Lot's daughters

The daughters of the biblical patriarch Lot appear in chapter 19 of the Book of Genesis, in two connected stories.

However, the Hebrew midrash (interpretation) The Book of Jasher describes another daughter by the name of Paltith, who is burned to death by the Sodomites for breaking their law against giving charity to foreigners.

In Genesis 19, Lot shows hospitality to two angels appearing as men who arrive in Sodom, and invites them to stay the night at his house.

[11] However, commentators such as John Calvin have pointed out that the family had only recently dwelt in Zoar, so they must have known they were not the only people left alive.

[14] Alter agrees, adding that when the elder daughter says "let us lie with him", the meaning of the Hebrew verb in this context "seems close to 'rape'".

[15] It is also one of three accounts of "sperm stealing" in the Bible, in which a woman seduces a male relative under false pretenses in order to become pregnant.

[16] According to a footnote in the New English Bible this is an unflattering origin story of the Ammonites and the Moabites, the two traditional enemies of Israel.

[17] Islamic commentators generally interpret these passages to mean that Lot offered his daughters in lawful marriage.