Lot

In Plato’s Laws, the Athenian stranger proposes founding a future state by dividing land into equal plots among citizens, organized into twelve districts each dedicated to a specific god. The Bible also prescribes a lottery system for allocating land—both among tribes and family units—but never explains how such a lottery could function fairly given the unequal sizes of tribes and families. Why?

Genesis 36 references a story about Anah, the grandson of Seir the Horite and the father-in-law of Esau, who found הימם “Hayemim” while grazing his father's donkeys in the wilderness. What does this mean and why is this story in the Torah?

When YHWH tells Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah are to be destroyed, Abraham pleads for their lives without mentioning Lot. Why? The answer is in the sources describing Lot’s accompanying of Abram to Canaan and their eventual separation.

After escaping Sodom, Lot and his daughters hide out in a cave. Believing they were the last humans on earth, the daughters get their father drunk, and conceive children with him while he is asleep. But since when do daughters rape their fathers? A womanist midrashic reading retells the story from their perspective.

Bedouin culture goes back 4,500 years. Owing to the unchangeability of desert conditions, this culture remained largely unchanged and is recognizable in the Bible. The stories of Abraham and Lot hosting angels illustrate one of the most renowned and cherished social values in Bedouin society, namely the practice of hospitality.

Genesis Rabbah surprisingly portrays Lot’s daughters and their choices in a decidedly positive light, while exacerbating Lot’s culpability.