Genesis 19:33

33 They got their father drunk with wine that very night. The older daughter went and lay with him. He was oblivious, knowing nothing of what she did.

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 said to the younger, "Our father is getting old and there's not a man left in the country by whom we can get pregnant.
32 Let's get our father drunk with wine and lie with him. We'll get children through our father - it's our only chance to keep our family alive."
33 They got their father drunk with wine that very night. The older daughter went and lay with him. He was oblivious, knowing nothing of what she did.
34 The next morning the older said to the younger, "Last night I slept with my father. Tonight, it's your turn. We'll get him drunk again and then you sleep with him. We'll both get a child through our father and keep our family alive."
35 So that night they got their father drunk again and the younger went in and slept with him. Again he was oblivious, knowing nothing of what she did.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.