Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us in the way of all the earth. Come, let’s make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.” They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she arose.”
(Genesis 19:31-33)

Lot and his daughters were surrounded by destruction. The smoke from the valley filled the sky. Was Zoar still standing? They didn’t go check. Was anything outside the valley still standing? They didn’t go check. They had obviously brought supplies (probably from Zoar), but all they had and all they knew was in that cave. They didn’t consult God. They didn’t really consult each other. Instead, they relied on their own understanding. Their own perceptions. And they made a horrible choice.

Lot did not instigate this. Lot didn’t create the situation. The only thing Lot did wrong was to get drunk. It made him vulnerable. Later, God is clear about His moral character regarding sexual relations in families (Leviticus 18:6, 27-29). If the girls had asked, God would have told them not to. He would have told them other men were in the world. But these girls didn’t ask. Instead they preyed on their father’s enjoyment of alcohol and got him so drunk he had no idea what was going on and the eldest daughter raped him.

The daughters wanted to continue the family line. This is a good thing. As females in the ancient world, they also wanted to make sure that they had some way to be taken care of and protected in their old age. This is wise. The way they went about it, however, was the worst possible way.

Drinking alcohol isn’t a sin in and of itself. But God tells us not to get drunk because He is protecting us from the poor decisions and bad opportunities that being drunk provide (Ephesians 5:18; Proverbs 23:29-32; Romans 13:13; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10). The best way to prevent getting drunk is to not drink at all.

The sage Da’at Zekenim writes: ‘ואיש אין בארץ לבא עלינו “and there is no other man left on earth to impregnate us with his sperm.” According to Ibn Ezra, they did not think that there were no more males alive on earth, but they thought no other man would be a suitable marriage partner for them for spiritual reasons. Since they had been miraculously saved by G–d, they considered themselves as of superior status.’

The sage Rashi writes: ‘אבינו זקן OUR FATHER IS OLD — And if not now, when? He may die or may cease to beget children. ואיש אין בארץ AND THERE IS NOT A MAN IN THE EARTH — They thought that the whole world had been destroyed as in the time of the generation of the Flood. (Genesis Rabbah 51:8). ‘ותשקין וגו AND THEY MADE THEIR FATHER DRINK [WINE] etc. — Wine was at hand for them in the cave out of a set purpose that they might bring forth two nations (Midrash Tanchuma, Beshalach 12). ותשכב את אביה AND SHE LAY WITH HER FATHER — In the case of the younger daughter it is written (Genesis 19:35) “and she lay with him”, and it does not state “she lay with her father”. But because the younger did not originate this unchaste conduct but her sister taught it to her, Scripture glosses over her sin and does not explicitly make mention of her shame; but since the elder originated this unchaste conduct Scripture exposes her fully (Numbers Rabbah 20:23). ובקומה NOR WHEN SHE AROSE — This word where it occurs with reference to the elder sister (Genesis 19:33) has dots above it (as though it is not written at all), implying that when she arose, he (Lot) was aware of it, and yet he did not take care on the second night to abstain from wine. (Horayot 10b.) R. Levi said, Whoever is inflamed by sexual desire will, in the end, be made to eat his own flesh (Genesis Rabbah 51:9).’

The sage Radak writes: ‘ולא ידע, even when his daughter broke off the physical contact with her father, Lot remained totally unaware of this. The Torah mentions this detail to hint that had he noticed any of this Lot would have resisted the sexual union with his daughter and would have severely remonstrated with her for performing such a despicable act. According to an allegorical approach, (quoted by Rashi,) the dot over the letter ו in this word suggests that Lot did notice when his daughter broke the contact, and therefore he can be faulted for not ensuring that the same did not happen to him on any of the following nights.’