Old Testament readers may be surprised when they trace Lot’s story in Genesis 19: 30-38 and find that Lot’s daughters were sleeping with their father. Most accept the simple explanation that they slept with their father because they thought there were no other men in the country. However, there is a more satisfactory explanation.
The story begins when two angels go to Sodom
to test the cruelty of the inhabitants of this city; If they think people are cruel, they should destroy the city. The townspeople demand that Lot give them his two male guests so that the townspeople can “know” (rape) them. Lot offers his two maidens to the people outside his house to save his guest. Reading the story of the “concubine on the mountain” (Judges 19), one can draw a conclusion about the gift for future daughter in law. The cruelty of the city is proved, and the city is condemned.
The angels tell Lot to flee to the mountains before
the city burns down; But Lot asks to go to the city of Rigor, which the angels promise not to destroy. After the destruction of Sodom, Lot and his two daughters left Segos and live in a cave in the mountains (Gen. 19:30). There the eldest daughter says to the youngest, “Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth who can enter us”. This usually means that since there are no other men in the country, she decides to sleep with her father to keep their family tree. However, the phrase continues with the phrase “on the way to the whole earth.
” This sentence indicates that the claim “lack of men” is false. There is no need to add this sentence to a sentence if there are no humans on earth. The first part of the sentence already indicates that they are talking about their inability to extend their lineage. If the passage was only about pregnancy, this further suggestion of the method would not be necessary. Even these girls in the city of Segor meet men after the destruction of Sodom. There were clearly men around. The end of the sentence should not be interpreted as matching in the manner of animals, both because of this indication and because of the positive light in which it is presented. The end of the sentence suggests that the girls felt that there was no man who would marry them decently and respectfully, as was customary in the country, asking for hands and offering gift for pregnant daughter in law.
It is also important to recognize that Lot’s daughters lived in a cave,
far from civilization and without a protective gate, as their home in Sodom. Her father may have introduced her as a virgin to criminals to save her life, as he had done before. The daughters therefore felt that they should be married as soon as possible and that the only person suitable for them was their father. By marrying them, he could not lie about their virginity. Moreover, Lot could not kill them and their offspring because he would be his own successor and his sole heir. After the older girl slept with her father, the younger one felt that she had no choice but to do the same.
Lot’s defense was usually based on biblical passages – that he was drunk and did not know what he was doing – did not preclude closer examination. If he was really so drunk that he didn’t understand what was going on, it would be hard for him to have sex. And if he didn’t know what he was doing, he would have expressed anger at his girls when he found out they were pregnant. There is no indication in the Bible that Lot was angry with his daughters or even surprised by their pregnancy.
