Genesis 19

Verse 1
Joseph Smith corrected two to three. The footnote also points out that angel could/should mean messenger. Who where these angels that needed to eat? I think only mortals and resurrected beings can eat, which is why Jesus broke bread with the disciples, to prove he wasn’t a spirit after the resurrection, right?

Verse 4-11
So I wrote this…
These verses are very troubling. The gang came to the door wanting to rape the men, so Lot offered up his daughters instead? How is that better?I wish the institute manual did a better job explaining this because it was really no help at all.

And then I read the JST of these verses. Much better! Now I feel like I can really understand what was going on. http://lds.org/scriptures/jst/jst-gen/19?lang=eng

Verse 26
I think it is clear from these verses that Lot’s wife lacked some faith in the Lord, but I identify with her because I can imagine myself doing the same. She had left behind some of her children, and probably some grandchildren. All of her earthly possessions (and in those days, they really didn’t have much) were left behind. It would be so tempting to turn and try to beat the fire and brimstone. I don’t think Lot’s wife turned into a literal pillar of salt, and some scholars speculate that what we know as the dead sea today is where Sodom and Gomorrah was located.

Verse 31
Oh wow, one of the juiciest stories in all of scripture. I’m wondering if maybe when the girls said there was not a man to impregnate them, if they meant there wasn’t a righteous man. They made a judgement that a child with their father was better than a child with an evil man (and after their experience ps in Sodom and Gomorrah I’m thinking they probably had some serious trust issues when it came to men). How sad to feel so alone and so isolated!