Today's Reading from Vayeira:
Genesis 19:1-21:4
Our second portion of Parsha Vayeira opens in the city of Sodom, with Abraham's nephew Lot sitting at the city gate. This may seem like a strange place to hang out, but it was actually quite normal in ancient times. The city gate was where prominent men of the city, such as judges or businessmen, gathered to conduct business.
Lot greets two approaching strangers (the angels that had just come from their visit with Abraham) and invites them to spend the night at his home. This also may seem odd to our Western sensibilities, but it was customary in that time. It is also important to note that a guest in someone's home was under the protection of the master of the house.
The two men state their intention to spend the night out in the city square, but in Genesis 19:3, Lot strongly urges them to stay at his home and they relent. Now this may simply have been another practice of that culture, but it may also have been because Lot knew how dangerous the city really was. This danger is clearly demonstrated in Genesis 19:5 when the men of the city besiege Lot's home and demand that he send out the visitors so they can rape them. Lot pleads with the attackers to leave, and then goes to the outrageous extreme of offering them his two virgin daughters instead. While it's true that Lot was bound by honor and custom to protect his guests from harm, there is no indication that he needed to do so by way of offering up his daughters to be raped. Thankfully, before things go to far the angels strike the men with blindness and they leave (Gen. 19:11).
The angels then explain to Lot that they are there to destroy the city, so Lot runs to warn the men betrothed to his daughters of the impending doom. They don't believe him. This might give us an indication of Lot's character and his degree of assimilation into the climate of that wicked city. Is it possible that if Lot had been well known as a righteous man, someone who stood out from those around him, that his future sons-in-law may have taken him seriously?
Furthermore, in Genesis 19:16 Lot demonstrates his attachment to the city in his hesitation to leave it even though he knows it will soon be destroyed. It is only because the angels are filled with "the compassion of the L-rd" that Lot is saved. They practically have to drag Lot and his family to safety. Then, when they urge him to flee far into the hills, he asks to go to a nearby town instead. The angels mercifully agree to his request, yet as we see later, he chooses to live in a cave outside this town anyway.
In verse 26 of chapter 19, we are told of a particularly strange occurrence. As the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are being annihilated in a torrent of fire and brimstone, Lot's wife looks back after being specifically forbidden to by the angels. She is turned into a "pillar of salt." This may have been a direct punishment for disobeying the angels or for harboring too deep an attachment to the city. It could also be a result of Lot's wife not heeding the angels protective warning. The Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - JFB offers a theory that she may have been covered by some sort of lava flow, much like the citizens of Pompeii. Whatever the case, she paid the ultimate price for her disobedience.
In the next section, Genesis 19:30-38, we again see the dangers of assimilation into a wicked culture. While living in the cave with their father, Lot's daughters decide that there will now be no possibility for them to bear children...ever. How they came to this conclusion I don't know, but their disturbing solution to the problem is to get their father drunk and have intercourse with him. So way back in our first introduction to Lot, he sins by greedily choosing the best land for himself. Then he chooses to stay in a wicked and pagan city. Later he makes the appalling offer of his daughters to a group of would-be rapists in exchange for his guests' safety (an act which certainly wouldn't have given his daughters the idea that they were worth anything in his eyes). After the escape, his wife deliberately disobeys the angels in her desire to look back at the city. Now Lot's daughters debase themselves and their father through an incestuous act. Do we see a clear pattern of sin in this family yet?
In chapter 20, Abraham is not faring much better. This chapter covers Abraham's sojourn in the land of Gerar. By this time Abraham has apparently forgotten the trouble he got himself into back in Egypt, because the entire event plays itself out again, almost exactly. Abraham fears for his life and he introduces Sarah as his sister. The local king takes Sarah into his harem, which results in his household being cursed by G-d. The king then angrily returns Sarah to Abraham along with a sum of money to make things right. Sound familiar?
So what is the common thread in these stories? I see it as humans acting on their own wisdom without bothering to consult G-d. Lot has the not-so-bright idea to sacrifice his daughters to guarantee his guests safety instead of crying out to G-d for protection. Lot's wife chooses to look back at a doomed city in direct opposition to a command given by divine messengers. Lot's daughters take the continuation of the family line into their own hands and commit a shameful act. And Abraham tries to guarantee his own protection through lies and deceit. None of these people cried out to the L-rd for wisdom or protection. They handled situations in a way that seemed right to them but that ended in shame and even death.
Yet G-d is still loving, merciful and patient with His human creations. In the beginning of Genesis 21, G-d's covenant blessing to Abraham finally comes to pass. A son is born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age. And in Genesis 21:3-4 we see Abraham's return to obedience, as he names his son Isaac and circumcises him on the eighth day, just as G-d had commanded.
My prayer today is that I would take the time to consult G-d before making decisions. In all my decisions, big and small, may I look to the L-rd's wisdom instead of leaning on my own understanding.
Tomorrow: Genesis 21:5-34
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