Since reading The Lost Gospel I became of a mind to create some mythical Biblical peoples. Like, you know, the Sodomites, who famously gave their name to the art of buggery. Everyone who took a bible class, even as a small child, knows that story: evil Sodom and Gomorrah are to be destroyed by God for their sins, but angels warn Lot, the only good man in that place, to leave with his family. He does so, and then the city is destroyed by a rain of fire. Though Lot’s warned everyone not to look back, his wife does, and for her curiosity she is turned into a pillar of salt. Stupid, silly Lot’s wife, for naturally wanting to know what the hell was going on instead of listening to her husband! That’s the message that was driven home to us four-year-olds.

The grown-up version differs. Lot tries to make a bargain with the two angels who warn him, that if he can find other good people, the angels will spare the city. But before he can start, an angry crowd bangs on his door demanding to know who the two strangers are. This is where a single word in translation set off repercussions that have lasted for centuries. That word is yada, which means “know” — which might mean “know sexually” as in having sex with, as Adam and Eve did in Genesis — or “know the business of” meaning the townsfolk are suspicious or curious about the two angels. Biblical scholars have been splitting hairs over this for decades.

Oh, and Lot offers the angry crowd the privilege of deflowering his two young daughters if they’ll leave the angels alone. Not a good look for Lot.

At any rate, the Bible says the sins of the two cities were many, homosexuality, if it was one, being just one on the list. But that’s the sin that has stuck in the modern mind.

In addition to the metropolitan areas, other tribes had their areas around Judea, such as the Philistines, Ammonites, and Moabites, as shown in the map. Thus the purpose of this post.

In that vein, here’s some tribes that didn’t make the cut.

Lost Tribes of the Bible