Lot and His Daughters

Welcome to Built on God's Word, the preaching and teaching ministry of Highland Park Baptist Church in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.! Willard Lyons teaches on the life of Abraham.

! And so, Abraham arose that morning and went to the place where he stood before God, you recall, and looked toward Sodom.

And, of course, the smoke billowed like the smoke from a furnace, the Scripture says. And so, no doubt, Abraham contemplated all of this. Imagine that he thought to himself, is it not really true that he could not even find ten righteous people in all of those cities?

No doubt a very perplexing situation for Abraham. In verse number 29, we're in chapter 19, by the way, of Genesis. Verse number 29, remember, Scripture said it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.

So, God remembered his promise when he had reminded Abraham that the covenant relationship will be passed on to the son that Sarah would bear to him.

And so, he wondered what was going to happen with Ishmael, the son of the handmaiden. And God had promised he would bless him and make of him a great nation.

And so, now, as a result of that, because of that promise, for Abraham's sake, God spared Lot, who was dwelling in Sodom, of course.

Now, remember what took place. God told Lot to run to the mountains, and there you'll find safety when he destroys the plain. He said, oh, no, not so, Lord.

The contradictory statements that he makes here. You've blessed me. You've shown me grace. But I can't go to the mountain because something will probably happen to me if I go up there.

As if God wasn't able to protect him in the mountain. So, remember Lot said, there's a small little city here called Zoar.

Insignificant, that's its name. Let me go there. I'll be safe there. So, God acquiesces there and allows him to go into that city of Zoar.

It said he feared to go to the mountain for whatever reason. Not trusting in God's providence there. And so, he ends up in Zoar. Now, look in verse number 30, where we left off last week.

Now, remember, he said, Lord, let me go to this small town, Zoar. And so, God spared Zoar from destruction because of Lot and his being there.

All right. Now, Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountain. All right. Now, notice here.

He didn't ask God if it was all right. All right. Lord, you know, I may have made a mistake here. Can I go on up to the mountain? No. No, he just goes. Leave Zoar because he was fearful to stay there.

All right. He feared, he and his two daughters with him, he feared to dwell in Zoar. So, he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. He takes his two daughters, goes to the cave in the mountain and dwelt there.

Now, after seeing all this desolation that God had brought upon the plain, being afraid to stay there in Zoar, he goes to the mountain.

But recall, if you will, when he requested of God to let him go to Zoar instead, he made the statement that God did that.

God allowed him to do that so that he could see later on the fallacy of sinning against God and disobedience.

All right. Because, as we well know, what transpires in just a few moments may not have happened had he gone into the mountain to begin with.

All right. But now he's going to go to the mountains. Thought, maybe all right. Maybe God was right. But, something drastic happens here.

All right. So, one sin creates another sin. Creates another sin. All right. And so, it's an amazing thing that takes place here.

So, he goes on up to the mountains. What does that speak of? It speaks of a tremendous absence of really true faith in Jehovah God.

So, that kind of makes us question Lot's original statement when he told God, Yes, I recognize that you have provided grace for me.

You have delivered me. You've done all that for me. I recognize that. But did he really? See, he might have seen it up here, but not in his heart.

Because this idea of Zoar and then going to the cave, it's a true picture of the lack of genuine faith in Lot. Not trusting the wisdom of God, the provision of God, the protection of God, anything else in any of this.

If he had that, he had gone up to the cave to begin with. All right. So, what does that tell us? Remember, Proverbs chapter 3. Turn there just a moment.

King James renders this, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Let me read that out of the Amplified. Verses 5 through 8. Lean on. And this kind of expands what the idea of trust is. Lean on.

Trust in. Be confident in the Lord. How? With all your heart and your mind. Do not rely on your own insight or understanding.

Boy, what a tremendous statement that is. Amen. We ought to plaster that all over our walls and everywhere we go. So, if we would just consider this statement of Proverbs chapter 3.

Don't trust yourself. But lean on. Trust in. Be confident in the Lord with all your heart and with all your mind. Don't rely on your own insight or understanding.

In all your ways. Know, recognize, and acknowledge him. And he will direct and make straight and plain your paths. Now, recognize something with me here.

That's work. Now, I'm not talking about work for salvation. But I'm saying a lot of times we'll read these passages. And we'll read over them.

And not put a whole lot of stock in them. But when you recognize what he's saying here. He's saying, as you go through your day. This is what you've got to do.

You've got the focus. Acknowledging him. Knowing him. Following him. And when you do that. He'll direct your paths.

Alright. And make straight and plain your paths. So, be not wise in your own eyes. Reverently fear and worship the Lord. And turn entirely away from evil.

