Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Lot's Wife


Lot's wife is unnamed in the Bible and Josephus and Koran.
Jewish traditions/scholars say her name was Ado or Edith (Jashar 19:52, Midrash, Wisdom 10:7).
However it looks like the bible seems to suggest that her name was Iscah. The reasons why include:
- Why is Lot's wife unnamed? Surely the bible might actually give her name somewhere?
- Iscah is the "daughter of Lot's father Haran, and "sister" of Lot, which might be daughter-/sister-in-law (or Lot might be son-in-law).* I am not necessarily suggesting that Lot married his real sister, though it is possible since Cain and Abel did, and since Nahor allegedly married his neice Milcah who was Iscah's "sister". They could have been only half sister & brother? In ancient Egypt the pharaohs married their sisters (or their wives were called "sisters").
- Why is Iscah included in the genealogy?* No mention is made of any husband or children of Iscah's.
- Some scholars theorised that Iscah was another name for Abram's/Abraham's wife Sarai/Sarah. Lot was like a brother of Abraham.
- Iscah/Jessica means "to look/see, seeing, prophetic foresight" according to one source, which seems like Lot's wife "looking back"? (Though the word used for Lot's wife's looking back was tabet, which is contrasted with the word saqap used for Abraham's "looking".) Jewish scholars suggested Iscah was a prophetess/seer.
- Iscah and Edith both have 5 letters or 2 syllables (in English at least)?
- Iscah is like Eve's name Isha, and Edith is like Eden? Lot's wife's looking might be vaguely similar to Eve's looking at the apple?

Sitchin said that the Hebrew words may imply that Lot's wife was vaporised rather than turned into a literal pillar of salt. So identifications of Lot's wife with rock/salt pillars/columns/formations in the area might be unsound. (Compare the pillars of cloud and fire in Exodus, and atomic/nuclear mushroom clouds? One of the worlds largest desposits of petroleum is underneath the Dead Sea region.) There is possibly a similarity and connection with Babylon's destruction by fire in Revelation? Though the Dead Sea area is very salty and also has sulphur deposits there too.

There are similar stories to Lot's wife looking back in Greek (Orpheus & Eurydice), and Japanese (Izanagi & Izanami).


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* "Of Harran's descendants, Milcah and her sister Iscah are recorded by J, but Lot is not mentioned with them. The inclusion of Iscah must have had some significance that either J or his source chose not to elucidate. Nevertheless a strong tradition must have barred the redactors from omitting Iscah's name, a tradition, presumably, in which a sister had an important function; this tradition is apparent also in Genesis 4:22, in which Naamah, sister of Tubal-Cain, is mentioned only by name. It can be surmised that Naamah and Iscah were originally recorded to categorize the descent group (or other characteristic) of their siblings Tubal-Cain and Milcah. In non- patriarchal terms, Naamah and Tubal-Cain were uterine siblings, as were Milcah and Iscah. It is also possible that Milcah is named before her sister Iscah because she was younger, just as Rachel is named before Leah. Among Harran's descendants, the sequence of Lot's birth is not significant and is not mentioned in the genealogy of J because he was not the uterine sibling of Milcah and Iscah, did not belong to the same descent group as they, and was therefore not considered by Sarah or Abram as heir."
While the bible is patriarchal, ad Jews are matrilineal.
Naamah was possibly Noah's wife.

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