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LOT

(Heb. lôṭ)

The son of Abraham’s deceased brother Haran, who travelled with Terah and the ancestral family from Ur to Haran (Gen. 11:27-31) and then accompanied Abraham from Haran to Canaan (12:5). Once in Canaan, the two separate, Lot taking the Jordan Valley to the east and Abraham taking the land of Canaan (Gen. 13). Lot remains closely tied to Abraham, however, in the stories of the war with the kings (Gen. 14) and Sodom and Gomorrah (19:1-29). After Lot’s wife dies, his two daughters enter into incestuous relationships with him, and Lot becomes the eponymous ancestor of the Ammonites and the Moabites (Gen. 19:30-38).

Other references to Lot include Deut. 2:9, 19, where the Israelites are forbidden to battle the Ammonites and Moabites since God promised them territory as Lot’s children. Ps. 83:8[MT 9] reminds the reader that Moab and Ammon are the children of Lot. In 2 Pet. 2:6-8 Lot is cited as the one righteous inhabitant of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The Lot narratives have been assigned to the Yahwist (J) source, except for Gen. 14, , which still eludes definite source assignment. Lot is present at the beginning of and at each stage of Abraham’s initial journey in and through Canaan (Gen. 11:27, 31; 12:4-5; 13:1). His role in the Abraham-Sarah stories seems to be to introduce the central theme of their childlessness. Abraham had no children, while his brother Haran had Lot. Abraham took Lot with him to Canaan, not at the behest of God, who commanded Abraham to leave behind his land, relatives, and father’s house, but perhaps as the heir he thought he might never have, a theme repeated in the stories of Eleazar of Damascus (Gen. 15:2) and Ishmael (ch. 16). When Abraham and Lot decide to separate in Gen. 13, , Abraham offers Lot land to the north or to the south, indicating that he intends to share the land of Canaan with him as his heir apparent (v. 9). Lot, however, chooses the land to the east (Gen. 13:10-11), outside the boundaries of Canaan, and God appears to Abraham and promises that the land will be given to Abraham’s descendants (vv. 14-17). Lot is not the promised heir. Genesis provides genealogies for Ishmael (Gen. 25:12-18) and Isaac (vv. 19-20), but none for Eleazar and Lot.

Bibliography. J. Blenkinsopp, The Pentateuch (New York, 1992), 98-133; L. R. Helyer, “The Separation of Abram and Lot,” JSOT 26 (1983): 77-88; S. P. Jeansonne, “The Characterization of Lot in Genesis,” BTB 18 (1988): 123-29.

Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

LOT

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)