Genesis 19:30 begins another sad story in the Bible. You can almost sense that something bad is coming when you read it: “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.” I’m sure you know the story. His daughters get him drunk and seduce him and Lot’s grandchildren, Moab and Ammon, are also his children. I’d assume that the catastrophe of losing everything that Lot had when he went down to Egypt and everything he gained while there had been destroyed in Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet, he still had plenty of wine!! Lot ended up drunk, living in a cave, being seduced by his own daughters (sounds like something from Deliverance!).
I would argue that Lot was not only seduced by his daughters, but he and his daughters had been seduced by the world and the culture they lived in in Sodom. But there was something wrong with Lot that was passed on to his daughters, I think. I don’t think that the place was the real problem, i.e., Sodom. Don’t forget that Joseph lived in Egypt. Daniel lived in Babylon. Esther lived in Persia. It really wasn’t the place because these three ended up being a great blessing while there. That’s not the case with Lot. I think it was a matter of his heart. Lot got his love for the world, possibly, while living in Egypt. Much like his ancestors under Moses’ leadership, he never quite got his heart out of Egypt. His heart was in the world. Lot had been seduced by the world and everything he owned went up in smoke as God’s angels destroyed his home in Sodom. Leaving Sodom, His wife, who had learned to love the world also, couldn’t help but turn and look back with longing, and she too was lost to him as she became a pillar of salt. Then in the cave, all alone, his honor, dignity, as well as his self respect was lost as well as that of his own daughters. Yep, friendship with the world can be expensive.
The two children, grand children of Lot, Moab and Ammon, did not have healthy histories either. According to Guzik, “Their descendants would become enemies and obstacles for Israel, just like the descendants of Ishmael. Lot’s life ended in ruin (past, present, and future), all because of his love for the world.”1 Deuteronomy 5:9 is one of many passages that speak to us about God visiting the sins of the father upon their children to the fifth generation. The history of both Moab and Ammon reflect this truth. Boice says, “…when the people were marching from Egypt to Canaan through the desert, the Moabites opposed their march, and Balak, the king of Moab, tried to get the prophet Balaam to curse God’s people (Num. 22–24). In later years, there were many wars between the Jews and these two neighboring kingdoms. In Amos there are prophecies of Ammon’s (Amos 1:13–15) and Moab’s (Amos 2:1–3) destruction.2 All this came about because Lot wasn’t satisfied with his “Lot” in life with his uncle Abraham and left home to go out on his own in an unwelcoming world. I think I’ll just stay home!
1 David Guzik, Genesis, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), Ge 19:33–38.
2 James Montgomery Boice, Genesis: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998), 644.