Atheist Bible Study 1: Genesis

[GrandizerII]

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
Genesis 19:1-29

Most of us are familiar with the account of Sodom and Gomorrah. God is pissed with both utterly wicked Sodom and utterly evil Gomorrah, so he sends down fire and brimstone on these two cities. The cities are destroyed, and pretty much everyone living there is killed as a result. The only inhabitants spared are Lot and his two daughters, who are led to another place to live.

Now for a detailed commentary on the passage:

The two angels, who were with God earlier visiting Abraham, arrive at Sodom and are noticed by Lot. Lot, taking after his uncle Abraham, bowed down to the ground before the two angels and offered to serve them. The angels were fine with spending the night outside, but Lot wouldn't have any of that. He invited them into his house and made food for them. Lot must've realized they were angels, or he was just a really welcoming person with strangers.

Now this is the part that baffles me. As if to illustrate just how sinful the city was, some Sodomites (young and old) gathered around Lot's house, wanting to have sex with the two men. Lot, being even more fucked up, offered them his two daughters instead.

Here's what he said to the people of Sodom outside his house:

No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.

Yeah ... them wanting to have sex with his two guests was a wicked thing to Lot, but Lot letting them have their way with his own two virgin daughters in order to protect his male guests was apparently ok ...



Anyway, the rowdy Sodomites weren't too happy about this and decided to break down the door to Lot's house.

And that's when the two angels finally show us their magnificent powers ... by blinding the intruders, so that they could no longer find the door.

Then the angels urged Lot and his family to quickly get the hell out of the city before it was burned down by God. Lot warned his sons-in-law about the impending doom, but they weren't going to take crazy old Lot seriously, so they stayed where they were. At the end, only Lot and his wife and daughters were dragged out (by the angels) from the city.

Once they were out of the city, the angels told them to go flee to the mountains and not look back. However, Lot was too old for this shit, so he begged them to spare a small town nearby so he could head there instead. The angels complied with his request. That town soon became known by the name "Zoar".

The next day had already arrived when Lot and his family finally reached Zoar. It was at this time that the Lord rained down the fires of destruction over both Sodom and Gomorrah, destroying everyone and everything in them. Unfortunately, Lot's wife looked back and was thus magically turned into a pillar of salt. Reminds me, by the way, of the tragic ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.

Near the end of the passage, we read about Abraham observing the destruction from a distance, with dense smoke rising from the fires. It was because God remembered Abraham that Lot was saved.

This story clearly looked to me like it was the ancient Jew's reconstruction of what they may have thought happened with a couple of ruined ancient cities that may have been observable to them. They may have also noted what looked like a pillar of salt outside of the cities, and thereby made a specific story out of that one as well. But that's just me speculating.