We will read that very sad and tragic passage. “Then Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountains, and his two daughters were with him; for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar. And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave. Now the firstborn said to the younger, ‘Our father is old, and there is no man on the earth to come in to us as is the custom of all the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.’ So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. It happened on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, ‘Indeed I lay with my father last night; let us make him drink wine again tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.’ Then they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. Thus both daughters of Lot were with child by their father. The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.”

The story of Lot’s life, as recorded in the book of Genesis, is a sordid one. In fact, if we weren’t told in 2 Peter 2:7-8 that he was a “righteous man,” we would never have believed it after reading Genesis. Lot was the nephew of his godly uncle Abraham, and he followed his uncle to the promised land that God had called him to (Genesis 6:1-6). Later, they went to Egypt in a time of famine (verses 10-20) and when they returned to Cannan, they had so much cattle that they had to split up and Lot chose to “dwell NEAR Sodom and Gomorrah” and in time he “dwelt IN the cities” where he eventually became a judge “sitting in the gate of Sodom” (Genesis 13:1-12; 19:1). He eventually learned how wicked the people of Sodom were (13:13) and thus we read in 2 Peter 2:8 that he “tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds.” God decided to destroy these cities and He sent two angels to take Lot and his family out of the city before they were destroyed (19:1-23) and then God “rained down brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah” (verse 24). Lot had tried to convince his daughters’ husbands to leave but they thought he was joking when he spoke of the coming judgment so they refused to leave and died along with all the other inhabitants of the city. Only Lot, his wife, and two daughters escaped, though the angels had to drag them out and when they told them not to look back Lot’s wife, who loved Sodom, disobeyed and “she became a pillar of salt” (verses 15-17, 26).

These are the events that led up to the passage we started out with. Lot’s daughters were devastated by the loss of their husbands, and this led to the oldest daughter devising the wicked plan to get their father drunk and lay with him so they would conceive a child and preserve their family. What a sad and tragic story of drunkenness and incest! No doubt their time in Sodom hardened their hearts and they had become desensitized to the sexual sins of the cities of the plain. They probably thought they were justified as their plan unfolded and they each bore a son. Lot was not innocent by any means, for he willingly drank to excess which led to his shameful act of impregnating his two daughters.

In closing, a word is in order concerning the results of this disgusting act of incest. Not only had Lot lost his sons-in-law and his wife, but now he had two grandchildren that would become two of Israel’s worst enemies. You can read of the Moabites and their treacherous acts against Israel in Genesis chapters 22-25:3. You can read of the sins of the Ammonites in teaching Israel to worship the false god Molech in 1 Kings 11:1-7 and Jeremiah 32:35. Add to that the fact that the descendants of Moab and Ammon are with us today in modern-day Jordan (with its capital city Amman/Ammon) and many of them hate the Jews and are among the Palestinian Arabs and other Arab countries who wish to see Israel “driven into the sea”; in other words, they want to see Israel exterminated.  (DO)  (627.3)