Seduction of lot by daughters. Why did a pious man like Lot behave so badly? Answered by Rav Meir Muchnik

20.06.2020

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Hello, dear Rabbi Ovadia Klimovsky! Peace be upon you and God's guidance!!! I recently read from the Torah the story of the daughters of Lot, and of course, many questions arise. For example, an act that was done with a father is not worthy of encouragement, but of condemnation.

The comment of the sages is amazing: “R. Khiya bar Avin, said r. Yehoshua ben Karha: “Let a person always hasten to fulfill the commandment. So, for example, because of one night, by which the eldest was ahead of the youngest, the offspring of the eldest (i.e. Ruth) - was honored to start the royal family four generations earlier than the youngest (Naama - the wife of Shlomo ”».

Why do the wise men not only not condemn the act of Lot's daughters here, but also count it to them as a commandment? And as far as I understand, the wise men sometimes do not agree, there are significant disagreements. But what about non-wise people who should listen to the words of their elders? It's not true. After all, there SHOULD BE a single measure from which to build off!!! Otherwise, people will do what they think is right. How to know which opinion of the sages is correct and which is not? Thank you in advance for your answer.

Answered by Rav Ovadia Klimovsky

Hello dear Eugene! Thank you very much for your kind wishes and an interesting question, which we will divide into two parts for convenience.

1. About the daughters of Lot. First of all, let's decide from what point of view we are going to consider their act. If from the point of view of relativistic "universal" morality, then there is no question at all - have they harmed anyone?

But if you look from the point of view of the Torah, then you should check two aspects: what exactly was done (in this case, some commandment was fulfilled or some prohibition was violated) and - which is always very significant, and especially in the light of your question - what action motivation.

So, first. Rabenu Behaya writes that in those days there was no prohibition on the relationship between a daughter and a father. Therefore, formally, the daughters of Lot did not violate anything. And they explained their intentions clearly - both believed that there was no one left in the world except them and their father, and therefore they had the duty to preserve the human race.

However, there are other sayings of the sages about this story, less positive. For example, several collections of midrashim, speaking of events in the desert at the end of the stay of the people of Israel there, cite the words of the sages about the eldest daughter: "She started this debauchery." (This is how the sages explain the Creator's stricter attitude towards Moab than towards Ammon.) In addition, according to tradition, the reason that shortly after this incident Abraham left these places, going south, was a desire to get away from the shame that Lot and his daughters brought on the family. From this we can conclude that already in those days the descendants of Noah voluntarily renounced incestuous relations, and therefore the act of the daughters of Lot did not honor them among the nations.

But here it is necessary to explain why the sages call it depravity, if the girls were guided by altruistic considerations, as mentioned in the gmara you cited. Perhaps in this case there is no dispute between the sages. The fact is that our intentions when committing various actions are far from always unambiguous. We often do not know about some motives. Perhaps something similar is at issue in our history: certainly, the main intention of the daughters of Lot was the salvation of the world. Otherwise, it would be impossible to set their act as an example to anyone. But the wise men also revealed to us the deeper layers of the consciousness of the daughters of Lot - at the same time they were going to enjoy what they had done, and this is already wrong, because in a normal situation such an attitude is unacceptable. Therefore, the eldest daughter, who did not try to "rebuild" from the forbidden pleasure, deserved such an unflattering review in other midrashim.

2. Now about the disagreements of the sages. This is a very subtle topic, but our approach can be briefly formulated as follows: “The Almighty does not tyrannize his creatures” (Avoda Zara 3a), that is, he does not require the impossible from them. If we have an obligation to obey the sages, this means that there is a rule in the Torah that determines exactly whom to listen to in case of disagreement.

And we find this rule where the Torah speaks of legal proceedings. In particular, she writes: “… bow down after the majority” (Shemot 23:2). When the Sanhedrin functioned without interference, all questions of the Law were decided in this way - by voting. Of course, after a detailed comprehensive discussion, without politics and pressure, the authority ohm. Until the decision is made, everyone is free to do as his teachers of the Law say, if, of course, they have the right to be called such.

This is in addition to the fact that there are initially different ways of serving the Almighty, equally legitimate and recognized by all. After all, we note in the end, and the disagreements of the sages, as a rule, only demonstrate the depth and diversity of the Torah (as the sages said: the Torah has 70 “faces”, faces). Each sage, in accordance with the turn of his soul, can see a special facet in the Torah, and the words of both arguing (even if in practice their opinions are mutually exclusive) can equally reflect the light of the multifaceted crystal of Divine wisdom.

