Lot #28

Lot is the nephew of Abraham, the son of Abraham’s brother Haran, who travels with his uncle from Mesopotamia into Canaan (Genesis 11:27-31; 12:4-5). His life, told in Genesis 13 to 19, is a story of choices and their consequences, ending with the destruction of Sodom.

Biblical Significance

Abraham and Lot both become wealthy in livestock, and the land cannot support their herds together, so quarrels break out between their herdsmen. Abraham offers Lot first choice of the land. Lot looks at the Jordan plain, “well watered every where…even as the garden of the LORD,” and chooses it, pitching his tents “toward Sodom,” whose people are described as “wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly” (Genesis 13:5-13). Later, when raiding kings carry Lot away as a captive, Abraham leads a rescue and brings him back (Genesis 14:11-16).

In Genesis 19, two angels come to Sodom in the evening. Lot, sitting in the city gate, insists that they stay in his house and prepares a meal for them, acting as a host. That night, men of the city surround the house and demand that the visitors be brought out, and the angels strike them blind and warn Lot to flee (Genesis 19:1-11). Lot hesitates, and the angels seize his hand and that of his wife and daughters and lead them out. His wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:15-26). The account says God remembered Abraham and so rescued Lot from the overthrow of the cities (Genesis 19:29).

Legacy

The final scene is grim. Lot and his two daughters live in a cave in the hills, and the daughters, fearing they will have no descendants, conceive sons by their father. These sons become Moab and Ben-ammi, the ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites (Genesis 19:30-38). Their descendants figure prominently in Israel’s later history, and Ruth, a Moabite, would become an ancestor of David.

The New Testament refers to Lot twice. Jesus uses the days of Lot and the fate of Sodom as a warning about being unprepared for his coming, and adds, “Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:28-32). Peter describes Lot as a “righteous man” who was “vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked” and whom the Lord knew how to rescue (2 Peter 2:6-8). Readers see a tension in Lot, since Genesis emphasizes his poor choices and hesitation, while Peter emphasizes his righteousness. Both point to the same conclusion, which is that his rescue depended on God’s mercy and not on his own strength.