Verse to memorize:  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to

test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:2

The Bible says that righteous Lot was "vexed with the sins he saw and heard

in Sodom every day." (2 Peter 2:7-8).  As he looked around him daily, he

felt both grief and anger that the city was so corrupt.  Perhaps no vexation

was greater than the fact that his own daughters were growing up there and

being negatively affected by the wicked Sodomites.  Lot's daughters were

being conformed to the world in which they lived -- the culture of Sodom.

Surely after God delivered Lot and his two daughters from Sodom, and surely

after they had seen  their mother becoming a pillar of salt because she

disobeyed the command to not look back, these two young women would have

some fear of God in their hearts. But they, like many in our decadent,

sex-obsessed culture today, had been so affected by the sins that daily were

committed about them,  that they did not have a normal conscience.  Their

consciences had become seared and unable to choose right from wrong.

When the girls and their father reached the mountains and were living in a

cave there,  the girls realized in this situation that their father would

have no descendants.  The older daughter said to the younger, "Our father

is old, and there is no man around here to lie with us, as is the custom all

over the earth.  Let's get our father to drink wine and then lie with him

and preserve our family line through our father."  Whether or not these

girls were really concerned about their father's family line may be

debatable, for whenever there is a desire for sexual activity, or even a

desire to have a baby out-of-wedlock, there is no shortage of high-sounding

reasons for it. 

That night they got their father drunk and the older daughter went in and

lay with him.  He was not aware of it when she lay down and when she got

up.  On  the second night the younger daughter did the same thing.  To

think that Lot could be so drunk as to have sexual intercourse and not know

it is difficult to imagine, but the Bible certainly shows this is possible.

The fact that the girls had to get their father drunk with his not being

fully cognizant of the sexual act, shows that the girls knew that their

righteous father would disapprove of this kind of sexual union.  Though the

written law against adultery and incest was given by Moses  about 500 years

later, we know that the law of God was written on the human conscience and

passed on orally as well in the book of Genesis.  The concept of a man

having a wife with sexual union confined to that status was from the

beginning  when God created marriage in the Garden of Eden.

The result of this incestuous sexual encounter was that both daughters got

pregnant with a son by their own father.  Each of these sons were the

forefathers of the Ammonites and the Moabites, nations which became fierce

enemies of the Lord's people, so obviously Lot's daughters had nothing of a

spiritual and moral nature to pass on to their sons, and sadly, this seems

to be the case with many today who bear a child out-of-wedlock and raise it

outside of the traditional family setting.

Lot's daughters should have turned to God in faith to provide husbands for

them, which is something every girl should do.  They were impatient  to

have a baby without a husband, just as many single women in today's American society are.

What does the Bible say about incest?

The Bible makes no comment about this story about Lot's daughters, but the

rules against incest appear in the books of Moses, Leviticus chapter 18.  A

man is not to have sexual relations with his mother, his father's wife

(step-mother), his sister or half-sister, his granddaughter, his aunt by

blood or marriage, his daughter-in-law, or his sister-in-law.  Furthermore,

a man is not to have sexual relations with both a mother and her daughter or

her granddaughter because they are close relatives to one another.  (This

naturally means a man cannot  have sex with his own daughter!)

Leviticus, chapter 20, lists the civil penalties for violating these laws.

They are very harsh, sometimes involving  the death penalty, being exiled

from the people of God, or becoming childless.  (Presumably any children

born of the union would be taken by the civil authorities to be raised by

others.)  Keep in mind that the civil laws which spelled out particular

civil penalties for crimes were laws that tried to keep the infant nation of

Israel in line while under Moses' leadership in the wilderness.  After they

settled in the promised land, they were ruled by judges, then kings.  Though

these leaders were supposed to follow Moses, they often ruled by fiat.

Today, we do not have these penalties.  In the church, discipline is

administered by ruling elders, or other authorities depending upon the

denomination.  Christians are to be under Christ their king and obey Him.

Notice that in these instances, the reason against having relations with

close relatives is not just to keep the inherited weaknesses from a single

family line from being passed onto offspring, but to keep peace, purity, and

trust within families.  Some of the worst breakups of the extended family

have been when a man and his wife divorced and she turned around and married his brother!  Suddenly, there can be no more family get-togethers at

holidays and special occasions like weddings as the depth of the feelings of

betrayal are close to impossible to heal.  The Lord is interested in

preserving family unity so that one can have a secure family that can be

trusted and loved.

