Because this is what the men of Sodom did, the practice of sexual relations between men became known as sodomy , after the city. The angels then take care of the men at the door, striking them blind before urging Lot to gather his loved ones together as the city is going to be destroyed and he and his daughters and other kin need to get out , as fast as possible.
When morning comes, the angels hasten Lot, his wife, and his daughters out of Sodom, and they leave, being told not to look back on the destruction that is going to be visited upon the city.
God tells Lot to go and take refuge in the mountains, but Lot requests to be able to travel to a nearby city, Zoar. God agrees to spare that city, and so Lot and his wife and daughters set off for Zoar. The next morning, Abraham beholds the smouldering ruins of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. In a curious postscript — whose purpose appears to be to show that Lot was the progenitor of the people of Moab and Ammon — he leaves Zoar and goes to live in a cave with his daughters, who get their father drunk on wine and lay with him so they both conceive his children.
Their descendants are, respectively, the Moabites and the children of Ammon. What does this story mean? Is it pure fantasy unless, of course, we choose to interpret the story literally and as a piece of history? We have dealt with the possible origins of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in some real-life catastrophic event — perhaps an earthquake and electrical storms — in a separate post.
In both cases, this is the severe punishment for looking back when one has been expressly told, by a god, not to look back. As with the story of Adam and Eve and the Fall of Man , where Adam is told not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, the point is to obey these rules without question. This salt mass is some five miles long and three miles wide, and feet high. You can see a smaller example of this structure in the photograph above.
This vast structure is crystallised rock salt covered with chalky limestone and gypsum. Image: Yair Aronshtam via Wikimedia Commons. Enter your email address to subscribe to this site and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address. Miracles and the Venerable Bede. McKay, H. Brenner, 31— McNamara, M. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press. Mills, R. Seeing Sodomy in the Middle Ages.
Mittman, A. Maps and Monsters in Medieval England. Nissenbaum, A. Noort, E. Tigchelaar, eds. Obenzinger, H. Amanat, and M. Bernhardsson, — Pappe, I. Poloner, J. Aubrey Stewart. Robinson, E. Boston: Crocker and Brewster. Rowlandson, M. Mary Rowlandson. Cambridge: Samuel Green. Sherrard, B. Smith, D. Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate. Spencer, F. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B.
Sprinkle, S. Sysling, H. Mohr Paul Siebeck. Guide to the Holy Land , 2nd ed. Aubrey Steward. New York: Italica Press. Twain, M. Innocents Abroad. Tzanaki, R. Vergari, R. Waugh, R. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
White, D. New York: D. Appleton and Company. Wiesel, E. Carmody, and J. Carmody, 76— Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books. Wilkinson, J. Jerusalem Pilgrims Before the Crusades. Wright, C. Fulk , edited by L. Neidorf, R. Pascual, and T. Shippey, — Cambridge: D. Your documents are now available to view. Confirm Cancel. Katherine Low. From the journal Journal of the Bible and its Reception. Cite this. You currently have no access to view or download this content. Please log in with your institutional or personal account if you should have access to this content through either of these.
Showing a limited preview of this publication:. Published Online: Published in Print: Low, K. Journal of the Bible and its Reception , 8 1 , Journal of the Bible and its Reception, Vol. Low, Katherine. Low K. Journal of the Bible and its Reception. Copy to clipboard. Log in Register. Volume 8 Issue 1. This issue.
All issues. Articles in the same Issue Frontmatter. The Recovery of the Nazirite in Carolingian Discourse. Lisa M.
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