The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us in the way of all the earth. Come, let’s make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.” They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she arose. It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.” They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she got up. Thus both of Lot’s daughters were with child by their father.
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Genesis 19:31-36 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters. The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us in the way of all the earth. Come, let’s make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.” They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she arose. It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.” They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she got up. Thus both of Lot’s daughters were with child by their father. The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.
Parallel Translations
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The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us in the way of all the earth.
Come, let’s make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.”
They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she arose.
It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.”
They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she got up.
Thus both of Lot’s daughters were with child by their father.
-
And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:
Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.
Show all 3 translations
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And the first-born said unto the younger: 'Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth.
Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.'
And they made their father drink wine that night. And the first-born went in, and lay with her father; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
And it came to pass on the morrow, that the first-born said unto the younger: 'Behold, I lay yesternight with my father. Let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.'
And they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose, and lay with him; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (37)
- Leviticus 18:6-7 (vv32, 33, 36) “ ‘None of you shall approach any close relatives, to uncover their nakedness: I am Yahweh. “ ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your…
- Deuteronomy 25:5 (v31) If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married outside to a stranger. Her…
- Genesis 4:1 (v31) The man knew Eve his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Cain, and said, “I have gotten a man with Yahweh’s help.”
- Genesis 6:4 (v31) The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them.…
- Genesis 11:3 (v32) They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.
Show all 34 cross-references
- Genesis 16:2 (v31) Sarai said to Abram, “See now, Yahweh has restrained me from bearing. Please go in to my servant. It may be that I will obtain children by…
- Genesis 16:4 (v31) He went in to Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
- Isaiah 4:1 (v31) Seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothing. Just let us be called by…
- Habakkuk 2:15 (v36) “Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies!
- Habakkuk 2:15-16 (vv32–33) “Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies! You…
- Genesis 9:21 (v32) He drank of the wine and got drunk. He was uncovered within his tent.
- Genesis 19:8 (v36) See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don’t do…
- Genesis 19:28 (v31) He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a…
- Genesis 38:8-9 (v31) Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her, and raise up offspring for your…
- Genesis 38:14-30 (v31) She took off the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is…
- Judges 1:7 (v36) Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their big toes cut off, scavenged under my table. As I have done, so God has done…
- 1 Samuel 15:33 (v36) Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women!” Then Samuel cut Agag in pieces before…
- Psalms 8:4 (v35) what is man, that you think of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him?
- Proverbs 20:1 (v33) Wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
- Proverbs 23:29-35 (v33) Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who stay long at…
- Proverbs 23:31-33 (v32) Don’t look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. In the end, it bites like a snake, and…
- Proverbs 24:16 (v35) for a righteous man falls seven times and rises up again; but the wicked are overthrown by calamity.
- Ecclesiastes 7:26 (v35) I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her;…
- Isaiah 3:9 (v34) The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don’t hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have…
- Jeremiah 3:3 (v34) Therefore the showers have been withheld and there has been no latter rain; yet you have had a prostitute’s forehead and you refused to be…
- Jeremiah 5:3 (v34) O Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused…
- Jeremiah 6:15 (v34) Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they will fall…
- Jeremiah 8:12 (v34) Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed. They couldn’t blush. Therefore they will fall…
- Matthew 7:2 (v36) For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you.
- Mark 12:19 (v32) “Teacher, Moses wrote to us, ‘If a man’s brother dies, and leaves a wife behind him, and leaves no children, that his brother should take…
- Luke 21:34 (v35) “So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you…
- 1 Corinthians 10:11-12 (v35) Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.…
- 1 Peter 4:7 (v35) But the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound mind, self-controlled, and sober in prayer.
- Mark 9:6 (v31) For he didn’t know what to say, for they were very afraid.
34 distinct cross-references across this passage (37 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv31, 33, 35 31. And the firstborn said Here Moses narrates a…
31. And the firstborn said Here Moses narrates a miracle, which rightly brings the readers to astonishment. For, how could that unchaste intercourse come into the mind of the daughters of Lot, while the terrible punishment of God of the Sodomites stood still before her eyes, and while they knew that the scandalous and sinful lusts were the chief causes thereof? True, they were not so much moved through sensual lusts, as through a foolish desire for the procreation of their family; nevertheless, this urge was too absurd, because it forces the nature to forget all chastity and sense of shame, and, like the beasts, to destroy all difference between scandalous and honorable. To understand the better the whole of the case, I will deal with the separate parts, in order.
