Lot in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE

lot: I. Personality. The man who bore the name Lot (lot; Lot) is mentioned for the first time in Gen 11:27, at the beginning of that section of Genesis which is entitled "the generations of Terah." After Terah's 3 sons are named, it is added that the third of these, Haran, begat Lot. The reason for thus singling out but one of the grandsons of Terah appears in the next verse, where we are told that "Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees." For that period in the life of this family, therefore, which begins with the migration from Ur, Lot represents his father's branch of the family (Gen 11:31). It is hardly probable that the relation between Abraham and Lot would have been what it was, had not Haran died; but be this as it may, we read this introduction of Lot into the genealogy of Terah as an anticipation of the story to which it furnishes an introduction, and in which Lot is destined to play an important part. The sections of that story in which Lot appears are: in Gen 11, the migration from Ur to Haran; in Gen 12, Abraham's wanderings; in Gen 13, the separation of Abraham and Lot; in Gen 14, the campaign of the eastern kings against Sodom and Abraham's recovery of the captives; and in Gen 19, the destruction of Sodom. In Gen 14:14,16 Lot is termed the "brother" of Abraham; but that this does not represent a variant tradition is proved by reference to 14:12 of the same chapter (ascribed to "an independent source") and to 13:8 (ascribed to J; compare 11:28 J)...