Sarah/Sodom: Birth,Destruction,and Synchronic Transaction

Abstract

This article proposes that reading Genesis 18-19, the announcement of Isaac’s birth and the destruction of Sodom, as a cohesive narrative unit (and as a reversal of Gen. 13) reveals a deep structure of symmetry, opposition, and closure. Between counterpointed righteous birth and destroyed wickedness, opposed constructs move in opposite movement in dynamic synchrony and transformation. As the messengers of birth destroy Sodom, the aged barren Sarah becomes young and fertile while the fertile Sodom turns to ash and salt. Transacted opposition is established in the narrative’s deep structure or at the linguistic level of literary association in similar and contrasted motifs, words, phrases, and word-play.