Now, there's the other side of it. It shall be health to your nerves. And sinews. And marrow. And moistening to your bones. Alright. Yeah. That's what we're to do.

Amen. Yeah. So. Lot did just the opposite of that. But it's a good lesson for us. To recognize and see at that point. Now.

Verses 31 and 32 of Genesis 19. Revelation 18. So. They've gone up to the mountain that God originally told them to go to.

And finds that cave there. And I would just imagine that cave is still prepared for Lot as it would have been to begin with. Whatever God did there. But his two daughters are with him here now.

And now notice what they say in verses 31 and 32. The firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there's not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth, or after the customary manner of things.

Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him that we may preserve seed of our fathers. Now, in other words, to keep the family line alive.

Now recognize a couple of things here. We saw over in verse 8 of chapter 19, when the messengers of God came into Sodom, that it spoke of the fact that Lot had two daughters that were engaged to men of Sodom.

But they were still virgins, all right? So they were virtuous ladies, or if you will, young ladies here, that lived in the midst of a corrupt society.

So, it's, I think, clear here that the motive for what they do here has nothing to do with sensuality.

All right? There's another idea here. There's something to consider in all that. Here they're up in the mountain cave.

They've been living in Zohar. All right? Probably didn't leave Zohar until after the destruction. They go up to the mountain.

The mountain is a mountain view. All right? You can see the Zohar and everything else. Don't get the idea here that they think they're the only human being still alive.

No. Because they can see some things. They've been in Zohar. They know people are alive there. They see from the mountain, no doubt, people working in the vineyards. All right? So, that's not a key here.

So, they couldn't be motivated with a desire to preserve the human race because they know that wasn't the case. So, their object is something completely different. They want to be sure that this family, this family line of their father Lot, and even going back further than that, to Terah, Abraham's father, is preserved.

All right? Because that all, and no doubt they know, that all relates to the promised seed of Abraham that God spoke of.

Now, they believed that their father Lot had the best claim to be the nearest kinsman of Abraham because he descended from the oldest line of Abraham's father, Terah.

Couple that with the idea that there's clear indication here that Lot, their father, must be a little bit special in his relationship to Abraham because God sent his messengers to him to preserve him.

So, you know, that means something to them. So, if they want to preserve all of this, and they'd agree together then, to do that in order to preserve the family line.

All right? I mean, you don't want to interrupt something that may give you tremendous benefit down the road. Kind of the idea here. Now, there's not a man in the earth to come unto us after the manner of all the earth.

All right? So, the idea here is, it's not that there weren't any men there, but again, chaste women that weren't eager to marry people out of Zoar, ungodly men.

A lot of times, marriages came through the family line. All right? So, they want to preserve that possibility here. Now, look at verse 33 through 35.

So, what did they do? They contrived the plan here. There's a lot of contriving going on in Abraham's family, isn't there? Yeah. They made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

So, it came to pass on the morrow that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father. Let us make him drink wine this night also, and go thou in and lie with him that we may preserve seed of our father.

And they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose, lay with him, and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. Now, the idea here is, Lot wasn't so drunk with wine that he passed out, but he couldn't really comprehend what was going on.

Remember, he's an old guy now. It may not have taken much to get him to where they wanted him to be as far as his mind. All right? So, he couldn't recognize what's really going on here. But, verse 36 and 38, Thus were both daughters of Lot with child by their father.

Now, no matter what the society may be, and what time frame that's in, incest is still incest. And that's what that is. The firstborn bear a son.

Now, notice this. The firstborn bear a son and called his name Moab, the same as the father of the Moabites unto this day.

And the younger, she also bear a son, called his name Ben-Ami, the same as the father of the children of Ammon unto this day. Now, the reasoning for their conduct here is kind of solidified, if you will, confirmed by what they did here when their children were born.

They're not ashamed of what's taken place. Nor did they contrive any special story here in case somebody asked, whose kids are these?

Who's the dad? Instead, they established a memorial, if you will, through their names they gave them that indicate who those children were brought from.

All right? The oldest daughter called her son Moab, which means of his father. The younger named her son Ben-Ami, son of my people or the sprout of the nations.

So, notice here, scripture said of those two sons, of those two daughters, came the Moabites and the Ammonites. All right?

Now, here's some information about the Moabites and the Ammonites down the road. Both of those nations became tremendous problems for the nation of Israel, the covenant nation of God in the years to follow.

All right? But, in that, that relationship, as far as the interaction of Israel and Moabites and Ammonites was not all a negative thing.

How many remember Ruth? The story of Ruth in the scripture. All right? Who did she marry? Boaz.

Who was Boaz? An ancestor of King David. So, she thus becomes an ancestor of King David through Boaz and thusly of the Lord Jesus Christ as well.

