5. THE DESTRUCTION Of SODOM AND GOMORRAH.
At noon on the 15th Nisan, the third day after the circumcision of Abraham, as recorded in the Book of Genesis, the heat of the sun was so great that Gehinom (Hell) was penetrated by it. And Abraham had not recovered the administration of the rite, which had been performed by the hands of Shem, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God.
Abraham was wont every day to go forth and invite any travellers he might see to feast with him. But this day, owing to the heat and to his being in pain, he sent Eliezer, his servant, forth, who looked and returned and said that there was no one to be seen.
But Abraham thought, “Can I trust the words of this slave, and neglect for one day the performance of my accustomed hospitality?”
Then, notwithstanding the heat and his suffering, he went and sat in the shade of the door, and he beheld in the plain of Mamre the glory of the Lord that appeared. Abraham would have risen, but the voice of God called to him, saying, “Remain where thou art, and let thy pious, sitting posture teach future generations in their prayer and instruction to be seated; and let judges, in delivering judgment, occupy the same position.”
Then Abraham lifted his eyes, and beheld three men, who seemed to approach and then to withdraw. These were the angels Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel, sent to him with messages, whereof each bore one. They now stood before Abraham’s tent, and they came to satisfy his desire to show hospitality: but when they observed the predicament in which he was, they attempted to withdraw, but Abraham supposed them to be travellers of the three neighbouring races of Saracens, Nabathæans, and Arabians; and as two of the angels were smaller of stature than the third, who stood in the middle—this was Michael—Abraham supposed him to be their chief; and he rose and bowed himself before him, and said to the Majesty of God which still shone, “If I have found favour in Thy sight, O Lord, may Thy majesty not depart from me whilst I receive hospitably these wanderers.” And the Lord granted his request.
Then said Abraham to the men, “Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant.”
Now the reason why he said “Let a little water be fetched and wash your feet,” was, that he supposed the men were idolaters, and he would not have the dust from the feet of idolaters to pollute the floor of his tent.
And they said, “Do so.”
Then Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.” And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.
Abraham placed butter and milk on the table first, then calves’ tongues, then the other dishes, and lastly Sarah’s cakes; but some commentators doubt whether the men ate the cakes. It is asserted by some that the angels only appeared to eat, but by others we are assured that to reward Abraham’s hospitality they really did eat, and this was the only occasion on which angels tasted the food of earth.
The angels, knowing that Sarah was within the tent, asked after her. And this betokens her great modesty, that she did not thrust herself forward to be seen of strange visitors. Abraham replied that she was within, engaged in women’s household work. Then said Michael, the chief of the angels, “Truly shall such pious and seemly habits not pass unrewarded; but Sarah shall bloom again as fair as in her youth, and shall bear a son in her old age.”
Sarah heard these words at the entrance of the tent; so did Ishmael, who stood near. Sarah stepped behind the angel, but the beauty of her countenance shone before her, and the angel turned to look at her, and then he saw she was laughing to herself, and saying, “I am good-looking, and smart dresses become me; I could perfectly well produce a son, but then my husband is old.”
Then the word of God came to Abraham, and said, “Wherefore did Sarah laugh? Am I, the all-powerful God, too old to create miracles? At the appointed time Sarah shall have a son.” To Sarah, who, out of fear, denied having laughed, the word came, “Fear not, but thou didst laugh.”
Then Michael withdrew, for his mission was accomplished; and left the other two, Gabriel and Raphael, with Abraham. Then God revealed to Abraham, by Gabriel, that He was about to destroy the cities of the plain; and by Raphael, that He would deliver Lot and his family in the overthrow.
These cities were very guilty before God. Eliezer, having been sent by Sarah to her brother Lot with a message, some years before, arrived in Sodom. An acquaintance invited him to a meal. But hospitality was a virtue abhorred in Sodom, and the news of the invitation having got wind, Eliezer’s friend was driven out of the city. Now it was a custom in Sodom to make every stranger arriving within the walls rest in a certain bed; and if the bed proved too long for him, his legs were pulled out to fit it; and if it proved too short, his legs were pared down to its dimensions. Eliezer saw with horror what it was that they purposed to do with him, and he had recourse to a lie of necessity; he declined to sleep in the bed, because he had taken an oath upon the death of his mother never to lie on a bed again; and thus he escaped. Shortly after, having seen a Sodomite rob a poor stranger of his garment, Eliezer attempted to interfere, but the robber struck him over the head and made a gash, from which he lost much blood. Both being brought before the judge, this was the magistrate’s decision:—That Eliezer was indebted to the Sodomite robber for having bled him. The servant of Abraham thereupon took up a large stone, flung it at the judge’s head, which he cut open, and said, “Now, pay me for having bled thee!” and then he fled out of the city.
From these incidents it may be seen how wicked the city was.
