Genesi 19:32

32 Vieni, diamo a bere del vino a nostro padre, e giaciamoci con lui, affinché possiamo conservare la razza di nostro padre".

Genesi 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.

Genesi 19:32 In-Context

30 Lot salì da Tsoar e dimorò sul monte insieme con le sue due figliuole, perché temeva di stare in Tsoar; e dimorò in una spelonca, egli con le sue due figliuole.

31 E la maggiore disse alla minore: "Nostro padre è vecchio, e non c’è più nessuno sulla terra per venire da noi, come si costuma in tutta la terra.

32 Vieni, diamo a bere del vino a nostro padre, e giaciamoci con lui, affinché possiamo conservare la razza di nostro padre".

33 E quella stessa notte dettero a bere del vino al loro padre; e la maggiore entrò e si giacque con suo padre; ed egli non s’accorse né quando essa si coricò né quando si levò.

34 E avvenne che il dì seguente, la maggiore disse alla minore: "Ecco, la notte passata io mi giacqui con mio padre; diamogli a bere del vino anche questa notte; e tu entra, e giaciti con lui, affinché possiamo conservare la razza di nostro padre".