Lot and his Daughters (Gen 19:30-38)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to Genesis 19:30-38.

This morning, we’re getting into a historical account in the Bible that for many Christians is confusing and embarrassing—I say confusing because most Christians really don’t know what to do with it. They read and think, that’s weird and then they usually try to avoid it. And I say embarrassing because when unbelievers point out the account, Christians tend not to be able to explain the passage well enough that it makes sense.

If you read ahead, you already know what we’re working on and you know exactly why I say that it’s often confusing and embarrassing; and yet, according to 2 Timothy 3:16–17 “16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” So, even if it is confusing and embarrassing, there’s a purpose for the text; and if we’re going to be faithful to the Bible, we need to make the effort to dig into this passage.

Genesis 19:30-38 is the account of Lot and his daughters. They were living in a cave after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and his daughters come up with a vile and disgustingly evil plan to perpetuate their family lineage. And let me be abundantly clear—it’s vile and disgustingly evil. They have good intentions, but it is still vile and disgustingly evil.

Keep that in mind as we read Genesis 19:30-38.

Genesis 19:30–38 ESV

30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 31 And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” 33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 34 The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” 35 So 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. 36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) The Sinful Plan (30-32) and (2) The Results of the Plan (33-38). Again, let me assure you that what Lot’s daughters do is in no way right despite their good intentions—this is not a prescriptive part of Scripture (meaning, we’re not to go and do what they did); however, it is descriptive—it shows us what happened; and in doing so, it gives us application worth considering. The goal for today is for us to walk away knowing that wrongly placed fear often leads to sin and that it isn’t right to do a wrong thing in an effort to accomplish a right goal or purpose.

Prayer for Illumination

The Sinful Plan (30-32)

Our text starts by giving us an update of where the subjects of last week’s passage found themselves.

If you remember with me,

Lot and his daughters (along with his wife who didn’t actually escape) were pulled out of Sodom and Gomorrah essentially forcefully—the angels grabbed them and led them out of the city.

Lot then negotiated a seemingly better place for them to run to in that he didn’t have to run to the hills, but you notice in our current text that he and his daughters moved into the hills to live in a cave anyway.

Lot and his two daughters left Zoar shortly after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Bible says that the reasoning for their departure was fear, v. 30, “for he was afraid to live in Zoar.”

What the Bible doesn’t inform us is what exactly caused him to fear, but I have a suggestion that it is just the consequence of fear itself.

And I base that on an underlining theme of fear in last week’s passage and this week’s passage.

In right fear, Lot and his family were driven out of Sodom and Gomorrah.

In wrong fear, Lot’s wife turned back to Sodom and turned into a pillar of salt and in wrong fear, Lot asked to go to Zoar instead of the hills that he was originally told to go.

In fear, Lot and his daughters left Zoar and moved into a cave in the hills—my speculation is that the people of Zoar probably weren’t that much better than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah; and thus, there’s fear that Zoar might receive divine judgment as well.

Shortly, we see Lot’s daughters base their decision from misplaced fear as well.

And note that I am differentiating between different types of fear:

You know that the Bible speaks of at least two different types of fear:

There is a fear in Scripture that we can think of being afraid. This tends to be an emotionally derived fear caused by a perceived threat whether that’s caused by anxiety, apprehension, unease, or paying someone to scare you in a haunted house.

And then there is a fear of the Lord that the Bible speaks of at length to the extent that the Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom and that fear of the Lord, though it might start with anxiety, apprehension, or unease is really based on knowing who God is as the Creator and who we are as created beings.

“Humans and institutions may be objects of fear; the biblical writers also speak of an unfocused fear resulting from human circumstances. But whilst fear is a pervasive force within this world, the peace of God or Christ, which stems from due fear or reverence of God, is its most potent adversary, banishing fear. Not all fear is that of terror in the face of overwhelming and threatening circumstances, however. The fear of God may well include a recognition of the futility of human opposition to the divine, especially for those who are God’s enemies, but for those who follow God, fear grows from the respect and honour of which God is worthy as God.” (S.E. Porter “Fear.” In New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, ed. T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 497.)

The fear that’s being exhibited by Lot in this moment is that of an emotionally derived fear caused by a perceived threat.

We know this because the fear that they exhibit is based on an emotional response that leads them to make rash decisions.

In the case of Lot, the fear that Zoar might face the same divine judgment that Sodom and Gomorrah has isn’t based on who God is, it’s based on the safety of his own life.

And so, they run into the hills and hide in a cave.

The issue is that the emotional fear that’s driving Lot right now also influences his family; and so, his daughters start thinking from a fearful mindset.

vv. 31-32 tells us of their plan, “The firstborn said to the young, ‘Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” Let’s talk about all the problems with this plan:

First, let’s deal with the elephant in the room—this is an incestuous plan.

Now, you could potentially say that technically the Law of God, which bans incestuous relationships hasn’t been given yet; however, up to this point in redemptive history, there were no cases in which a father had this sort of relationship with his daughter or mother with her son that was approved of in Scripture—nor will you ever find an approval for this sort of relationship in Scripture—in fact, Scripture would tie this sort of incestuous relationship in with the idea of unnatural relations.