Now Abraham had interceded with God to spare the cities of the plain, for the intercession of His saints is mighty with God. And Abraham had obtained of God that if in Zoar, the smallest of the cities, five righteous could be found, and forty-five in all the rest of the country, God would spare them. Then God ceased talking with Abraham. Next morning early, Abraham arose and took his staff, and went to the place where God had met him, to make further intercession for the cities of the plain, but the smoke of them rose as from a furnace, for brimstone and fire had been rained upon them out of heaven, and they had been consumed along with their inhabitants. Only Zoar was spared, as a place of refuge for Lot, and Lot was kept alive and his daughters; for God remembered how he had been true to Abraham in Egypt, and had not betrayed the truth about Sarah when questioned by Pharaoh.
The Mussulman tradition is as follows:—
Lot, whom the Arabs call Loth, was sent by God as a prophet to convince the inhabitants of the cities of the plain of their ungodly deeds. But, though he preached for twenty years, he could not convince them. And whenever he visited Abraham he complained to him of the iniquity of the people. But Abraham urged him to patience.
At length the long-suffering of God was exhausted, and He sent the angels Michael, Gabriel, and Azrael, armed with the sword of destruction, against these cities.
They came to Abraham, who received them, and slaughtered a calf, and prepared meat and set it before them. But they would not eat. And he pressed them, and ate himself; but they would not eat, being angels. Then Abraham’s colour went, and he was afraid, for to refuse to eat with a man is a token that you seek his life.
Seeing him discouraged, the angels announced their mission. But Sarah, observing her husband’s loss of colour, laughed and said in her heart, “Why is he fearful, being surrounded with many servants and faithful friends?”
Now the angels promised to Abraham a son in his old age, and that they would rescue Lot in the overthrow of Sodom. Then they rose up and went on their way, and entered into Sodom; and they met a young maiden in the street, and asked her the way to Lot’s house.
She answered, “He is my father, and I dwell with him; but know you not, O strangers, that it is against the laws of this city to show hospitality?”
But they answered her, “Fear not; lead us to thy father.”
So she led them, and ran before and told Lot, “Behold three men come seeking thee and asking shelter, and they are beautiful as the angels of God.”
Then Lot went out to them, and told them that the city was full of wickedness, and that hospitality was not permitted.
But they answered, “We must tarry this night in thy house.” Then he admitted them, and he hid them. But Lot’s wife was an infidel, a native of Sodom; and finding that he lodged these strangers, she hastened to the chief men of the city and said, “My husband has violated your laws, and the customs of this people; he has housed travellers, and will feed them and show them all courtesy.”
Therefore the men of the city came tumultuously to the door of Lot’s house, to bring forth the men that were come to him, and to cast them out of the city, having shamefully entreated them. They would not listen to the remonstrances of Lot, but went near to break in his door.
Then the three angels stepped forth and passed their hands over the faces of all who drew near, and they were struck blind, and fled from their presence.
Now, long before the day began to break, the angels rose up and called Lot, his wife and daughters, and bade them take their clothes and all that they had that was most precious, and escape out of the city. Therefore Lot and his family went forth.
And when they were escaped, the angel Gabriel went through the cities, and passed his wing over the soil on which they were built, and the cities were carried up into heaven; and they came so near thereto that those on the confines of heaven could hear the crowing of the cocks in Sodom, and the barking of the dogs in Gomorrah. And then they were overthrown, so that their foundations were towards the sky and their roofs towards the earth. And God rained on them stones heated in the fire of Hell; and on each stone was written the name of him whom it was destined to slay. Now there were many natives of these accursed cities in other parts of the land, and where they were, there they were sought out by the red-hot stones, and were struck down. But some were within the sacred enclosure of the temple at Mecca, and the stones waited for them in the air; and at the expiration of forty days they came forth, and as they came forth the stones whistled through the air, and smote them, and they were slain.
Now Lot’s wife turned, as she went forth, to look back upon the city, and a stone fell on her, and she died.[[314]]
It is related further of Lot that, after he had escaped, he committed in ignorance a very great sin; and Abraham sent him to expiate his crime to the sources of the Nile, to fetch thence three sorts of wood, which he named to him. Abraham thought, “He will be slain by ravenous beasts, and so will he atone for the sin that he has committed.”
But Lot after a while returned, bringing with him the woods which Abraham had demanded—a cypress plant, a young cedar, and a young pine.
Abraham planted the three trees in the shape of a triangle, on a mountain, and charged Lot with watering them every day from Jordan. Now the mountain was twenty-four thousand paces from Jordan, and this penance was laid on Lot to expiate his sin.
At the end of three months the trees blossomed; Lot announced this to Abraham, who visited the spot, and saw to his surprise that the three trees had grown together to form one trunk, but with three distinct roots of different natures.
At the sight of this miracle he bowed his face to the ground and said, “This tree will abolish sin.”
And by that he knew that God had pardoned Lot.
The tree grew and subsisted till the reign of Solomon, when it was cut down, and this was the tree which the Jews employed to form the Cross of Christ.[[315]]
This tradition is, of course, Christian; though Jewish in origin, it has been adapted to the Gospel story.