The Bible states that after their escape, Lot’s two daughters got him drunk and had sex with him – in order to have children from their father.
Gen. 19: 30 – 34 to 38
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ל וַיַּעַל
לוֹט מִצּוֹעַר וַיֵּשֶׁב בָּהָר, וּשְׁתֵּי בְנֹתָיו עִמּוֹ, כִּי יָרֵא,
לָשֶׁבֶת בְּצוֹעַר; וַיֵּשֶׁב, בַּמְּעָרָה--הוּא, וּשְׁתֵּי בְנֹתָיו. |
30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the
mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar; and
he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. |
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לא וַתֹּאמֶר
הַבְּכִירָה אֶל-הַצְּעִירָה, אָבִינוּ זָקֵן; וְאִישׁ
אֵין בָּאָרֶץ לָבוֹא עָלֵינוּ, כְּדֶרֶךְ כָּל-הָאָרֶץ. |
31 And the first-born said unto the younger: 'Our
father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in
unto us after the manner of all the
earth. |
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לב לְכָה
נַשְׁקֶה אֶת-אָבִינוּ יַיִן, וְנִשְׁכְּבָה עִמּוֹ; וּנְחַיֶּה מֵאָבִינוּ,
זָרַע. |
32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and
we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.' |
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לג וַתַּשְׁקֶיןָ
אֶת-אֲבִיהֶן יַיִן, בַּלַּיְלָה הוּא; וַתָּבֹא הַבְּכִירָה וַתִּשְׁכַּב
אֶת-אָבִיהָ, וְלֹא-יָדַע בְּשִׁכְבָהּ וּבְקוּמָהּ. |
33 And they made their father drink wine that
night. And the first-born went in, and lay with her father; and he knew not
when she lay down, nor when she arose. |
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לד וַיְהִי,
מִמָּחֳרָת, וַתֹּאמֶר הַבְּכִירָה אֶל-הַצְּעִירָה, הֵן-שָׁכַבְתִּי אֶמֶשׁ
אֶת-אָבִי; נַשְׁקֶנּוּ יַיִן גַּם-הַלַּיְלָה, וּבֹאִי שִׁכְבִי עִמּוֹ,
וּנְחַיֶּה מֵאָבִינוּ, זָרַע. |
34 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the
first-born said unto the younger: 'Behold, I lay yesternight with my father.
Let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him,
that we may preserve seed of our father.' |
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לה וַתַּשְׁקֶיןָ
גַּם בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא, אֶת-אֲבִיהֶן--יָיִן; וַתָּקָם הַצְּעִירָה
וַתִּשְׁכַּב עִמּוֹ, וְלֹא-יָדַע בְּשִׁכְבָהּ וּבְקֻמָהּ. |
35 And they made their father drink wine that
night also. And the younger arose, and lay with him; and he knew not when she
lay down, nor when she arose. |
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36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child
by their father. |
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לז וַתֵּלֶד
הַבְּכִירָה בֵּן, וַתִּקְרָא שְׁמוֹ מוֹאָב: הוּא אֲבִי-מוֹאָב,
עַד-הַיּוֹם. |
37 And the first-born bore a son, and called his
name Moab--the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. |
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לח וְהַצְּעִירָה
גַם-הִוא יָלְדָה בֵּן, וַתִּקְרָא שְׁמוֹ בֶּן-עַמִּי: הוּא אֲבִי
בְנֵי-עַמּוֹן, עַד-הַיּוֹם. {ס} |
38 And the younger, she also bore a son, and
called his name Ben-ammi--the same is the father of the children of Ammon
unto this day. |
This incestuous
behaviour was so unthinkable that it is not even listed in the Bible among the
other lewd sexual relations practiced in Egypt and Canaan, and which are
forbidden one by one (Lev. 18: 6 – 30 and 20:11 – 21).
Their actions
would have been seen as 'perverse’ even by contemporary standards.
After all,
they had to get Lot so drunk, so that he would not realize what was happening (Gen.
19:35).
And according to Mesopotamian law as stated in the
ancient Code of Hammurabi:
154. If a man be guilty of incest with his daughter, he shall be driven from the place (exiled).[i]
But the
situation of Lot’s two daughters was complex.
The Bible
states the two daughters living in Lot’s home were betrothed to men in Sodom.
Yes, Rashi, citing
Bereshit Rabbah 50:9, notes there are two ancient interpretations. One
literal: that Lot had only two betrothed daughters, and another tradition that
Lot had four daughters and the “sons-in-law” mentioned were the husbands of his
two other daughters who lived with their husbands.
Ibn Ezra
accepted the four daughters view, but Radak, Gur Aryeh, Reggio and R. Hirsh
take the Biblical verse literally: that Lot hade only two daughters and they were betrothed to two Sodomites.
Now, God’s two
messengers allowed Lot to approach his two betrothed Sodom sons-in-law and if
they agreed to flee, they too would be saved. But unfortunately, they thought
Lot was jesting and ignored this opportunity to escape.
Gen. 19: 14
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יד וַיֵּצֵא לוֹט וַיְדַבֵּר אֶל-חֲתָנָיו לֹקְחֵי בְנֹתָיו,
וַיֹּאמֶר קוּמוּ צְּאוּ מִן-הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה, כִּי-מַשְׁחִית יְהוָה,
אֶת-הָעִיר; וַיְהִי כִמְצַחֵק, בְּעֵינֵי חֲתָנָיו. |
14 And Lot went out, and spoke unto his
sons-in-law, who married his daughters, and said: 'Up, get you out of this
place; for the LORD will destroy the city.' But he seemed unto his
sons-in-law as one that jested. |
Consequently,
their refusal to leave and the ensuing destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
created for Lot’s two betrothed daughters a legal bind.
