Genesis 19:33

33 That night they got their father to drink wine. Then the older daughter went in and made love to him. He didn't know when she lay down or when she got up.

Genesis 19:33 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 19:33

And they made their father drink wine that night
They persuaded him to drink liberally, urged him to it again, in order to make him drunk, and so complete their design; and Lot might be the more prevailed upon to drink freely, in order to remove his sorrow, and refresh his spirits under the loss of his wife, and his daughters, if he had any married in Sodom, as some suppose, and his sons-in-law, and of all his goods and substance; though this will not excuse his drinking to excess, nor can ignorance of the strength of wine be pleaded, since he must needs know it as well as his daughters, who, it is plain, did, and therefore plied him with it: and the firstborn went in and lay with her father;
went to his bed, and lay down by him, which she would not have dared to have done, but that she knew he was drunk and insensible: and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose:
never heard her come to bed nor get up, so dead drunk and fast asleep was he; but finding a woman in bed with him, lay with her, taking her to be his wife, forgetting, through the force of liquor, that she was dead. There is an extraordinary prick on the Vau in Kumah, rendered "she arose", which the Jews say F21 is to show that he knew her not when she lay down, but when she arose he knew her; and indeed it may be rendered, but in her rising up.


FOOTNOTES:

F21 T. Bab. Horayot, fol. 10. 2.

Genesis 19:33 In-Context

31 One day the older daughter spoke to the younger one. She said, "Our father is old. There aren't any other men around here to make love to, as people all over the earth do.
32 So let's get our father to drink wine. Then we can make love to him. We can use our father to continue our family line."
33 That night they got their father to drink wine. Then the older daughter went in and made love to him. He didn't know when she lay down or when she got up.
34 The next day the older daughter spoke to the younger one again. She said, "Last night I made love to my father. Let's get him to drink wine again tonight. Then you go in and make love to him. In that way, we can use our father to continue our family line."
35 So they got their father to drink wine that night also. Then the younger daughter went and made love to him. Again he didn't know when she lay down or when she got up.
Holy Bible, New International Reader's Version® Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by Biblica.   All rights reserved worldwide.