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From: rjb@akgua.UUCP (R.J. Brown [Bob])
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Black's ravings (comment about Sodom)
Message-ID: <1314@akgua.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 13-Mar-85 12:09:42 EST
Article-I.D.: akgua.1314
Posted: Wed Mar 13 12:09:42 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 14-Mar-85 06:08:01 EST
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I wish Yiri Ben David were still around or perhaps Mr. Martillo
could comment about Middle Eastern or Oriental hospitality.  If
what I have heard is correct Lot was under SEVERE obligation to
protect his house guests even to the point of offering his own
flesh and blood (daughter) as a ransom to protect those who he
has taken in.  I understand that this kind of stranger protection
is still practiced by nomadic peoples ( see a recent National
Geographic - sometime in 1984 on a married couple who lived for
a couple years on the Arabian desert - Oh rats ! maybe it was the
Smithsonian mag - sorry)

Anyway, Lot's behavior seems strange to us because our social
environment and sense of obligation are much different than 
those in that cultural milieu.

P.S. The word "know" in the earlier English translations used in
this fashion usually means sexual relations.


Bob Brown {...ihnp4!akgua!rjb}