And the first-born bore a son, and called his name Moab the same is the father of the Moabites to this day.
The last line of Lot's story names what came out of the cave. The older daughter's son becomes the father of a nation Israel still knew. Why does the Bible record such a shameful beginning, and what was Israel meant to learn from it?
The name itself carries the scandal. A study of Bible names gives its meaning:
Moab — From father: what father?
The record had a purpose. Israel gained by knowing where a lasting enemy came from, and by seeing how sin bears fruit:
It was of real moral profit for Israel to remember the source of a lasting thorn in their side. That was the shameful origin of the Moabite and the Ammonite, two nations, neighbours and relatives, known for constant envy and hatred towards the people of God. The only God marks it all in His wisdom. Sin then, as now, produced a harvest, large and long-continued, even if sovereign grace in some cases keeps it from being a perpetual harvest of misery for those who indulged in it. "The one who sows to his own flesh," no matter who or where or when, "will from the flesh reap corruption."
Lot escapes Sodom, yet he ends up in a cave. His whole course is one long warning:
Lot had begged to go to Zoar. But after Sodom's destruction he became afraid to stay there. So he took the angels' earlier advice and fled to the mountains. Abraham as a rule walked by faith, but Lot had not learned that lesson. Fear moved him this time. He found a cave and lived in it with his daughters. How deeply impoverished he had become! Lot's history is a real warning to every child of God. Friendship with the world does not always bring poverty of money, but it always brings poverty of soul.
They left the city, but the city had not left them:
Separation from the world does not always mean communion with God. The gross corruptions of the world can appear inside a monastery or a convent just as much as in a wicked city. The influences of Sodom had left their mark on Lot's daughters, for they brought to the cave what they had learned there. They had not learned that God could give Lot descendants without such degrading means, if that were His will. Abraham and Sarah, Manoah and his wife, and Zacharias and Elizabeth all proved it. God stepped in and gave them children in His own way.
Moab and Ammon were Israel's relatives, and its lasting enemies:
The two sister-nations, Moab and Ammon, are known as "the children of Lot" (Deuteronomy 2:9), and they came from an incestuous origin (Genesis 19:37-38). They have always been persistent and unrelenting enemies of God's chosen nation. They also belong to the coming great alliance of nations. That alliance will form under the revived Assyrian power, to destroy the children of Israel and blot out their very name from the earth (see the prophecy in Psalm 83:4-8).
Moab's character became a picture of comfort that has never been disturbed:
Moab is the very picture of self-satisfied, self-indulgent religion such as is seen in Laodicea, "I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing" (Revelation 3:17). "Moab has been at ease from his youth and has settled on his dregs; he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile. So his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed" (Jeremiah 48:11).
The story does not end with the curse. A woman of Moab, cursed by the law, becomes the ancestor of Israel's king:
Ruth is an exception, for there is no stain on her character. She was a Moabitess. The law was against her and cursed her. It is written, "No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the LORD forever" (Deuteronomy 23:3). But in faith she too enters the assembly with her children, and the third after her, her grandson, is King David himself. The law that had pronounced the curse is completely set aside in her case.
The nation itself is not written off forever:
Both Ammon and Moab are promised a national restoration in the latter days, that is, when the Lord comes (Jeremiah 48:47; 49:6).
- Sowing. Lot sowed to the flesh, and the harvest was "large and long-continued" — a nation of neighbours who became Israel's lasting enemies.
- Poverty. Friendship with the world may leave a man's bank account intact; it always empties him spiritually. Lot ends in a cave, moved by fear where Abraham walked by faith.
- Carry-over. The daughters escaped Sodom but brought Sodom with them. Changing address is not the same as communion with God. They never learned that God could give what they schemed to seize.
- Character. Moab becomes the picture of religion at ease — never emptied from vessel to vessel, its taste unchanged, saying with Laodicea, "I need nothing."
- Grace. The law shut Moab out for ten generations. God sets it aside for one believing Moabitess, and King David comes from her line. Even the nation is promised restoration when the Lord comes.
And the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; the same is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.