The purpose of this article is to review the biblical account of Lot and his wife who was famously turned into a pillar salt for looking back at her hometown, Sodom, as they fled the destruction that had been foretold to Lot. This story is one of the most famous of the Judeo-Christian faiths. The question is, is it true and accurate? Can it be defended? And does it stack up to scrutiny? This article attempts to ask and answer some of those questions.
As always, readers are encouraged to add their comments, counter evidence, and rebuttals to the substantive issues raised in this article.
First of all who was Lot? Let us look at his background according the bible narrative. The son of Noah named Shem had a descendant named Terah.
Genesis Chapter 11.
027 Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. 028 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. 029 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.
COMMENT: So Nahor married his brother’s (Haran) daughter named Milcah. Haran had another child named Iscah. In Judaism Iscah is identified as Sarah who became Abraham’s wife. So Abraham married his deceased brother Haran’s daughter just as Nahor married Milcah, also daughter of deceased Haran. However a contradiction arises in Genesis 20:12 where Abraham tells Abimelech, King or Gerar (who abducted Sara to marry her and was struck by brief mental illness): “And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.” So who is lying here, Abraham or the biblical author? But whatever the case the house of Terah was one incestuous family marrying each other. More so that the women involved were daughters of a deceased brother. Would that be the case if Haran had not died? And did these marriages involve consent of the women to marry their father’s brothers or was it imposed by Terah the grand daddy of the house?
030 But Sarai was barren; she had no child. 031 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 they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. 032 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.
COMMENT: So Lot was the son of Abraham’s brother. We may infer then that Lot’s sibling was then Iscah. Granted Iscah is Sarah as Jewish tradition claims, then Lot’s brother-in-law was Abraham. Also Lot’s other brother-in-law was his other uncle named Nahor. So even though Abraham tells Abimelech that Sarah is his sister we can use extended family ties to agree on the nomenclature that even though Sarah was his niece biologically, she became his sister as Terah (Abraham’s father) could have adopted the children of his deceased son. But yet still they practiced incest. None of these marriages would be acceptable today. So why is an omniscient document using ancient tribal incestuous marriages as an example for us to follow in this day and age?
Genesis Chapter 13
After disputes between the workers raising their cattle Abraham and Lot agree to move to separate sectors of Canaan to avoid further conflict and maintain their family honor.
010 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.
COMMENT: So apparently it was known that Sodom and Gomorrah would be destroyed before Lot moved to live there? Or is this the biblical author retroactively inserting the event to sanitize the manuscripts since Sodom etc had later became associated with abominations and it would be unsavory for a man of god and role model, Lot to move and go and live there? This is similar to the Noah story where it is reported Noah collected seven-seven of clean beasts onto the arc, yet the idea of “clean” and unclean beast was not invented until Moses in Exodus.
011 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. 012 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. 013 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
COMMENT: The exact nature of this wickedness is not known at this time but we shall come to it soon. But apparently Abraham is told to leave the area completely in the next few verses.
014 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 018 Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.
Chapter 18
Abraham now has a visitation from god where god tells him he will destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Still the exact nature of their sins is not revealed. 020 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 021 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. 022 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. 023 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 024 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? 025 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? 026 And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. 027 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: 028 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.
COMMENT: So if 45 righteous can be found in Sodom the city will be spared. But no special conditions for Gomorrah. So the destruction shall go ahead.
Chapter 19
001 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
COMMENT: What Lot was doing sitting at the gate nobody knows. Did he not have anything to do to be just sitting at the gate like a veranda boy? The story continues.
002 And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. 003 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. 004 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: 005 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
COMMENT: Given the history of the word “know” so far in the bible was may safely assume it refers to a sexual act, more precisely sexual intercourse. So the mob of men encircled Lot’s house demanding the visitors be brought out so they could have sex with them, ostensibly a homosexual group rape.
006 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, 007 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. 008 Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
COMMENT: So after unsuccessfully pleading that the Sodomite mob stop their project, Lot offers his two virgin daughters to the mob to rape them and satisfy themselves in order to protect his two angel visitors. The ethics of this offer can be debated under another post, but this is a very disturbing scenario. Clearly female lives and sexual rights are subverted here and all the participants on god’s side apparently approve. Even the angels do not tell Lot not to make such an offer. They do not offer themselves for the protection of the defenseless women who are now being offered as sex slaves by their own father, for the safety of the angels. This a clear case of women being treated inferior to men an somehow being responsible for the sexual deviation of men. This is an outrage and utter nonsense.
009 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. 010 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. 011 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door. 012 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: 013 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. 014 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.
COMMENT: So Lot’s sons-in-law refuse to leave Sodom and mock Lot. Now wait a minute. Lot offered his daughters to the mob as virgins, yet they apparently had husbands. So how could they have husbands and yet be virgins? Was Lot lying to the mob? How did the sons-in-law feel about their wives being offered to satisfy a sexually charged mob of perverts? Or they were both married the same day and had yet to been sent to their husbands’ homes that day of the visitation? But if that was the case it would be unlikely that Lot would be sitting at the gate of the City doing nothing. He would be busy helping arrange for the daughters to move to their husbands houses. He would also have been at home counting his bride price earnings which was common in ancient cultures, maybe some cows or jewelry etc . It would have been a great day for Lot, yet we were told on this day he was sitting at the city gate doing nothing.
The other question is since the sons-in-law were not “righteous” and saved from the destruction were they also participant’s in this or previous homosexual orgies like this one? Can that explain why Lot’s married daughters were still virgins?
