ഉല്പത്തി 19:8

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8 പുരുഷന്‍ തൊടാത്ത രണ്ടു പുത്രിമാര്‍ എനിക്കുണ്ടു; അവരെ ഞാന്‍ നിങ്ങളുടെ അടുക്കല്‍ പുറത്തു കൊണ്ടുവരാം; നിങ്ങള്‍ക്കു ബോധിച്ചതുപോലെ അവരോടു ചെയ്തുകൊള്‍വിന്‍ ; ഈ പുരുഷന്മാരോടു മാത്രം ഒന്നും ചെയ്യരുതേ; ഇതിന്നായിട്ടല്ലോ അവര്‍ എന്റെ വീട്ടിന്റെ നിഴലില്‍ വന്നതു എന്നു പറഞ്ഞു.


Commentary on this verse  

By Brian David

Rudolf von Ems: Weltchronik. Böhmen (Prag), 3. Viertel 14. Jahrhundert. Hochschul- und Landesbibliothek Fulda, Aa 88.  Bildbeschreibung nach [http://www.univie.ac.at/paecht-archiv-wien/DissertationRoland/06Fulda.pdf Martin Roland].<br />

As we face temptation, in the struggle between our desire to be good and our lust for evil, the next step is to try to mollify our evil desires, to sort of convince ourselves that being good will be just as much fun as being bad, that we can turn away from evil acts, do what’s right and be happy without really changing.

That’s illustrated here as Lot (representing those in the Ancient Church who are still good) offers the men of Sodom (the evil people of the Ancient Church) his virgin daughters (affections for what is truen and for doing what is good, which have not been defiled by falsity) as something that will bring them a state of blessedness if they will stop trying to attack the idea of the Lord, represented by the two visiting angels. The idea is that they could get just as much delight from being good as they could from being evil.

This meaning is, of course, pretty deep under the surface of a story which is pretty horrifying on its outer face. In a way, casting the rape of the daughters as a good thing shows just how twisted our logic gets when we’re trying to cling to our evils in a state of temptation.