L is for Lot

 

Lot is Abraham's nephew who starts out with such a bright future but ended up sad and miserable living in a cave.

 

In Genesis 13, Lot and Abram separate because the land can't sustain their combined flocks.  Abram, gives him the pick of the land and Lot choses land over by Zoar and the city of Sodom.  This was done out of greed because it was the best land.  Can't say that I blame him.  Which of us when given first pick doesn't pick the larger half of the cookie?

 

Now the city of Sodom was a wicked city.  Lot originally pitches his tents outside of Sodom.  The kings in that area were at war and soon after he moves, Lot and his possessions are carried off as spoils of war.  This greatly distresses Abram and he sends his private army of 318 men off to rescue them.  His men are successful and bring Lot and his family and their possessions back along with others that were taken.  (At this point, I want to note that this is a huge indication of Abram's wealth.  A private army of 318 trained private soldiers?  Seriously.)

 

Remember that I noted that Lot originally lived outside of Sodom.  By Genesis 18, he's living inside Sodom.  And things in Sodom have not improved because God comes to Abraham (Abram has just become Abraham, God renamed him in his covenant) and tells him that he is going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their sin.  Abraham pleads for the cities and talks God down to sparing the city for the sake of 10 people.

 

Well, there aren't 10 righteous people in the city at all so two angels come to take Lot and his family away.  Obviously, Lot knows how depraved the city is because he won't let the angels spend the night in the square.  And I think the city is rubbing off a bit on him because when the men of Sodom come to gang rape the angels, Lot is about to offer up his two daughters for them to gang rape instead.  Good father?  I think not.

 

The angels warn Lot to flee and he hesitates.  Could it be that he liked living in Sodom?  Sounds a bit that way.  Or perhaps he's rather attached to his possessions.  Something must have lured him from his life outside the city, into the walls of the despicable place.  The angels have to physically pull him and his wife and daughters away.  Lot hesitates again and asks to be able to go to the city of Zoar instead of the mountains.  The angels grant his request.  While they are fleeing, Lot's wife looks back and turns into a pillar of salt.  I won't go into details on that, however, you can find a wonderful study on that subject in Bad Girls of the Bible by Liz Curtis Hughes. 

 

The depravity doesn't end there.  At the end of Genesis 19, we see the fate of Lot who is living in a cave near Zoar.  It sounds like his daughters have also been educated in the ways of Sodom because they get their father drunk and rape him so they can get pregnant by him.  I'm not sure how they got it into their heads that they would never get married.  Perhaps Lot, who the Bible says moved to the cave because he was afraid to live in Zoar became an isolationist and refused to give them in marriage.  We're not explicitly told.  In any case, it was a sad end to a man who could have had a nice comfortable life but made some poor decisions.