Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight is study #51 of Genesis, chapter 19. We are continuing to read Genesis 19:32-36:

Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

I will stop reading there. I mentioned before that some people read this passage and they realize the context is after the fire and brimstone. I am referring to people that do not believe or accept that God has brought spiritual judgment upon the world, so they are still looking for salvation. They see this passage has to do with the two daughters causing their father to drink wine, and they say, “Well, wine has to do with the Gospel.” Of course, they miss the fact that it was wine from the “vine of Sodom” and the “fields of Gomorrah,” and, therefore, it points to a false gospel. When they see that it says the daughters want to lay with their father to preserve seed of their father, they come to another wrong conclusion that this has to do with raising up seed as per the Law of God; when there was a man that had a wife, but he died before there was a male heir, one of his brothers was to come in unto that woman to raise up seed to his dead brother. But, again, that is not in view in this passage.

First, these daughters were not married. They were virgins. The Law had to do with a woman that is married, but her husband died. The Gospel was in view with that Law; God gave that Law for its deeper spiritual meaning. But this idea that the daughters would raise up seed to their father was a perversion of that Law because it points to another gospel. There is nothing in the Law of God that allows for children to be raised up of a father. It only applied to a woman that was married and her husband died before there was a seed. Again, these were two virgins and they were not the daughters that had married the sons in law of Lot and remained in Sodom and were destroyed. There was nothing in the Law that allowed for an immediate father to lay with his own daughters. That is unheard of and it is shocking. There is nothing that comes close to this in the Bible. The only incident that even comes near to it is when Judah went in unto his daughter-in-law, after no seed had been raised up to his dead son; Tamar took things into her own hands and worked deceitfully to arrange for Judah to come in unto her. There is some similarity in that Judah did not perceive he was laying with his daughter-in-law, but he thought she was a harlot. But, again, these were much different circumstances and it was hugely different for a father-in-law to go in unto his daughter-in-law than for a father to go in unto an immediate daughter.

Again, this has nothing to do with raising up seed. First, God did not use the term “raise up.” For example, in the account I was just referring to, it says in Genesis 38:6-10:

And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of JEHOVAH; and JEHOVAH slew him. And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased JEHOVAH: wherefore he slew him also.

Then Judah had a younger third son, but he kept him back because he was afraid. He had two sons that had already died. He may have superstitiously thought that if a third son went in unto this woman, he would die also. He was fearful. That is when Tamar worked out things to cause Judah himself to come in unto her.

But notice it says in Genesis 38:8:

And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.

It does not say, “preserve seed to thy brother.” The word “seed” is the same word used in Genesis 19, but the word “raise up” is a different word than “preserve.” The word translated as “raise up” is Strong’s #6965, while the word translated as “preserve” is Strong’s #2421. It is a completely different word, which has nothing to do with “raising up,” except in a spiritual sense, which we will look at later.

Also, it says in Deuteronomy 25:5-10:

If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s brother unto her. And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. And if the man like not to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband’s brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother. Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her; Then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother’s house. And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.

This was the Law of God that had to do with a woman married to a man who has a brother. If her husband died and they had no children, then a brother was obligated to go in unto her to “raise up” seed to his brother’s house. The word translated as “raise up” is the same word used in Genesis 38:8. It is Strong’s #6965. It is not the word found in Genesis 19.

One other place it is found is in the Book of Ruth. It says in Ruth 4:5:

Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.

Here, if there were no brothers, the Law would extend to near kinsmen. Boaz was a near kinsmen and he was a type of Christ. This is the reason this Law is so important and why the details matter. You cannot just get “close enough” in the Bible and say, “Well, it sounds close, so it must be the same thing.” The details matter. For example, it matters that Lot’s wife and two daughters were not widows; they were virgins that had never known a man. Therefore, “raising up” seed is not in view, so God does not use that word. They had something entirely different in mind. It is also said in Ruth 4:10:

Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.

It has everything to do with God’s salvation program. It must be followed lawfully. This is the reason I keep repeating that what God’s two daughters did in getting their father drunk and laying with him “to preserve seed” is not Biblical. It is ungodly. It was sin. Lot was a godly man in a weakened condition because of severely trying circumstances and he had lost his wife and his other children and everything he owned. And these two daughters caused him to drink wine and he was unable to perceive when they lay down, which was necessary because he never would have agreed to it. That is why God warns against in Proverbs 31:4:

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine…

Why not? It goes on to say in Proverbs 31:5:

Lest they drink, and forget the law…

And the Bible is God’s Law. Lot is a picture of the Word of God here, which his daughters are perverting. It is also true that a man in a drunken stupor cannot even be aware of the Law of God, so they had to “dull” his spiritual senses and understanding of truth by getting him drunk and carrying out their plan. This is the reason it was so ugly and horrible and evil, which speaks volumes concerning people that are attempting to force their own will that God must still save people or produce spiritual children. They were not “raising up” seed, but they were “preserving” seed.

Regarding the “seed,” I would agree that they were trying to preserve the seed of Abraham, as we saw back in Genesis 17:7-8:

And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

We looked at this and spent much time on this when we went through Genesis 17. Remember that God pointed out in Galatians 3:16:

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

The word “seed” is singular because it had Christ in view, who was the promised seed. Then the Lord says in Galatians 3:29:

And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

These are the elect who are counted for the seed in Christ and are heirs of the new heaven and new earth, as represented by the promised land of Canaan. The elect will live eternally in that Promised Land. Lot’s daughters had this in mind, spiritually, when they were attempting to preserve seed to their father – they had in mind the elect. But it was not “raising up” seed as we read in these other places, but they were “preserving” seed. The use of this word makes all the difference, as it tells us exactly what subject matter is in view during the time after judgment has come. In other words, in our present time of living on the earth in the Day of Judgment, the daughters of Lot are typifying the professed true believers that insist upon preserving (more) elect.

Lord willing, when we get together in our next Bible study and look at the word “preserve.” It will show, without any question, what the spiritual teaching of this passage is and how it fits perfecting with our present day and circumstances.