Genesis 19:36–38 (ESV)
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 study of Lot’s life is a study of moral compromise and the destructive consequences that can follow. There are several factors at work in Lot’s life that led him to a disastrous conclusion. The first was his desire for comfort and prosperity. Second, even though he himself was a righteous man and he maintained a moral life, he was willing, for the sake of honor and prosperity to live in an environment of gross depravity. Then there was the powerful influence of cultural convention that was more important to his daughters than moral purity.
2 Peter 2:7–8 (ESV)
7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);
We find Lot sitting in the gate of Sodom. This tells us that he had gained the status of an elder of the city. Perhaps he felt he could have a more righteous influence this way. He knew that the people of Sodom, especially the men, were so depraved that they were prone to attack and rape any stranger that might travel through their city. No doubt, this is why Lot urged the Lord and his two angels not to stay in the open square overnight. Though tormented, he refused to take his family and herds and relocate away from this gross evil. Nor did he consider that if God’s judgment fell upon Sodom, he and his family would suffer with the rest of the people there.
When the men of the city attacked Lots’ house, in a desperate attempt to protect his guests he was willing to sacrifice his daughters to the ravaging of the brute lusts of the men of the city. Culturally he was obligated to protect any guest that might come under his roof, but the offer of his daughters betrays a greater love for the cultural convention than the welfare of his daughters.
After being rescued by the Lord and his angels, for Abraham’s sake, Lot and his two daughters are isolated, living in a cave in the mountains, having lost everything in the judgment against Sodom and the cities of the plain. Rather than taking the lead and going to his Uncle Abraham, and seeking husbands for his daughters, he left them desperate, to live as disgraced childless and his own legacy cut off without an heir. Some in their day might have justified their incest but the fact that they had to get their father drunk to the point of mindlessness tells us that they knew this was wrong and their father would never consent to it. Both became pregnant and bore sons to Lot, Moab, and Ben-Ammi. The descendants of these two men would become enemies of the descendants of Abraham and Isaac, bringing trouble on the Israelites for generations. Ultimately the nations that came from them would be exterminated from the earth by God.
My prayer for you today is that you will discern between the righteousness of God and both, between your own desire for comfort and ease, and second, conventional cultural values. I pray that you will trust Him, even in the most impossible situations, even if it means severe loss of wealth or ease, and let the righteousness of Christ within you be evident in all you do.
Doing the right thing, in the Name of Jesus, Amen,
Rodger