Genesis 19:33

33 And so they gave to their father to drink wine in that night (And so that night they gave their father some wine to drink), and the more, or the elder, daughter entered, and slept with her father; and he feeled not, neither when the daughter lay down, neither when she [a]rose.

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 more daughter said to the less (And the elder daughter said to the younger one), Our father is eld, and no man is left on (the) earth that may enter [in] to us, by the custom of all (the) earth;
32 come thou, make we him drunken of wine, and sleep we with him, that we may keep the seed of our father. (come thou, make we him drunk with wine, and sleep we with him, so that we can keep our father's seed, or our father's family, alive.)
33 And so they gave to their father to drink wine in that night (And so that night they gave their father some wine to drink), and the more, or the elder, daughter entered, and slept with her father; and he feeled not, neither when the daughter lay down, neither when she [a]rose.
34 And the tother day the more daughter said to the less, or the younger (one), Lo! I slept yesterday with my father; give we to him to drink wine also in this night; and thou sleep with him, that we save the seed of our father. (And the next day the elder daughter said to the younger one, Lo! yesterday I slept with my father; tonight we shall also give him some wine to drink, and then thou sleep with him, so that we shall most assuredly save our father's seed, or our father's family.)
35 And they gave to their father also in that night to drink wine, and the less daughter entered, and slept with him; and soothly he feeled not then when she lay down, neither when she [a]rose. (And so also that night they gave their father some wine to drink, and the younger daughter entered, and slept with him; and truly he felt nothing when she lay down, nor when she arose.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.