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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

LOT

Abraham’s nephew; progenitor of both the Moabites and the Ammonites. Like Abraham, he was born in Ur. When his father died, he was put in the care of his grandfather Terah, and accompanied him and his uncle Abram to Haran (Gn 11:27-32). After the death of Terah, he joined Abram in the journey to Canaan and subsequently to Egypt and back to Canaan.

By the time the pair returned to Canaan, their flocks and herds were too numerous for them to live together in a single area. Generously, Abram gave Lot his choice of where he would like to settle; Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan, which was like a “garden of the Lord” (Gn 13:10) before the divine judgment and catastrophe fell on the region. Thus, Lot became increasingly involved with and contaminated by the corruption of the cities of the plain and took up his residence in Sodom.

While Lot was living in Sodom, four Mesopotamian kings (probably of small city-states) defeated the kings of the five towns in the area in battle, and in the subsequent plundering they carried off Lot and his family and possessions. When word of the loss reached Abram, he launched a rearguard action against the invaders and recovered all the prisoners and the loot at Hobah, north of Damascus (Gn 14).

Subsequently, two angelic visitors called on Lot in Sodom to hasten his departure from the doomed city. The homosexual attack on them illustrated the depravity of the city, and Lot’s willingness to sacrifice his daughters shows how the corruption of his environment was rubbing off on him. As further evidence of the evil influence, Lot was unwilling to leave Sodom; his future sons-in-law refused to accompany him; and his wife looked back and was turned to a pillar of salt (Gn 19).

The sequel to the story was as sordid as the scene at Lot’s door. His daughters, despairing of husbands of their own, got him drunk enough to engage in sexual relations with them. The result was the birth of two sons, Moab and Ben-ammi, ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites, inveterate enemies of Israel (Gn 19:30-38).

In spite of his waywardness the NT declares that Lot was a “righteous man” (2 Pt 2:7-9), apparently meaning that his faith in God was sufficient to guarantee his salvation. To critics who question the historicity of Lot and the destruction of Sodom, it must be noted that Jesus vouched for both in Luke 17:28-29.