Bible Quiz #6 -- Sodom & Gomorrah

Lot Flees Sodom

[See "Bible Quiz #5 -- Abraham"]

In addition to its obvious religious importance, the Bible is a significant work of literature. However, much of what we know about the Bible is through hearsay and forgotten lessons. The following is an educational lesson of sorts. It is in "quiz" format, but it will not affect your grade point average.

The Bible in this case refers to the Hebrew Scriptures: the TANACH. For the translation from Hebrew, I will use the American Jewish Version. This quiz will only cover the passages regarding the events surrounding the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18-19.

I will provide some insight into TANACH passages that are hidden from English readers. If your computer screen does not display the Hebrew characters correctly, it's no big deal, since you cannot read them anyway, right?
 

For atheists, don't slink away. This is not a religious or theological lesson, nor a conversion attempt. It's just a parsing of a unique piece of literature from a unique perspective.

QUESTIONS

1. Three angels arrive at Abraham’s encampment. What do they do that angels do not do anywhere else in the Bible?

2. Sarah lies to one of the angels. What is her lie?

3. Abraham pleads with God to spare Sodom. What is Abraham’s main argument, to which God agrees?

4. The angels and Lot’s family are trapped in his house by an angry mob in Sodom. How do the angels end the attack by the mob?

5. The angels save Lot, his wife (temporarily), and his two daughters. Why did Lot’s sons-in-law perish?

6. During the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, which other two cities were destroyed? Why was another city spared?

7. Why do three angels meet with Abraham instead of only one?

8. Why did Lot's two daughters get him drunk in order to have children by him?

ANSWERS

1.  Partake of food and drink.
Abraham presents them with curd, milk, and veal. They later eat unleavened bread offered by Lot.
Genesis 18:8; 19:3

2. She denies laughing.
Sarah laughs in disbelief after the angel proclaims that Sarah will bear a child. When the angel asks why she laughed – since God can cause anything to pass – she denies, because of fear, that she had laughed. The angel rejects her denial.
Genesis 18:15

3. Do not destroy the righteous with the wicked.
Abraham convinces God that even if there are only 10 righteous men in Sodom, he should spare the city for their sake.
Genesis: 18:23-32

4. Temporary blindness.
The attackers are stricken with a temporary blindness (סנורים -- sanvarim) that is mentioned only one other place in the Bible. It is interesting that the solution is a passive one, particularly so since the attackers are doomed anyway.
Genesis 19:11

5. They do not believe his entreaties to flee.
When Lot warns his sons-in-law to flee Sodom, they thought he was jesting, so they remained.
Genesis 19:14

6. Admah and Zeboiim.
Sodom and Gomorrah were two of five cities comprising the Vale of Siddim. The other three cities were Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar (aka Bela). God destroys the “cities of the Plain” (Siddim). Admah and Zeboiim are later specifically named as having been destroyed at the same time as Sodom and Gomorrah (Deuteronomy 29:23). Zoar was spared because Lot fled there from Sodom.
Genesis 19:21-29

7. Each has a specific task to complete.
One angel announces to Abraham and Sarah that they will have a child (Genesis 18:10). Only two angels go to Sodom (Genesis 19:1), implying that the first angel had completed the task he had been sent to do. In Sodom, two tasks are carried out: The destruction of the cities, and the rescuing of Lot and his family.
Genesis 18:10; 19:1; 19:29

8. In order to "maintain life."
After arriving in Zoar, Lot feared that city would also be destroyed, so he fled with his daughters to an isolated cave. According the elder daughter, Lot is old, and "there is not a man on earth to consort" with the daughters "in the way of all the world." Therefore, she explains, they should bear children through him so they "may maintain life through" him. The daughters' husbands had been killed in the catastrophe, and the daughters might have believed that either all other men had been killed or that Lot had removed them from interacting with any other men. It is interesting to note that Lot is not aware of what happened (he was drunk), and that the names of the daughters are not provided. Their two children were Moab ("from father") and Ben-ammi ("son of my [paternal] kinsman"). They became the founders of nations of Moab and Ammon, respectively. 
Genesis 19:31-38