If the bodies
of their fiancées WEre found and their death confirmed, the two daughters would
be free to marry again.
But if theIR bodies
are not found, then the daughters would fall into limbo as agunot
(i.e., “chained women”) similar to agunot who cannot get a
divorce from their recalcitrant husbands under Torah law.[ii]
(The issue of agunot
due to war has arisen again in Israel since October 7, 2023, with to Hama’s murderous
attack: including burning groups to death, taking hostages (female and male),
and the ensuing war.[iii])
Now the Code
of Hammurabi, dating around the time of Lot and Abraham, does not directly
address the issue of “missing finances or husbands” but that such agunot status was the contemporary custom and law can be inferred from the Code.[iv]
130. If a man violates
the wife (betrothed or child-wife) of
another man, who has never known a man, and still lives in her
father's house, and sleep with her and be surprised, this man shall be put to death, but the wife
is blameless.
129.
If a man's wife be surprised (in flagrante delicto) with another man,
both shall be tied and thrown into the water,
but the husband may pardon his wife and the king his slaves.
132. If the "finger is pointed" at a man's wife about another man, but she is not caught sleeping with the other man, she shall jump into the river for her husband.
I.e.,
Mesopotamian law normally punished inappropriate sexual relations by death.
And there is a similar mindset in the Chumash and Jewish Law.
Lev. 19: 20 re:
betrothed maidservant
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י וְאִישׁ, אֲשֶׁר יִנְאַף אֶת-אֵשֶׁת
אִישׁ, אֲשֶׁר יִנְאַף, אֶת-אֵשֶׁת רֵעֵהוּ--מוֹת-יוּמַת הַנֹּאֵף,
וְהַנֹּאָפֶת. |
10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even
he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, both the adulterer and
the adulteress shall surely be put to death. |
The 10 Commandments: adultery #7 and “coveting #10 in both Exod. 20: 12 -13, and Deut. 5: 16 -17.
So, under
Mesopotamian law and Torah law, if it was impossible to determine if their
fiancées had, in fact, died, the two daughters of Lot would have been unable to
(re-)marry.
It is this
situation, I believe, that is the meaning of verse 19: 31
וְאִישׁ אֵין בָּאָרֶץ
לָבוֹא עָלֵינוּ and there is not a man in the earth to go in unto us.
That other
people (and men in particular) survived the destruction in Zoar and elsewhere
is suggested by the Biblical text (Gen. 19: 20 – 23) and would have been
essential for the survival of Lot and his daughters.
Food,
clothing, etc. do not grow in a cave and they fled Sodom with only the clothing on their backs and a few items easily carried (Gen. 19: 15 – 17).
Also, the fact
their ‘one night’ cohabitations resulted in successful pregnancies that produced
‘two nations’ should not be ignored.
Judaism holds
that God decrees if intercourse between a male and a female will result in a baby.[v]
This is what
the Bible’s states re: Leah’s firstborn, Gen. 29:31 and thereafter re: Rachel
in Gen. 30: 22-23:
Gen 29: 31
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לא וַיַּרְא יְהוָה כִּי-שְׂנוּאָה לֵאָה,
וַיִּפְתַּח אֶת-רַחְמָהּ; וְרָחֵל, עֲקָרָה. |
31 And the LORD saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. |
Gen. 30: 22-23
And again, all
of chapter 1 in 1 Samuel when the long barren Hannah prays at the Mishkin in
Shiloh, is overheard by the priest, Eli, and told that God will fulfil her wish
to become a mother.
So, the
radical actions of Lot’s two daughters were, in a sense, Divinely approved.
As for Lot,
according to the Biblical text, he had no recollection of the two sexual acts.
So, he either
had to assume they were ‘virgin births’ or that the two daughters had had
sexual relations with their fiancées just before the destruction of Sodom.
P.S.
It is worth noting
the accepted custom or law in Canaan -- and thereafter in Torah law – re: married
women who were barren when their husbands, died.
When Tamar, a
wife Judah chose for his oldest son outlived her husband Er and was without child,
she was expected to marry a surviving brother and the first son born of this
second union would be considered the ‘son’ of the first husband. A rule called Levirate Marriage.
In Tamar’s case,
the second husband also died before making her pregnant and she was expected to
wait for Judah’s third son to ‘come of age’ and marry her (Gen. ch 38,
especially verses 8 -11).
In the Book
of Ruth, a related situation appears.
Ruth’s husband died without having any offspring. When Ruth and Naomi
return to Judah, it is expected that she marry the closest male relative of her
dead husband, and that their first son would be deemed legally as the offspring
of the deceased first husband.
The unnamed closest
relative was eager to do so as he would get all the land the dead husband had
owned, but he refused once reminded of the Levirate rule which would complicate
the inheritance claims of his own sons by his existing wife.
Consequently,
the next nearest kinsman, the bachelor Boaz, was allowed/required to marry Ruth.
(Ruth, ch. 4 and especially verses 5 and 10).
And remarkably,
Tamar’s son (fathered unknowingly by Judah in a one night encounter) was an
ancestor of Boaz, and Boaz and Ruth became the great, great grandparents of King
David (Ruth, 4: 13-22).
Note: All texts are from https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0119.htm. Any red lettering and underlining is mine.)
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