In the first place, concerning the plan of Lot’s oldest daughter, whom the younger obeyed, concerning that I take for granted that none of both is urged trough fleshy lust, but that they both have only thought about the propagation of the family. For, what kind of passion would that have been, to desire for intercourse with an already old father?
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That the oldest furtively comes in for but one night, and puts her sister in her stead, the next night, and that they, being pregnant, not think to return to the embrace of their father; from that we decide in the second place, that they have had no other goal but to become mother. But I do not approve of what some conjecture, who say that they were mislead by a great error, thinking that the whole world had perished together with Sodom. For, they had just dwelt in Zoar, also there were sweet regions before their eyes, which were surely not without inhabitants, and also they had learned from their father that a special punishment was inflicted upon the Sodomites and the other neighbors. They also were not ignorant of the family whence their father came, and what kind of uncle he had followed out of his fatherland. So, what must we think? That, because they were assured that families are maintained by children, it was hard for them and it was a continual cause of grief, that they were without children. Also the emptiness, when their father would be dead, could seem to be unbearable for them, because they saw that they then would be lonely, and without any help. So, hence their impudent desire, and that absurd urgency to seek this unchaste intercourse, as they were afraid of a lonely life, which was liable to many concerns. Also I doubt not, that Moses not narrates what they have used as a pretext, but what they have said in a sincere feeling of their hearts. So, they wanted to bring forth seed, like the custom of all the nations. They adduce the example of the entire world, because they would deem it unfair when their state would be worse then that of the others. Everywhere, they say, the young women are praised, who conceive children, and thus build their families; why must we then be condemned to be always childless? In the mean time, they well know that they commit a great sin. For, why make they their father drunken? Is it not, because they guess, that he cannot be made willing? When he has had an aversion to unchastity, the daughters must necessarily have had the same notion in their consciences. So, in no wise they are to be excused, that they lend themselves to a scandalous intercourse, which all the nation abhor by nature. While the people, with normal crimes, are forced to admit their crimes; how will they plead themselves free with important crimes, as if no fear for God’s judgement prickled them? Therefore, with suppression of the conscience, Lot’s daughters devote themselves to that crime. The reason to mislead their father was no other then this, that they knew the disgrace, which they themselves necessarily had to condemn, because they knew that it was against the order of the nature. From this appears, whereto the people come when they follow their own will; for nothing can be so absurd or bestial, that we not decay to that, when we give free rein to our flesh. Let this, therefore, be the beginning of al our desires, to examine what the Lord allows, in order that it comes not in our mind to ask something, what according His Word is free to us.
There is not a man in the earth. They mean not that all the nations are destroyed, as many explainers drivel, but because they are by fear driven in the cave, leading a lonely life, they complain, that they are cut off from any hope of marriage. And yes, being secluded from the rest of the nations, they lived as if they were sent away to some separated world. Might one object that they could ask husbands of their father, then I answer, that it absolutely not a miracle, that they, beaten down through fear, could not seek another medicine, than what was at hand. For, they thought that they on that solitary mountain, locked up in the den of a rock, had no more the least connection with the human race. It could be (as I have reminded before) that some slaves dwelt with them. This is even probable, for otherwise it was difficult to have wine in the cave, when this was not taken with them on a wagon with the other foods. Yet they say that there were no husbands for them, because they have an aversion to a marriage with slaves.
Further I mean, that the name earth in the first member, is put for region or area, as if they said: This region has no more men left, who could marry us after the custom of the entire world. For there is here a tacit contrast between the whole earth and a certain part thereof. But this is their first crime, that they, in a zeal to propagate the human race, violate the holy law of nature. Next, it is wrong and wicked, that they not flee to the Creator of the world Himself, to cure them from that desolation, about which they were worried. Thirdly, they show their negligence when they aim their hearts only on the earthly life, and not worry about the heavenly life. Though I dare not to give security concerning the time, which has elapsed between the destruction of Sodom, and the unchaste intercourse of Lot with his daughters, yet, it is probable that they, as soon as they had come in the cave, in aversion to the solitude, have made up this scandalous and execrable plan. It could not take a long time, that Lot lived in the cave, or there came lack of food and drink. And like a sudden fear had carried away their father, like a storm, likewise the daughters could not restrain themselves, even for some days. Without calling upon God, or asking their father for advice, they are carried away through a bestial instinct. Herein we see how soon the deliverance and the punishment of the Sodomites has left their memory, although both had always to be kept in their heart. Oh, that this vice also among us were not so great; but we show too clearly in both ways our ingratitude.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv31, 32, 34, 36 Meaning in the country, which the Lord had now…
Meaning in the country, which the Lord had now destroyed.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv31–36 Gen 19:31 And the firstborn said unto the younger,…
Gen 19:31 And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father [is] old, and [there is] not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:
Ver. 31. And the firstborn, &c.] It is dangerous to live in a wicked place: yea, for though thyself mayest escape infection, thy children may be tainted, as Lot’s were.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv31, 32, 33, 36 In the earth; either,
In the earth; either,
1. In the whole earth; for they thought the same deluge of fire which destroyed the four cities had by this time extended itself to Zoar, and all other places, knowing that the whole world did lie in wickedness, and having possibly heard from their father, that the world, as it was once destroyed by water, so it should afterwards be consumed by fire, which they might think was now executed, and that God had secured Abraham from it by taking him to himself. Or,
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2. In that land, as the word may be rendered. And her meaning might not be this, that there was no man at all, but not a man with whom they might or durst marry; for though they knew they left many men in Zoar, yet the sad expericnce of the dreadful ruin wherein their brethren-in-law were involved, made them abhor the thoughts of any conjunction with them.
