As we shall see in this story of Lot and his family, "Family Values" as espoused by our Born Again Republican friends are not exactly in keeping with the way things were done "Old School".
Bible Reading: Genesis 19
8: Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. 13: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. 14: And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. 15: And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 17: And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. 26: But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 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. 31: And the firstborn 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: 32: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. 33: And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. 34: And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn 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. 35: And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. 36: Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.
John's Midrash
Chapter 19 of Genesis is without doubt one of the most intriguing passages in all of Scripture. This is the chapter in which God destroys the “cities of the plain”, Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot’s wife is turned into a pillar of salt for looking back at these cities. Yes indeed there are many aspects of this chapter that require thoughtful analysis, but today I will limit myself to a single quite troubling issue: the incredibly shabby treatment experienced by Lot’s two sons-in-law and Lot’s wife.
We learn in Verse 8 that Lot has two virginal daughters (“I have two daughters which have not known man”). But in Verse 14 we learn that these two are indeed married. Married but virgins? Hmmmmm. What manner of marriage is this? Maybe the daughters just aren’t that into sex, at least as far as the hapless young men they married are concerned. Could they be “saving themselves” for someone else?
Lot has been warned to gather up all his family and flee before the imminent destruction. In warning his loved ones, his wife and daughters get the message loud and clear, “but he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law”. Clearly, he fails to communicate the urgency of the impending disaster to these two, with the result that they will soon be destroyed. Furthermore, there is no mention of either daughter making any attempt to convince her husband to leave. Should not a loving wife try to save her husband from such an awful fate as God would soon visit upon the remaining citizens of these doomed cities?
Soon after Lot, his wife, and their two daughters leave, Lot’s wife is turned into the pillar of salt. Of these four family members, why was she the one that looked back? Now there are only three left, Lot and his two, suddenly quite lustful, daughters. These two hatch a plan to get their father drunk and then have sexual relations with him over two successive nights. “Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.” Hmmm. Could they not have “preserved the seed of their father” the way that women have done forever, namely having children with their lawful husbands. These children would be the grandchildren of the daughters’ father, and they would be carrying their grandfather’s seed. No, to any rational mind, that “seed” excuse doesn’t fly.
In my opinion, the daughters always had the hots for their dad, that’s why their marriages were never consummated. They may very well have pooh-poohed Lot’s warning to their husbands because they wanted them to stay and be destroyed. I also would not be a bit surprised if they talked their mom into looking backwards at the burning cities. Because with their mom as a pillar of salt and their hubbies annihilated by God, there would be no one left to stop them from slaking their long denied lust for their very own father.