Sodom, Abraham and Lot

It’s somewhat easy to fixate on Lot’s wife’s faithlessness in looking back, and commonly in the depravity of Sodom, but Lot should be particularly familiar to our lives. The story runs pretty much like this:

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Some background:

Abraham, Ur, Haran, Salem, are all Bronze Age events. Abraham’s family (from the line of Shem) is probably also the same as the nomadic Habiru (Hebrew/Eber) people mentioned in correspondence between Canaan and Egypt.

The Amorite people in Canaan (Abram is allies with Mamre the Amorite) appear to have originated in Sumeria (the same land as Ur, Babylon, Nimrod’s empire, etc.). Unlike farmers and craftsmen, nomads and their property are hard to count and they travel, making them harder to tax and conscript into armies. The Amorites were looked down on in Sumeria, possibly prompting their migration outward.

Abraham and the Amorites share a common nomadic heritage,
likely origin area and likely language as well.

Likely as well they all recognize or name the same El Elyon, which is why Abraham can speak about God with Melchizedek and Abimelek, the Philistine King of Gerar. An “El”/ “El Elyon” was generally recognized across the Near East in this time period as being the Supreme God (however he may be rightly and wrongly worshipped). Many cultures disagreed on the importance of those gods under the aloof “El” (i.e. the Philistines worshipped Baal as “El’s” proxy, and Dagon was their patron god for fertility and agriculture). “El” rarely was worshipped directly.

There are copper mines to the South of the Dead Sea in use (Solomon used them heavily later), copper being needed for the bronze weapons and tools that made civilization possible there and which defined the “Bronze Age”.

*IF* Sodom was really north (and east) of the dead sea, in the Jordan plain (there is controversy, but increasing reason to think it is here), Minoan pottery found at the giant Bronze Age city (likely same time period as Abraham, though disputed) indicates contact with this powerful sea trading partner of Egypt. Minoans/Phoenecians/Philistines/Canaanites/Sidonians, share heritage and blood (if these are not different names for same people at different times). They are a sea/island people and aren’t indigenous to the region. Minoans, like Cretans and Greeks after them, practiced pederasty (boy-love) as a right-of-passage for young boys to manhood (even 10 year affairs). So kidnap and rape of younger men by older is established. This here could be Sodom practicing in-land what was common to this family of peoples.

Abraham’s 10% tithe of the spoils of war to Melchizedek, and the latter’s blessing (Heb 7, means he is above Abraham), may as well indicate the Abraham was a vassal, having a formal agreement of defense and tithing in order to use the land, of the king. These were common arrangements, apparently. If so, it’s a nice parallel, since Abraham is then an existing and established servant of the king, rather than someone he meets only now, and in reality, Abraham and Israel in him are established and ongoing servants of a greater priest.

The four kings that pillage Sodom and the rest of the area leave Salem conspicuously alone, despite passing very close to its fortifications, possibly indicating a friendly relationship between their peoples and Salem. Despite that Abraham (and likely Mamre) has a small, trained army (where all other enemies were crushed in the greater region), they essentially bypass him en route to Sodom and then again heading away (Abraham has to chase them). Mamre may have had no prior reason to attack those Kings, except that they destroyed an Amorite settlement going down in the Jordan plains to attack Sodom. Abraham may have had no reason to attack except for Lot. Until then it is possible (not certain) that Abraham, Mamre, Salem, and/or others may have been in the land with the tolerance or encouragement of people from around Ur, who were keeping the native peoples in submission. Colonization via benign neglect on the part of Ur and the other cities.

Not too long (historically) before Abraham’s time, you have Sargon, king of Akkad, who created the first empire in the Near East. His army was about 5000 at its largest, largely due to the problem of feeding larger empires (they foraged food wherever they could, rather than buying and stockpiling). The four kings were conducting a raid, not an occupation unlike Sargon, and their army may well have been less than 5000. They also had logistics issues because, after swinging around under the Dead Sea, the Bible makes special mention that they grabbed Sodom’s food supplies for the trip back. Around 2600BC, rich city states of the time could only maintain armies of 600-700 professional soldiers.

God was with Abraham. His trained army of 318 (plus whoever the Amorites brought) may not have been big by our standards yet this may not be the same incredible upheaval as the 300 vs 100,000+ Midanites in Gideon’s day. Sodom might have been 50-100 acres (Salem was about 10) but few were trained since most had to guard flocks or work the land.

Sodom is always mentioned first and the king of Sodom speaks for the kings of the other cities of the plain, so Sodom is likely the largest, strongest and most prominent.

Citizenship in ancient cities by foreigners was usually hard-won, normally by demonstrating some great service to the common good. All the way down to a centurion having to buy his Roman citizenship millennia later. You didn’t get a house in a cramped city by just buying it. And you didn’t sit in the gates as a judge by being there a long time.