The Lord's Word gives stern warnings to those who would practice the

detestable sexual practices mentioned in Leviticus, chapters 18 and 20.  "Do

not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations

that I am going to drive out before you became defiled.  Even the land was

defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its

inhabitants."  God said he would do the same to Israel if they followed

these practices.

Today, there are civil laws in place that would not allow someone to marry a

close relative, perhaps second cousin and closer, but these laws are just to

keep blood lines from being so close that inherited family weaknesses would

not act doubly on offspring to make a weak, deformed, or mentally afflicted

baby.  God's laws strive to keep sex and intermarriage of close relatives

from causing the worst kinds of family strife and destruction.

Other cases of incest in the Bible?

Let us examine one more question often asked about the Bible.  In the

beginning there was only Adam and Eve.  We are told they had two sons, Cain

and Abel, in Genesis chapter 4.  Cain killed Abel, then it is said that

Cain "lay with his wife" (verse 17).  Where did Cain get his wife?  Genesis 5:4 says Adam had "other sons and daughters."  So, Cain's wife must have

been his sister.  Some people are revolted by that, but in that stage of

humanity, before so many diseases and inherited weaknesses entered the human

race, the adverse effects to offspring would not have appeared.  Too, Cain

was not taking a wife that belonged to someone else and the family was not

at war within itself over whose wife Cain's wife should rightfully be.  Shem

and other sons of Adam would also have had to marry sisters, or perhaps

nieces (daughters of their brothers who had married sisters).

Abraham was married to Sarah, ten years younger than he, who he said was his

half-sister.  (Genesis 20:12)  Was this incest?  Couldn't he have married

someone else?  Keep in mind that Abraham married Sarah before God revealed

Himself to Abraham.  However, after God gave Abraham specific instructions

on  how to walk before him blamelessly, we can assume some social rules

against sex with or marriage to close relatives were developing.  It also might be mentioned that Abraham was married to Sarah before his nephew Lot moved to Sodom.  God had revealed Himself to Abraham sometime after his marriage, but before Lot split from him to go live in Sodom.

Later in Genesis, we see several other close relatives married.  This was

because the chosen people, Abraham's descendants, did not want to marry

outside of that lineage because they sought to marry ones who worshiped the

true God.  Though Isaac married his uncle's wife's granddaughter, this

connection would not have been considered incestuous under Moses' law.

Neither would Jacob's marriage to his first cousin Leah be against Biblical

law.  However, because Jacob was tricked by his father-in-law into marrying

both Leah and her sister Rachel, with much family strife between these

sisters and between their children, it stands to reason why God later

instructed Moses not to allow a man to marry two sisters while they are both

still alive.  (Leviticus 18:18)

However, by Genesis 38, the idea was developed that if a married man died

before having children, then his brother was to marry the widow so that she

could have offspring that could inherit the name and property of the

deceased.  So, it was proper in Israel to marry one's brother's wife after

the brother died.  It was, in fact, mandated by the circumstances of

Deuteronomy 25:5-6.

By the time of King David, approximately 1000 years after Abraham, the laws

about incest should have been well known in Israel.  This makes the

incestuous rape of Tamar by her half-brother Amnon most despicable and Amnon incurred the murderous wrath of Absalom, Tamar's full brother, for his

crime.  See  2 Sam. 13:1-32

In the New Testament, John the Baptist was beheaded because he had

fearlessly spoken against the incestuous marriage of King Herod to Herodias,

the wife of his brother Philip. Here we would have to assume that Philip was

still alive, else John would not have risked his very life for his objections to the dishonor Herod had shown his brother.  Too, since John was God's messenger to call Israel to repentance, he had to speak against the flagrant sin of Herod, as the civil head of the nation, as well.  (Matthew 14:3-12)

The final case of incest was one in the church at Corinth.  Paul wrote to

the Corinthians that they were tolerating a man in their church who was

fornicating in a way that even the heathen did not act.  A man was having

sexual relations with his father's wife.  (I Corinthians 5:1-5)  Paul sternly

warned the Corinthians to administer church discipline.

What about us?

In these days of divorce, remarriage, and blended families, we are hearing

more about child molestation that takes place within families.

Step-fathers, step-brothers, and other close relatives are preying upon the

innocent.  Just a few years ago, a Memphis super -church lost hundreds of

members due to the fact that a church staff member had molested his own son.

Certain kinds of incest are now shown on television and the movies.  The

first movie I recall that showed what the Bible calls incest  was in The

Graduate (1967), in which a young college graduate was having relations with

both a woman and her daughter.

