Genesis 19:27-38

²⁷ Then Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD.

²⁸ And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, see, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹ So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham’s prayer and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

³⁰ Now Lot had moved from of Zoar and was living in the hills with his two daughters, because 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 in the land to come in to us after the manner of all the land.

³² Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will have sex with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.”

³³ So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He was not aware when she lay down or when she arose.

³⁴ The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I had sex last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and have sex with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.”

³⁵ So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and had sex with him, and was not aware when she lay down or when she arose.

³⁶ This is how both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father.

³⁷ The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the ancestor of the Moabites people today.

³⁸ The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonite people today.

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Cave people

Lot had not been characterized by caution before, but seeing one’s city destroyed by fire from God can change a person’s perspective. Lot looked around at the new city he was living in, and perhaps began to realize that things were not all that different from old Sodom. So, he took his daughters and left for a cave in the wilderness. His plan for protecting his family was to escape again, isolating them from the threat posed by all of the rest of the families.

He could not protect them from their own desire to live on, and have Lot live on, through children. They conspired to get him drunk because they wanted to removed their shame and his. It was the height of dishonor in the ancient near east to go childless. Sarah had used a handmaid to get what she wanted, but Lot’s daughters chose incest. They even told themselves that they were doing it for him, to preserve his name.

Obviously, the Bible does not record this event with approval, or as a prescription for anyone who might find herself in this predicament. The Israelites of Moses’ day would understand that he is drawing attention to the origin of their relatives and enemies: the Moabites and Ammonites.

Perhaps we can learn a lesson here about witness as well. Our fear of the people around us can sometimes make us live like cave people – isolating ourselves from our community. We were not designed for that. We should be salt and light in our community, regardless of the character of the other people in it. Running away is not the answer. We cannot make disciples in a vacuum.

LORD, give us the courage not to run from the people you want us to reach.