Lecture de l'hospitalite biblique

This essay focuses on the biblical hospitality that appears in Gn. 18-19. Traditional exegesis and modern criticism regard Abraham's hospitality as the model of hospitality. However, does such hospitality correspond to a universal social code or consist of Abraham's original creation? The argument of this paper is that Abraham's hospitality is an answer to Sodom's practices of hospitality. Therefore, Sodom's reception of strangers comes chronologically after Marnre's reception of strangers, but Sodom's system of values preexists that of Mamre. We will explore the influence of Sodom's violence on Mamie's moral ideal, and that of this ideal on Sodom's tradition. What will appear is the ambiguity of a hospitality based on these two poles.