So, and then there's Nema. She was an Ammonite, became one of Solomon's wives. She became the mother of King Rehoboam.

Rehoboam, if you remember, you know, after Solomon dies, Rehoboam is appointed king over the nation, but then someone named Jeroboam rises up and disputes that, and so, as a result, things split.

All right? But you see the picture there. All these two have integral parts in the history of Israel. Now, God had told Israel to be careful in their history not to take any of the land of the Moabites or the Ammonites because those lands were given as possession to the descendants of Lot.

Deuteronomy chapter 2 verse 9 says, And the Lord said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle, for I will not give thee of their land for a possession, because I have given our unto the children of Lot for a possession.

Then in chapter 2 verse 19 of Deuteronomy, When thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them, for I will not give thee the land of the children of Ammon any possession, because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession.

So, God strictly says, Don't bother their land. It's theirs. I give that to them because they are descendants of Lot. But, as time goes along, remember, when Israel was delivered out of Egypt on their way to Canaan, alright, the Moabites were in opposition to their travel.

And remember, King Balak, King of Moab, tried to persuade the prophet Balaam to curse God's people.

But, of course, he wouldn't. That was in Numbers chapters 22 through 24. So, as years go along here now, numerous wars broke out between the Jews and those two kingdoms, the Ammonites and the Moabites, alright?

Amos, the prophet, foretells the destruction of both of those kingdoms. In Amos, chapter 1, verses 13 through 15, Amos said, Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because they have ripped up the woman with a child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border.

But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind, and their king shall go into captivity.

He and his princes together, saith the Lord. Now, they say there's no historic record of when all that took place by the Ammonites, all right, and Moabites to come, but it no doubt took place because Scripture speaks of it.

Now, in chapter 2 of Amos, verses 1 through 3, Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.

But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kiriath, and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.

And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the Lord. So, God brings final judgment against the Ammonites and the Moabites.

So, recognize some things here. In all of this, we see four basic children here that are significant. Ishmael, born of Abraham, Esau, born to Isaac, and Lot, Moab, and Ammon that we just spoke of here.

Realize, all of these four were significant in the picture. but they all lie outside of the covenant relationship with God.

But they're still significant in this. All right? Now, all the descendants of each of these four become prosperous, but also became a plague to the people of Israel.

all four constitute the fathers of the Arab nations who still give Israel problems.

Amen? Yeah. Yeah. And look how worldwide that is affected. All right? Even today, it affects the entire world in the economy, in the thinking, and everything else.

Aren't you glad God's in control of it all? Amen? Amen? Now, from this point forward, I think we might have mentioned this last week, Lot is never mentioned again in Scripture.

He's been separated outwardly and inwardly from Abraham, and He is of no further importance in the scheme of things when it comes to God's purpose, the salvation that He brings, and so forth.

And, another interesting tidbit, as much as He's mentioned in Scripture, there's no record of His death. All right? It's not even mentioned in Scripture.

So, lots of descendants come in frequent contact with Israel, and He gives us record of all of this so we can see, as we study Scripture, get a correct understanding of what that's all about.

All right? All because of two boys. Amen? And the sin of daughters and a dad up in a mountain cave.

Amen? So, let's begin chapter 20 real quick. We'll open the door here. Now, somebody give me the popular definition of insanity.

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. What a picture of Abraham here. All right? In chapter 20.

Notice, verse 1 and 2. Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur and sojourned in Gerar.

And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. Oh, that sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Yeah. Yeah. Now, you know, again, remember, Scripture had told us just a few minutes ago that the next morning after God rained down fire and brimstone on the valley of Sodom, that Abraham got up, stood at the place where he stood before God and interceded and gazed to see what he could see and he saw nothing but smoke and fire as the smoke of a furnace.

We don't really have any indication of how all of that affected Abraham. But for some reason, he desired to no longer stay there where he was.

All right? And so, you know, he doesn't know what's happened to Lot who was living in Sodom. Maybe he was looking for a better place, maybe a better pasture land.

I mean, after all, everything's burnt up. So maybe better pasture land for his cattle. So he moved on to Gerar. Now, Gerar is in a Philistine territory.

And we know in our studies that the Philistines become the arch enemies of Israel. But here, not at this point yet, because Israel's not really established at this point.

So he moves to Gerar, a Philistine territory. Abimelech is the king of Gerar in that territory as well.

Abimelech means my father king. So it's believed that he is the father of the Palestinian people. But also, it's thought that he was a righteous man.

Whatever that term righteous means at this point. Alright? Now, it's been 24 years since Abraham and Sarah entered into Egypt.

Remember? They come into the land at God's direction, the land of Canaan. A famine hit. He said, come on, we got to get out of here and go find some food.

