Genesis 19:30-38
30 Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters. 31 One day the older daughter said to her sister, “There are no men left anywhere in this entire area, so we can’t get married like everyone else. And our father will soon be too old to have children. 32 Come, let’s get him drunk with wine, and then we will have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.”
33 So that night they got him drunk with wine, and the older daughter went in and had intercourse with her father. He was unaware of her lying down or getting up again.
34 The next morning the older daughter said to her younger sister, “I had sex with our father last night. Let’s get him drunk with wine again tonight, and you go in and have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.” 35 So that night they got him drunk with wine again, and the younger daughter went in and had intercourse with him. As before, he was unaware of her lying down or getting up again.
36 As a result, both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their own father. 37 When the older daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Moab.[b] He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Moabites.38 When the younger daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Ben-ammi.[c] He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Ammonites.
When I went to Africa, I made good friends with a guy called Eric. He only spoke French and so with my GCSE French and a lot of mistakes we made do and grew close as we spent time together. One day, we were walking to the market when I felt his had take my hand and his fingers interlink with mine in the way that couples often do. He started swinging our hands as we walked and I froze.
“Eric, pardonnez-moi. Je ne suis pas un homosexuel,” I told him.
The man looked shocked. He explained to me that in Africa men and men hold hands in public. But men and women never would. This was just what friends do. He then held my hand again but I just couldn’t do it.
Culture is a funny thing. It can make you completely blind to behaviour that others would say is wrong. People get offended or hurt by things that others are oblivious to. A few years ago there was a story of a woman who killed herself because she was a victim of a prank phone call. The people involved could never have known that her response would be so great. However, her culture shaped her.
Culture isn’t neutral or just another’s opinions. It can be toxic, harmful and evil. It can also have momentum. One of the greatest challenges for the church today is to live holy lives when we are so immersed in a secular culture. It becomes very hard to distinguish what is true and what is not. It is a mistake to completely reject our culture and live alien lives but it is also a mistake to embrace it without critique and accept what is put in front of us and allow it to shape us. Jesus calls us to live as salt or light, transforming the world around us.
Today’s story is shocking. I have no doubt that these girls knew that what they were doing was wrong but they had grown up in one of the most perverse and wicked cities ever recorded and they had been shaped by a culture that saw motherhood as the only value for them. So, they decide that it is better to rape their own father in order to get pregnant than to trust God to provide a legitimate husband or to remain single.
What parts do you embrace and what do you reject?
How do we live counter-cultural lives today?
Spend some time in prayer asking God if there are any cultural blind spots in your life that he wants to reveal.
