Genesis 19 records a horrific tale of human sin and divine judgment. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in the first twenty-nine verses has no bright spots except for the rescue of Lot and his daughters. But even that part of the story degenerates quickly. “Lot went up from Zoar, and stayed in the mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. Then 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 the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our family through our father.” So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose”
(Genesis 19:30-33 NAS95).
Where the NASB95 in verse 31 has “...come into us after the manner of the earth,” the NET Bible (1st ed.) has “...to have sexual relations with us, according to the way of all the world.” It’s likely that the older daughter, when speaking of “the manner of all the earth” or “the way of all the world,” was using a Hebrew idiom referring to how things work in the world (cf. Joshua 23:14; 1 Kings 2:2). If a woman is going to have a baby, there needs to be a man involved. That’s true. But I would argue that what is not customary and normal is for a daughter to have sexual relations with her father. The Bible calls that incest and it is not godly behavior, no matter what the world thinks.
The “way of all the world” is not always the right way. Remember: “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way that leads to death” (NET Bible, 1st ed.).
God loves you!
Mike
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