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<\/a><\/p>\nWithout question Gen. 19 is one of the most debated and controversial chapters in the OT as a whole, never mind just in Genesis.\u00a0 \u00a0For one thing, the chapter clearly includes the notion of rape, not only the possible rape of angelic messengers, which many would characterize as homosexual rape, but also the scandalous suggestion of Lot that instead the men of Sodom should be satisfied with raping Lot\u2019s two virgin daughters, who apparently are the younger offspring besides Lot\u2019s married daughters.\u00a0 Throughout this tale, Lot comes across as a very unsavory character, mainly only concerned with saving his own neck, and already showing really bad judgment by choosing to live in a house in the midst of a grossly immoral people.\u00a0 As Weinfield suggests there is a deliberate parallelism and contrast set up between Abraham meeting the divine visitors outside his tent and treating them to a feast, and Lot\u2019s meeting the two angels in the city gate and offering them nothing but some flatbread!\u00a0 \u00a0And instead of a divine blessing given to Lot about his descendants, we have only the divine rescue of Lot and some of his kin, after the rapists who are banging on his door have been blinded by the angels prior to the escape to Zoar.\u00a0 It may be helpful that the name Sodom seems to derive from Siddim, which refers to a valley where there is a salt lake.<\/p>\n
If we ask where did this take place, most scholars accept that this transpired in the region of the Jordan plain that leads down to the Dead Sea, and there have even been some rock formations studied as possible sites where Sodom formerly was, before fire and brimstone fell on it, possibly from a meteor.\u00a0 \u00a0Zoar is said to have existed at the southeastern end of the Dead Sea, on the Jordan side of that body of water.\u00a0 \u00a0Here is a video that explores the general region, and the traditional spot where Lot is said to have stayed after fleeing from Sodom, and there is a rock formation which is said to be Lot\u2019s wife.\u00a0 I\u2019m very dubious about these sorts of claims.\u00a0 \u00a0But have a look at this video\u2014<\/p>\n