Abraham and Lot

Historical Records

Henslowe's Diary

Res at abrame & lotte the 9 of Jenewarye 1595	……….	lij^s
Res at abram & lotte the 17 of Jenewarye 1595	……….	xxx^s
Res at abrame & lotte the 31 of Jenewarye 1595	……….	xij^s

Theatrical Provenance

Abraham and Lot was one of twelve plays performed by the earl of Sussex's players at the Rose playhouse in mid-winter, 1594. Ten of the twelve plays, including Abraham and Lot, were not marked with Henslowe's enigmatic "ne"; thus it and the other nine plays similarly unmarked were likely to have been in Sussex's repertory prior to their appearance at the Rose (hence the date assignment of 1593). Abraham and Lot disappears from theatrical records in England following its performance at the Rose on 31 January 1594.

Probable Genre(s)

Biblical History (Harbage)

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

The narratives of Abraham and Lot are linked from the beginning in that the men were kin (StudyLight). Their intertwined narrative is told in Genesis 11:27-22:19. It begins with the family connection to Tarah, who had three sons: one was Abraham; another was Haron, Lot's father (Lot was thus Abraham's nephew): "These are the generations of Tarah: Tarah begat Abram, Nachor, and Haran: Haron begat Lot" (11:27). In the aftermath of Sodom and Gomorrah, the story of Lot ends rather sordidly with the bed tricks played on him by his two daughters (Genesis 19:30-38). Abraham's story continues with a child-bearing theme also: Sarah barren, yet Isaac born. It culminates in Abraham's test of faith that risked the sacrifice of Isaac (22:1-19), an episode well known to playgoers from the Corpus Christi plays.

Plausibly dramatic episodes:

• Canaan and Sichem (Genesis 11:31 - 12:10): When Tarah took Abraham and his wife, Sarah, from Ur to Haran in Canaan, he took Lot also: "And Tarah toke Abram his sonne, and Lot the sonne of Haran his sonnes sonne, and Sarai his daughter in lawe his sonne Abrams wyfe, and they departed together from Ur of the Chaldees, that they myght go into the land of Chanaan: and they came vnto Haran, and dwelt there" (11:31). After some time (Abraham was by now seventy-five), God told Abraham to leave Haran to establish a great nation in a new land; he took not only Sarah and their household but also Lot and their collective following (12:5). In this new place (Sichem), Abraham built an altar where God had appeared to him: "And the Lorde appearyng vnto Abram, sayd, Unto thy seede wyl I geue this lande: And there buylded he an aulter vnto the Lorde whiche appeared vnto hym" (12:7). However, famine came. To find relief, Abraham traveled to Egypt with Sarah and perhaps also Lot (the biblical narrator isn't clear on this): " … therfore went Abram downe into Egypt, that he myght soiourne there, for there was a greeuons famine in the lande" (12:10).

• Egypt (Genesis 12:11-20): In Egypt, Abraham misrepresented Sarah as his sister, not his wife. He did so because he feared the the Egyptians, seeing her beauty, would kill him in order to take her for themselves if they knew she was his wife. The Pharaoh did take her into his household, and he rewarded Abraham handsomely for the pleasure: "[The Pharaoh] entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheepe and oxen, and he asses, menseruauntes, & maydeseruauntes, she asses and camels (12:16). When he uncovered the deceit, the Pharaoh threw Abraham and Sarah out of the kingdom with "all that he had" (12:20).

• Abraham and Lot go their separate ways (Genesis 13:1-13) : Abraham and Sarah, with Lot, went southward from Egypt to the site where Abraham had built the altar (13:1). Lot too had prospered in Egypt: "Lot also whiche went with Abram, had sheepe, cattell, and tents" (12:5). Soon, though, there was strife between the two estates, and Abraham suggested that they separate before there was trouble (13:8-9). Lot chose a site near Sodom, in Jordan; Abraham moved to Hebron in Canaan.

• Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 14:1-24; Genesis 19:1-38): After Lot had moved near Sodom, war broke out among neighboring kings, and Lot and his family was taken prisoner (14:12); Abraham came to his rescue, refusing the king of Sodom's offer to exchange the captives for bounty (14:14-24). God confided his plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah to Abraham (18:20-33), and Lot was at the gate of Sodom when two angels arrived, and he invited them in for a feast (19:1-3). This caused a stir among the men of Sodom, who surrounded Lot's house and demanded that the guests be exposed; Lot refused (offering his daughters instead), and the angels struck the Sodomites blind "so that they were weryed in sekyng the doore" (19:11). In the morning, the angels led Lot, his wife, and his daughters out of danger, telling him "Saue thy selfe, and loke not behynde thee, neither tary thou in all this playne" (19:17). Lot protested, and the angels permitted him to flee to a nearby city (later named Soar); but, fatally, Lot's wife looked behind her as they departed and "was turned into a piller of salt" (19:26). After a brief refuge in Soar, Lot moved with his daughters to the mountains where they lived in a cave; given their solitary situation, the daughters tricked Lot with wine and lay with him so that they might bear sons (19:30-36). One daughter had Moab, father of the Moabites; the other had Benammi, father of the Ammonites.

•Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael, Sarah and Isaac (Genesis 15—18; Genesis 20—22): The story of God's promise to give Abraham an heir by Sarah is so familiar that it need not be repeated in detail here. Suffice it to mark the major episodes. (1) Abraham sealed the covenant with God for a son with the sacrifice of three-year-old animals (heifer,she-goad, ram) plus a turtledove and young pigeon; he then fell into a deep sleep, during which God revealed to him the future (15:1-21). (2) Sarah, barren and impatient, sent her Egyptian servant, Hagar, to lie with Abraham, and they conceived a son. Hagar, now facing Sarah's wrath, fled, but an angel appeared to her with news that her son would be "a wylde man" and she should return to Abraham's house (16:1-16). (3) God renewed his promise that Sarah would bear a son, and He orders further that all males in the household be circumcised; Abraham "was ninetie yere olde and nine when the fleshe of his foreskynne was circumcised" (17:24). (4) Following a period when Abraham denied that Sarah was his wife, God renewed his promise for her conception and Isaac was born (21:2-3); Hagar and Ismael were cast out, but God protected them (21:14-20); God tested Abraham by leading him to believe he had to sacrifice his young son, but at the last minute God showed Abraham a ram to substitute for the boy (22:1-18).

• Abraham's story concludes (Genesis 23:1—25:10) After Sarah died, Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for Isaac, and the biblical narrative moves forward by way of Isaac's marriage to Rebecca and their sons, Esau and Jacob. In his old age, Abraham married again, Keturah, who bore him more sons. He died at "hundred threscore and fifteen yeres" (25:7). His sons, Isaac and Ismael, "buryed hym in the double caue in the fielde of Ephron sonne of Soar the Hethite, before Mamre" (25:9).

References to the Play

None certain, but see For What It's Worth, below.

Critical Commentary

For What It's Worth

A lost Abraham and Lot in Germany? (Schlueter to provide commentary)

Works Cited

The Bishops' Bible, 1568. (StudyLight)

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