denies the incest occurred.^[4]
• However, the views regarding incest can be argued as incorrect, as the nation of Moab, a cursed tribe in the context of the bible, was founded by two daughters who committed incest with their father; the nation being cursed because of their incestual relations with him. It is even argued in the context of Moab that the daughters had this incestual relationship with their father as to keep the partriarchal line, as their father was blind and dying; it is this action of incest, the concept of incest to maintain the patriarchal line, which is cursed, that caused the resulting nation to be cursed. The fact that no such curse exists regarding Lot, or his family, would indicate the fact that this act of incest never happened.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Scholarship

The Biblical Book of Judges 19-21 seems to offer a story very similar to Lot's ordeal in Sodom and Gomorrah. This has led many critical scholars to surmise that both tales stem from a similar legend and not from a historical account. Such issues have also called into question whether Lot was an actual person or simply a fictional character in a cautionary fable (101 Myths of the Bible, Greenberg, 2000).

[edit] Science fiction

In the science fiction stories "Lot"(1953) and "Lot's Daughter"(1954) by Ward Moore, the Bibilical story of Lot and his daughters' survival from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is reinterpreted as the story of the survival of a modern American family in the aftermath of nuclear war.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

• Calmet, Augustin (1837). Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible. Boston: Crocker & Brewster. LCC BS440.C3. 

[edit] See also

• Abraham
• Biblical narratives and the Qur'an

[edit] External links

• Our People: A History of the Jews - Abram and Lot
• A Pillar of Salt - A lesson from Lot's wife