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19–5: Lot offers up his daughters to a gang of rapists-SAY WHAT??!!
In chapter 19 of Genesis, we run headlong into situations that are just outrageous to our modern sensibilities of social common sense.
Again, it is important to remind ourselves to interpret things through the lens of the ancient Middle Eastern culture we find ourselves immersed in as we walk through the Torah.
First, in verse one, we find Lot greeting the two angelic messengers with a heavy amount of bowing and scraping.
At first glance, our initial impressions might be that Lot recognized the heavenly origin from which these men proceeded and thus accorded them the appropriate degree of respect.
This is not the case.
At this point, Lot has no idea where these men are from.
He just thinks they are a couple of outsiders who have no idea of the wicked nature of the town they have just descended on.
The whole situation smacks of your typical Middle Eastern kabuki dance between host and guest.
When an offer of kindness is extended to a guest, the recipient is obligated to first turn down the offer, and then after a bit of hemming and hawing, finally accept.
As of this writing, I have lived in Japan for close to about 15 years and South Korea for one year before that and I can attest firsthand that such customs do exist and are deeply ingrained among the Asian cultures.
