And the first-born said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the land to come in to us after the manner of all the earth
Lot has lost Sodom, his wife and his wealth, and now lives in a cave with two daughters who see no future. This verse gives the older daughter's reasoning: their father is old, no husband is left for them, so the normal way of the world must come some other way.
The plan did not come out of nowhere. It reflects the city the girls had just left.
The scheming of Lot's daughters to have children by their father is a sad comment on what they had learned in Sodom (vv. 31-32). Lot, too, had sunk so low that he no longer cared about the honour of the Lord. He let himself get so drunk that he did not know what he was doing. And this did not happen once only, but a second time the next night (vv. 34-35).
Living in that air had done its slow work on the whole household long before the cave.
Lot and his family got right into the world, and the moral corruption that lust produced stained them. Breathing that morally polluted air for a long time deadened conscience, and produced evil and unheard-of ways (see Gen. 19:30-38).
The older daughter argues as if no other way exists. She leaves God out.
The influences of Sodom had left their mark on the daughters of Lot, for they brought to the cave what they had learned there. They had not learned that God could provide a generation for Lot, if it were His will, without resorting to such debasing means. Abraham and Sarah, Manoah and his wife, and Zacharias and Elizabeth, all proved how God could intervene to provide children for them, in His own way.
The angels pulled all three out of Sodom. What Sodom had put into the girls came out with them.
Lot's faith was very feeble. Though Zoar had been spared for his sake, his fear was so great that he left it for the mountain country he had once dreaded. There he found a cave, and having lost all he owned, he lived in it with his two daughters. The two daughters were saved in body but lost in morals. We are allowed to know that they had caught the immoral ways of Sodom. They brought dishonour on themselves and on their father. They also brought into the world both Moab and Ammon. Both gave their names to peoples who in later days became enemies of the people of God.
The daughters' end goes back to Lot's own path.
Had Lot walked separately, his daughters might have been wives of Abraham's seed, instead of mothers of Ammonites and Moabites.
Lot also chose that place against God's word. The angels had told him to escape to the hills — quoted below in an older wording as "Escape to the mountain."
How much better it would have been for Lot to listen to the word of God's messengers, "Escape to the mountain"... Had Lot sought the face of God, he might have found the mountain a place of communion. Instead it is the scene of his lasting shame. Separation from the world does not always mean communion with God. The world's gross corruptions can be found in the seclusion of a monastery or a convent, just as in a wicked city.
Two nations came out of that cave, and Israel felt them for centuries.
Lot was delivered, and yet only half delivered. The angels rescued him from the worst of company, even after Abraham had rescued him once before. He was brought out again, but as if maimed and wounded, only to be dishonoured further... Yet it was of real moral profit for Israel to remember where a lasting thorn in their side came from. The Moabite and the Ammonite had a shameful origin. These two nations were neighbours and relatives, known for constant envy and hatred against the people of God... "The one who sows to his own flesh," no matter who or where or when, "will from the flesh reap corruption."
The law later shut Moab out. Yet a Moabite woman stands in the family line of the Messiah.
Ruth was a loving woman, but to a Jew she came from an especially hateful source. She was a Moabite woman, and so the law forbade her to enter the assembly of the Lord to the tenth generation... This gave an even deeper testimony that grace would go out and bless the very worst of the Gentiles.
- Sodom sowed. The daughters' plan is what the city taught them. Lot's household breathed that air until conscience went numb.
- Sodom reasoned. "No man on earth" is unbelief doing sums. God had given children to Abraham and Sarah, to Manoah's wife and to Elizabeth, without any such means.
- Sodom followed them out. The angels saved the girls' bodies, but not their morals. Even the mountain became a cave of shame instead of a place of communion.
- Sodom began with a choice. Had Lot walked apart from the world, his daughters could have married into Abraham's line, instead of becoming the mothers of Israel's enemies.
- Sodom's harvest met grace. Sowing to the flesh reaped Moab and Ammon. Yet God brought a daughter of Moab, shut out by the law, into the line of the Messiah.
come, let us give our father wine to drink, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve seed alive of our father.
Lot has fled Zoar in fear and now lives in a cave with his two daughters. There the elder daughter proposes wine and incest to keep the family line alive.
God's messengers had told Lot to escape to the mountain. He asked for Zoar instead. Fear later drove him to the mountain anyway — by his own route, and too late.
How much better if Lot had listened to God's messengers: "Escape to the mountain." It would have saved him from the fear that overtook him in Zoar. He would have known the mountain as God's place of shelter, rather than his cave of shame. So often we think we know what is best for us, and we turn away from what God commands. In the end we only prove our own folly, and we lose what God in His mercy had prepared for us. Separation from the world does not always mean communion with God.
The daughters escaped the fire, but Sodom's thinking came with them. Their plan assumes God can do nothing unless they arrange it themselves.
Sodom's influence had left its mark on Lot's daughters. They brought to the cave what they had learned there. They had not learned that God could give Lot a family line, if it were His will, without such degrading means. Abraham and Sarah, Manoah and his wife, and Zacharias and Elizabeth all proved how God could step in and give them children in His own way.
Years in that city had changed them within, wherever they lived later.
Lot and his family went right into the world, and the moral corruption that lust produced stained them. Breathing that morally polluted air for years deadened conscience, and produced evil and unheard-of ways.
The daughters supplied the drink, but nobody forced Lot to swallow it — twice.
Lot had sunk so far into unconcern for the honour of the Lord that he let himself get drunk — too drunk to know what he was doing. Nor was this only once, but a second time on the following night.
This is not a sudden collapse. It is the last step of a road Lot started long before.
He had always shown a secret desire for the things of Egypt or those of Sodom. His heart never seems to have broken free from the world, so his course was always unsteady. From the time he parted from Abraham, he went from bad to worse — from one stage of evil to another. At last the scene closes with the shocking transaction in the cave.
Lot's own path closed off another life for his daughters.
If Lot had kept himself separate, his daughters might have married Abraham's descendants, instead of becoming the mothers of Ammonites and Moabites.
Two nations came out of that cave. Israel would meet them again and again as enemies.
Lot was delivered, and yet only half delivered... It was of moral profit for Israel to remember where a lasting thorn in their side came from. The Moabite and the Ammonite had a shameful origin — two nations, neighbours and relatives, known for constant envy and hatred toward the people of God. The one true God marks it all in His wisdom. Sin then, as now, produced a harvest — large and long-lasting. Yet sovereign grace in some cases keeps it from being a never-ending harvest of misery for those who indulged in it. "Whoever sows to his own flesh," no matter who or where or when, "will from the flesh reap corruption."
The story does not end with the harvest. Generations later, a woman of Moab appears in the family record of the Messiah.
Ruth was a loving woman, yet to a Jew she came from a hated source. She was a Moabitess, and so the law barred her from entering the congregation of the Lord until the tenth generation... This gave a still deeper testimony that grace would go out and bless the very worst of the Gentiles. Whether the Jews like it or not, God brought Rahab, the once immoral Gentile, and Ruth, the gentle daughter of Moab, into the nation. More than that, He brought them into the direct line from which the Messiah would come.
- Choice — the cave is the last stop on a road that began when Lot parted from Abraham. From that day his course was unsteady.
- Absorption — years of breathing Sodom's air deadened conscience, and his daughters brought into the cave what they had learned there.
- Unbelief — their scheme assumed God could not give Lot a family line without shameful means. He had given children to others in His own way.
- Harvest — sowing to the flesh reaped Moab and Ammon, a thorn in Israel's side for centuries.
- Grace — God brought Ruth of Moab into the direct line of the Messiah. Grace reaches the worst of origins.