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Oi, ok, bear with me as I tend to ramble a bit

First, some background story- for flavor! When I lived in South Carolina I studied in a Temple with a Rabbi Siegel, it was lil ol me, and a room full of older (50-80 years old) southern folk. Lovely humans, if not a little less than educated concerning their own faith, I figured, at least (even this late in life) they were trying. It was mostly reading the OT together, discussing the differences in our versions against each others, and his. Then there was the tasty Midrash part, where we got to learn about the Hebrew satan and stuff.

When we got to this point in Genesis, we asked similar questions as to the purpose of it all. Lot was saved because Abraham argued with God. Not because he was righteous, but because he was related to a close friend of God's, and left when he was told to, having been told to leave, by the messengers of God he tried to protect. He daughters survived because they left with him. The Midrash teaches that Lots wife was turned to salt, because she 'went out' while the angels were in her house to 'borrow a pinch of salt' from a neighbor, as a ruse to go out and warn others of the impending doom. So her being turned to a pillar of salt was a bit of literary irony. His offering his daughters to the horde, as explained by Rabbi Siegel, was simply a bartering technique, meant to throw them off guard. Any mob would be a bit startled by this offer, and would talk down from there- 'Who is this psycho offering his daughters to us?? Maybe we can get him to give us some camels instead' sort of thing. Again, Rabbi made no excuses for the later behaviors in the cave, but tried to help us understand the culture iof the time, daughters were of little consequence, and they were a bartering culture. As anyone who has been to the middle east can tell you, they are to this day.

So God told Abraham what he was up to, Abraham argued, angels went to Sodom, Lot got them off the street, Lots wife eavesdropped and went to warn the neighborhood about the death and destruction incoming, and when an angry horde showed up demanding why, Lot tried to buy time with his daughters, to save the 'angels' and maybe be out a few camels (LOL) They ran, Lot's wife missed the life she once had, and didn't want to live in the desert- looked back (even though they were told not to!) and got to be a pillar of salt. Then Lots daughters did a gross thing, by our standards- but as Rabbi said- technically, it is gross to us, but they had not the whole of the law- that came after. So while we're grossed out, and the Moabites and Ammonites are a gross 'amoral people- for all intents and purposes, no one had told them yet that God frowned upon those sorts of things.

Quote:

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This revolting narrative has usually been considered to give literal fact, but of late years it has been interpreted, e.g. by Father Lagrange, O.P., as recording a gross popular irony by which the Israelites expressed their loathing of the corrupt morals of the Moabites and Ammonites.

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Now I think I am done Bear in mind, I am not an apologist, nor am I trying to make you believe. Simply answering your question, as it was answered for me- in the best stream of conscious way I can