Bible Study: Lot And His Daughters

Posted: 9/7/2014

Trigger

Just read “Solving the Enigma of Petra and the Nabataeans”. This article only mentions Lot’s Cave in Jordan. But I became curious …

According to a Wikipedia article about Lot, we read (Genesis 19:30–38; emphasis added):

“Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. One day the older daughter said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. Let's get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father."

That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

The next day the older daughter said to the younger, "Last night I slept with my father. Let's get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father." So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.”

I believe, I never read or heard of that story about Lot and his daughters before. Is this story even, to use a contemporary term, politically correct given the incest taboo? :-)

I freely admit that I am not very familiar with the Bible. But I am aware that the Bible contains e.g. many morsels of wisdom, human understanding of life and much more. In brief, it is a very remarkable book written over hundreds of years over 2000 years ago.

A Few Thoughts

We attach some authenticity to the story here if only for arguments sake.

1. What surprised me in particular was that it was the two daughters who planned and carried out this plan.
2. Why was it emphasized that the father was not part of the plan?
3. From a biological standpoint how was this even possible? The father was asleep and possibly drunk. Was perhaps some kind of ancient artificial insemination used?
4. Is this a story about incest, although the two daughters planned this to happen without the consent or even knowledge of the father.
5. Did such incest indeed happen in the past to preserve the family? I would say this is a concept, which I believe is not well known anymore in modern times at least in the Western world.