This part will deal with the internal allusions and the rest of the jokes. An internal allusion, or a callback as it's called in comedy is designed to give the narrative structure in literature. In comedy it's also designed to get a laugh. It happens when something references something that happens earlier in the narrative.
In verse 14 it says so Lot went and spoke to his sons in law who were married to his daughters. This is a minor callback to "I have two daughters who have never slept with a man". It's a joke. Again the translators were trying to cover up the fact that Lot's daughters are never in the house to begin with. The NIV even translates it as ' betrothed to be married'. This is an expression that is completely made up. The verb means married to. It's created confusion over whether Lot had two or for daughters. Lot has two married daughters who live with their husbands, leaving Lot free to run his lodge and solicit strange men. Remember this is obscene comedy, pretty much in the same vein as Jim Jefferies - the Australian stand-up comedian. (Who I personally think is very funny).
The joke is that Lot doesn't consider his sons- in law to be men. This is why the wording is "two daughters that have never slept with a man" - not virgins. We also are told that the sons- in law don't go with Lot because being the punster that he is (remember his name means pun) they believe he's joking. Just to further establish Lot as a joker.
We then have the first joke about Zoar 20-22 Whether Zoar was a real place or not it certainly had a reputation as being in the middle of nowhere. It is also referenced by Jeremiah (48:34) and Moses (Deut 34:3) . Lot asks if he can escape there, as he's essentially too lazy to go any further. The punchline for this joke within the narrative would've been "And that's why it was called Zoar." Zoar itself means small.
Also, within the narrative we have the angels taking Lot's hand v16. Hand was a euphimism for penis. So a pause there would have had the audience laughing, before the rest of the narrative was revealed.
We then have one of my favourite double-entendres in the bible. Pillar of salt. Pillar means deputy or overseer, and salt is slang for deep wisdom or compassion. Looked back also means to consider or regard. So we have Lot's wife full of wisdom and compassion, going back to be a shining example of spiritual purity. However, the fabulous description of the ' fire and brimstone' and the phenomenal wordplay mean that we get this fantastic image of Lot's wife as a Pompeii statue. Within this comedy routine she seems to exist purely for that one gag. It is a brilliant one!
In v30 we then have more Zoar bashing, as Lot decides he would rather go and live in a cave than stay in the tiny shithole that was Zoar.
We now arrive at the pinnacle of the comedy routine and major callback. It's this that makes Sodom and Gomorrah one of the best, if not the best comedy routine ever to exist. In my opinion this is the Mona Lisa of comedy routines. It deserves to be in the bible because it's obviously divinely inspired.
v30-34 Lot's daughters decide to have sex with their Dad, so that they can have kids. They plan to get him pissed drunk - the original verb used means to 'irrigate the ground' not the polite - drink wine. (As this story is just a comedy routine one doesn't question where they got their wine cellar when they're in a cave in the mountains) (ref: Dr. Shayna Sheinfeld)
וַתֹּאמֶר הַבְּכִירָה אֶל הַצְּעִירָה אָבִינוּ זָקֵן וְאִישׁ אֵין בָּאָרֶץ לָבוֹא עָלֵינוּ כְּדֶרֶךְ כָּל הָאָרֶץ: לְכָ֨ה נַשְׁקֶ֧ה אֶת־אָבִ֛ינוּ יַ֖יִן וְנִשְׁכְּבָ֣ה עִמּ֑וֹ וּנְחַיֶּ֥ה מֵאָבִ֖ינוּ זָֽרַע׃ וַתַּשְׁקֶ֧יןָ אֶת־אֲבִיהֶ֛ן יַ֖יִן בַּלַּ֣יְלָה ה֑וּא וַתָּבֹ֤א הַבְּכִירָה֙ וַתִּשְׁכַּ֣ב אֶת־אָבִ֔יהָ וְלֹֽא־יָדַ֥ע בְּשִׁכְבָ֖הּ וּבְקׄוּמָֽהּ׃
"And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the world. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.” So they made their father drink wine that night; and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she rose."
The eldest daughter goes in to sleep with him. This is where we have to look at the original Hebrew. As it's noted in the Genesis Rabbah 51:8 (Genesis Rabbah is a classical midrash written about 300-500 CE) there is a dot over the letter vav. This means that though Lot wasn't aware of when she lay down, he was aware of it when she got up. The rabbi wanted us to have that information, but he doesn't share how he knows this. The dot isn't a moral prompt, it's a form of literary direction. It indicates that the meaning of yada changes during the sentence.
I call this dot - Lot's dot.
For the sentence to make sense in English you have to use both meanings, as obviously the play on words doesn't work in English. In English the correct translation should be,
"He wasn't aware of it when she lay down - and didn't interrogate her when she got up."
Then the meaning of yada changes again for the youngest daughter. Also in the original Hebrew, the expression 'went down' and 'arose' also means 'going down' and 'going up'. It's once again amazing wordplay at work. So this time, the correct translation in English should read.
"Again, he wasn't having sex with her when SHE was going down and up."
Meaning that he is innocent because he's just laying there Pissed Drunk and she's on top. So technically he's completely innocent!
The use of yada being used as a pun in three ways - on a callback is the equivalent of Suriya Bonali doing a backflip and executing a perfect triple axis on the way down. The comedic structure is too complex to be coincidental. This can only have been written by one of the masters. At the very least this is a Rembrandt. This callback here, references the use of yada as a pun when Lot pretends to misunderstand the army. This is why the translators have desperately tried to cover up the fact that Lot's daughters were married and not in the house.
The audience is then brought down with more fun wordplay. The eldest daughter has a son called Moab - which means Of My Father and the youngest has a son called Ben-Ammi, which sounds like 'Son Of My Clan'. We're told that they become the father's of the two rival tribes of the Ammonites and Moabites. This was great comedy to end on. Two great jokes at the end. The Moabites and Ammonites really existed and the comedian wanted the audience to know that their rivals were the inbred second cousins of the Israelites. It's warm tribal bickering, the way that the English and Irish tease each other. Obviously the audience at the time would've known they were listening to an alternative comedy version of Jewish history.
So the genuine message of Sodom and Gomorrah is that it doesn't matter who you have sex with. You can try and have anal sex with the messengers that God sends you, you can even have sex with your own daughters if they're of age and get you drunk. God will come back and save you. He will even allow your descendents to father entire tribes! Your sex life, providing it's consenual and fun, means that you are righteous.
However, if you're unkind to the poor and treat immigrants badly God will destroy you. This means you are lawless. And unfortunately, in the case of Lot's wife, anyone that goes back to offer you sympathy and support!
Remember guys, at the time these stories would have been hilarious. The real message in terms of spirit/energy is under the story. We don't have to be perfect. Not even close. What goes on in our private lives is no big deal to God. God already knows what we get up to. If we believe that we have nothing and don't share, if we treat everyone as a threat- the laws of the simulation dictate that we'll be destroyed. Trusting that we have enough and offering some form of hospitality, as lowly even as Lot's means that we'll still be considered worth saving. God will even send people to come and rescue you that you'd like to have sex with.
This is confirmed in 2 Peter 2:7 "and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless" ...
This concludes Sodom and Gomorrah is stand-up comedy... I will now continue with Jacob Wrestles With The Angel.
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