28 Feb, 1 Mar -- The Code of Hospitality

The readings for Wed 28 Feb & Thur 1 Mar are -- Gen 18:1-19:22; Ps 6:6-10; Prov 1:24-27; Mt 6:25-7:12.

Hospitality has long been an important aspect of Middle Eastern culture. In "A Way Through the Wilderness", Jamie Buckingham writes: " A well-known story tells of a Bedouin who slaughtered his famous stallion, the fastest horse in the desert, in order to serve his guests a meal. He preferred to part with his beloved mount rather than risk being called a miser who did not show true hospitality. Likewise, the tent of the Bedouin is looked upon as a place of refuge. The host, once he has accepted a guest, feels obligated to protect him at all costs -- even at his own peril. During the Turkish rule of the Sinai, two fugitives once took refuge in the tent of a great Bedouin sheikh just as they were about to be caught by pursuing soldiers. When the soldiers arrived, they demanded the chief hand over the culprits. The old chief, standing before his tent with rifle in hand, refused. One of the soldiers decided to enter the tent and arrest the wanted man. Instantly the Bedouin raised his rifle and fired a deafening shot. The soldiers turned back, only to discover the chief had not shot at them; he had shot and killed his favorite mare. 'Be careful,' an old man standing near the tent said to the soldiers. 'The chief has just killed what is most dear to his heart. He has nothing more to lose.' The Turkish soldiers understood and fled back into the desert."

In today's reading from Genesis we see Abraham and then Lot following that code of hospitality. Appallingly, it leads Lot to offer his two daughters to the mob. "You can do whatever you want to them" he says. What a shame that the code of hospitality wasn't matched by a code of proper treatment of women! As Derek Kidner (in the Tyndale Commentary on Genesis) says: "That a virtue can be inflated into a vice is glaringly plain here... It suggests that in any age human conventions will be a most fallible guide."

Christians are to show hospitality to one another (Romans 12:13 & 1 Peter 4:9). But also to strangers -- "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." (Hebrews 13:2). Kristine and I have found this a real privilege over the years.