WWTK: Lots Children

We find the story of Lot's children in Genesis 19. Had they experienced life as part of Abram's entourage and life in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah? Or just city? Not clear. And this wasn't just a city. This was a city so bad that God chose to destroy it. Abram cared enough about Lot to entreat God to rescue him. But God didn't rescue just Lot. He rescued, or tried to rescue, his whole family.

So the angels go off to rescue Lot because of the faith of Abram and because God was willing. Lot feels compelled to protect these strangers from his city so he offers his own daughters to the men outside. Did the girls know what their father did? Were they within earshot? They were engaged to other men. Though the cultural/historical context probably affected how they thought and what they felt, their father had offered them to appease a mob - probably not the cultural norm even in ancient times.

Lot was willing to sacrifice family members to protect these strangers. What does that say about Lot? Good? Bad?

Lot calls the men of the city "friends."The men of the city still see Lot as an "alien." (NIV) Had Lot's daughters grown up part of a "alien" family trying to make friends in a sexually charged city?

Violent men are trying to break into their house. The angels strike the men blind.

Were the girls curious about these strangers? Enamored? We don't know.

The angels tell Lot's family it's time to flee. They're going to destroy the city. But the girls are engaged to be married. What about the engagements? Their intendeds aren't willing to leave. Their future husbands think their future father-in-law is joking. "We'll stay, thanks!". I don't know how that would have worked in that particular culture and who was obligated to whom but it must certainly have been awkward.

Lot, his wife, and his daughters are literally dragged away from all they know - possessions, people, promises. Their father is still negotiating with the angels, not just human strangers but angels. The girls probably see their mother turn back and turn into salt. Ah, maybe not. If they had turned around they would have turned to salt, too...right? But it must have been pretty clear that when these strangers say something, they mean it.

What's left of the family take refuge in a neighboring city and then these city people flee to the mountains. They hide in a cave. Odd? They must have had provisions, they have wine.

Though their engagements fell through, the girls have a strong sense of preserving their family line. Their actions violate Hebrew Law and our modern day sensibilities yet the end result: Lot fathered the Moabites and the Ammonites. Neither people were allowed to enter the house of the Lord for 10 generations but neither did God allow the Hebrews to harass them or take away the land that God had given them. Despite all the hassles with Moab and Ammon, generations later, Ruth would appear in God's story - a Moabite and great-grandmother to a boy named David - her husband part of Abram's story and she part of Lot's.

Why is it that, in the scriptures, God tells us what He tells us and leaves out what He leaves out? I wonder.