After the manner of all the earth, i.e. of all the inhabitants of the earth. Compare Gen 18:11.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv31–36 Come, let us make our father drink wine,.... Meaning…
Come, let us make our father drink wine,.... Meaning to excess, so as to be inebriated with it, and not know what he did: this wine might be brought with them from Sodom, with other provisions for their refreshment and support; or it may be rather from Zoar, where they furnished themselves with a quantity for their support in the mountain they betook themselves unto:
and we will lie with him, that we may preserve the seed of our father; have children by him, and propagate and preserve the human species; this they might think lawful, such incestuous copulations being usual among their neighbours the Arabs, as appears from Strabo (s) and other writers, and especially when there seemed to them to be a necessity for it; and it may be this did not arise from a spirit of uncleanness, or a brutish lust prevailing in them, having been religiously educated, and having preserved their chastity among such an impure generation as the men of Sodom: wherefore this might rather arise, as Bishop Patrick and others have thought, from an eager desire after the Messiah, they might hope would spring from them; their father being a descendant of Shem, a son of Abraham's elder brother, and now remarkably saved from Sodom, which they might conclude was for this purpose; and they knew of no way in which it could be brought about but in this they proposed; and the rather this may be thought to be their view, as the above learned commentator observes, when we remark their former chaste life in Sodom; their joining together in this contrivance, which, had it been a lustful business, they would have been ashamed to have communicated their thoughts of it to one another; and their imposition of names on their children to perpetuate the memory of this fact, which they rather gloried in, than were ashamed of: to which may be added, that the ancient Jewish writers (t) interpret this of the Messiah; and they observe,"it is not said a son, but seed, that seed, which is he that comes from another place: and what is this? this is the King Messiah:''and Ruth, the Moabitess, who was of the race of the eldest daughter of Lot, stands in the genealogy of our Lord, Mat 1:5, however, let the intention be ever so good, it will, not justify an action so monstrously vile.
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(s) Geograph. l. 16. p. 538. Vid. Pocock, Specim. Arab. Hist. p. 337, 338. (t) Bereshit Rabba, sect. 51. fol. 46. 1. Midrash Ruth, fol. 35. 4.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv31–33 Verse 31. Our father is old]. And consequently not…
Verse 31. Our father is old]. And consequently not likely to re-marry; and there is not a man in the earth - none left, according to their opinion in all the land of Canaan, of their own family and kindred; and they might think it unlawful to match with others, such as the inhabitants of Zoar, who they knew had been devoted to destruction as well as those of Sodom and Gomorrah, and were only saved at the earnest request of their father; and probably while they lived among them they found them ripe enough for punishment, and therefore would have thought it both dangerous and criminal to have formed any matrimonial connections with them.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v32 Gen 19:32. Come, let us make our father drink…
Gen 19:32. Come, let us make our father drink wine — Although, upon the whole, Lot was a righteous man, and possessed of many amiable qualities, yet it evidently appears that his principles also, as well as those of his daughters, had suffered some degree of contamination by the society of evil-doers, otherwise surely he would have withstood every temptation to excess of drinking. Here the history of Lot ends; after this we hear no more of him or of his daughters. We cannot but be sorry to leave them under so dark a cloud. He, indeed, we have reason to believe, lived to repent of his sin, otherwise St. Peter would not have spoken so honourably of him; but we have no proof that his daughters repented of theirs. And certainly the children thus desired, and in this unlawful way obtained, were monuments of their own and their father’s reproach, and the names they thought fit to give them, which descended to their posterity, perpetuated the memory of their sin and shame to all generations: Moab signifying, of my father, and Ben-Ammi, the son of my people.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv31, 35 No man. If this had been true, Lot might…
No man. If this had been true, Lot might have had children by them, without any fault. But they ought to have consulted him. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv31, 33 31. The firstborn said unto the younger — The…
31. The firstborn said unto the younger — The infamous measures which this elder daughter proposed, and in which she was readily followed by her younger sister, shows what demoralizing power the city life of Sodom had exerted over them. They became familiar with “the filthy conversation of the wicked,” (2Pe_2:7;) their sisters had married, and perhaps they themselves had been betrothed to men of Sodom, (see on Gen_19:14-15,) and possibly their mother was a woman of Sodom, (note on 13, 14;) what could be expected of daughters grown up amid such surroundings! Even though Lot held the faith of Abraham, and reproved his wicked neighbours, his worldly-mindedness was strong, and his parental discipline as feeble, perhaps, as Eli’s. 1Sa_2:22-25.
