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30 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. 31 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. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father." 33 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. 34 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 tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father." 35 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. 36 Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child 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 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. ~ Genesis 19:30-38
Today, we close out our study of Genesis 19 where the narrative now changes focus just a bit. Lot is still the center of attention as he was during the preceding verses, but judgment is no longer coming. In fact, the judgment of God upon the city of Sodom had already come and it had left a hole in the family with the passing of Lot's wife. And, as is often the case, those left to deal with their pain, often do so in the most unusual of ways.
As noted before the city that God allowed Lot and his two daughters to enter was previously named "Bela" which meant "destruction." Ironically, the very name it held before it was changed was the very thing that it didn’t receive from the Lord. From that time on, that city would be known as "Zoar" which means "little." When we maintain a small view of ourselves and we allow the Lord to define us, we are given a piece of the kingdom of God for when we go from viewing ourselves as big from little, we are surely destined for destruction.
In v.30 of today's passage we read, "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."
Lot had been reduced from a wealthy , an influential and an important man in Sodom to a man with two daughters and no more than he could carry in his hands. On the night before Sodom’s destruction, he was told to take his family and head for the mountains. Instead of doing this, he asked the Lord to allow he and his family to enter the little town of Bela which the Lord renamed Zoar. What he should have done in the first place he failed to do. Now that he was given refuge in Zoar, he was afraid to dwell there even though the Lord granted him to do so. Lots choices revealed his unwillingness to simply take the Lord at His word and to be obedient to His word. And so, off Lot went to a cave to live with his daughters. Lot lived out his remaining days in fear hiding out in that cave near a town that was spared of the wrath of God.
In v.31-33 of today's passage we read, "31 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. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him that we may preserve the lineage of our father.' 33 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."
Lot's daughters concluded that there was no man who would marry them due to the fact that they were the only survivors of an entire group of people who were destroyed by God and no one would want to be associated with them. The very fact that they wanted to get their dad drunk first tells us that they knew their father wouldn’t agree to their plan. The two daughters came up with this scheme to get their dad drunk so that they could preserve his lineage. They knew that without the ability to trace their lineage, they would lose the marker with which God had identified them. In the Bible, this marker always came through the father. The word for "lineage" here is the Hebrew word "zara" which means "seed." These girls wanted to preserve the seed. Since they were of the line of Shem, they believed they were saving the line of the Messiah. This was why they believed God had miraculously saved them from sure death in Sodom.
In v.34-35 of today's passage we read, "34 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 tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.' 35 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."
Both of these girls were virgins, both had sex with their inebriated father and both became pregnant. Add to all of that, both of them had males who would carry on the name of the family. In a strange twist, in the end, God used even these strange events to bring about His purposes in the unfolding pages of redemptive history. In Lot's story we see that God gave him certain instructions which, as always, are for very good reasons. God tells us all to do this and to do that because His will is the absolute best for us. And, when we don’t follow God’s directives, the results of such decisions render grief, sadness, fear and loss.
Lot moved to a wicked city, something God did not lead him to do. While living in Sodom, Lot never influenced any of the people there to trust in the Lord God. Then, when God decided to graciously save Lot from the impending destruction, Lot didn’t head straight to the mountains as the Lord had told him to do, instead he looked for another option. He didn’t follow the Lord’s recommended path. Lot would have done much better to just trust the Lord and allowed the Lord to define Him. Since he didn't, Lot experienced fear that led him to live in a cave away from the people of Zoar.
In v.36-38 of today's passage we read, "36 Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child 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 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."
Both of Lot's daughters had a son. The first was named "Moab" which literally means "Who is your daddy?" The second was named "Ben-Ammi" which means "Son of my right hand." Both daughters had a son whom each thought would be an ancestor of the Messiah promised 2108 years earlier when God spoke to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In fact, these two girls did factor in on preserving the line of the Messiah.
According to Matthew 1:5 we see that Ruth from Moab was in the lineage of the Lord Jesus. And, according to 1 Kings 14, Solomon begot Rehoboam whose mother was Naamah who was from Ammon. Both of these two sons born to Lot through his daughters were ancestors of the Lord Jesus Christ. God uses all things together for our good and for His glory, even an incestuous relationship between an inebriated father and his manipulative daughters. All of this just reiterates to us once again that God can be trusted even though we have been known not to trust Him all that well.
Finally, through the life of Lot fear and faith in the God of the Bible were contrasted. As is always the case, fear is the cement that keeps us stuck in that which desires to destroy us while faith in the God of the Bible is the maul that breaks us free. Our problem is that the application of the maul is uncomfortable and sometimes very painful. The better part of wisdom reminds us that the sooner we choose to let God define us the better off we will be.
