Lot is a fascinating Torah figure who accompanies Abraham like a satellite, constantly in his orbit. But who really is he, and above all why did Abraham insist on saving him despite all his flaws?

We first hear about Lot at the end of Parashat Noach.

“Terach took Abram his son, and Lot son of Haran his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law.” Lot is Abraham's nephew: his father Haran having died, Abraham took responsibility for Lot. Since then, Lot never leaves his uncle's side.

At the start of the parashah, the Torah repeatedly stresses Lot's presence beside Abraham.

“Abram went as Hashem had told him, and Lot went with him.” Lot is not merely glued to him: in a sense he too rises to the challenge of Lekh Lekha, following Abraham without argument.

During the famine, Lot goes down to Egypt with Abraham, and when they return the Torah again specifies “and Lot with him, to the Negev” (Bereshit 13:1). He is inseparable from his uncle.

Both men became extremely wealthy in flocks, silver and gold. Then a problem arose: “There was a quarrel between the shepherds of Abram's cattle and the shepherds of Lot's cattle.”

Abraham refuses this disgrace and tells Lot:

Abraham lets Lot choose first — such generosity. Lot sees the Jordan plain, watered like a garden, like Egypt, and chooses the cities of the plain, drawing near to Sodom. Abraham takes the mountains, the path of the Patriarchs.

That is why the separation was blessed. The Torah stresses that only after Lot departed did Hashem address Abraham: “וַה׳ אָמַר אֶל אַבְרָם אַחֲרֵי הִפָּרֶד לוֹט מֵעִמּוֹ.” As long as the curse remained in his vicinity, the Shekhinah did not draw near.

Immediately after, the war of the four kings against five kings breaks out. The four kings prevail and capture Lot: “They took Lot and his possessions, the son of Abram's brother, and they left” (Bereshit 14:12).

A survivor — the Midrash says it was Og, future king of Bashan — comes to tell Abraham. What reaction would we expect?

But Abraham's reaction is entirely different:

“Abraham heard that his brother had been captured.” The Torah calls him “his brother.” He mobilizes his 318 men (318 = gematria of Damesek, his servant Eliezer), attacks by night, defeats them, and rescues Lot.

But there is a far deeper answer. The Zohar teaches that in Lot there was a revealed side (the curse, the pull toward Sodom, the episode with his daughters in the cave) and a hidden side.

Now “Adam” (אדם) is an acronym: Adam → David → Mashiach. Adam gave 70 years of his life so David could be born, and from David will come the King Mashiach: “A branch will come forth from the stump of Yishai” (Isaiah 11:1).

The proof? After Sodom's destruction, only Lot and his two daughters are saved. In the cave, believing the world destroyed, his daughters make him drunk; Moab (me-av, “from my father”) and Ammon are born.

From Moab will later descend Eglon, king of Moab, whose daughters are Orpah and Ruth. Ruth the Moabite converts, marries Boaz, and gives birth to Oved.

“Boaz begat Oved, Oved begat Yishai, and Yishai begat David.” Here is David ben Yishai — from whom the King Mashiach will come!