The Book of Genesis, Chapter 19

Genesis 19:1-38

Summary

A couple angels go to visit Sodom, where, as the name suggests, things are getting a bit kinky. Lot encourages the guests to stay at his house, and serves them with the proper hospitality, when some folks come a-knocking, interested only in the new fellas, and not a whit in Lot's daughters, who he offers up for their, uh, enjoyment. The angels tell Lot to flee, because God's a bit ticked about how messed up this place has become and intends to destroy it, so they run, and they're not supposed to look back, but Lot's wife does and BAM; pillar of salt. Then in his fear, Lot locks his daughters and himself into a cave, and his practical daughters decide if he won't let any boys come make them babies, they'll have to get him drunk and make babies with him. Phew. Is this the bible or a Jerry Bruckheimer movie?

Commentary

I'm not even sure where to start. This chapter has all the makings of a summer blockbuster movie. Lots of sex, violence, daring escapes, cities being destroyed; It'd be the only bible movie with an Unrated DVD with all the good parts left in.

Say what you like about Lot, but he's pretty dutiful to God and the angels, at the very least. He bows with his head to the ground when he first sees them (Gen 19:1), and insists very strongly that the angels enjoy his hospitality, even when the angels were happy to stay elsewhere (Gen 19:2-3). Shortly thereafter, though, the men of Sodom arrive. All of them (Gen 19:4). They demand that Lot bring out the new boys in town, saying: "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them." (Gen 19:5).

Kinky. If you're not aware, in this context, to "know" someone means to have sex with them. I've heard people describe the depravity of Sodom as being gay sex (Sodomites, sodomy... possibly some rum, and a lash as well), what distresses me here is the clearly impending gang-rape. I can't personally think of the gay sex as being a worse crime than the gang-rape, but somehow Lot does, and he offers his daughters in the angels' place. He says:

 "Look, I have two daughters, who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof." (Gen 19:8)

What the [censored]?!  I... what? Man. Okay, so, hospitality, as I said in the last post, is extremely important to the culture, but I seriously can't wrap my head around giving my daughters to a mob to protect the angels; surely there'd be a better answer, right? Well, first things first, we need our daring escape. The angels grab Lot, haul him back inside, and then strike all the men outside blind so they can't find the door.

Just a sec, I need some popcorn.

Right, so the angels tell Lot to get anybody who is close to him and take them out of the city. He talks to his future sons-in-law, and tries to convince them to leave, but just like all the government in The Day After Tomorrow, nobody listens. When dawn comes, the angels tell him to leave again, but he hesitates, so they grab him and forcefully take him to the outside of the city, 'cause the Lord really cares, apparently. With all the blind men wandering around, I have to wonder if this was like the egress from the mall in Dawn of the Dead.

Lot quibbles a bit about where he needs to run to, and the angels decide to spare one little city nearby for his sake, because he's too afraid to go hide in the hills, or something like that. I bet the angels were a bit frustrated with him at this point; I probably would have been. Dude! We are going to destroy your city, would you freakin' run already?!

Funny thing, the angels tell everybody, just before they take off, "Don't look back, or you'll be consumed," because the energy of God's destruction is totally badass, and we need a scene with intense music where people are trying not to look, or something like that. Cue the fire and brimstone, cue the vast destruction, and I do mean vast, the cities, the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and even all that grows on the ground was "overthrown," which I think in this case means burnt to a crisp. Now cue Lot's wife taking a peek. Now cue pillar of salt.

I'd always thought this was some kind of punishment, for failing to heed the warning, but it's entirely possible it just had to do with the energies involved. I won't pretend to understand the thermonuclear dynamics of God. It's also a reference to the story of Orpheus, who goes into the underworld to retrieve his wife, and when he leaves, he's told that if he looks back, he'll lose her.. she stumbles, and he turns, and she's lost. At least this story involves crazy fire and violence and God's power to explain why looking back is bad; in Orpheus' story, it's just Hades being a bit of a prick.

At the end of it all, Lot finally looks over the land he left, and it's just a smoking hole. The entire plain. I don't know how big this plain would have been, but that's definitely up there on the level of nuclear destruction, I think. Oppenheimer said that the detonation of the first nuclear bomb brought to mind Hindu scripture, which said, "I am become death, destroyer of worlds," but I much prefer the words of one of the other test directors. In response to seeing the first ever atomic blast, he said, "Now we are all sons of bitches." I can't help but wonder if any city, any plain, no matter how depraved, deserves such an end.

This is a long post, and I'm sorry, but we've got a little more sex to get through first. So, after having made such a big deal to the angels about how he didn't want to go hide in the hills, having seen the destructive power of the Lord, Lot is afraid, and decides to go hide in the hills. After having seen their home and their fiancés destroyed, Lot's daughters minds are on more, uh, practical matters. The dating prospects of living in a cave in the hills are not particularly good. "Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the world," says the eldest (Gen 19:31).

How do the ladies decide to fix this problem? Simple. The eldest gives us the answer: "Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father." (Gen 19:32). Right, so nobody's going come out here, lets get Dad drunk, and.. wait, what? Lets use our Dad to make babies while he's drunk? Yeesh, ladies, use your head. Get him drunk and convince him to move where there are men you're not related to! But it's not necessary, because nothing bad could possibly come out of incestuous date-rape, right? ...right?

...right?