Let's get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father." – Genesis 19:32

Today's Scripture Reading (August 17, 2021): Genesis 19

Stories come with a beginning and an ending. And in between is the tale and the people found within its pages. In Hebrew writing, the story is often organized to form a chiasm, a literary device in which an idea or sequence is presented and then repeated in the reverse order. What differentiates a chiasm from the stories we like to read is that the most important concept in a chiasm is found at the center of the story, instead of at the end.

I am convinced Genesis 18 and 19 were intended as a single story, and that story is told in the form of a chiasm. We might picture the chiasm like this;

A          Abraham and Sarah are promised a child (18:1-15)

                        B          Abraham Pleads for Sodom (18:16-33)

                                    C          Lot’s Rescue and Care for his Two Visitors (19:1-3)

                                                D          Sodom’s Inhospitality (19:4-9)

                                    C’         Lot’s Rescue from Sodom (19:10-22)

                        B'         Abraham witnesses the destruction of Sodom (19:23-29)

A'         Lot's daughters obtain children by sleeping with Lot (19:30-38)

The essential point of this tale of the experiences of Abraham is the inhospitality of Sodom. But there is also a mirror between the other points of the story. And of particular interest, as we read the ending of the story, is the correlation between the miraculous promise that Abraham and Sarah would have a child in their elder years with the sense of desperation that is present in the daughters of Lot as they think about their future children.

And that is where we return to the story. Abraham and Sarah are never presented to the reader as perfect people. They are flawed throughout the story, and yet, ultimately, they place their trust in God.

On the other hand, Lot decides to pitch his tents close to Sodom and then moves into the city. And while he recognizes the wickedness of the city, he seems to do very little to protect his family from the sins of the town. And so, when the time comes for his daughters to consider their future, they resort to an evil solution. Their trust seems to be only in themselves and what they can devise as a way out of the situation. They don't tell their father; they know that he would not go along with their scheme. So, instead, they decide to get him drunk.

Pastor David Guzik sums up the ending of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah this way; "Living in the low moral environment of Sodom had a great and harmful effect on Lot's family. His compromise affected far more than himself" (David Guzik). It usually does. When we accept a low moral standard from those around us, the effect of that standard is generally felt down through the generations. But when we set a high moral example, that too is felt down through our descendants. It is what makes our decisions so important, not just for us but also to those who follow us.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Genesis 20