The kind of incest depicted in our culture now is even crueler, and now more

adults are coming forth and telling about sexual assaults they endured as

children.  Both the entertainment and the actions that affect the young and

rob them of their innocence are defiling our land.  Even if an adult within

a family does not molest the children, could these adults not be held

responsible before God for allowing the media to defile the minds of their

children and destroy their consciences?

 

Only Christ can restore the conscience of a person.  Only Christ can

restore the conscience of a nation.  The ones whose consciences have been

renewed, whose minds are being conformed to the mind of Christ, must be

willing to pray and to share what they know of God's word to others, as well

as to do what can be done to block evil influence on ourselves and our

children. 

We are a nation on the verge of being "vomited out" as the words of

Leviticus put it.  May God restore our souls and lead us in paths of

righteousness.  May he deliver us from a culture that has become like Sodom

had become to Lot's daughters.

Discussion Questions:

1.  From the story of Lot's daughters, how do we know that these girls knew

there may be something unrighteous about having sex with their father?

2.  Though the Bible calls Lot "righteous," why do you think his daughters

and his descendants were not righteous?

3.  When the Bible forbids sexual relations or marriages between close

relatives, the reasons are obviously different that those today's civil

government would forbid it.  What are the differences and why?

4.  Theologians speak of "progressive revelation."  This means that God

revealed Himself and His will and His Word to humans in various stages of

progression, over a period of 1600 years through about 40 different men.

How might this explain the fact that Abraham married his half-sister when

Moses' law in Leviticus forbade this?

5.  Moses' law forbade a man to marry a woman and her sister while they were

both still alive.  In view of Jacob's marriage to sisters, why was this a

wise law?  In today's society where we have serial polygamy (ex-wives still

living), why would this still be a good rule to follow?

6.  How can the consciences of children and teenagers  be dulled and seared

in our culture so that they can commit detestable sex sins much easier than

children and teenagers of the 1950's?

7.  What are some movies, magazines, college courses, or other influences of

our culture that broke down your convictions, made you question God's moral

commandments,  or dulled your conscience as a young person?

8.  What responsibilities do we, as disciples of God's Word have, to our

culture?   

9.  In the beginning God gave Adam and Eve perfect consciences with the laws

of God written on their hearts.  Why can we not always trust our consciences

to guide us rightly now?  What does God give us so that our consciences can

be renewed? 

10.  How did 20th century wealth (which there is nothing wrong with) -- such

as electric lights, cars, travel, motels, television, telephones, women

working outside the home, going to college, moving from an agrarian society

to Metro-surburbia -- make it easier to engage in immoral conduct and loosen

the influence the family had on its children?  What does Deuteronomy 8:10-14 warn about such wealth in a nation?

Dig Deeper into the Word

1.  Read Genesis 19:30-38.  What might we warn teenagers and others who want to maintain moral purity with regard to alcohol?  What two people groups

came from the daughters of Lot?  See what Deuteronomy 23:3 says about them.

Who did they worship? (See I Kings 11:33)

2.  Read Leviticus chapters 18 and 20.  What differences do you see in these

two chapters?  How are they alike?  What are some detestable practices

listed here other than having sex with close relatives?  What did God want

Israel to be like?  (Lev. 20:26)

3.  Read Deuteronomy 25: 5-6 and compare this to Leviticus 18:16.  What is

the difference?  Read Matthew 14:3-12  and explain why Philip must have

still been alive. 

4.  Read what Tamar said to Amnon in 2 Samuel 13:12-14.  What did she say

that would make you think she thought that David would have given her in

marriage to Amnon?  In view of today's lesson, what may have been a good

reason that David would not have allowed Tamar to marry Amnon?

5.  Two observations in the book of Ruth tie in with today's lesson.  Where

was Ruth from? (Ruth 1:22)  This means she was a descendant of who?  In Ruth 4:1-10, what law is Boaz going by as he goes through the legal preparations to marry Ruth? 

6.  Read Genesis 38:6-30. Notice that Perez is mentioned in the book of

Ruth and here. Explain the parts that Judah, Er, Onan, Tamar, and Perez  played in this chapter.  Why do you suppose Judah never had relations with Tamar again?  (Please note:  The Tamar mentioned here is not the same as Tamar mentioned above in #4, in Second Samuel.)

7.  Read Matthew 18:5-7, 10.  Why should we be careful to not put before a

child anything that may cause his conscience to be defiled?