The whole dispute often comes down to just what kind of opinion should serve as a practical guide here in the material world. This is set using the above rules.

One such place is verses 30-38 of chapter 19 of Genesis, which tells of Lot and his daughters. This place is really a challenge for many and, unfortunately, there are people who say, citing these verses as an example: “Here is YOUR Bible: one debauchery!”.

Lot, his wife and daughters are taken out of Sodom, after which Sodom and Gomorrah experience the wrath of the Lord and perish. The wife of Lot also turns into a pillar of salt, who turns to Sodom, despite the fact that it was said: “... save your soul; do not look back, and do not stop anywhere in the vicinity” (Genesis 19:17).

Lot and his daughters are living in a cave (Gen. 19:30) and something is happening. The eldest daughter says to the youngest, “...therefore, let us give our father wine to drink, and sleep with him...” (Genesis 19:32).

It would seem a sin, incest, as they often talk about it completely thoughtlessly. However, if we look at further events, we will see that the children of the daughters of Lot formed the nations of Moab and Ammon, who fought against the sons of Israel every now and then. At the same time, however, Ruth the Moabite was the great-grandmother of David, that is, the daughters of Lot also participated in the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5). Thus, we see that there was some lasting meaning in the actions of the daughters of Lot.

And again, you need to turn to the Holy Scriptures. “And the older one said to the younger one: Our father is old, and there is no man on earth who would come in to us according to the custom of all the earth” (Genesis 19:31). Very short, right? Scripture does not say that the sisters were driven by lust, perversion. Not at all, the sisters are talking about the custom of the whole earth. Obviously, this is understood as the sacred duty of a woman to give birth. At the same time, the sisters come to the conclusion that a) they have an obligation to give birth; b) there is no one to be their husband; c) there is a father who is old. That is, it is conceivable only from the father to give birth to a child, and then only for a short time, since he is old and it is not known whether he will be alive tomorrow. Here is the sister's dilemma. And for them, duty is not an empty word, they saw with their own eyes what the sin of not fulfilling duty is and what it leads to. What did they know? They knew that their father had left Ur of the Chaldees, because there is Babylon, debauchery, horror, they saw that where they lived, there was also depravity and horror. Everywhere death and destruction. Yet the Lord saves them. This means that the Lord favors them, which means that they have this mission to continue life on earth.

Lot's daughters were religious and morality was not an empty phrase for them. And they did what they did, not for themselves, and not to satisfy their desires, and it was bitter to make such a decision and the elder sister then behaved, as befits the elder, she had boldness, had determination.

Lot, in this case, did not know what had happened, for he was drunk. And chapter 19 talks about it twice. When Scripture repeats twice, it is very important. Twice it is written: did not know, did not know.

One might think that the act of intoxication in itself is not very positive. However, for example, John Chrysostom says: “And that this happened not simply and not without a reason, but the excessive sorrow of the soul, through the use of wine, brought him to complete insensibility.”

And it is no accident that the same John Chrysostom says: “So, let no one dare to condemn the righteous man, or his daughters. And would it not be extreme recklessness and foolishness - those whom the divine Scripture frees from all condemnation, and even offers such an excuse for them, to condemn us, burdened with the immeasurable gravity of sins, without listening to the words of the anist. Paul, who says, "God justify, whoever condemns" (Rom. 8:33-34)?"

Summing up what has been said, it must be remembered that Lot and his daughters found themselves in a situation that is not ordinary, ordinary. Not everyone, probably, will be able to overcome such difficult situations. They nevertheless overcame; it is not for us to say that in a difficult situation they behaved incorrectly, and we would have done better. If there were no daughters of Lot, their children, would there have been David, would there have been Jesus Christ?

Lot (in the Bible)

When Lot was sitting at the gates of Sodom, two angels came to him, wanting to check whether what they say about him was really going on in Sodom. Lot invited the angels to his house, but they said they would sleep outside. Lot begged them hard, and finally begged them. He made them a feast and baked unleavened bread. However, before they had time to go to bed, the inhabitants of the whole city came to his house with a demand to bring guests to them so that the Sodomites "know them." Lot went out to the Sodomites with a refusal, offering in return his two virgin daughters to do with them what they please. The inhabitants of the city did not like this and they began to show aggression towards Lot himself. Then the angels blinded the Sodomites, and Lot and his family were told to leave the city, since it would be destroyed. It seemed to the sons-in-law who took Lot's daughters as a joke, and only Lot, his wife and two daughters left Sodom. The angels ordered to run to the mountain, not stopping anywhere and not turning around to save the soul. But Lot declared that he would not be able to escape to the mountain and would hide in the city of Sigor, to which God agreed and left Sigor intact. On the way out, Lot's wife disobeyed directions and turned around, causing her to turn into a pillar of salt.

