Bereshis 19:32

32 Come, let us make avinu drink yayin, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve zera by avinu.

Bereshis 19:32 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 19:32

Come, let us make our father drink wine
Meaning to excess, so as to be inebriated with it, and not know what he did: this wine might be brought with them from Sodom, with other provisions for their refreshment and support; or it may be rather from Zoar, where they furnished themselves with a quantity for their support in the mountain they betook themselves unto:

and we will lie with him, that we may preserve the seed of our father;
have children by him, and propagate and preserve the human species; this they might think lawful, such incestuous copulations being usual among their neighbours the Arabs, as appears from Strabo ^F19 and other writers, and especially when there seemed to them to be a necessity for it; and it may be this did not arise from a spirit of uncleanness, or a brutish lust prevailing in them, having been religiously educated, and having preserved their chastity among such an impure generation as the men of Sodom: wherefore this might rather arise, as Bishop Patrick and others have thought, from an eager desire after the Messiah, they might hope would spring from them; their father being a descendant of Shem, a son of Abraham's elder brother, and now remarkably saved from Sodom, which they might conclude was for this purpose; and they knew of no way in which it could be brought about but in this they proposed; and the rather this may be thought to be their view, as the above learned commentator observes, when we remark their former chaste life in Sodom; their joining together in this contrivance, which, had it been a lustful business, they would have been ashamed to have communicated their thoughts of it to one another; and their imposition of names on their children to perpetuate the memory of this fact, which they rather gloried in, than were ashamed of: to which may be added, that the ancient Jewish writers ^F20 interpret this of the Messiah; and they observe,

``it is not said a son, but seed, that seed, which is he that comes from another place: and what is this? this is the King Messiah:''

and Ruth, the Moabitess, who was of the race of the eldest daughter of Lot, stands in the genealogy of our Lord, ( Matthew 1:5 ) : however, let the intention be ever so good, it will, not justify an action so monstrously vile.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Geograph. l. 16. p. 538. Vid. Pocock, Specim. Arab. Hist. p. 337, 338.
F20 Bereshit Rabba, sect. 51. fol. 46. 1. Midrash Ruth, fol. 35. 4.

Bereshis 19:32 In-Context

30 And Lot left Tzoar, and dwelt in the har, and his two banot with him; for he feared to dwell in Tzoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two banot.

31 And the bechirah said unto the younger, Avinu is old, and there is not an ish in ha’aretz to come in unto us after the derech of kol ha’aretz:

32 Come, let us make avinu drink yayin, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve zera by avinu.

33 And they made their av drink yayin balailah: and the bechirah went in, and lay with her av; and he had da’as not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

34 And it came to pass on the next day, that the bechirah said unto the younger, Hinei, I lay yesternight with avi. Let us make him drink yayin halailah also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve zera by avinu.