John Doe asked 3 years ago In Genesis 19:30-38, Lot’s two daughters made him drunk and lie with him. Is there a message/purpose in that for the children of Israel? Is there significance in the names of those two sons?
Nate Guyear Staff answered 3 years ago First, the law against incest was not given to the Hebrews until Leviticus 18:6, while they were wandering in the desert after they were freed from Egyptian captivity. This doesn’t mean that God approved of incest; it simply means he tolerated it for some time.
Second, Lot was Abraham’s nephew. After Lot’s father, Haran, died (Gen 11:28), Abraham took Lot into his family, where Lot remained until they separated (Gen 13). After separating, Lot goes to Sodom, a wicked city (Gen 19). Genesis 19:1-11 describes an event in which two angels appearing as men come to Sodom to rescue Lot and his family. Lot takes the angels into his home and men from Sodom surround his home demanding Lot release them so that they could have sex with them. Lot makes a hasty decision to offer the Sodomites his two daughters. In my opinion, Lot believed offering his two daughters to violent men was less sinful than allowing the men to commit homosexual acts against the two angels. Rampant homosexual behavior was the primary reason God destroyed Sodom. The message here is don’t engage in homosexual acts. Ultimately, Lot and his two daughters escape unharmed and move to a cave outside Zoar.
Finally, in Genesis 19:30-36, Lot’s two daughter’s, believing there were no other men on earth, get him drunk on two separate nights and lie with him. Both become pregnant by their father with two sons, Moab and Ben-ammi, who become the patriarchs of the Moabites and the Ammonites, enemies of future Israel (Numbers 22 and 25, Deut 23:3-4).
Nate Guyear Staff answered 3 years ago After giving this some more thought, I realized there’s some irony here. Lot offered up his two daughters to be raped and, later, his two daughters raped him.