John Calvin Commentary Genesis 19:33

"And they made their father drink wine that night: and the first-born went in, and lay with her father; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose." — Genesis 19:33 (ASV)

And he perceived not. Though Lot did not sin knowingly, yet, because his drunkenness was the cause of his sin, his guilt is diminished, but not annulled. Without doubt the Lord has chastised his dissatisfaction in this manner. This is something rare and strange, that his senses were so overcome by the wine, that he, like a dead man, poured out his lust.

Therefore I assume that he was not so much muddled by the wine, but that his excess was struck by God with a spirit of ignorance. If God did not spare the holy Patriarch, how then can we think to remain unpunished if we commit the same excess? Let us therefore realize through this example, that the law of modesty is prescribed to us, so that we eat modestly and moderately. Yet, there are some unholy people who consider Lot as the protector of their wickedness.

Why do we not rather consider the horrible scandal into which he fell because he used wine excessively? We must, as I already have said, not simply consider what drunkenness brings with it, and with which other vices it is connected, but we must consider the punishment of God.

Therefore He willed this tragic crime to be openly spread, so that drunkenness will be abhorred. Daily the Lord testifies by heavy punishments how much this vice displeases Him. When we see that Abraham’s nephew, the host of Angels, a man adorned with an extraordinary reputation for holiness, is defiled by unchaste intercourse because he drank too much, what then will happen to the drunkards and the sexually immoral, who daily drink until they are thoroughly drunk?

But we have spoken about this at great length in Genesis 9:1, which people can reread.

Concerning the words where Moses says that Lot did not perceive it when his daughter lay down and when she arose—some explain this to mean that he saw no difference between a stranger and his own daughter.

But if he was not totally blinded, he could have known in the morning, after his intoxication had worn off, that he had had intercourse with his daughter. Some say, to diminish his guilt, that he was not so much muddled by much drinking, but that he was depressed by sadness.

But I maintain this: that since he was endowed with more splendid gifts, he also deserved greater punishment, and that therefore his reason was taken away from him, so that, like an unreasoning beast, he lost himself in sensual lust.