Setting: Genesis 13:13 Extra-biblical Sources: Book of Jasher 19:25-35
Yes, and Lot was a righteous man, for he found his soul greatly vexed by the wicked living of the men of Sodom. More than anything, he was exasperated by their policy against hospitality toward outsiders. Not only did this policy require us to live many months in a tent pitched outside of the city, till we should prove our genuine loyalty to the city. This Lot could bear. But that the household of Lot should be barred from entertaining important dignitaries who passed through the region was for Lot a cause for much distress.
I have never known a more hospitable family than that of Terah and his sons. For them, hospitality is the greatest of all moral goods.
Even when I met Lot, lifetimes ago in Chaldea, he was helping his father Haran to prepare a great feast for the arrival of Shulgi, son of Ur-Nammu. When our marriage was arranged I was glad to be invited into such a powerful and generous family, so practiced in feasting on the best of meat and wine with other important families and officials. And in the case of the household of Terah, the feasting was not only with the important, but even with the lonely pilgrim of no account.
For a man to pour out his wealth in hospitality, with prodigal abandon, is for him to sow great blessings for himself that will grow and be harvested in the future. By faith a man sacrifices greatly in the present to bless the important dignitary, and in the future that dignitary in turn blesses his gracious host. Or if the man he blesses is not great, the gods see and reward him in turn.
Only the foolish and ignorant man refuses to open his hand to an esteemed guest.
In this regard the men of Sodom are indeed foolish, for they disregard this most fundamental of all values. Not only do they fail to practice hospitality, but they specifically forbid the entertaining of foreigners and roughly chastise those who do. It is not proper for me even to describe what they do to men who would dare to pass through Sodom on some journey. I will only say that they are publicly humiliated on public beds designed for the purpose, and because this is widely known in the region, sojourners have become very rare in Sodom indeed.
When Eliezer of Damascus visited us, so that he might bring a report back to Abram of how we fared, he was soon found out and led into the square. By great zeal and valor he escaped with his life, but he was struck on the head by a rock that drew much blood, and to this day he bears the scars of that encounter.
If this vexed my husband’s soul day and night from the moment we were established in Sodom, it would go on to crush my soul in what happened to Paltith. Paltith is the youngest of our three daughters, and in many ways the most like her father. It is her delight to share with those in need, especially travelers, should any unwittingly pass through our unwelcoming town.
At the age of twelve, Paltith was seen sharing bread and curds with a Syrian who was passing through on his way to Damascus. The men of the city stripped her of her clothing and cast her into a pit in retribution, and we were restrained from rescuing her until nightfall by the elders of the city who advised that further trouble would ensue if we involved ourselves before the sun set. We appealed to Serak, the judge of our city, but his decree was the same as these elders.
I told Lot then and there that we should depart from this godforsaken city, even if it did mean dwelling in tents like Abram. Or why not dwell in Salem, among the Jebusites, or with Rim-Sin in Luz? But Lot saw the entire event as a silly tale that we would laugh about later; an experience of growing up for Paltith that she might learn to respect the laws of men.
Would that this was her last encounter with the law, but she was caught providing charity again not one year later, and this time they tied her naked to a post in the town square and all who passed by spat upon her. I thank God that she survived that day without being cast upon one of those beds in the square.
God have mercy, how can I even tell of what happened next. I will tell it quickly. Paltith was caught smuggling bread to a poor man in her water jug, and so they burned her with fire in the square. Of what use is my life to me now? God take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.