God's terrible judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah

For which God turned them blind - leaving them unable to flee the city when catastrophe struck. They were also threatening to attack Lot himself.

Lot and his wife and daughters fled to the city of Zoar, and only after they reached there did the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah occur. Lot's wife, therefore, turned around and become a pillar of salt during their safe journey to Zoar, before any cataclysm had even started.

Lot and his daughters then fled Zoar and went to the mountains (were they expelled from Zoar as bringers of bad-luck?). In the caves the two daughters got Lot drunk and he uncovered himself with them, which is a parallel to Noah getting drunk and uncovering himself before his sons. Lot's daughter's became pregnant and gave birth to Ben-Ammi and Moab, ancestors to the tribes of the Ammonites and Moabites, born the same time as Isaac, son of Abraham, who was ancestor to the Israelites.

It all seems part of a recurring format of a catastrophe/family misfortune myth followed by the birth of a nation (expulsion from Eden/murder of Abel followed by founding of the familes of Cain and Seth; the Flood followed by the founding of main families of Ham, Shem & Japheth; Noah's nakedness followed by the founding of the Canaanites; the tower of Babel followed by the different nations of the world being established; famine and plague followed by the birth of Ishmael; barreness in Gerar followed by the birth of Isaac; destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah follwed by birth of Moab and Ben-Ammi.)

Edited by Sidney - 01-Jun-2012 at 13:22