May the mumbling commence!
Where did they come from? This story of Lot and his daughters explains
the beginning of the Moabites and Ammonites.
There is much to struggle with in this passage. Read from Peterson’s The Message:
Lot left Zoar
and went into
the mountains to live with his two daughters; he
was afraid to stay in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his daughters.
One day
the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is getting old and there’s
not a man left in the country by whom we can get
pregnant. Let’s get our father drunk with wine and lie with him. We’ll get children
through our father – it’s our only chance to keep our family alive.”
They got
their father drunk with wine that very
night.
The older daughter went and lay with
him. He was oblivious, knowing nothing of what she did. The next morning the older said to
the younger, “Last night I slept with him. Tonight, it’s your
turn. We’ll
get him drunk again and then you sleep with him. We’ll both get a child through
our father and keep our family alive.” So that night
they got their father drunk again and the younger went in and slept with him. Again he was
oblivious, knowing nothing of what she did.
Both
daughters became pregnant by their father, Lot.
The older daughter had a son and named him Moab, the ancestor of the
present-day Moabites. The younger
daughter had a son and named him Ben-Ammi, the
ancestor of the present-day Ammonites. (Genesis
19:30-38)
Now read the same passage from the
NIV translation:
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 lie with us, as is the custom all over
the earth. Let's get our father to
drink wine and then lie 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 lay 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 lay with my father. Let's get him
to drink wine again
tonight, and you
go in and lie 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 and lay 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. (Genesis
19:30-38)
The differences in the translations
are insignificant between the NIV and Peterson’s work. If there was a bone of contention to pick, it
might be the difference between drinking wine and getting drunk enough to not
know or remember what you had done.
Though Lot’s lack of awareness does suggest that he was pretty drunk.
Anyhow, I wonder what inspired fear
in Lot of Zoar. It was the city that he
wanted to run to as opposed to going to the mountains as the angels told him
to. Was it bitterness over the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah? Was
it bitterness that his wife died? Or was
Lot afraid that even a little town would become corrupt and worthy of the
destruction that Sodom and Gomorrah?
Nonetheless, Lot became a hermit in
a cave in the mountains. He took his
daughters with him. Lot did not seem to
be concerned about his family line. That
concern was shown only by his daughters… the older one in particular.
I don’t know about you, but I
blanch at the idea of sleeping with parents.
That gives me the willies. But in
this passage it’s passed off as not a big a thing. I would think that both father and daughter
would need to be drunk for such a thing to happen.
And future enemies of Israel were birthed
in this process… though we must remember that Ruth the Moabitess came from the
Moabite line. And she’s the great-grandmother
of King David… and of the line of Jesus, our Savior.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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