Rev. Fred Gilley
Retired Minister
Condemning biblical Lot and his unnamed daughters for incest is so easy. The story (in Genesis 19:30-38) is widely known from various translations.
To refresh our memories, Lot’s herds and flocks were combined with livestock owned by Uncle Abram (Abraham). The combination was more than the land could support, and Uncle Abraham gave his nephew (Lot) first choice of separating directions.
Lot chose the fertile valley that included the soon to be doomed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, leaving sparse grazing to his presumably older uncle.
The Lord “appeared” to Abraham (the first patriarch) as one of three men in the heat of the day. Abraham ran from his tent door, greeted them, and offered the customary hospitality to travelers. Announcing the birth of an heir within a year seems to have been the primary reason for the visit.
Menopausal Sarai (Sarah), Abraham’s wife and half-sister, laughed and later denied that she had. Sarah knew she and Abraham were too old to expect parenthood.
The Lord is portrayed as being undecided about sharing plans for the doomed cities with Abraham. After two men (angels?) leave for Sodom, the Lord decides to inform Abraham and the bargaining began. Abraham blocked the Lord’s path, but concern for Lot’s future probably prompted him to ask if the righteous will be destroyed with the wicked. He even chided the Lord with, “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?
Destruction will be withheld if 50 righteous citizens can be found, the Lord promised. Bargaining continued, although Abraham feared he was trying the Lord’s patience. They ended at ten.
The two men (angels) arrived in Sodom and attracted Lot’s immediate attention. Lot must have learned manners from his uncle, for he offered hospitality that automatically included protection. The visitors declined, saying they would spend the night in the street, but Lot was persistent, and they accepted his invitation.
Before they could lie down, males of all ages surrounded Lot’s house. They pressed Lot to send the men out “that we may know them.” (Biblical use of “to know” connotes intimacy, often implying at least the equivalent of sexual intimacy.)
Lot went out, closed the door behind him, and begged the men not to act so wickedly. He offered his two virgin daughters, which few modern fathers would consider. Perhaps Lot was reasonably certain his daughter offerings would be refused.
Before the men could force their way past Lot, the angels opened the door, pulled Lot inside, and blinded the offenders. They warned Lot to flee to the mountains with his family. He also was warned not to look back.
Ms. Lot looked back and became a reported pillar of salt.
Lot and daughters had special permission to go only as far as Zo’ar. For an unknown reason, lack of welcome, or suspicion, or fear by Zo’ar citizens or visitors, Lot went to the original mountain destination and lived in a cave. The daughters conspired to give Lot too much wine and become impregnated by their father without his knowledge, first the elder and the younger the following night. They had two sons-grandsons.
Someone has determined the chances of couple fertility are one in 50; one in 2,500 for two pregnancies on successive nights; one in 10,000 for two boys. The story is less about incest than ulterior motives.
Key words are “our father is old” and there is no Hebrew man for us. Hebrew is added to the text, because men must have been in Zo’ar and Abraham was only a day’s journey away, but the daughters could not have known their great-uncle survived. Their world had burned, probably a reinterpretation of burning bitumen.
A man lived after death through his sons. Lot’s daughters may have wanted to insure their father’s future. An equal possibility could have been degrading Hebrew enemies and near kinsmen who hindered Israelite well-being.
The elder sister named her son Moab, from whom the Moabites descended. Ammonites descended from the younger sister’s son, Ben-am’min. Edomites, Ishmael’s traditional descendants, blocked Promised Land entry by weaker desert tribes during exodus from Egypt. Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Hagar, a concubine. Sarah gave permission, but disunity resulted from Sarah’s jealousy and Hagar’s fertility flaunting.
The incest story deserves at least a reading behind the words and between the lines.
