Lot’s Daughters

After the destruction of Sodom and Amorah, we learn of the incident of Lot and his daughters. They believed that their father was the last man alive in the world.

The Alshich depicted the actions of Lot’s daughters as an altruistic act. They were repulsed by what they needed to do. Their intentions were pure. Lot’s were not as he allowed himself to get drunk after he knew what he had done with the first daughter.

The nations of Ammon and Moab descended from Lot’s daughters. Later it was determined that the male remembers of these nations, that even after conversion, were not allowed to marry regular Jewish women. They could not enter the “congregation of Hashem.”

This did not apply to the females. Ruth of Moab and Nama of Amon, were righteous converts. Shlomo Hamelech married Naama, and Ruth married Boaz. The Davidic dynasty came from these women. They demonstrated the sensitivity that they inherited from Lot’s daughters.

The explanation that the Mashiach will come from ancestors involved with incest, is puzzling. Some say it was in order to confuse Satan, who would not believe that anything sacred could come from something that began with incest.

Hashem clearly has a plan for the universe. Often things are not the way they look. We are able to find something very praiseworthy in acts that don’t necessarily seem that way. We must leave that up to Hashem to decide.