015 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 016 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. 017 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. 018 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: 019 Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: 020 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. 021 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. 022 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. 023 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. 024 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
COMMENT: So the destruction actually happened in the daytime, not darkness as usually depicted by Christians. Earlier we are told the angels had been sent to destroy the city, but now we are told the fire and brimstone (sulfer) came from heaven. Another contradiction. Or the angels were surveyors coming to check where and how to aim the divine missiles. But we are taught that god is all seeing, all knowing. Why would he need surveyors to go ahead and do reconnaissance before launching missiles? Does god operate like the US military? If they were sent to warn Lot, well how come god could not simply tell him, after all in the previous chapter god came down and conversed with Abraham. But no, the angels specifically stated they came to destroy the city, but now apparently this was a false claim.
025 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. \ COMMENT: It sounds like more than two cities were destroyed here. The word “both” would have described this better but we are told “all” cities and “all” the plain.
026 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
COMMENT: The reason she looked back is not given. Did she stumble? Some (Jehovah’s Witnesses tracts) claim she wanted to look back at her hometown for the last time. And for this she is killed and “saltified” What is the justification for that? Homosexual mobs are burned with sulfur and fire but someone looking back is also murdered by god. Why? Are these two “crimes” equivalent? Looking back versus homosexual gang rape, or other long term homosexual acts that the Sodomites practiced for several years?
027 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: 028 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. 029 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 the which Lot dwelt. 030 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. 031 And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:
COMMENT: How come there is not a man around? How about nearby Zoar where they fled to? It was not destroyed and people lived there. So actually there were plenty of people around for them to have children with. Meanwhile they had husbands in Sodom, so why could the impending incest not have been avoided by omniscient god making their husbands more “righteous” and therefore spared? So in effect god allowed Lot to let his daughters marry homosexual men who did not sleep with them so they remained virgins even when married, so they could be murdered in the destruction of Sodom. Yet his elderly wife looks back for an undisclosed reason and is also murdered. This does not make sense at all.
032 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. 033 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. 034 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. 035 And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
COMMENT: If the level of drunkenness was that bad it can be shown that Lot would not have had an erection to perform this act. If the level was less enough to perform the act he would know he was having sex with somebody. This is a testable scientific hypothesis. So who did Lot think he was having intercourse with?
036 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. 037 And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. 038 And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.
COMMENT: Now this is a set up. We are being told that the offspring of these incestuous sexual encounters produced two other kingdoms. As we continue to read the bible we will be told these people went to war with the Israelites and were destroyed. Throughout the rest of the Old Testament the Ammonites and Moabites are presented as strong enemies of the Israelites who attacked them or sabotaged them in some way or another (Exodus, Judges, 1Kings, 2 Chronicles). So you see at this point in Genesis they are being set up as evil and the product of dastardly acts therefore their subsequent annihilation is justified. This type of paranoia precedes every political massacre and genocide witnessed in the world. It’s called the mass hysteria phase where the enemies are identified, then stories about their dirty origins or how they have corrupted the world begin to become popular, making the genocide perpetrators have some sanitized form of moral superiority that they are about to do the right thing, and that even god approves of it. In Nazi Germany the Nazis did this with the Jews. In Rwanda, Tutsis were described as cockroaches on national TV, and even nuns and priests participating in the killings. In the slave trade and apartheid south Africa the blacks were identified as the enemy, heathens, descendants of Satan, a separate non-human species and therefore could be slaughtered and used like any other beast. To this day nothing progressive is reported about Africa in the western media. This same strategy was used to exterminate the Australian Aborigines, the Native Americans, and even the Bosniaks. The British used it to subdue the Irish. In Ashanti stories like this were used to describe Krobo women and why generations of them became permanent sex workers in Kumasi, ostensibly due to a curse by Komfo Anokye. And there are many other examples from all over the world. Currently the Indonesian government is using the same ideas to evict the Irianese of Irian Jaya (also called west Papua) from their lands in order to exploit gold and timber resources, claiming the Papuans are heathens, uncivilized savages, traitors and not wanting to integrate with the rest of the country. Sadly the bible also uses this strategy. What a shameful and sad situation for a supposedly divine document to stoop so low into this cesspool of violence ethnic hatred and utter stupidity, all without a shred of testable evidence but based on hearsay, illiteracy, and bigotry.
So one aspect of this story is that Ammonites and Moabites are equated with evil because they are were from incest yet Abraham’s family committed similar incest by two brothers marrying the daughters of their deceased brother, or in Abraham’s case he married is own sister depending on which account you prefer. The hypocrisy involved here is very serious.
Another problem with this story is that the fire and brimstone (sulfer) that rained down would provide evidence in the geology of the area. To this day no such evidence has been found anywhere in the world, of sulfur raining down from the sky. None. Given the scale of the destruction described one would expect to easily find the necessary remnants and at some depth in the ground somewhere in or near that geographic area. None has been found. There is no evidence for it. Did god go back and remove the evidence for future generations? So how come he left evidence for past erosion, forest fires, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, ice age, extinct animals, archaeology, sea level changes, volcanoes, meteorites etc but not a single shred of evidence for sulfur raining down from the sky in the middle east?
At this juncture we shall call on the Christians to come up and walk the walk, and tell us how and why this story is tenable in the face of the evidence. So the question is asked again. Is the biblical account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah true and accurate? So far, this claim is in serious trouble.
kwaku ba © August 2010