8.  The following verses all describe a conscience.  What are the different

descriptions, both good and bad?  I Corinthians 8:12, I Timothy 1:19, 3:9, 4:2, Titus 1:15, Hebrews 9:14, Hebrews 10:22 

9.  How does God restore our conscience?  Hebrews 8:10,  Ephesians 4:23,

Philippians 2:5

10.  Read I John 2:15-16 and how does this warn us about our culture?

Below are a list of movies that disturbed me as a young person.

(Movies, TV, internet, magazines, and other media also play a huge role in weakening or searing the conscience of our nation.)

1960 - Home from the Hill.  (6th grade)  A Texas millionaire is having an

extramarital affair.  He has two sons about the same age, one legitimate the

other illegitimate.  The legal sons gets his girlfriend pregnant, but

doesn't want to marry her, so the illegitimate son acts as father to the

child.  (I was very depressed after seeing this film.)

1961 - Lover, Come back, starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson.  (7th grade)

Rock Hudson kept trying to get Doris Day in bed with him.  (Made sex seem

very attractive.)  He finally succeeded by giving her an intoxicating drug

in a product he called VIP.  Last scene of movie was their saying wedding

vows as she was being wheeled into Labor and Delivery.  (This was shocking

to me because it was so shameful.)

1965 - Dr. Zhivago  (freshman in college - I saw it in 1967)  The married

doctor has an affair with Lara, a nurse he works with.  This made me

uncomfortable.  However, at church the following Sunday night the movie was

being discussed and some of the other college students thought it was OK for

the doctor and nurse to have this sexual relationship.

1967 - Camelot.  I thought Sir Lancelot to be a "hero" until he had an

affair with King Arthur's wife.

1967 - The Graduate.  Incestuous with the recent college graduate having an

affair with his girlfriend's mother.  He married the girl at the end of the

movie.  One scene is in a bar where an exotic dancer bares her breasts.

Disgusting song about Jesus loving Mrs. Robinson.

1968 - Gone with the Wind.  (Made in 1939, but I saw it in 1968, sophomore

in college) Disturbed by Scarlett O'Hara's wanting another woman's husband all through the movie. 

1968 - Three in the Attic.  Totally disgusting trashy movie about a college

boy named Paxton Quigley having sexual relations with three different girls.

One scene showed his naked buttocks.

1969 - Midnight Cowboy.  Shocked audiences with squalid subject matter.  A

"hustler" in New York city.  Prostitute.  Homosexual encounter in public

restroom.  First X-rated movie to win an oscar.  Precipitated much nastier

topics in movies.

1969 - Goodbye, Columbus.  Upperclass Jewish girl named Brenda (Ali MacGraw) commits constant fornication with a "nobody" that her family does not approve of named Neil.  Doesn't want to use the pill, but uses a diaphragm.

1970 - Love Story.  Foul-mouthed American-Italian girl (Ali MacGraw) commits fornication with boyfriend.  Boy's parents don't want him to marry her.  He does anyway.  Famous line, "Love means never having to say you're sorry." What a joke.  Called a "Lust Story" by some.

I became a Christian in 1971.

1973 - 1776 - Portrayed America's founders as sex-obsessed.  I walked out

of this movie.

1973 - A Touch of Class.  Married insurance executive falls in love with

divorced fashion designer.  Planned a rendezvous.  I walked out of this

movie. 

My personal rule now is to only go to see movies that are highly acclaimed

by people or organizations that I trust.  Though some may have an evil

sexual event alluded to, it is neither the focus or theme, and it is not

depicted, seen as "normal", or glorified. 

Though Lot himself was a righteous man whose heart was vexed daily by the wickedness around him in Sodom, his wife’s heart was still in Sodom and his two daughters had been very corrupted by the decadent culture of the city of Sodom in which they grew up.  This lesson is a warning to Christians of the negative influence of our culture on our children and other family members.

Righteous Lot was vexed daily by the sins he witnessed in Sodom. 

Twice Adopted by Michael Reagan, son of President Ronald Reagan, tells of the heart-wrenching story of

his having been molested as a child. 

Drinking alcoholic beverages has led to many more sexual sins than just the one Lot unknowingly took part in.

Where did Cain get his wife?

Why was John, the prophet who baptized Jesus, beheaded?

Are natural disasters such as tornados and hurricanes being used to “vomit out” inhabitants? 

Lot’s descendants, the Ammonites and Moabites, always hated Israel.

God’s laws against incest are to keep harmonious, pure, and trustful relationships within the immediate family, the extended family, and across generations as well.

Incest destroys families and abuses innocent children as well.  Family unity and security is of utmost importance to God.