LOT LOT 151
fet more fertile, before Sodom and Gomorrah * had en destroyed—‘ well-watered everywhere,’ like the garden of Eden, or the valley of the Nile. A region so blessed by nature proved to Lot an irresistible temptation: heedless of his uncle, heedless of the wickedness of its inhabitants— significantly emphasized by the narrator in v.%— he made his choice; he left his uncle on the bare hills of Bethel, while he uimself descended into the fertile valley, ‘and moved his tent (Sax) as far as Sodom.’ ‘By thus voluntarily quitting Canaan, Lot resigns his claims to it, and the later territorial relations of Moab and Ammon [see below], and of Israel, are prefigured’ (Dillm.).
The next incident in Lot’s life which is mentioned is his rescue by his uncle after he had been taken cap- tive by the expedition headed by Chedorlaomer (Gn 14). After the defeat of the king of Sodom and his allies in the ‘ Vale of Siddim,’ Lot, who now ‘ dwelt in Sodom,’ is, amongst others (ν.16), taken prisoner by the victorious kings from the East, and carried otf by them. Abraham, who was now at Hebron, hears of what has happened, and immediately, with 318 followers, starts in pursuit. All through Canaan, as far as Dan, near the foot of Hermon, he follows the retreating hosts: there he surprises them by a wen attack, pursues them as far as Hobah, probably some 80 miles N. of Damascus, recovers Lot and his possessions, and brings him back (it is implied) to Sodom (vy.!"}8),
The next time that we hear of Lot is in the familiar narrative of Gn 19. The two angels, whose mission it is to destroy the guilty cities of the ‘Kikkar,’ arrive at Sodom at even. Lot, sitting in the galevey: of the city,—the common place of resort in the East, whether for conversa- tion or business (cf. Ru 4!),—rises up, with the same ready courtesy which Abraham had shown before (1838), and which is still usual among the Arabs, to offer them hospitality : at first, wishing, it may be, to test his sincerity, they decline the invitation, but being pressed ie him they yield, and are entertained y him sumptuously, at a ‘feast’ (anvn; ef. 218 26% 29%). Lot’s hospitality on this occasion is alluded to (probably), in con- junction with that of Abraham (ch. 18), in the well-known words (Ie 13"), which have passed into a proverb, ‘ Be not forgetful to entertain strangers (τῆς φιλοξενίας μὴ ἐπιλανθάνεσθε); for some have thereby entertained angels unawares.’ The char- acter of the men of Sodom soon discloses itself (οἵ. Is 3°) ; and Lot, obliged to act quickly in a trying situation, made the mistake of placing his duties as a host (which, as is well known, are regarded in the East as peculiarly sacred) above his duties as a father. ‘The words of Lot (‘have two daughters,’ etc.) have been much canvassed in all times. St. Chrysostom thought it virtuous in him not to spare his own daughters, rather than sacrifice the duties of hospitality, and expose his guests to the wicked- ness of the men of Sodom (Hom. xziti. in Gen.). So St. Ambrose (de Abrah. i. 6), speaking as if a smaller sin were to be preferred to a greater. But St. Augustine justly observes, that we should open the way for sin to reign far and wide if we allowed ourselves to commit smaller sins, lest others should commit greater (Lib. contr. Mend. ο. 9. See also Quest. in Gen. 42). We see in all this conduct of Lot the same mixed character. He intended to do irish but did it timidly and imperfectly.’ In fact, Lot ‘brought his troubles upon himself by the home he had chosen. He was bound to defend
* On the difficult question of the site of these cities, see HGHL 505 ff., and App. 678. To the present writer, the arguments in favour of a site at the 8, end of the Dead Sea appear to preponderate: cf. the note below on Zoar. It is
not necessary to βάσις that Lot saw the exact part of the Kikkar in which the cities were; in any case, the word
‘all’ in Gn 1310 must be an exaggeration.
his guests at the risk of his own life, but not by the sacrifice of his daughters’ (Speaker's Comm. on v.5). The profligate multitude, resenting Lot’s interference, and the assumption of moral superi- ority which it implied, essay to lay hands upon him ; and are only prevented from carrying out their purpose by the intervention of the two angels, who forcibly bring Lot into the house, and strike his would-be assailants with a dazzling (o-n:, only besides 2 K 618), preventing them from being able to find the door. The angels, satisfied now that even ‘ten’ righteous men (18**) are not to be found in Sodom, urge Lot to quit betimes the doomed city, taking with him all those belonging to him. But his ‘sons-in-law’ mocked at his warnings; and even Lot himself, though hastened by the angels as soon as morning broke (ν.}5), ‘ lingered’ (ν. 5), re- luctant to leave his ‘ house’ (v.° etc.), and the city which he had made his home. But the angels are tender to his weakness, J” being desirous to ‘spare’ him ; they accordingly take hold of his hand, and lead him, together with his wife and daughters, outside the city. There they bid him escape for his life, neither looking behind him—whether to be tempted back, or to watch with curious eye the fate of the city—nor tarrying even for a moment in any part of the coveted (13) ‘ Kikkar’: ‘escape to the mountain,’ —or ‘mountainous coun- try,’ viz. of the later Moab (v.* 141°), —* lest thou be swept away’ (v.17). But the mountains are too distant for Lot’s faith, or strength of purpose: fearing he will not be able to reach them in time, he ae to be allowed to take refuge in a city nearer at hand, which, being a ‘little one,’ might have been less guilty than the other cities, and more easily spared. His request is granted, and he escapes to Zoar. The aim of this part of the narrative is evidently to explain the origin of this name, Zoar is in all Rinne the Zoara, or Zoor, of Josephus, and the Zughar of the Arab. geographers ;* and this, as Wetzstein has shown (in Del. Gen.‘ 564 ff.), lay in the plain at the S.E. extremity of the Dead Sea, now called the Ghér es-Safieh,t which, in striking contrast to the salt and marshy plain opposite (S.W. of the Sea), at the foot of the Jebel Usdum (see p. 152), is well- watered, and ‘covered with shrubs and verdure, like the Plain of Jericho’ (Grove in Smith, DB iii. 1182; HGHL 508n.). Lot reached Zoar soon after sunrise (v.*) ; and the destruction of the other cities of the ‘ Kikkar’ then took place. His wife, disregarding the injunction of v.'”, looked back from behind him, and became ‘a pillar of salt’ v.35), +