Part 11: Pvt.Scott explains why hospitality is serious business back in the BCE times.

Hospitality is a very important concept in quite a few ancient cultures. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible is one of hospitality, rather than one of sexual depravity. Two angels disguised as men went to Sodom and sought lodging. Not only were they denied hospitality, the citizens of the town wanted to rape, beat and humiliate the angels. Lot, being a righteous and upstanding man opened his house to the two strangers. The townspeople outside of Lot's home, in an appalling breach of social contract, demanded that Lot give the strangers to them. Lot, being righteous, refused . He even offered his daughters to the crowd to sate their lust. While this is abhorrent to us today, it shows that Lot was ready and willing to sacrifice those things most precious to him in order to ensure the safety of his guests, as was his responsibility as host. Anyway, Lot and his family get away just as god cluster bombs the shit out of the obviously evil towns. Lot's wife is turned into a pillar of salt for looking back on the destruction as both an admonition against pitying those who are justly punished and symbolically for wanting to turn back to wicked ways. The pillar of salt bit also explains some weird rock formations in the area at the time, so I hear.

TL;DR Hospitality is serious fucking business.

E: Hospitality was super important for many reasons, but the most basic ones were that not hosting someone meant potentially leaving them without access to food, water, shelter from the elements or protection from wild animals and criminals. This is a time before organized police forces, central air, refrigeration, cars and public sanitary works. Not hosting someone in even the most basic of senses (ie at least some water and food) was potentially a death sentence. Also, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.