John Calvin Commentary Genesis 19:31

"And the first-born said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:" — Genesis 19:31 (ASV)

And the firstborn said. Here Moses narrates an event so shocking it rightly brings readers to astonishment. For how could such unchaste intercourse enter the minds of Lot’s daughters while the terrible punishment God inflicted on the Sodomites was still vivid before their eyes, and while they knew that scandalous and sinful lusts were the chief causes of it? True, they were not so much motivated by sensual lusts as by a foolish desire to continue their family line; nevertheless, this urge was utterly absurd, because it compelled them to forget all natural chastity and sense of shame and, like beasts, to erase any distinction between what is shameful and what is honorable. To better understand the whole matter, I will address the separate parts in order.

First, concerning the plan of Lot’s oldest daughter, which the younger obeyed: I assume that neither of them was driven by carnal lust, but that both were solely concerned with the continuation of their family. For what kind of passion would it have been to desire intercourse with an elderly father?

Secondly, the fact that the oldest daughter furtively went in for only one night, and put her sister in her place the next night, and that, once pregnant, they did not think of returning to their father’s embrace—from this we conclude that they had no other goal than to become mothers.

However, I do not agree with the conjecture of some, who say that they were misled by a great error, thinking that the whole world had perished along with Sodom. For they had just dwelt in Zoar; also, there were pleasant regions before their eyes, which were surely not uninhabited. And they had also learned from their father that a unique punishment had been inflicted on the Sodomites and their other neighbors.

They were also not ignorant of the family from which their father came, and what sort of uncle he had followed out of his homeland. So, what must we think? Because they were convinced that families are continued through children, their childlessness was a hardship and a continual source of grief for them.

Also, the emptiness they would face when their father died might have seemed unbearable to them, because they foresaw that they would then be lonely and without any help. Thus, this explains their shameless desire and that absurd urgency to seek this unchaste intercourse, as they feared a lonely life, which would be vulnerable to many anxieties.

I also do not doubt that Moses is not narrating what they used as a pretext, but what they said from a sincere feeling in their hearts. So, they wanted to produce offspring, according to the custom of all nations. They cite the example of the entire world, because they would consider it unfair if their situation were worse than that of others.

“Everywhere,” they say, “young women are praised who conceive children and thus build their families; why then must we be condemned to be always childless?” Meanwhile, they knew full well that they were committing a great sin. For why did they make their father drunk? Was it not because they suspected that he could not be persuaded?

If he had an aversion to unchastity, the daughters must necessarily have had the same awareness in their consciences. Therefore, they are in no way to be excused for engaging in a shameful act of intercourse, which all humanity naturally abhors. While people are forced to admit their guilt for ordinary crimes, how will these daughters plead themselves free from such significant sins, as if no fear of God’s judgment troubled them? Therefore, suppressing their consciences, Lot’s daughters committed themselves to that crime. Their reason for deceiving their father was simply this: they knew the disgracefulness of the act, which they themselves necessarily had to condemn, because they knew it was against the order of nature.

From this it appears where people end up when they follow their own will; for there is nothing so absurd or beastly that we will not descend to it if we give free rein to our fleshly desires. Let this, therefore, be the starting point for all our desires: to examine what the Lord allows, so that it does not enter our minds to ask for anything that is not permissible according to His Word.

There is not a man in the earth. They do not mean that all nations have been destroyed, as many commentators foolishly claim. Rather, because fear has driven them into the cave, where they lead a lonely life, they complain that they are cut off from any hope of marriage. And indeed, being secluded from other people, they lived as if they had been exiled to some isolated world.

If one might object that they could have asked their father for husbands, I answer that it is not at all surprising that, overcome by fear, they could not seek any remedy other than what was immediately available. For they thought that on that solitary mountain, locked up in a cave, they no longer had the slightest connection with the human race.

It could be (as I have mentioned before) that some slaves lived with them. This is even probable, for otherwise it would have been difficult to have wine in the cave if it had not been brought with them on a wagon along with other provisions. Yet they say there were no husbands for them because they were averse to marrying slaves.

Furthermore, I believe that the word ‘earth’ in the first part of their statement (There is not a man in the earth) refers to a region or area, as if they were saying, “This region has no men left who could marry us according to the custom of the entire world.” For there is a tacit contrast here between the whole earth and a specific part of it.

But these were their crimes:

1. Their first crime was that, in their zeal to continue the human race, they violated the holy law of nature.
2. Next, it was wrong and wicked that they did not flee to the Creator of the world Himself to deliver them from the desolation that worried them.
3. Thirdly, they showed their negligence by focusing their hearts only on earthly life and not worrying about the heavenly life.

Although I cannot be certain about the time that elapsed between the destruction of Sodom and Lot’s unchaste intercourse with his daughters, it is probable that, as soon as they had arrived in the cave, their aversion to solitude led them to devise this shameful and detestable plan. Lot could not have lived in the cave for a long time before food and drink became scarce. And just as a sudden fear had swept away their father like a storm, so too the daughters could not restrain themselves, even for a few days. Without calling upon God or asking their father for advice, they were carried away by a beastly instinct.

In this we see how quickly the memory of both the deliverance from Sodom and the punishment of the Sodomites faded from their minds, although these events should have always been kept in their hearts. Oh, if only this vice were not also so prevalent among us! For we too clearly show our ingratitude in both respects.