And so they go into Egypt. Alright? Same thing happened here. Just as he did with Pharaoh in Egypt, he does with Abimelech.

Abimelech took Sarah into his harem. Alright? But, there's a different motive here. If you remember back when he goes into Egypt, Egypt.

Alright? You remember what happens here. Pharaoh's princes see her when she comes in with Abraham.

See what a beautiful woman she is. And they go and tell Pharaoh about what they saw. He sends for her. Alright?

And he seeks to make her one of his wives. Alright? Now, realize that all of that was based upon more than likely the physical appearance of Sarah, a beautiful woman.

Alright? So, you recognize what the desire of Pharaoh was at that time. What his motive was in this. But in this case with Abimelech, it's different.

How old is Sarah? She's 90 years old at this point. And probably pregnant with Isaac.

Alright? So, I don't think he had the same motives as did Pharaoh in taking her, Sarah, into his harem.

Most likely it was for the purpose of establishing a relationship with Abraham, if you will, an alliance with him. Alright?

At this point, Abraham has a renown. Alright? He's popular. Most of that popularity stems from what God enabled him to do when he rescued Lot, who lived at Sodom, from the four kings that had come and destroyed and ravaged Sodom.

Took Lot captive with others. That God enabled Abraham to go and to rescue Lot and bring him back with others. That's when he met Melchizedek.

So, he has that renown. People know of him, and he's got wealth at this point as well. Alright? Because when this thing happened with Pharaoh and Sarah, when Pharaoh found out what happened, he sent goods to Abraham, alright, as a gift when he took Sarah to begin with.

Now, so at this point now, being a friend, becoming a friend and an ally, and forming an alliance with Abraham would be something really positive for a king, especially a king of low esteem as Abimelech was.

Alright? Now, notice what happens. Once again, verse number three, God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man.

That's good news, isn't it? Yeah. For the woman which thou hast taken, she is a man's wife. Alright?

So, God reveals what's going on here to Abimelech. you're about to die because the woman you've taken into your harem, she's a man's wife, another man's wife.

So, where's that death coming from? Picture is here that God struck him and all of in his household with a disease. Alright? Doesn't say specifically what the disease is, but we kind of get the idea, whatever it was, it kept the women from bearing children and kept Abimelech from having the ability to have children.

Alright? Now, so God says, in verses four and five, Abimelech had not come near to her, and that no doubt is because of the disease, and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay a righteous nation also?

Said he not unto me, she is my sister, and she even, she herself said, he is my brother, in the integrity of my heart, and innocency of my hands, have I done this?

Alright? Now, it's interesting here, a couple of things, when he says, when it says, Abimelech had not come near her, and he said, Lord, that's Adonai, Master, alright, will you also slay a righteous nation?

Interesting here, you know, Abimelech stands his ground for his own defense here, that he had done nothing wrong, because he was told by both Abraham and Sarah, they're brothers and sisters, alright?

Now, it's interesting that Abimelech approaches God with the same reasoning that Abraham had when he interceded for the people of Sodom.

Abimelech said, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? In Genesis 18, 23, Abraham says, wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

Yeah, same thought here, alright? Now, verses 6 and 7, God had said unto him in a dream, now this, the word God here is the word Elohim, said unto him in a dream, yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart, I know that, for I also withheld thee from sinning against me, therefore suffered I thee not to touch her, now therefore restore the man his wife, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live, and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine, alright?

God's very gracious here, again, picture here that yes, Abimelech may be a righteous man to some degree, alright?

Now, God intervenes here, intervenes for Sarah, intervenes for Abimelech as well, and no doubt caused the disease that would keep him from committing sin against Sarah.

Now, he did it, his plea, in the integrity of his heart, God says, I knew that, alright? So, God said, alright, send him, send the wife back to her husband, and he'll pray for you, he's a prophet, so God no doubt is going to bring that heart of intercession back to Abraham, and he will intercede on the behalf of King Abimelech and all of his household, alright?

But if he doesn't, he's going to die. That's a pretty clear decision to make, isn't it? Yeah, let's pray together. Father, again, thank you for your loving kindness. Thank you for your goodness and grace today, and for enabling us to come back tonight, and to fellowship together, to look together in your word.

So, Father, we thank you for that, and thank you for, again, just reminding us of what it is. To walk with you and not lean to our own understanding, that always gets us in trouble when we do that.

There's safety and grace in the midst of trusting you, so we thank you for that. Now, we thank you again for those that are here tonight, the love for you, the love for your word, and ask, Father, that you will continue to enable us to ponder what you've shown us tonight, make the application of it to our lives, and we'll thank you for it in Jesus' name, amen.

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