Not a man in the earth — That is, in the land, or country around them. We are not to understand by this, as some of the ancient interpreters, that Lot’s daughters believed the whole human race to have been destroyed, but that they had no hope of marriage with any of the men of the country to which they had fled.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv31–32 (31) The firstborn said unto the Younger.—Several modern commentators…
(31) The firstborn said unto the Younger.—Several modern commentators see in this recital a mark of Jewish hatred towards the Moabites and Ammonites, and an attempt to brand their origin with shame. Really we find in Deu_2:9-19, no trace of the existence of this hostility, but, on the contrary, the relationship of these two nations to Israel is used as a ground for kindly feelings; and in the story of Ruth the Moabitess, and the friendship which existed between the king of Moab and David, we have proof that such feelings existed.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv31–36 And the firstborn said unto the younger, showing that…
And the firstborn said unto the younger, showing that she had not escaped the pollution, if she had the destruction, of Sodom. "It was time that Lot had left the cities of the plain. No wealth could compensate for the moral degradation into which his family had sunk" (Inglis)Our father is old, an indirect confirmation of the inference (Gen_11:26) that Abram was younger than Haran, since Lot, Haran"s son, now an old manand there is not a man in the earth not in the entire world (Origen, Irenaeus, Chrysostom, Kalisch), which is scarcely probable, since they knew that Zoar had been spared; but either in the district whither they had fled (Calvin, Willet), being under the impression that, living in so desolate a region, they could have no more intercourse with mankind; or in the land of Canaan (Ainsworth, Bush), meaning that there were no more godly men with whom they might marry; or perhaps they meant that no man would now care to unite himself with them, the remnant of a curse-stricken region (Knobel, Keil)to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v31 And they made their father drink wine
Gen_19:31-38
And they made their father drink wine
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The lessons of Lots dishonour
I.
THAT SAINTS WHO HAVE BEEN THE SUBJECTS OF EXTRAORDINARY MERCY MAY YET FALL INTO SIN.
II. THAT IT IS DIFFICULT, EVEN FOR THE BEST, TO ESCAPE THE EFFECT OF EVIL ASSOCIATIONS.
III. THE FOLLY OF A WORLDLY CHOICE.
IV. THE WISDOM OF AVOIDING THE OCCASIONS OF SIN.
V. THE AWFUL DEPTHS OF HUMAN DEPRAVITY.
VI. FLESHLY SINS COVER EVEN A FAIR NAME WITH DISHONOUR. VII. THE DANGER OF EXCITEMENT.
VIII. THE FAITHFULNESS OF THE SCRIPTURE RECORD. (T. H. Leale.)
Lots dishonour
The dishonourable end of this good man shows that we are never out of danger while we are upon earth. He whose righteous soul was grieved with the filthy conversation of the wicked, while in a city, is drawn into the same kind of evils himself, when dwelling in a cave! His whole history also, from the time of his leaving Abraham, furnishes an affecting lesson to the heads of families in the choice of habitations for themselves or their children. If worldly accommodations be preferred to religious advantages, we have nothing good, but everything evil to expect. We may, or we may not lose, our substance as he did; but, what is of far greater consequence, our families may be expected to become mere heathens, and our own minds contaminated with the examples which are continually before our eyes. Such was the harvest which Lot reaped from his well-watered plain; and such are the fruits very commonly seen in those who reflect his example! (A. Fuller.)
