The Judges 19 story is eerily similar to the Lot story ...
Each seems to hinge on the Middle Easter ethos of the treatment of strangers in the home ... in which somehow it is more honorable to give up one's own daughter or concubine rather than harm being done to a visiting stranger in one's home.
Hard from our 20th century Western view to fathom.
I can't fathom it at all.
__________________
"God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. And sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds my heart to Yours."
--David Livingstone
"To see no being, not God’s or any, but you also go thither,
To see no possession but you may possess it—enjoying all without labor or purchase—
abstracting the feast, yet not abstracting one particle of it;…."
--Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, Song of the Open Road
Nauseating yet it would seem it is there for a purpose.
It parallels almost point by point with how Lot acted with the strangers he met and the offer is the same. It would seem that such an offer was not "far fetched"
Only thing saving his girls as opposed to the Judge 19 girls was the supernatural shutting of the door. It would seem that if we view this mindset through our lens we might misinterpret the message.
When we couple this with what the prophets wrote about the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah and their inhospitable behaviors I think it sheds light on the reasons for God's wrath over this city.
Nauseating yet it would seem it is there for a purpose.
It parallels almost point by point with how Lot acted with the strangers he met and the offer is the same. It would seem that such an offer was not "far fetched"
Only thing saving his girls as opposed to the Judge 19 girls was the supernatural shutting of the door. It would seem that if we view this mindset through our lens we might misinterpret the message.
When we couple this with what the prophets wrote about the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah and their inhospitable behaviors I think it sheds light on the reasons for God's wrath over this city.
With LOT they still tried to get in even after they were struck blind.
Nauseating yet it would seem it is there for a purpose.
It parallels almost point by point with how Lot acted with the strangers he met and the offer is the same. It would seem that such an offer was not "far fetched"
Only thing saving his girls as opposed to the Judge 19 girls was the supernatural shutting of the door. It would seem that if we view this mindset through our lens we might misinterpret the message.
When we couple this with what the prophets wrote about the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah and their inhospitable behaviors I think it sheds light on the reasons for God's wrath over this city.
Good insight, and in keeping with Ezekiel 16 regarding the self absorbed nature of Sodom's people.
__________________
"God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. And sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds my heart to Yours."
--David Livingstone
"To see no being, not God’s or any, but you also go thither,
To see no possession but you may possess it—enjoying all without labor or purchase—
abstracting the feast, yet not abstracting one particle of it;…."
--Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, Song of the Open Road
"Without natural affection" would definitely apply in these stories, among other things.
__________________
"God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. And sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds my heart to Yours."
--David Livingstone
"To see no being, not God’s or any, but you also go thither,
To see no possession but you may possess it—enjoying all without labor or purchase—
abstracting the feast, yet not abstracting one particle of it;…."
--Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, Song of the Open Road
"Without natural affection" would definitely apply in these stories, among other things.
This is what I was referring to:
29Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
What amazes me is that Lot was called righteous in 2 Peter 2:7-8.
He:
fought with Abraham, who had helped him.
lived in Sodom.
offered two virgin daughters. (my perspective on the original question)
married his other daughters to some of the men standing outside his door that night.
didn't want to leave the city.
slept with his daughters.
And apparently took all this in stride.
What about Lot was righteous?
My personal opinion on the original questions has been that Lot had several daughters. Two were still virgins, living at home. Any others were married to men of the city. He may or may not have tried to get other daughters and sons to come out, but he did try to get the two virgin daughters' fiancés to join them in leaving. That is mentioned because it tied directly into their reasoning later.
Gen 19:12Meanwhile, the angels questioned Lot. “Do you have any other relatives here in the city?” they asked. “Get them out of this place—your sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else. 13For we are about to destroy this city completely. The outcry against this place is so great it has reached the Lord, and he has sent us to destroy it.”
14So Lot rushed out to tell his daughters’ fiancés, “Quick, get out of the city! The Lord is about to destroy it.” But the young men thought he was only joking.
15At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. “Hurry,” they said to Lot. “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!”
...
30Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters. 31One day the older daughter said to her sister, “There are no men left anywhere in this entire area, so we can’t get married like everyone else. And our father will soon be too old to have children.
__________________
What we make of the Bible will never be as great a thing as what the Bible will - if we let it - make of us.~Rich Mullins
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.~Galileo Galilei
That was always the part of the story that struck me the most. Lot offered up his 2 virgin daughters to a crowd of men to do with as they wanted. That is unthinkable to me.
Linear Mode
