Genesis 19:30-38

Genesis 19:30-38

[30] And Lot  went up  out of Zoar,  and dwelt  in the mountain,  and his two  daughters  with him; for he feared  to dwell  in Zoar:  and he dwelt  in a cave,  he and his two  daughters.  [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:  [32] our father  drink  wine,  and we will lie  with him, that we may preserve  seed  of our father.  [33] 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.  [34] 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.  [35] 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.  [36] Thus were both  the daughters  of Lot  with child  by their father.  [37] And the firstborn  bare  a son,  and called  his name  Moab:  the same  is the father  of the Moabites  unto this day.  [38] And the younger,  she also bare  a son,  and called  his name  Benammi:  the same is the father  of the children  of Ammon  unto this day. 

What does Genesis 19:30-38 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Moses evidently included the account of Lot"s incest for at least two purposes.
1.It gives the origin of the Moabite and Ammonite nations that played major roles as inveterate enemies in the later history of Israel. Moab sounds like the words translated "from the father," and Ammon means "son of my kin."
"His legacy, Moab and Ammon (37f.), was destined to provide the worst carnal seduction in the history of Israel (that of Baal-Peor, Numbers 25) and the cruelest religious perversion (that of Molech, Leviticus 18:21)." [1]
2.This story also illuminates the degrading effect that living in Sodom had on Lot"s daughters. The writer censured Lot"s daughters by not naming them (cf. Ruth 4:1). His older daughter was so desperate to marry that she exaggerated the effects of the recent catastrophe ( Genesis 19:31).
"Lot was able to take his daughters out of Sodom, but he was not able to take . . . Sodom out of his daughters." [2]
"Throughout the ancient Near East, incest between father and daughter was regarded as wrong, and OT law punishes more remote forms of incest with death ( Leviticus 20:12).... The fact that his daughters had to make him drunk shows that they were consciously flouting normal conventions. Because of his readers" moral assumptions, the narrator did not feel it necessary to excoriate Lot"s daughters" behavior. The facts spoke for themselves." [3]
"The story of Lot and his family should provide a sobering reminder that all of our decisions are significant, even that of where we live. Our moral environment significantly influences our lives. For this and many other reasons the New Testament constantly implores the believer to fellowship with those of like precious faith." [4]
"There are lives recorded in the Bible which have well been called beacons. There are men like Balaam, Saul, and Song of Solomon , who started well, with every possible advantage, and then closed their careers in failure and disaster. Such a life was that of Lot. . . . There is scarcely a life recorded in Scripture which is fuller of serious and solemn instructions for every believer." [5]
"The impact of the unit focuses more directly on a characterization of the father. The one who offered his daughters for the sexual gratification of his wicked neighbors now becomes the object of his daughters" incestuous relationship . . . . To be seduced by one"s own daughters into an incestuous relationship with pregnancy following is bad enough. Not to know that the seduction had occurred is worse. To fall prey to the whole plot a second time is worse than ever." [6]
"In tragic irony, a drunk Lot carried out the very act which he himself had suggested to the men of Sodom ( Genesis 19:8)-he lay with his own daughters.
"The account is remarkably similar to the story of the last days of Noah after his rescue from the Flood ( Genesis 9:20-27). There, as here, the patriarch became drunk with wine and uncovered himself in the presence of his children. In both narratives, the act had grave consequences. Thus at the close of the two great narratives of divine judgment, the Flood and the destruction of Sodom, those who were saved from God"s wrath subsequently fell into a form of sin reminiscent of those who died in the judgment. This is a common theme in the prophetic literature (e.g, Isaiah 56-66; Malachi 1)." [7]
From 2 Peter 2:6-9 we know that Lot was a righteous Prayer of Manasseh , though from the record of him in Genesis we might doubt that. He chose to live as, what the New Testament calls, a "carnal" believer ( 1 Corinthians 3:3). First, he lifted up his eyes and saw Sodom ( Genesis 13:10). Then he chose for himself ( Genesis 13:11). Then he moved his tent as far as Sodom ( Genesis 13:12). Then he sat in the gate of Sodom as one of its judges ( Genesis 19:1; Genesis 19:9). Then he hesitated as Sodom"s destruction loomed ( Genesis 19:16). Finally he ended up committing incest with his daughters in a cave ( Genesis 19:30-38). How far it is possible for a believer to depart from God"s will when we keep making carnal decisions!
A major revelation of this chapter is that it is foolish for a believer to become attached to the things of this world. They will corrupt him, and God will destroy them swiftly and suddenly.