.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v31 Gen_19:37. Called his name Moab.] “From the father,” or…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Gen_19:37. Called his name Moab.] “From the father,” or “seed of the father.”
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Gen_19:38. Ben-Ammi. “Son of my people.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gen_19:31-38
THE LESSONS OF LOT’S DISHONOUR
This chapter closes with the sad picture of a good man betrayed into sin, and thus covering his name with dishonour. It is a painful history, but there are some lessons of instruction to be learned.
I. That saints who have been, the subjects of extraordinary mercy may yet fall into sin. The temporal deliverance of Lot was a special act of Divine mercy. His conviction of it depended upon no mere emotion. There was the outward fact in which he could distinctly trace the hand of God. Yet, after so distinct a favour of Providence, he falls by an easy temptation into the foulest sin. Thus God’s mercy is no guarantee for human gratitude. Those who have been saved, yet so as by fire, are often the very first to forget God their Saviour. The picture which the Bible gives of man is faithful to the facts of human nature. God merciful, but man ungrateful. God just, but man unrighteous. God true, but every man a liar.
II. That it is difficult, even for the best, to escape the effect of evil associations. The conduct of Lot’s daughters shows how much they were imbued with the spirit of evil around them, notwithstanding their pious parentage. It is difficult for goodness to stand upright in the land of wickedness. Lot’s spiritual character suffered less injury than that of his family from their sojourn in Sodom; yet his moral sense was blunted, his moral fibre relaxed. As there is said to be virtue and healing in the shadow of goodness falling upon us, so the shadow of evil spreads nought but what is baneful.
III. The folly of a worldly choice. Lot had chosen this place with a view of promoting his temporal prosperity, but at what a cost! He had nearly perished in the terrible judgments which fell upon its population. He is scarcely saved. Mercy had to snatch him out of the fire. By choosing this world, against his best spiritual interests, he had exposed himself to bodily danger; and, what is worse than this, to great impairment of his spiritual health and vigour. We run the greatest risk to our souls when worldly considerations are uppermost in our minds in choosing our path in life.
IV. The wisdom of avoiding the occasions of sin. Lot gave way to strong drink, and then committed the sin of incest. There is a special danger in all sins of the flesh, for, when once indulged in, they render easier sins of deeper dye. They dull the intellect and the conscience until all moral perceptions are weakened and confused. If we allow the animal man the mastery, the spiritual man is threatened. How much of the sin, degradation, and misery of mankind is to be traced to strong drink! “Intoxication deceived Lot, who was not deceived in Sodom; the flames of lust burn him whom flames of sulphur did not burn.” (Gregory 1.) “Lot, who in Sodom, the very school of unchastity, had lived chastely, in the cave was guilty of incest, suffering shipwreck in the harbour.” (Lange.) The occasions of sin—especially those of a fleshly nature—should be avoided, or else we venture upon a current which will, in the end, become too strong for us.
V. The awful depths of human depravity. All sin is evil, but there are sins which defile the whole body and reveal depths of human depravity, from the very thought of which pure minds shrink with pain. There are fleshly sins of so deep a stain that the common fault and corruption of human nature is almost pure by comparison with them. This view of specially degrading sins is confirmed by the usages of language, by which the term “sinner” is applied to a special class. Such sins tend to hurry a man along that path which leads to infamy and shame.
VI. Fleshly sins cover even a fair name with dishonour. Lot is never mentioned in the history after this circumstance. He disappears under a cloud. A blot lies on his memory for all generations. He is now both outwardly and inwardly separated from Abraham, and is of no further importance in the history of salvation. His sin may have been forgiven, and his person accepted, but the deeds themselves are recorded in the iron page, where they remain. They are things done, and cannot be altered. They are happier and more blest who have not greatly fallen, even though the mercy of God is not overtasked by the worst sins of mankind.
VII. The danger of excitement. Lot had witnessed alarming scenes. It was a time of wild excitement when he knew not where to look for rest, and fears were in the way—destruction all around him, his wife stricken down at his side by an awful judgment, he himself a wanderer, having no certain dwelling-place, and not strong in the inspiration of hope. It is a time of great spiritual danger when a man is recovering from the extreme tension of his mind, produced by the excitement of violent and conflicting feelings.
