Genesis 18-19

But You Did Laugh

Chapter 18 gives us J's account of Yahweh promising a child to Abraham, after he had already promised Isaac to him in P's account in Chapter 17.  This is simply another example of the many doublets which result from the final redactors of the Torah preserving different versions of stories throughout the text.  In this version, three men (one of which is Yahweh) appear to Abraham at his tent.  Abraham immediately shows them immense hospitality, going above and beyond to offer comfort, nourishment, and respite for his guests (18:1-8).  It is unclear if Abraham knows one of the three men is Yahweh or not in the text, so we might assume that the story intends to demonstrate that Abraham would extend such courtesy to any visitors.  This is one testament to how the principle of hospitality was of critical importance in the ancient world.  A failure to demonstrate proper hospitality amounted to a reprehensible violation of social, ethical, and religious custom.  We'll see the disastrous consequences of such a violation in Chapter 19.

Abraham y los tres ángeles by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo - 1770 CE

Anyway, back to the story.  While eavesdropping the conversation between Abraham and his mysterious guests, Sarah laughs to herself, doubting the promise of a son in her old age, which draws Yahweh's ire:

And Sarah laughed inside her and said, "After I've become worn out am I to have pleasure?!  And my lord is old!"
And Yahweh said to Abraham, "Why is this? Sarah laughed, saying 'Shall I indeed give birth? And I am old!'  Is anything too wonderous for Yahweh?  At the appointed time I'll come back to you, at the time of life, and Sarah will have a son."
- Genesis 18:12-14 (Friedman translation)

I find Friedman's translation of this interaction interesting, as he more literally translates Sarah's laughter as not "to herself" as the NRSV does, but "inside her".  I think a plausible intention of the text is that Yahweh knows Sarah's thoughts that she has not even expressed out loud, hence the resulting spat with Yahweh regarding the laughter:

And Sarah lied, saying "I didn't laugh," because she was afraid.
And he said, "No, but you did laugh."
- Genesis 18:15 (Friedman translation)

Sarah is polite enough not to laugh out loud at the preposterous claims of this stranger, and so attempts to defend herself against Yahweh's criticism of her manners.  But Yahweh hears not only her words, but her inner thoughts as well.

The story of the promised son wraps up with a shift in focus toward the city of Sodom and a somewhat strange monologue of Yahweh's in which he debates whether to share with Abraham his intentions regarding the city which is now the subject of his attention (18:16-19).  What's strange about this monologue isn't Yahweh's pondering whether to let Abraham in on his plans, but rather his odd use of the third person.  Why he speaks in the third person here is beyond me.

Not Even Ten Are Found

Yahweh, deciding he had better let his chosen one know what is going on, informs Abraham that he intends to investigate the sin of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah:

"Then Yahweh said, "How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin!  I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know."
- Genesis 18:20-21

Interestingly, though Yahweh says he must go down to investigate, he instead sends his two companions in his stead (18:22).  Abraham then begins bartering with Yahweh on behalf of the cities:

Then Abraham came near and said, "Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?  Suppose there are fifty righteous who are in it?  Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked!  Far be that from you!  Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just?"  And Yahweh said, "If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake."
- Genesis 18:23-26

Seizing on this glimmer of compassion, Abraham haggles Yahweh down from 50 to 45, to 40, to 30, to 20, and finally to 10 righteous individuals (18:27-33).  Throughout this Abraham continually humbles himself so as to stoke Yahweh's ego.  He refers to himself as "but dust and ashes" and routinely begs Yahweh not to become angry with him.  This exchange demonstrates not only Abraham's cleverness, but also his sense of justice in appealing to Yahweh's sense of mercy.

The angels travel to Sodom and just so happen to arrive at the house of Abraham's cousin Lot (19:1).  (Yahweh's companions are only just now explicitly identified as being "angels".  This could simply refer to the fact that their role has changed as they are no longer in the presence of Yahweh.  "Angel" simply means "messenger" after all, and there was no need to act as a messenger earlier in the narrative as Yahweh was speaking for himself.)  Lot extends hospitality to the angels, though not quite to the same extent as Abraham had in the parallel from Chapter 18 (19:2-3).  We then discover just how depraved the citizens of Sodom have become, as a mob comprised of every man of the city descends on Lot's doorstep demanding that he let them gang rape the two visitors (19:4-5).  Lot, being a righteous man who abides by the custom of hospitality, refuses them and offers the mob his two virgin daughters to rape instead (19:6-8).  Wait what?  Yes, you read that right.  Lot would rather his daughters be raped by the mob instead of two complete strangers he invited inside of his home.  The mob is put off by his offer of surrogate victims and so intend to attack and rape Lot, but the angels protect him by supernaturally blinding the mob (19:9-11).

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by John Martin - 1852 CE

Don't Look Back

So obviously the city is pretty far gone morality-wise if the most righteous man living in it is the same guy who would let a mob rape his daughters.  Clearly the customs of hospitality mean nothing to the people of Sodom.  The angels tell Lot to run to the hills with his family. (which includes his son-in-laws...  Are his daughters married or not?  Was Lot lying to the mob about their virginity?) and not to stop, not to look back (19:12-17).  When Lot and his family arrive in the small town of Zoar Yahweh rains sulfur and fire on both Sodom & Gomorrah, (notice Gomorrah's sins were never investigated, they just got lumped in with Sodom) utterly destroying both cities (19:24-25).  Lot's poor wife makes the mistake of looking back to witness the destruction (who wouldn't?), so Yahweh turns her into a pillar of salt (19:26).  This is not simply because Yahweh is arguably a psychopathic lunatic, but because the Yahwist wanted to sneak another etiology into his story: that of the salt formations which dot the landscape of the Dead Sea.  And so Lot's wife is given but a single sentence in the narrative, her death unexplained and her memory unmourned.

Salt Pillar at the Dead Sea, Israel by Yair Aronshtam - 2017 CE

What's a Little Dad Rape When the Future of Humanity is at Stake?

Lot is properly terrified by recent events and so leaves Zoar to live in a cave with his two daughters (19:30).  Thinking they are the last living people on Earth, the daughters concoct a plan to get pregnant by their father (19:31-32).   Rape aside, I guess you can't fault them too much for this, they are misguidedly trying to save the human race after all.  If you want to condemn Lot's daughters you would have to condemn Noah and his family as well.  Of course, the real purpose of this story isn't to explore the ethical quandaries of the responsibility for repopulating the earth, but instead to invent a polemical charge of incestuous origins against Israel's 1st millennium BCE neighbors:

Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father.  The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab; he is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day.  The younger also bore a son and named him Ben-ammi; he is the ancestor of the Ammonites to this day.
- Genesis 19:38

Psalm 17

Another psalm crying for Yahweh's help in times of trouble.  The author is adamant about his righteousness - both in word and in deed (17:3-5).  We have another lion allusion, similar to that in the work of some of the early prophets (17:12) as well as a hope that even the children of evildoers will have more than their fair share of punishment (17:13-14).

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I was originally going to continue through to Genesis 22, but these posts just keep getting longer, so I'll save 20-22 for next time.  In our next post we'll introduce the Elohist (E) source of the Torah, recognize a couple of oddly familiar stories, and finally look at the interesting case of the (near?) sacrifice of Isaac.  As always, feel free to leave comments and questions below.