Lot (Bible)
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/* External links */ interwiki tl
According to the [[Bible]] and the [[Quran]], '''Lot''' ({{Hebrew Name|לוֹט|Lowt ("veil")|Loṭ}}; [[Arabic language|Arabic]]: '''لوط''', ''{{unicode|[[Lut|Lūṭ]]|}}''; "Hidden, covered"<ref>[http://www.htmlbible.com/sacrednamebiblecom/kjvstrongs/FRMSTRHEB38.htm Strong's Hebrew Bible Dictionary - SpeedBible by johnhurt.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>) was the [[nephew]] of the patriarch, [[Abraham]] or Abram. He was the son of Abraham's brother [[Haran]]. (Gen. 11:27) Abraham's brother Nahor became Lot's brother in law by the marriage of Nahor (Abraham's brother) to Milcah (Lot's sister).
==Religious literature==
===The Bible===
====Genesis====
The story of Lot is told in the [[Book of Genesis]]. Lot is mentioned in chapters 11-14 and 19.[[Image:StoryOTB017 p35 LotFleesFromSodom.jpg|thumb|400px|right]]
Lot was the son of Abraham's brother Haran.<ref>{{CathEncy|wstitle=Lot}}</ref> Lot and his family went with [[Abraham]] and his family from [[Ur]] of the Chaldees to [[Egypt]]. When Abraham traveled to the Land of [[Canaan]] at the command of [[God]], Lot accompanied him. (Gen 12:1-5). Abraham had always a great affection for him, and when they could not continue longer together in [[Canaan]] because they both had large flocks and their shepherds sometimes quarrelled (Gen 13:6,7) he gave Lot the choice of his abode. Lot went southeast to plains near the cities of [[Sodom and Gomorrah]], since the land there was well watered. (Gen. 13:10-12).
About eight years after this separation, [[Chedorlaomer]] and his allies attacked the kings of Sodom and the neighbouring cities, pillaged Sodom, and took many captives, including Lot. [[Abraham]] armed his servants, pursued the confederate kings, and overtook them near the springs of Jordan. He recovered the spoils they had taken and brought back Lot with the other captives. [[Abraham]] was offered a reward by the King of Sodom, but refused even a shoelace.
In Gen. 19, when God decided to overturn and destroy the five cities of the plain, he sent angels to rescue Lot and his family. The men of [[Sodom]] sought to [[rape]] (in some translations, meet) the angels (19:5). Lot offers the men his daughters instead, whom he says are virgins (19:8), but the men were not interested. Consequently, the [[Arabic]] word for [[homosexuals]] is derived from Lot or [[Lut]].
When the sins of the Sodomites and of the neighboring cities had called down the vengeance of God to punish and destroy them, two angels were sent to Sodom to forewarn Lot of the dreadful catastrophe about to happen. The angels took Lot, his wife, and his daughters by hand and drew them forcibly out of their house, saying, "Save yourselves with all haste. Look not behind you. Get as fast as you are able to the mountain, unless you be involved in the calamity of the city." Lot entreated the angels, who consented that he might retire to [[Zoara|Zoar]], which was one of the five doomed cities. His wife, looking back on Sodom, was turned into a pillar of salt.
Lot left Zoar and retired with his two daughters to a cave in an adjacent mountain. In Gen. 19:30-38, Lot's daughters incorrectly believed they were the only people to have survived the devastation. They assumed it was their responsibility to bear children and enable the continuation of the human race. On two subsequent nights, according to the plan of the older daughter, they got their father drunk enough to have [[sexual intercourse]] with them. By him each became pregnant. The first son was named Moab (Hebrew, lit., "from the father" [meh-Av]). He was the patriarch of the nation known as [[Moab]]. The second son was named [[Ammon]] or Ben-Ammi (Hebrew, lit., "Son of my people"). He became the patriarch of the nation of Ammon.
====New Testament====
In {{bibleverse||Luke|17:28-32}} [[Jesus]] uses Lot's wife as a warning to those who do not watch for the signs of the [[Apocalypse]], and in {{bibleverse|2|Peter|2:7-8}} Lot is described as a righteous man surrounded by wickedness.
===Quran===
{{main|Islamic view of Lot}}
[[Jews]] and [[Christians]] do not consider Lot a prophet, but [[Muslims]] do. The story of Lot impregnating his daughters while drunk ({{bibleverse||Genesis|19:30-36}}) is not mentioned in [[the Koran]] and is considered a lie. The [[Koran]] does say that the people of Lot insisted on their wickedness of raping men, murder, and robbery while also refusing to stay lawful to their wives. ''And his people came rushing towards him, and they had been long in the habit of practicing abominations. He said: "O my people! Here are my daughters (my nation's daughters): they are purer for you (if ye marry)! Now fear God, and cover me not with shame about my guests (for wanting to rape them)! Is there not among you a single right-minded man? (a believer in God)"'' {{quran-usc|11|78}}.
