The story of the destruction of Sodom and Amorah, rich with macbre Midrashim about how vile and wicked the people were, is well known. It’s ultimate end, when Lot’s daughters give birth to the sons of their father, on the other hand, is often swept under the rug. It is, to say the least, an uncomfortable story.
Lot’s early actions in this narrative seem praiseworthy. He takes in strangers, an act that opposes the mores of Sodom. He even tries to protect them from the seething crowd that gathers at his door. He recognizes the authority of the malachim, accepting their instructions.
At almost every turn, however, there is an underlying wrongness to Lot’s actions, a misfire in his motivations. The Torah notes that the malachim arrived in the evening, which both the Tur Haaruch and the Ohr HaChaim note as inferring that it was late or dusky enough that Lot was only willing to greet them and bring them to his home when it was not broad daylight, when he would not be seen taking in guests. The malachim arrived at this time, according to the Ohr HaChaim, deliberately so that Lot could gain some merit of his own. When he seeks to save the malachim from the men of the city, he offers them his daughters without any compunction!
Even Lot’s recognition of the authority of the malachim is tainted by his ego. He does not rush to flee. He delays until the malachim are almost dragging him out…and then he has the audacity to stop and ask them to save the smaller city nearby, which will be named Tzoar, because he believes that he perhaps cannot make it so far as the hills. If Hashem went through so much trouble as to send malachim with a warning about the destruction of the city, it should be expected that Hashem would hold off that destruction as needed.
After delaying their departure to beg for this refuge, it is strange that Lot does not even stay there. Lot arrives at Tzoar but never dwells there. The commentaries say that he left Tzoar because he assumed that it too would be overturned. While some commentaries note that Lot believed the malachim only offered him a temporary reprieve, others state that he observed the wickedness of the population and how similar they were to Sodom.
There is, however, no indication from the response of the malachim that the city would be overturned later. Hashem’s messengers told Lot that he should go and that he would be safe. So why did Lot leave so soon?
One could surmise that he did not settle in Tzoar on account of his wife. Although it has often been portrayed as though Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt while the small party was making their way to Tzoar, one sees from the text that it happened after they had already arrived in Tzoar. The angel made it clear that the destruction would not begin while they were still travelling: “Hurry, flee there, for I cannot do a thing until you arrive there” (19:22). They arrived at the city, the destruction began, and then she looked. She was safe and she looked, not from fear but from the urge to see the tragedy. (Perhaps this was where Lot saw that the people of the city would be evil, for perhaps they were gathered at the edges of the city watching their neighbors be destroyed.)
It is possible that the loss of Lot’s wife caused him to wish to leave the Tzoar quickly. What remains curious, however, is why Lot’s daughters believed that they were the last people on earth. The malachim had been clear that it was the region of the plain that was to be destroyed, not the whole world. Additionally, they left a city fully intact in the midst of destruction, so obviously there were other people. Thus the idea that they were the last people remaining could only come from their father after he had set up their dwelling in a cave in the mountains.
Lot spent his early life living with Avraham and watching hard situations turn into victories, witnessing the power of emunah and bitachon, and even receiving the benefits of the blessings Hashem gave to Avraham. But he had always harbored the belief that what was his was his, that his successes were his own without any contribution from Divine Providence. Life got hard, and Lot fled to a cave and drank himself into a stupor.
One can only feel sad for the daughters of Lot. They were not raised to believe that the world is orchestrated by a Divine hand. They probably knew that there was Hashem, or at least that their great uncle Avraham taught about Hashem, but they were raised in a place where everyone looked out for themselves, a place where when one was successful, one could reign terror on others but when one fell on hard times one could expect to be cast out. In such a place, there is little room for the Divine.
Lot fled with his daughters to a cave in the mountain and bemoaned his fate. One can only imagine the impact it would have on a person to hear the cries of despair and never prayers for help, whispers of teshuva, or stories of hashgacha pratis. Lot had seen his uncle thrown into a fiery furnace and survive. He had been with Avraham as they had left a famine-filled Promised Land to go to Egypt and live under threat only to emerge with great honor and wealth. He had been held captive and survived. But in his own life, he could not see past the impossibility of making it better. When one believes that he or she has complete control, then in a time of tragedy one is fully responsible for the fate of the world, a burden no human can handle.
Lot’s daughters could only believe that the right action to save the world was to commit a cardinal sin, to transgress one of the seven laws of bnei Noach. They had no bitachon. They had no belief that Hashem had a plan. One can only imagine, how terrifying their lives were.
Shabbat Shalom
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