The Man Lot

27 "Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot."
Genesis 11

Lot is Abraham's nephew as inferred from the above verse of the book of Genesis. The following verse is more specific:

5 "And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, ... "
Genesis 12

Now that his identity is clear, I have some thoughts and questions about the man Lot. Lot was discussed from chapters 11 to 19 of the book of Genesis.

Abraham was pleased to raise Lot after his father's demise, and Lot prospered by reason of his association with Abraham. It should be noted that God made no mention of Lot when he instructed Abraham to leave his people (12:1).

Now, Lot was a rich man. He was so rich that the land couldn't contain him and his uncle, Abraham and they had to part ways. Here are my personal thoughts...

I think the land was big enough for both of them. I felt Lot should have put his herdsmen in order. He should have warned them not to quarrel with Abraham's herdsmen. They're his guests, remember. Abraham catered for them since they all enjoyed the grace upon Abraham. But Lot did nothing about his unruly herdsmen. Abraham in his humility and meekness decided to find a solution and asked Lot to choose the part of the land he would like to dwell in. Lot wasn't smart enough to decline, but in apparent greed chose the best parts to relocate to. I felt Lot should have humbly declined and respecting Abraham's age, rather suggested that Abraham should hand to him any portion of his choice.

It's interesting to note that these events occurred between them as ordinary humans. God wasn't the person that asked them to separate. He merely watched as they tried to sort themselves out. But God saw what Lot did and hear what he told Abraham as soon as Lot had moved to the juicer part of the land:

14 And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
Genesis 13

I say, Lot made a huge mistake. It turned out that all that glittered wasn't gold. But God gave Abraham the whole world, which included the land that Lot chose for himself.
Lot started having troubles. The first was that he dwelt amongst stubborn folk, who were depraved. Their stubbornness bought war upon them and Lot fell victim. Abraham had to go to war because of Lot, just to rescue him from his captors. Again, God didn't ask him to go to war, but he just did it because of his nephew.
This showed that Abraham clearly cared about the young man in spite of the way Lot treated Abraham.

Lot continued to live among them despite their worrisome way of life. Their depravity was so much that God had to personally pay them a visit. We know the rest of the story.

Many people may not realise this, but Lot lost all his wealth, which included all his servants and slaves and herdsmen (the same that quarrelled with Abraham's, leading to their separation in the first place). He only saved his immediate family. His sons-in-law didn't make it. The wife also. The only reason Lot survived was because God knew that Abraham cared about him (19:29).

I'm not certain that Abraham was aware that Lot survived the inferno. This is because, even though God saved Lot, it's not recorded that Abraham was informed. Knowing how much Abraham cared about Lot, he would have sought him out if he had any idea that there was a possibility of Lot's survival.

Now, my questions: why wasn't Abraham informed of Lot's survival?

Why didn't Lot seek him out? Lot apparently knew how to reach Abraham. Was he ashamed of being regarded as a poor man since he had lost all he had? He knew Abraham would still pity him and take him back.

Why didn't Lot investigate the source of his daughters pregnancies? He said so himself that they were virgins (19:8). Since their promised husbands died in the flames, I felt he should at least ask about the source of their pregnancies.

It is possible Lot had compromised his standards. Even though he didn't partake in or practice their customs, they had rubbed off on him and he began to see them as normal (see 2 Peter 2:7-8 ).
The idea of incest is distasteful to the average human being. For the daughters of Lot to even consider it (for whatever excuse they gave), it suggests that it may have been a common practice in Sodom, alongside homosexuality, rape, etcetera.

In summary, Lot made a Lot of wrong choices and it cost him dearly. He entered Sodom as one of the wealthiest men in that region, but ended up in a cave. He then faded from relevance, when he had the opportunity of being named alongside Abraham.

I hope we've learned a lesson or two from this article.

32 "Remember Lot's wife."
Luke 17.