It’s clearly wrong, but it does tell us something interesting about Lot’s daughters—in that they’ve created a false dichotomy in the hearts and in their minds based on what their culture has told them is normal, which is the second problem.

Second, Lot’s daughters only did this because their culture told them that they needed to have children by any means necessary to perpetuate the family line.

In the ANE culture, a woman’s value and worth was based on whether or not they had children to continue the family line and if they didn’t have children, they were often seen as a pariah in the surrounding community—often it was assumed that they were not blessed by God or they had been cursed by God.

But in the situation with Lot’s daughters, it wasn’t that they couldn’t have children, it’s that they didn’t have husbands to have children with, which brings us to the third problem.

Where did this idea that there were no men left on earth come from? It derived from wrongly placed fear.

It could be that that’s what Lot had been telling them—that they had to move into the cave because of some potential divine destruction of Zoar and thus, there are no more men left on earth.

It could be that an inordinate fear of the men in Zoar and the surrounding areas convinced them that it wasn’t worth seeking a husband from the people of the land.

Regardless, the issue is the same, they were in fear and in their wrongly placed fear, they were attempting to solve their problems through their own ability.

And attempting to solve their problems with their own ability because of their wrongly placed fear resulted in great sin that then had further ramifications, which is seen in the next section.

The two daughters make a sinful plan—it’s first told to us in v. 32, but then we see the results of the plan in vv. 33-38. Let’s re-read those verses.

The Results of the Plan (33-38)

Genesis 19:33–38 ESV

33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 34 The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” 35 So 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. 36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

The plan was for them to get their father drunk and then engage in inappropriate relationships with their father

And let me be clear that there are multiple sinful issues at hand:

Though the Law had yet to be given, it is clear from the brief historical record of Genesis 1-19:29, that this sort of relationship between parent and child has never been seen as an appropriate thing.

And when the Law is given to the Israelites it is very clearly condemned—particularly in Leviticus 18, where the Bible spells it out, “None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness . . . you shall not uncover the nakedness of your father . . . you shall not uncover [your mother’s] nakedness” and that ideology is applied to siblings, aunts, uncles, and so on.

I’m willing to make the argument that even though they aren’t necessarily condemned for this in this passage, that they were still sinning with what they did.

In addition to that, there’s a reasonable argument that even though Lot probably wasn’t culpable in the inappropriate relationship aspect due to his inebriation, he’s still guilty of drinking to excess.

Which we do know that though alcohol use isn’t sinful, it is sinful to be drunk to the extent that Lot was—where he didn’t even recognize that something had happened.

Again, the consumption of alcohol itself isn’t sinful, it’s drunkeness, which is condemned in Scripture that’s sinful—and thus, even though Lot probably wasn’t responsible for the inappropriate relationship with his daughters, he is responsible for the drunkeness that led to the inappropriate relationships.

So, his daughters concoct this plan and then initiate this plan in vv. 33-35 and the results of these inappropriate relations are given to us in vv. 36-38, “Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.”

It’s worth noting that even though the two daughters did alleviate their misplaced fear of not having children, they did so in a way that was and is terribly misguided and sinful.

And, though we don’t see necessarily the end result of their decisions, we do know from Jewish history that the Moabites and Ammonites were significant in the history of Israel.

“Remembered forever as the offspring of Lot, the ‘descendants of Lot’ whose land was a gift form the Lord were granted special concessions by the invading Israelites. Yet their incestuous origins could not be overlooked in regulating the holy “assembly of the Lord”. The long history of Israel’s relationship with these transjordan nations involved continued hostilities even down to the time of the Maccabees . . . The Psalmist and Hebrew prophets decried the mistreatment of Israel by Lot’s descendants.” (Mathews, K. A. Genesis 11:27–50:26. Vol. 1B. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005), 246.)

Or, in other words, the sins of Lot and his daughters, though we don’t see the longterm results of that in Genesis 19, cause a significant ripple effect that harms several generations of people—at least, until Ruth comes along.

If nothing else, this is a potent reminder that the ends does not justify the means when it comes to issues of clear right and wrong.

Someone once said that it is never right to sin in order to have the potential for right doing.

The daughters of Lot chose to sin for the potential of right doing, but they were sorely mistaken in their ideology.

It’s also worth noting—again, that the decisions made throughout this account are based on fear rather than truth—fear rather than faith in God.

Due to Lot’s wrongly placed fear in man, he moved his remaining family to the hills and lived in a cave with them.

Due to his daughter’s wrongly placed fear in what was to come concerning their genealogy, they committed great sin with their father.

If we consider this in view of all that occured with Sodom and Gomorrah and with Lot and his uncle Abraham, what we see is a clear delineation between a person who chooses to follow God intentionally and a person who likes to sit on the line between following God and allowing the wiles of the world to entice him.

On the one side, you see Abraham who clearly chooses to leave everything that he formerly knew to follow God.

On the other side, you see Lot who likes to get as close as he can to sin in hopes of enjoying what the world has to offer while still trying to follow God when it suits him.

