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Why did Lot's daughters have children with their own father?



      

Genesis 19:30 - 38

ESV - 30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 31 And the firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth.

Clarify Share Report Asked February 01 2016 Mini Anonymous

Community answers are sorted based on votes. The higher the vote, the further up an answer is.

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84924d6f 9be5 4261 9e07 ab5f6a8c5842 Lena Wms Supporter Student @Christ Gospel Church, S.S.Teacher, Observer
I agree wholeheartedly with my Brothers in Christ, Brother Abshire and Brother Maas. Both of their answers give very good background into this question. I would like to delve into Lot himself:

1. He followed after Abram of his own free will. He was a rich man in his own right, having his own flocks, and his own men to care for them, yet he followed his Uncle Abram to an unknown land.

2. Since years past from the time Lot and Abram left Ur until Lot was thrown out of Sodom, his daughters had to been born in the Promised Land.

3. Lot enjoyed the prosperity and wealth of God's Divine Headship that Abram did because he lived with him and practiced worshiping God. This is evident because Lot did not live within the City of Sodom until AFTER his Uncle Abram rescued him and the population of Sodom from invaders.

4. Even after the daring rescue by his Uncle Abram, Lot still chose to stay with the City of Sodom.

5. Lot was told by the two Angels to flee to the mountains. Although God was going to rain judgement on Sodom, God wanted Lot safe, high up in the mountains to be able to see it was just on the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, not the entire world. Lot argued with the Angels and went against God's Headship begging to flee to a neighboring city. In the meantime he lost his wife who looked back to the destruction to close and became a pillar of salt. 

6. Lot realized as a stranger he was a target in the city and fled to the mountains. However, it was too late to see God's Headship working for the good in his life and in his daughters lives because he had rejected God's Divine Headship all along.

7. Never seeing the Goodness of God's Master Plan, His Kindness, His Mercy, and His Grace.. Lot never conveyed these things to his daughters. They, in turn, believed that the entire world was destroyed because they were taken in a flat direction instead of a high place direction. Had they been taken to the high place, they would have realized it was two cities destroyed, not the entire world as they imagined. They also would have comprehended God's Goodness and Mercy for sparing their life. Instead they felt the need to "help God out because no other men exist!" 

8. Lot is never recorded to have any other contact with Uncle Abram, not to thank him for rescuing him or for pleading with God for his life. How interesting? 

9. Ancient times, the children were taught on the knees of their fathers and grandfathers. Who taught Ammon and Moab to hate the children of Abraham so much? Why? Because Lot hated God's Headship! The very Loving, Gracious, Kind, Merciful Headship that has preserved his life, he hated so much that he taught his children and their children for generations to come to hate. 

Lot once walked with the Blessings of God's Merciful Divine Headship in his life. As he choose the things of this world, he led himself and his daughters into incesious behaviour that would produce two nations of people that ultimately hate God and His Headship in their life. 

We must carefully, prayerfully choose God's Divine Merciful Headship in our own personal lives realizing that we have an influence on those around us.

Be Blessed,
Lena

February 01 2016 1 response Vote Up Share Report


4
Q jcryle001 JD Abshire Supporter
"Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth."

This statement by his daughters could mean one of two things.

1. The daughters could have believed that Sodom and Gomorrah represented all of humanity which was destroyed and they along with Lot were the only remaining survivors.

2. Based on the environment in which they were born and raised, the daughters may have concluded all remaining males (if any) to be homosexual.

February 01 2016 0 responses Vote Up Share Report


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Mini Tim Maas Supporter Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army
I would say that it was because they were in complete isolation following the destruction not only of Sodom (where they had been living with their father Lot) and Gomorrah, but also the entire valley in which the cities were located (Genesis 19:24-25). (Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar (the city to which God had allowed him and his daughters to flee when they left Sodom) because it, too, was wicked -- although God, at Lot's request, had not destroyed it, as He had apparently also originally intended to do (Genesis 19:18-22)). So Lot and his daughters were living by themselves in a cave. 

In addition (although the Bible does not make this specific point), perhaps Lot's daughters also felt that, even if Lot were to seek husbands for them, other men would not want to have them as wives if those men would find out that they had lived in Sodom, due to the city's reputation for evil and the judgment that had been visited on it, which those men might have felt would then also fall on them if they married Lot's daughters.

This story also has similarities to the way (as recounted in Genesis 38) in which Abraham's great-grandson Judah would later unknowingly have a son by his former daughter-in-law Tamar (whose husband, Onan (Judah's son), had been slain by God for his wickedness).

Because Onan's brother Shelah was not yet of marriageable age, Judah did not immediately give Tamar to him as a wife (as would have been the normal custom following the death of Onan). (In addition, Judah feared that, if he did so, Shelah might also be killed by God (as Onan had been).)

However, Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute, and tricked Judah into sleeping with her without his realizing who she was. As a result, she became pregnant and had twin sons (Perez and Zerah), one of whom (Perez) became the ancestor of both King David and Jesus (Luke 3:33).

As a final note, although the children whom Lot's daughters had by their father (Moab and Ammon) founded nations (the Moabites and the Ammonites) that were idol-worshipers and generally enemies of Israel, a Moabite woman (Ruth) became the great-grandmother of King David, and was thus also an ancestor of Jesus, as noted in Ruth 4:13-17 and Matthew 1:5.

February 01 2016 0 responses Vote Up Share Report


1
Mini Kenneth Heck Supporter
In ancient times any woman who was unable to bear children was commonly considered to be under a curse, and could lose social status as a result. 

In my opinion, since the daughters of Lot had lived their entire lives in Sodom, they might have been strongly influenced by Sodom's abominable sexual practices. In other words, they didn't believe that incest was wrong and abhorrent to God.

The resulting nations of Moab and Ammon were not immediately destroyed;
similarly, the offspring of Cain were destroyed only at the time of the flood.

February 01 2016 0 responses Vote Up Share Report


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