Day 35 Devotion – Lot’s Daughters

Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the people of Ammon to this day. Genesis 19:36-38


The story of Lot’s daughters is pretty unbelievable. Apparently they believed that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was a world-wide destruction. They thought that they would have to have children with their father to repopulate the earth. I don’t understand how they could be so naive because they went past the city of Zoar in their travels before this event. It could be that they were left completely out of the loop by Lot or that they thought all people of theirs or similar race had been wiped out and that men of Zoar would contaminate their bloodline. What ever the explanation, something very important happens here and that is the birth of Moab and Ben-Ammi. These men give rise to people groups called the Moabites and Ammonites. Remember these names because when the Israelites head toward the Promised Land during the Exodus, guess who gets in their way and they have to war with before entering the Promised Land? That’s right, the Moabites and Ammonites.

The big lesson to learn from this is that sin, indiscretion, and bad decisions will really come back to haunt you later. Sometimes the scars of these sins can resurface and cause problems for years and even decades. If we would follow God’s directions and instructions without trying to supplement them with our own decisions we could avoid a lot of this type of heart ache. In previous chapters we saw the birth of Ishmael. Abraham’s indiscretion gave rise to the modern day Muslim people groups that have battled with the descendants of Isaac for about 4000 years now. Just think about how much of our evening news has been filled up with the trouble in the Middle East over the past couple of decades and then remember that one man’s sin made that all possible.