Notice the significant difference between the two people and see where you fit in that spectrum of following God or allowing the world to entice you.

Now, in the remaining few minutes, let’s talk about some specific application:

Application

First, you need to learn to not make decisions based on wrongfully placed fear.

Fear isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but you need to make sure that when you do fear experience fear, it’s the right type of fear and that you don’t allow certain types of fear to dictate your decisions.

Fear as in reverential awe and respect for God is required—the Bible makes it abundantly clear that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. If you don’t have that reverential awe and respect for God, the reality is that you’re a fool according to Scripture.

Fear as in the emotional fear that people have whether it’s due to something tragic happening, or anxiety, or whatever else can be a good thing, if it doesn’t control you and if it doesn’t lead you to making foolish decisions.

For instance, if you’re driving your car and a deer jumps out in front of you—the fear of hitting the dear with your car is a good thing because it causes you to hit the brakes.

However, being fearful of people, being afraid of what people will think or how they’ll respond to you often leads to foolish decisions. Being afraid of what might happen often leads to foolish decisions—and those types of fear are what I’m talking about when I’m talking about wrongfully placed fear or misplaced fear.

The unfortunate truth is that many people (even Christian people) make their decisions based mostly on their own emotions rather than on truth and that includes the emotions that fear riles up within.

Much like Lot who in fear moved his family into a cave and his daughters, who in fear committed great sin with their father, many people today make decisions based on emotion when the Bible specifically tells us that emotions aren’t bad, but they need to be controlled.

I’d actually argue that for most people, the worst decisions they make are based mostly on their emotions—why do people commit adultery or fornication? Because of how they feel. Why do people lie or cheat? Because they look to avoid certain emotions. Why do people drink to excess or utilize illicit drugs? To cover up emotions that they don’t want to feel/

You need to learn to make decisions based on the fear of the Lord rather than wrongfully placed fear.

Or, in other words, you need to make your decisions based on your love for God rather than your love for yourself.

Second, remember that the end result isn’t all that matters

In philosophy, there is a worldview that we call utilitarianism and this worldview makes a simple statement.

That moral right and wrong is determined on the end result and whatever action causes the most happiness or the most good for the most amount of people is the morally right action.

We actually see this line of thinking when it comes to emergency services and healthcare—in emergency services and healthcare during tragic events, the main question is “how can we save the most amount of people?”

And there’s nothing wrong with that line of thinking in an emergency scenario.

That line of thinking, however, does present problems if you try to present it in other areas of life—like Lot’s daughters.

They committed their sin thinking that it was the only way to do the most good for their family.

And there are quite a few examples of this line of thinking just in regular life:

CEOs and CFOs will commit atrocities if it means making more profit.

Corporations will do whatever is right in their own eyes—not for their employees—but for the most amount of their stockholders.

In a more familial way of thinking—people will lie in order to get their family ahead; people will steal for their family; people will hurt others in an unrighteous way if it means that they could do more for their family.

But the reality is that when it comes to issues of moral right and wrong—the end result isn’t all that matters.

There are things that we do that are sinful regardless of the end result, which means that it doesn’t really matter what the end result is, if we sin, we’re sinning.

You need to be sure that you’re not justifying sinful behavior in hopes that the end result is acceptable.

And finally, when you do make decisions based on wrongfully placed fear or based purely on the end result, don’t lose hope—repent and keep following Jesus.

The reality is that we will continue to make decisions based on wrongfully placed fear or based purely on the end result.

Part of that is simply because we live in a sin-cursed world; and part of that is because we’re human and we occasionally err in our decision-making (some more than others).

What matters is how we respond when we recognize that we’ve made sinful decisions based on sinful fear or for utilitarian purposes.

And that’s the truth in any case of sinful behavior—yes, we’re going to continue struggling in sin, but what happens next is vitally important—do we continue jumping into our sin; or do we repent and place our hope in Jesus Christ?

The beauty is that because of Jesus’ sacrificial atonement for our sins on the cross, we don’t have to despair when we trip up in sin.

We simply repent and keep repenting as we continue to seek Jesus.

The real problem is when you choose to sin and keeping sinning knowing that you’re in sin and yet, you refuse to repent.

What that often reveals is that you might not actually believe what you claim to believe.

Because if you genuinely understood the Gospel and you authentically worship Jesus, you wouldn’t want to continue in your sin.

Yes, every Christian will struggle with sin, but the key word in that statement is that you struggle not that you continue to jump into sin over and over intentionally.

If you find yourself jumping into sin over and over with no desire to repent, you probably aren’t actually a believer.

Because true believers will struggle with their sin, experience conviction by the Holy Spirit, repent, and keep following Jesus.

You need to keep your focus and hope on Jesus even when you fall into sin because He has made a way for you to the Father.

Lot’s daughters made a terrible decision that resulted in a people group that constantly warred against God’s people—they based that decision on wrongly placed fear and an end result that did happen, but not in the way that it should’ve. Ultimately, the reason for their terrible decision was that they chose to fear something other than God—in this case, the idea of not having children.

Make sure that as you make decisions today and really everyday, that you do it in the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom rather than in any other type of fear.

Pastoral Prayer