Genesis 19:33

33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the elder went in, and lay with her father: but he perceived not, neither when his daughter lay down, nor when she rose 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 And the elder said to the younger: Our father is old, and there is no man left on the earth, to come in unto us after the manner of the whole earth.
32 Come, let us make him drunk with wine, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the elder went in, and lay with her father: but he perceived not, neither when his daughter lay down, nor when she rose up.
34 And the next day the elder said to the younger: Behold I lay last night with my father, let us make him drink wine also to night, and thou shalt lie with him, that we may save seed of our father.
35 They made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in, and lay with him: and neither then did he perceive when she lay down, nor when she rose up.
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