Now the story:

Abraham and Lot are nomadic. They return from Egypt even more prosperous. Abraham and Lot are forced to split due to their great animal wealth, with Lot choosing the Jordan plain. That “he lived among the cities of the plains”, and “pitched his tent as far as Sodom”, indicates he was still living in tents. It is already well known that Sodom is depraved. When the four kings come, he is taken as he is said to be now “living in Sodom”. It is unclear what seniority Abraham has when he allies with Mamre to recover the people, but when he returns, he speaks with Melchizedek and the (new) king of Sodom, recommending that the Amorites be given their share, basically speaking for a group who had been in the land longer than he. The king of Sodom may not be just expressing gratitude, which Abraham humbly declines, but may be attempting to entice Abraham away from a covenant with Salem to defend Sodom instead, which Abraham refuses in plain language so there is no ambiguity in anyone’s mind that he took anything. Now, when the angels go to Sodom, they find Lot sitting at the gates (commonly, this indicates an official status within the city) and Lot has a house there again.

Bear in mind, Lot was a nomad. His wealth is wrapped up in his flocks which are maintained outside the city. But he is in Sodom, and he is likely now an official. This may have been granted by the king of Sodom to recognize his uncle’s contribution. Or it may have been done hoping to still bind his uncle to protecting the city since Abraham is (effectively) the remaining military power in the area. That’s a new spin on an army of only 300 but not unreasonable, with Sodom’s army destroyed along with the entirety of the oppressing armies of the four kings. Abraham is both the outstanding threat and also protection in the land. It’s possible this has something to do with why Abraham is afraid immediately after the battle and God has to assure him that He will protect him.

When Abraham wanted a bride for Isaac, he sent his servant to his family in Haran. Jacob travels and marries there as well, rather than stay with the local people. Keeping it in the trusted family is important. But Lot intends to marry his daughters to Sodom-ite men, further binding himself to them.

What we have here is a picture of Lot deliberately growing increasingly close to and prominent within the political and economic life of Sodom and the other cities. He has decided to settle down here.

When the people, trying to get at the angels, accuse Lot of being a foreigner and wanting to judge them, this may not just be a nasty slur and an indictment of his seeming self-righteousness, but that Lot has indeed been acting as a judge, that he did frequently judge them formally (beyond moral indignation), and his elevation may have been resented by the lower people (the king may have made him a judge). Lot’s offering of his daughters may just be an example of how little women were valued (either in offering and in their receiving) or an indication of just how far his thinking had been compromised, living with this people.

You have a picture of Lot, whatever his personal opinions, wrapping himself up more and more in the civilization and life of an evil people, becoming more successful. This is gradual and deliberate. His entire life was there. Whether his wife came from Sodom or not, her entire life was there, her whole standing, everything that made her who she was, was now wrapped up in Sodom. It’s important to men. It’s very important status-conscious women. When they understand the whole plain is going to be destroyed, all of Lot’s vast wealth is still in that same plain with his servants and flocks. It’s not a surprise that they delay in Sodom until dawn. No surprise the angels have to physically lead them out. It shouldn’t be a surprise that Lot’s wife looks back, but rather that Lot and his daughters didn’t. They faced becoming completely new people, starting from scratch, nothing to stand on. They weren’t in this state when they left Ur. They were now just running to save their lives.

The plain is lost, but maybe he has some security in the people of the region. In the end, Lot begs to not run too far (mountains are too far), so God spares the little hamlet (Zoar=small), but we see just after the people of Zoar won’t have him, and Lot winds up living in caves after all.

It calls to mind the parable in Luke of the man who built with wood, hay, and stubble, who was saved through fire, but at great loss. They are saved, but take nothing else with them. This is Lot. He built steadily and impressively the wrong life. It was very successful by Near Eastern standards. And he was still saved as an act of Grace, but nothing more. There may not be much that differentiates him from the wife who looked back. The problem wasn’t in how they left Sodom, but in the decade or so before how they grew into it. A lot of Christians are never faced with a real possibility of material success and political prominence. It’s easy to mock Lot’s wife, because they’ve never had the kind of established life that is hard to leave. (e.g. the Rich Young Ruler). Those that are have the temptation of investing more in that life. Lot saw his chance and took it. Abraham stayed back and was used by God. Lot was saved, just barely. It is easier to compromise, not when you’re avoiding persecuting, but when there is little overt persecution and every immediate benefit (social, material) in compromising.

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I think this may be where the meat of the story is. Not in Sodom’s depravity, or one act of the wife’s lack of trust. I think she rightly faced the end of everything she knew. I’ve seen in my own life how hard it is for older people to repent and be saved, because it means an abrogation of everything they ever did, everything they valued and were proud of. For the young, it’s easier to leave because you didn’t build much there yet.