Midrash sobre Gênesis 13:11

But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, came … and they called unto Lot and said: “Where are the men?” (Gen. 19:4–5). From this incident you learn that when he departed from Abraham, Lot chose him all the plain of the Jordan (Gen. 13:11), which was Sodom. Although he saw that the men of Sodom behaved dissolutely, he nevertheless chose Sodom so that he might behave as they did. How do we know this? He said to the men of Sodom: I have two daughters, who have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out to you (ibid. 19:7). Normally, a man would prefer to undergo death for the sake of his daughter or his wife; indeed he would willingly kill or be killed for their sake, but this man was willing to allow his daughters to be abused by men. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: By thy life, keep them (your daughters) for yourself! Schoolchildren will laugh derisively when they read: Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father (ibid., v. 36).

(Gen. 31:3:) THEN THE LORD SAID UNTO JACOB: RETURN UNTO THE LAND OF YOUR ANCESTORS WHERE YOU WERE BORN, AND I WILL BE WITH YOU. Let our master instruct us: In the case of an Israelite courtyard with star-worshiping foreigners dwelling within it, is it right that its eruv is a < legitimate > eruv? Thus have our masters taught:⁶⁷Cf. Eruv. 6:1; Eruv. 61b-62a. In the case of an Israelite courtyard with star-worshipping foreigners dwelling within it, it is forbidden for an Israelite to use anything within it until he has acquired a right < to the property > from the star-worshipping foreigner.⁶⁸According to Rashi on Eruv. 6:1 (61b), one must rent the idolater’s property for the eruv to be valid. Why? Because it is written (in Exod. 20:21 [24]): IN EVERY PLACE WHERE I CAUSE MY NAME TO BE MENTIONED < I WILL COME UNTO YOU AND BLESS YOU >. The Holy One will not assign his name in the midst of those who serve idols. Rather (according to Lev. 20:32): THAT I MAY BE SANCTIFIED IN THE MIDST OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. Thus, you are not to associate with the wicked ones because the Holy One will not assign his name in their midst. You know yourself that it is so.⁶⁹Tanh., Gen. 7:10. R. Eleazar ben Padat said in the name of R. Jose ben {Qisma} [Zimra]: During the whole time that Lot was attached to Abraham, you never find a divine oracle being conferred upon Abraham. As soon as Lot was separated from him (in Gen. 13:11-13), the divine word was conferred upon him, as stated (in Gen. 13:14). THEN THE LORD SAID UNTO ABRAHAM AFTER LOT HAD DEPARTED FROM HIM. And so you find that, when Jacob went away to Mesopotamia to go to Laban, he spent twenty years at his place; but all the time that Jacob was in Laban's house, the Holy One did not speak with him. Then Jacob did some pondering and said: So the Holy One has forsaken me! Not so. The Holy One said to me (in Gen. 28:15): AND SEE, I AM WITH YOU. The Holy One knew what he pondered in his heart. The Holy One said to him: Do you want me to be with you? Separate yourself from Laban the Wicked, and I will be with you. Where is it shown? Where they read on the matter (in Gen. 31:3): THEN THE LORD SAID UNTO JACOB: < RETURN UNTO THE LAND OF YOUR ANCESTORS WHERE YOU WERE BORN, AND I WILL BE WITH YOU >.

Variantly: "When the Most High caused nations to inherit": When the L-rd caused the fearers of sin and the virtuous among the nations to inherit, "when He separated the sons of man": an allusion to Lot, viz. (Bereshith 13:11) "And they separated themselves, the one (Lot) from the other" (Abraham). "He set the bounds of the peoples": R. Eliezer, the son of R. Yossi Haglili, says: It is written (Song of Songs) 6:8) "Sixty are the 'queens' (Abraham and his descendants), and eighty, the 'concubines'" (Noach and his sons until Abraham). Sixty and eighty are 140 — yet our forefathers descended to Egypt with only seventy souls.