Aggada -- Translations into English; Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends; Midrash -- Translations into English
The cruelty of the Sodomites went still further. Lot had a daughter,
Paltit, so named because she had been born to him shortly after he
escaped captivity through the help of Abraham. Paltit lived in Sodom,
where she had married. Once a beggar came to town, and the court issued
a proclamation that none should give him anything to eat, in order that
he might die of starvation. But Paltit had pity upon the unfortunate
wretch, and every day when she went to the well to draw water, she
supplied him with a piece of bread, which she hid in her water pitcher.
The inhabitants of the two sinful cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, could not
understand why the beggar did not perish, and they suspected that some
one was giving him food in secret. Three men concealed themselves near
the beggar, and caught Paltit in the act of giving him something to
eat. She had to pay for her humanity with death; she was burnt upon a
pyre.
The people of Admah were no better than those of Sodom. Once a stranger
came to Admah, intending to stay overnight and continue his journey the
next morning. The daughter of a rich man met the stranger, and gave him
water to drink and bread to eat at his request. When the people of
Admah heard of this infraction of the law of the land, they seized the
girl and arraigned her before the judge, who condemned her to death.
The people smeared her with honey from top to toe, and exposed her
where bees would be attracted to her. The insects stung her to death,
and the callous people paid no heed to her heartrending cries. Then it
was that God resolved upon the destruction of these sinners.[157]
ABRAHAM PLEADS FOR THE SINNERS
When God saw that there was no righteous man among the inhabitants of
the sinful cities, and there would be none among their descendants, for
the sake of whose merits the rest might be treated with lenient
consideration, He resolved to annihilate them one and all.[158] But
before judgment was executed, the Lord made known unto Abraham what He
would do to Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other cities of the plain, for
they formed a part of Canaan, the land promised unto Abraham, and
therefore did God say, "I will not destroy them without the consent of
Abraham."[159]
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