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The Christian theologian Irenaeus follows a tradition where Lot’s daughters believe the entire world has been destroyed, using this to justify having sex with him. This is also found in Genesis Rabbah, showing Jewish traditions used in Christian texts.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
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)
Genesis Rabbah 51
Aggadah
Rabbinic
“The elder said to the younger: Our father is old, and there is no man on the earth to consort with us in the way of the world” (Genesis 19:31). “The elder said to the younger: Our father is old, [and there is no man on the earth]…” – because they believed that the entire world had come to an end, as in the generation of the Flood. “Let us give our father wine to drink, and we will lie with him, and we will give life to offspring from our father” (Genesis 19:32). “Let us give our father wine to drink…” – Rabbi Tanḥuma in the name of Rabbi Shmuel: “We will give life to offspring from our father.” “We will give life to a child from our father” is not written here, but rather, “we will give life to offspring from our father” – that offspring that will come from another place. Which is that? The messianic king. “They gave their father wine to drink that night. The elder came and lay with her father and he was not aware when she lay and when she arose” (Genesis 19:33). “They gave their father wine…[and when she arose [uvkuma]]” – there is a dot over the vav of uvkuma, [intimating] that when she lay he was not aware, but when she arose he was aware. “It was the next day, and the elder said to the younger: Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us give him wine to drink tonight as well and come and lie with him, and we will give life to offspring from our father” (Genesis 19:34). “It was the next day and the elder said to the younger…. [Let us give him wine]” – from where did they get wine in the cave? Because they [the people of Sodom] had a preponderance of wine, they would hide it away in caves. Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon said: Something resembling a sample of the World to Come was provided for them, just as it says: “It will be on that day, that the mountains will drip with juice” (Joel 4:18).
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 ..."
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