The bible's story of Lot was simply to demonize the enemies of Israel as being the products of incest. This, however, also makes the imaginary Jesus a product of incest--something that cannot be rationalized away.
The pictures are rather graphic in this biblical story (and the language is adult) so if adult movies offend you, don't go there...
illustratedbiblestories.ca
The commentary is extremely well written and shows the things Evolution is NOT responsible for...
illustratedbiblestories.ca
"However, there is nothing wicked or unrighteous about chromosomes and DNA. So when Bible authors tell stories of incest about their enemies in order to demonstrate their wickedness, they're really only demonstrating their own ignorance."
I will only post page 5 of the commentary. It is certainly easier to read on the original web site.
"Incest as propaganda
We're told that the girls each gave birth to a son. And as the story closes, we're given some vital information. One son was named Moab and he became the father of the Moabites. The other was named Benami and he became the father of the Ammonites. After this we never hear from Lot or his daughters again. But the information about their sons does come up again and it is of vital importance. It just so happens that both the Moabites and the Ammonites turn out to be sworn enemies of the Israel. Could it be that the story was told in order to scandalize Israel's military enemies? In the book Hebrew Myths, Robert Graves gives us the answer, “[This myth] serves to vilify Israel’s warlike south-eastern neighbours, the Moabites and Ammonites, as having been born in incest” (Anchor, 1989, p.171).
Later on in the Bible, the Moabites and Ammonites are likened to the wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah: “'Therefore, as surely as I live, declares the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, surely Moab will become like Sodom, the Ammonites like Gomorrah'” (Zephaniah 2:9) And it seems the Moabites and Ammonites are so wicked that that no one from these nations will ever be allowed into the “assembly of God”. Deuteronomy 23:3 states, “No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the LORD." As any military historian will tell you, one way to get soldiers to overcome any resistance to killing people is to vilify the enemy. Claiming that they all came from a depraved and immoral background would help to accomplish this.
And we can even see the effect this story had upon Christian readers thousands of years after the fact. In Adam Clarke’s commentary he writes, “The generation which proceeded from this incestuous connection…was certainly a bad one. The Moabites soon fell from the faith of God, and became idolaters…and were enemies to the children of Abraham.” The 1599 Geneva Study Bible commentary on Genesis 19 says of the Moabites and Ammonites, “Who as they were born in most horrible incest, so were they and their posterity vile and wicked.”
However, there's a little problem with vilifying the Moabites and Ammonites in this way. If you say that they and their descendents are so vile and wicked that none are worthy of the "assembly of God", then what about Jesus? He was descended from both the Ammonites and the Moabites.
Jesus and incest
According to both Judaism and Christianity, the messiah must come from the line of King David. But David’s grandmother was a Moabite woman named Ruth. Because of this, some Christian groups have tried to claim that Ruth was an Israelite living in Moab. The problem with this apologetic is that the Bible contradicts it. The book of Ruth chapter 2, verse 2 begins, “And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi…” (ESV). And Ammonites figure in Jesus’ lineage too. David’s grandson Rehoboam was the son of Naamah, an Ammonite woman. According to Matthew's genealogy of Jesus, Rehoboam was in the line of decedents that produced Jesus, and therefore so was his Ammonite mother. And what's more, there's yet another story of Biblical incest that figures in Jesus' lineage, which involves a woman named Tamar. This is the same Tamar who disguised herself as a prostitute in order to get pregnant by her father-in-law. Tamar also figures in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus.
But for story tellers of this time this wouldn't have posed a problem for Jesus. This is because women weren't considered an important part of the ancestral line. In Matthew's long genealogy there are only several women mentioned, and in Luke's genealogy only men are mentioned. Therefore, due to the biological ignorance of the period, any connection to women of less desirable racial heritage would not have “tainted” the messiah's blood. Tainted blood would have to come from male ancestors. Thanks to reproductive science, we know this is simply a mistake by the writers of Bible stories.
Conclusion
For Bible authors, traits like wickedness and unrighteousness can be passed down from generation to generation. That's why they can claim that the Moabites and Ammonites were wicked due to the incest described in this story. It's also why they can claim that no Ammonite or Moabite unto the tenth generation would be worthy of the assembly of the Lord. However, there is nothing wicked or unrighteous about chromosomes and DNA. So when Bible authors tell stories of incest about their enemies in order to demonstrate their wickedness, they're really only demonstrating their own ignorance."
END OF COMMENTARY |