Leaving Seagor, Lot settled in a cave under the mountain with his daughters. The daughters, left without husbands, decided to get their father drunk and sleep with him in order to give birth to descendants from him and restore their tribe. First, the eldest did so, the next day - the youngest; both became pregnant by their father. The eldest gave birth to Moab, the ancestor of the Moabites, and the youngest gave birth to Ben-Ammi, the ancestor of the Ammonites.

In the Quran

Notes

Literature

// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.

Links

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See what "Lot (in the Bible)" is in other dictionaries:

Abraham's nephew, with whom he shared all the joys and hardships of a wandering life. Subsequently, having become rich, L. separated from his uncle, settled in the city of Sodom, known for its depravity, and was captured by the Mesopotamian kings, who made a raid ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

1. LOT, a; m. [Dutch] lood] A navigational instrument for measuring the depths of the sea from a ship. Manual l. Mechanical l. Throw l. (to measure the depth of something). 2. LOT, a; m. [it. Lot] An old Russian measure of weight equal to 12.8 grams (used before ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

LOT, in the Bible Abraham's nephew, (see ABRAHAM) moved with him to Canaan from Mesopotamia. After disputes began to arise between the shepherds of Abraham and Lot over land, he settled in Sodom (Genesis, 13: 5-12). During the campaign of the king of Elam ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Righteous Lot. Book. Obsolete The only virtuous person in a bad society. /i> An expression from the Bible. BMS 1998, 350 … Big dictionary of Russian sayings

Hero of the biblical etiological legends. In the book of Genesis, L. comes from Ur of the Chaldees, the nephew of the patriarch Abraham, at first was under his patriarchal authority, then separated and was engaged in cattle breeding in the district of Sodom. According to legend, only L., his ... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia Wikipedia

- “Lot with daughters”, a painting by H. Goltzius Incest (lat. incestus criminal, sinful) incest, sexual intercourse between blood relatives (parents and children, brothers and sisters). Contents 1 History of the concept ... Wikipedia

Volodya asks
Answered by Alexandra Lantz, 05/01/2011

Question: "Why such a pious person as Lot drank for more than one day, so much so that he managed to sleep with his own daughters? After all, in essence of the whole scripture, such a person already strengthened in faith could not afford such a thing!"

Hello to you in the truth of God, Volodya!

The story of Lot contains many lessons, but in connection with your question, we will focus on only two.

One of these lessons is that the righteous shall live by faith, and not by the works of his righteousness. The righteous is not the one who does everything absolutely right, but the one who believes in God and walks with God according to the extent of the light revealed to him. God saves a person not for the deeds of righteousness that he does for the glory of God, but for FAITH in His word.

Among the corrupted inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot was the only person who still somehow remembered the True God, and therefore his actions, which became a continuation of his faith, turned out to be correct.

Lot was the only person in the city who called strangers to his house, thereby calling salvation to his house.

Lot was the only one of all his relatives who believed the Word of God and therefore was saved.

See? Lot was saved not because he was absolutely righteous, but because he believed the Word of God, which in his case sounded like this: "Who else do you have here? son-in-law, whether your sons, whether your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, bring everyone out of this place, for we will destroy this place, because the cry is great against its inhabitants to the Lord, and the Lord sent us to destroy it ” (). It was not for righteousness that Lot was led out of the city destined for destruction, but because of his faith in the Word of God.

It is precisely because of his faith that Scripture calls Lot a righteous man. By the way, pay attention to the fact that after the Scripture called Abraham righteous, he fell several times, re-read the story of David, and you will definitely see that this righteous man of God also fell more than once, and not only them ... Of course, it does not mean that God approved of their falls, their unrighteous thoughts and wrong behavior, God will never approve of sin. However, God loves a person and, knowing his weak, nasty nature, saves a person not because of his (her) righteousness, but simply because a person believes His word and desires the fulfillment of His word in his life.

Another lesson we see in Lot's story is that we should not be deceived: bad communities indeed corrupt good morals (). When Lot separated from Abram to live in a fertile and beautiful land, he did not pay much attention to the fact that the people among whom he would have to live were very, very inclined to evil.

“Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the region around the Jordan, that it ... all the way to Sigor was watered with water, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt; and Lot chose for himself all the region around the Jordan; and Lot moved towards the east. ... Lot began to live in the cities of the surrounding area and pitched his tents to Sodom. The inhabitants of Sodom were evil and very sinful before the Lord» ().

Being a man who knew the True God through his uncle Abram, Lot still decided that he could keep this knowledge alive by living in the midst of impurity and depravity. However, he was mistaken, and although in his God-believing soul, he was constantly tormented by what was happening in Sodom and Gomorrah, he managed to cling to the outward comfort of that life with his heart so much that he managed to cling to many sins of this “comfort”. Lot just wasn't "strong in faith" as you say about him. He was a man losing his faith... and had it not been for the strangers who literally took his hand () and brought their cities out, Lot would have perished just like the rest of the inhabitants of those cities. Out of His mercy, the Lord came with punishment to the foundations of corrupt cities before the last rays of Lot's faith (righteousness) were swallowed up by the darkness of worldly comfort. Had the Lord lingered for a while, and Lot would have completely assimilated into the environment to which he clung ... and there would be no one to save. This is why the warning to end-time believers sounds so serious:

“Do not bow under the yoke of others with the unbelievers, for what fellowship is there between righteousness and iniquity? What does light have in common with darkness? What agreement is there between Christ and Belial? Or what is the partnership of the faithful with the unbelievers? What is the compatibility of the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God, as God said: I will dwell in them and walk [in them]; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And that's why come out from among them and separate yourself, says the Lord, and do not touch the unclean; and I will receive you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty "().

“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying: come out from her, My people, so that you do not share in her sins and suffer from her plagues.; for her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

Yes, the minds of Lot and his daughters were perverted. Coming out of the physical destruction that befell Sodom and Gomorrah, they came out with a nasty legacy that didn't fail to manifest itself. Lot could not deny himself the joy of alcohol intoxication, and his daughters could not deny themselves the desire to be mothers at all costs. Life in the midst of debauchery and lawlessness never contributes to the growth of righteousness.

Sad story? Yes. It is also sad that the children born of this unnatural union became the fathers of peoples who constantly resisted God and His saving will. The Bible is worthy of trust because it does not hide from us the truth about what we all really are, about how terribly greedy our nature is for evil, how easily it clings to it, and how difficult it is for a person who believes in the One True God, unstick from evil and begin to walk in the ways of good. Therefore, let's study the lessons from the life of our forefathers so as not to repeat them in our lives.

Sincerely,
Sasha.

When Lot settled in Sodom, he intended to decisively protect himself from iniquity and command this to his house after him. But he was gravely mistaken. The perverse environment had a detrimental effect on his own faith, and the association of his children with the inhabitants of Sodom led to the emergence of common interests. We know the consequences of all this.
Many people still make the same mistake. When choosing a place of residence, they take into account temporary advantages rather than the moral and social atmosphere in which they will have to live. They choose a beautiful fertile place, or go to some prosperous city in the hope of getting rich; but temptations surround their children, who, as often happens, make such acquaintances that are most unfavorably reflected in the development of religious feelings and the formation of character.
The atmosphere of unbridled immorality of unbelief, indifference to religious issues nullifies the influence of parents. Before the eyes of youth there is always an example of rebellion against parental and divine authority. Many enter into intimate relations with the wicked, and consequently throw their lot into the hands of the enemies of God.
God wants us to consider first of all the moral and religious influence that our family will experience in choosing where to live. We may be in a critical situation, for many cannot have the environment we would like, but if duty calls us, God will help us to remain spotless, if only we will watch and pray, relying on the grace of Christ. But unnecessarily we must not expose ourselves to such influences as may adversely affect the development of our Christian character.
If we are voluntarily in the company of the godless, then we grieve God and drive the holy angels out of our homes. Those who provide their children with earthly wealth and worldly honor at the cost of eternal interests will later realize that these gains have turned out to be a terrible loss. Like Lot, many will see their children lost and themselves barely saved. Their life's work is lost, their life is a sad failure. If they had acted truly prudently, then although their children would have had less earthly goods, there would have been confidence in an immortal inheritance.
The inheritance promised by God to His people does not exist on this earth. Abraham had no wealth in this world: "And he did not give him an inheritance on her, not even a foot" (). He possessed a huge fortune, but he used it for the glory of God and for the benefit of his compatriots. But he did not consider this land his homeland. ( , chapter 14)

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