Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

19: 1-3 8 GENESIS
resolved to procure children through him, and for that
purpose on two successive evenings they made him in-
toxicated with wine, and then lay with him through the
night, one after the other, that they might conceive seed.
“To this accursed crime they were impelled by the desire
to preserve their family, because they thought there was no
man on earth to come in unto them, i.e., to marry them,
‘after the manner of all the earth.’ Not that they imagined
the whole human race to have perished in the destruction
of the valley of Siddim, but because they were afraid that
no man would link himself with them, the only survivors
of a country smitten by the curse of God” (BCOPT, 237).
We can hardly agree with the charge that these young
women “took advantage of Lot’s inebriation to indulge
incestuous passion” for the simple reason that the text does
not justify such a conclusion. Of course, even though it
was not lust which impelled them to this shameful deed,
“their conduct was worthy of Sodom, and shows quite as
much as their previous betrothal to men of Sodom, that
they were deeply imbued with the sinful character of that
city.” In all likelihood, incest was not under any taboo
in Sodom. As for Lot himself, vv. 33 and 35 do not state
that he was in an unconscious state: they simply tell us that
in his intoxicated condition, though not entirely uncon-
scious, yet he lay with his daughters without clearly under-
standing what he was doing. It surely would be stretch-
ing the truth, however, to say that his behavior in this.
instance was that of a strong man. “Lot’s daughters are,
like Tamar, not here regarded as shameless; their ruling
motive is to perpetuate the race” (JB, 37). Jamieson
summarizes as follows (CECG, 165) : The theory is sug-
gested that “the moral sensibilities of Lot’s daughters had
been blunted, or rather totally extinguished, by long and
familiar association with the people of the Pentapolis, and
that they had already sunk to the lowest depths of de-
pravity, when they could in concert deliberately plan the
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