The Skeptics Annotated Bible (30 page)

27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:

28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

31 And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and
there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us
after the manner of all the earth:

(19.31)
“There is not a man in the earth to come in unto us.”
62 Did Lot’s daughters think God had killed every man except Lot?

32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

33 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.

34 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.

35 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.

36
Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

(19.36)
“Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.”
Lot and his daughters camp out in a cave for a while. The daughters get their father drunk, have sex with him, and each conceives and bears a son (wouldn’t you know it!). Neither Lot nor his daughters are criticized here or anywhere else in the Bible. It’s just another wholesome family values Bible story.
60 Was Lot a righteous man?

37 And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

38 And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

20
And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.

2 And
Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister
: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.

(20.2)
“Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister.”
Honest Abe does the same “she’s my sister” routine again, for the same cowardly reason. And once again, the king just couldn’t resist Sarah—even though by now she is over 90 years old. ( See 12.13-20 for the first, nearly identical, episode, and 26.7 for another repeat with Isaac, Rebekah and the same king Abimelech.)

3 But
God
came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and
said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man,
for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.

(20.3)
“God … said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man.”
God gets angry with king Abimelech, though the king hasn’t even touched Sarah. He says to the king, “Behold, thou art but a dead man,” and threatens to kill him and all of his people. To compensate for the crime he never committed, Abimelech gives Abraham sheep, oxen, slaves, silver, and land.