Now Lot went up out of Zoar and settled in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; so he lived in a cave with his two daughters. And the firstborn said to the younger, ‘Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the world. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.’ So they made their father drink wine that night; and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she rose.On the next day, the firstborn said to the younger, ‘Look, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.’So they made their father drink wine that night also; and the younger rose, and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she rose. Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab; he is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son and named him Ben-ammi; he is the ancestor of the Ammonites to this day.

How do we ‘other’ people? How do we create a narrative that people of different colour, ethnicity or religion are not fully human?

These questions are the question propagandists have ponder for centuries. The Nazi’s treatment of the Jewish people in propaganda was to other them, make them less than human so the population would not empathize with their plight.

The same is true today of Donald Trump’s administration towards people of colour. Undocumented aliens. Illegal aliens. Caravans of migrants bringing disease, drugs and violence. Old tropes, but designed to help the American people feel less sympathy for the children ripped from mothers’ arms and put into cages like they were animals.

But Donald is not the first, nor is this a 20th and 21st century phenomena. It stretches all the way back to the Old Testament. Abraham has been promised that he will have a son and his descendants will be like the stars in the sky, seemingly endless.

To create a people and an identity you also have to create a narrative of people who are not linked to you. And this is precisely the story we find here. No sooner does Abraham bargain with God for Lot’s life, but Lot leaves his uncle Abraham. Lot separates himself from Abraham and so separates himself from the descendants of Abraham who will be so numerous and blessed by God.

By doing so, the foundational narrative of the Moabites and the Ammonites, at least according to Abraham, will come from acts of incest and drunkenness. This is juxtaposed with Abraham and his covenant with God.

Abraham, a man of faith, choosing by God to have descendants so numerous as the stars in the skies, versus the neighbouring tribes of Moabites and Ammonites, descendants from incest and drunkenness.

Propaganda as a means to other people seems clear to be as old as scripture itself. Either you are with us, or against us. This seems so limiting to a limitless God.