Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 19/0

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Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 19

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Lot and Rut

There are close parallels between the story of Avraham and Lot, and that of Rut. On the most basic level, Ruth is a descendant of Lot (through Moav), and is a spiritual descendant of Avraham, as a righteous convert.  

Tools

  • See the Tanakh Lab1 that one of the chapters with the most linguistic overlap with the Book of Rut is Bereshit 19, the story of Lot. To analyze the parallels, see here

Articles

Lectures

Avraham and Lot

The story of Lot’s interaction with the angels who visit him in Bereshit 19 contains parallels and contrasts to Avraham’s interaction with them in Bereshit 18.2

Tools

Tanakh Lab indicates that Bereshit 18 is the second most linguistically similar chapter to Bereshit 19.  See here to compare the two texts.

Primary Sources

  • Several sources compare the hospitality of Lot and Avraham – ContrastLekach TovLekach Tov and Seikhel TovSeikhel Tov on Bereshit 19:3 who view Lot's hospitality as being on a lower level that that of Avraham, with ShadalBereshit 19:3About R. Shemuel David Luzzatto who suggest that differing circumstances can account for the differing actions. See also Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 25.
  • Others focus on the different spiritual levels of the  two – see Bereshit Rabbah 19:3, Rashi Bereshit 19:1.

Articles

  • See R. Raymond Harari's article, Avraham's Nephew Lot: A Biblical Portrait, for a comparison of he two figures. R. Harari concludes that though Lot did not outright reject Avraham's values, he made them subservient to his own materialistic goals. Ultimately his inability to fully commit to Avraham's vision led to his defeat.
  • Rav Elchanan Samet's article, בין אברהם ללוט, further compares the stories.

Sedom and Egypt

There are numerous parallels between the stories of the destruction of Sedom and of divine retribution against Egypt at the time of the Exodus.

Articles

Sedom and Evil in Tanakh

Sedom is invoked throughout Tanakh as representative of the depths to which society can sink.

Tools

  • See Makbilot Bamikra for a list of verses in which Sedom is singled out as a a paradigm of evil.

Articles

Sedom and Givah

There are salient parallels in language and plot between the story of Sedom in Bereshit 19 and that of the concubine in Givah in Shofetim 19. According to the Tanakh Lab, in fact, Shofetim 19 is the chapter most linguistically similar to Bereshit 19.

Tools

  • Use the Tanakh Lab to see the many linguistic parallels between Bereshit 19 and Shofetim 19.

Lectures