{{cquote2| And Lot, who said to his nation: 'Do you commit such indecency (sodomy) in a way that no one has preceded you in the worlds? You approach men lustfully instead of women. Truly, you are a nation who exceed (in sin).' The only answer of his nation was: 'Expel them from your village. They are people who keep themselves purified.' We saved him and all his family, except his wife, who was made to remain, and We rained down upon them a rain. So look how was the end of the evildoers. |''Qur'an 7:80-84''}}
Today, the meaning of "sodomites" is used after the 'evil' acts of people of Sodom.
===Midrash===
{{Unreferencedsection|date=December 2006}}
Jewish [[midrash]] records a number of additional stories about Lot, not present in the Tanakh. These include:
*Abraham took care of Lot after Haran was burned in a gigantic fire in which [[Nimrod (king)|Nimrod]], King of [[Babylon]], tried to kill Abraham.
*While in Egypt, the midrash gives Lot much credit because, despite his desire for wealth, he did not inform [[Pharaoh]] of the secret of [[Sarah]], Abraham's wife.
==Geography==
{{main|Mount Sodom}}
[[Image:SaltPillarDeadSea.jpg|thumb|250px|Right|Geological formation overlooking Dead Sea, called Lot's Wife.]]
There currently stands a geological formation overlooking the [[Dead Sea]] which is called "Lot's Wife" because of the shape and location of the feature.
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==Critical viewpoints==
===Homosexuality===
[[Image:Lot and his Daughters.jpg|thumb|400px|right|[[Hendrik Goltzius]]' 1616 painting ''Lot and his daughters'' shows Lot being seduced by his two daughters.]]
Defenders of [[homosexuality]] view the story of Lot in the Bible as supporting [[rape]] and [[homophobia]] They point to the following:
*Lot offers his daughters to the men of Sodom. Lot seems to value his male guests more highly than his daughters. Some also see in the text a suggestion that raping women is a cure for homosexuality, and that homosexuality is a worse sin than the rape of women. This does not apply to either the Islamic or Latter-day Saint account, and is also a subject of contention and discussion amongst the classical Jewish commentators. It would also suggest that Lot is not the innocent he is often depicted as.<ref name="sex">http://eaglewoman.rscsites.org/essays/karnan.htm ; http://www.iwgonline.org/pulpit/ ; http://www.baptistwatch.org/content/biblegay.html ;http://incestabuse.about.com/od/strangerrape/a/Sodom.htm</ref>
*The story that Lot was seduced by his daughters seems highly implausible in this view. From a [[feminist]] perspective, this is in line with [[patriarchal]] society which seeks to make victims of rape and incest responsible for their abuse, rather than the perpetrators. It should be emphasized that a plain reading of the text would seem to give little immediate support to this viewpoint. Islam meanwhile denies the incest occurred.<ref name="sex"/>
*However, these views regarding incest can be argued as being incorrect, as the nation of Moab, a cursed tribe in the context of the Bible, was founded by two daughters who committed incest with their father; the nation being cursed because of their incestual relations with him.
===Scholarship===
The Biblical [[Book of Judges]] 19-21 seems to offer a story very similar to Lot's ordeal in Sodom and Gomorrah. This has led many critical scholars to surmise that both tales stem from a similar legend and not from a historical account. Such issues have also called into question whether Lot was an actual person or simply a fictional character in a cautionary fable (''101 Myths of the Bible'', Greenberg, 2000).
==Science fiction==
In the [[science fiction]] stories "Lot"(1953) and "Lot's Daughter"(1954) by [[Ward Moore]], the Bibilical story of Lot and his daughters' survival from the destruction of [[Sodom and Gomorrah]] is reinterpreted as the story of the survival of a modern American family in the aftermath of [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]].{{Fact|date=April 2007}}
==Popular culture==
[[Comic book]] artist [[Brad Neely]] depicts Lot's story in his short titled "Bible History #1".
==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{cite book | last = Calmet | first = Augustin | authorlink = Antoine Augustin Calmet | year = 1837 | title = Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible | publisher = [[Crocker & Brewster]] | location = Boston | id = {{LCC|BS440.C3}} }}
==See also==
{{wiktionary|Lot}}
*[[Abraham]]
*[[Biblical narratives and the Qur'an]]
{{Prophets in the Qur'an}}
==External links==
*[http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?AID=246613 Our People: A History of the Jews - Abram and Lot]
*[http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?AID=209353 A Pillar of Salt - A lesson from Lot's wife]
*[http://www.superdeluxe.com/sd/contentDetail.do?id=D81F2344BF5AC7BB77D6A0E55069BD0A9B3A52CB005FA7D7 Bible History #1 by Brad Neely]
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[[Category:Ammon]]
[[Category:Torah people]]
[[Category:Moab]]
[[Category:Incest]]
[[Category:Prophets in Islam]]
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