Texts in Conversation
The Christian theologian Irenaeus follows a tradition where Lot’s daughters believe the entire world has been destroyed, using it to justify having sex with him. This tradition appears in Genesis Rabbah, showing how Jewish interpretive traditions were preserved in Christian texts.
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Irenaeus Against Heresies 4.31.2
Early Christian
2 Thus, after their simplicity and innocence, did these daughters [of Lot] so speak, imagining that all mankind had perished, even as the Sodomites had done, and that the anger of God had come down upon the whole earth. Wherefore also they are to be held excusable, since they supposed that they only, along with their father, were left for the preservation of the human race; and for this reason it was that they deceived their father. Moreover, by the words they used this fact was pointed out — that there is no other one who can confer upon the elder and younger church the [power of] giving birth to children, besides our Father.
Date: 175-190 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Genesis Rabbah 51
Aggadah
Rabbinic
His wife looked behind her—Rabbi Isaac said, for she sinned with salt. That night when the angels came to Lot, what was she doing? Going to all her neighbors and saying to them, ‘Give me salt, because we have guests.’ And her intention was that the men of the city would come to know of them. Therefore “she became a pillar of salt.” And the older one said to the younger, ‘Our father is old, etc.’ (Genesis 19:31). They believed that the world had been destroyed, like in the time of the flood. (Genesis 19:32) ‘Come, let us make our father drink wine, etc.’ Rabbi Tanchuma in the name of Rabbi Shmuel [said]: (Genesis 19:32) ‘Let us preserve offspring through our father.’ It does not say ‘a son from our father,’ but rather ‘offspring from our father.’ That offspring that comes from another place. And who is this? This is the Messiah. (Genesis 19:33) She made her father drink wine, etc.
Date: 500 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Lot's incestuous union with his daughters seemed to provide obvious grounds for condemning him ... It is interesting, however, that some interpreters seized upon a detail in the biblical text to defend the daughters' actions. For when the daughters resolve to do this deed, it is because the older says to the younger, 'Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come to us after the manner of all the earth' (Genesis 19:31). Now, in context, this seems to mean merely that Lot's daughters, dwelling alone in an isolated mountain cave with their father (Genesis 19:30), had no one ('not a man on earth') to turn to for a mate. But perhaps the expression 'not a man on earth' meant more ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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