VIII. The faithfulness of the Scripture record. Sacred history records the faults of its good men with a wonderful faithfulness. Here are no impossible characters, no ideal personages created by human imagination, but never seen in actual flesh and blood. The facts of human nature are accepted, though the contemplation of them may be painful and sad. We have men as they are, and not written up to by the devices of literary art. No human story-teller would have forged such a narrative as this. It has all the marks of a truthful record. The gravest sins and faults of the righteous are not concealed.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen_19:32-36. The manners of Sodom here obtrude themselves upon our view. Lot’s daughters might seem to have been led to this unnatural project, first, because they thought the human race extinct with the exception of themselves, in which case their conduct may have seemed a work of justifiable necessity; and next, because the degrees of kindred within which it was unlawful to marry had not been determined by an express law. But they must have seen some of the inhabitants of Zoar after the destruction of the cities; and carnal intercourse between parent and offspring must have always been repugnant to nature.—(Murphy).
Kalisch well remarks, “No word is employed, no allusion made, in the whole of this tale to express disgust, aversion, or hatred: the laws concerning the allowed and forbidden degrees were not yet fixed: Abraham himself lived in a matrimony cursed as an abomination in the Mosaic code (Lev_18:9): the event is related with all the calmness of historical composition.” And it must also not be forgotten that in Deu_2:9-19, the possessions of the “children of Lot” in Ar and in the land of Ammon are recognised by God, and the Israelites are forbidden to distress or meddle with them. But at the same time the necessity which there was for bereaving Lot of his self-command, shows us beneath the surface that his “righteous soul,” even though it could brook much which nature now abhors (Gen_19:8), could not have been brought to consent to that into which he was unconsciously betrayed.—(Alford.)
It is a moral duty to take care of our physical nature and to preserve it in its integrity. Whatever confuses the understanding, or weakens the will, exposes to moral danger. Hence drunkenness leads men into crimes from which, in their sober senses, they would shrink in abhorrence. All that which rouses the beast within us tends to destroy our better nature.
Those carnal devices by which morality is strained to meet circumstances show a practical distrust in Providence.
Gen_19:37-38. Both these names justify the view that it was merely to preserve the family that the daughters of Lot had recourse to the expedient. Hence, as we do not find that they ever repeated the stratagem, so neither do they now appear to have been at all ashamed of it, both which would have been natural had their motives been more unworthy than they were. The offspring, however, of this incestuous connection, whatever may be said in behalf of the connection itself, was certainly a bad one. These Moabites soon fell from the faith of God, and became idolators, the worshippers of Chemosh and Baal-peor, and were enemies to the children of Abraham. The same is also true of the Ammonites. As both these make afterwards a considerable figure in the sacred history, the inspired writer takes care to introduce at this early period an account of their origin.—(Bush.)
In the worst races there is an element of hope. Ruth was a Moabitess, and was a member of that family through whom the Messiah came. The prophetic Scriptures give us a picture of the conversion of the Moabites to Christ. (Isa_11:14; Jer_48:47; Dan_11:41.) The golden age for mankind lies in the future, not in the past.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv32, 36 Lot "pitched toward Sodom" Gen 13:12 for worldly advantage;…
Come
Lot "pitched toward Sodom" Gen 13:12 for worldly advantage; then became a great man in Sodom Gen 19:1 at the cost of his daughter’s accepting the morals of Sodom.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv31, 34, 36 The firstborn ... the younger
The firstborn ... the younger
Here "firstborn" and "younger" are nominal adjectives that refer to Lot's two daughters according to their birth order. AT: "Lot's first daughter ... Lot's last daughter" or "The older daughter ... the younger daughter" (See: Nominal Adjectives)
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according to the way of all the world
Here "the world" stands for the people. AT: "as people everywhere do" (See: Metonymy)
drink wine
It can be made explicit that their goal was to get him drunk. AT: "drink wine until he gets drunk" or "get drunk with wine" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
so that we may extend our father's line
This speaks about giving Lot descendants as if his family were a line that they are making longer. AT: "so that we can bear children who will be our father's descendants" (See: Metaphor)
he did not know when she lay down, nor when she arose
"he did not know anything about it" or "he did not know that she had slept with him"
translationWords
wine
had relations with
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v36 19:36-38 The daughters’ plan worked, and they each became…
19:36-38 The daughters’ plan worked, and they each became pregnant by their own father. From these two incest-born sons came two perennial enemies of Israel, the nations of Moab and Ammon. Their grotesque wickedness was due in part to their origin. • Both daughters chose ambiguous names that hinted at their actions without raising the suspicions of those who did not know the stories.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.