The Gospel According to Moses - Genesis Lesson 40 -Gen. 19:17-38 LOT: A RIGHTEOUS MAN??

Is Lot a righteous man?  With all that we studied in recent lessons, it sure doesn’t seem so.  But, one thing for sure, we can’t find evidence that Lot in some way sinned.  The Bible is silent.  Lot seems to have made some poor choices.  First, he chooses to live in Sodom and Gomorrah and he must’ve known these were places where some bad stuff was going on.  Second, he becomes involved in the evil culture by being accepted as a city leader, elder, or official since we found Lot sitting in the gate in lesson 39.  Now, there is no sin in living in a place like Sodom.  There is no sin in being on a city committee or part of the elite class.  The Torah doesn’t say that Lot sinned.  The orthodox rabbinic view is that Lot is righteous but his character was not at the level of his uncle Abraham.  Hmmm, I think I can agree with that but I still have trouble with Lot being considered righteous as Peter writes in 2 Pet. 2:7-9.  Consider …

and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, (2Pe 2:7-9)

 

This will require further study and we must go beyond simple rabbinic opinion which offers no justification for Lot being righteous.  Let's bring our brain to the Bible.  

Another issue we will deal with is Lot’s daughters.  After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah they think there are no men left on the face of the earth.  They say this exactly …

Then the firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of the earth. "Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our family through our father." (Gen 19:31-32)

 

The Hebrew is precise.  The first born girl said no man left on the earth implying anywhere on the globe!  Why did she think this?  The younger sister surely agreed with her older sister.  We don’t get it since we don’t understand the geography of the area.  If you knew the area of the Dead Sea these verses become crystal clear.  Here some links to check out on pictures of this area.  Check it out.  You’ll see that the sisters were in a deep, deep valley almost 1 mile below sea level. 

Link to Wikimedia views of the Dead Sea from the high rock bluff known as Masada – click here to view

Link to Wikimedia views of the mountains surrounding the Dead Sea – click here to view

Link to Wikimedia views of the caves near Qumran where many of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered – click here to view

So, once again, if you lived in David’s day or Hezekiah, all this was easy to understand.  But for us we don’t get it.  It’s not our land, our culture, and we are not taught the geography of the Bible.  We are not taught the Bible in its historical context with a focus on the archaeology, history, geography, customs, culture, and the languages of the ancient Middle East. 

Rev. Ferret - who is this guy?  What's his background?  Why should I listen to him?  Check his background at this link - click here for the teacher's background