Lot and His Daughters (Gen 19:30–38): Further Literary and Stylistic Examinations

A literary analysis shows that repetitions of terms from the semantic fields of kinship and sexual intercourse provide special emphasis to the theme of a sexual act occurring between father and daughters. Instead of the expected relations in which fathers own their daughters, the daughters depicted here possess and manipulate their father. Moreover, taking into account that the general initiative and focalization are assigned to the elder sister, the constructed narrative pattern departs from the more common biblical pattern in which the younger siblings are more dominant and theologically prominent. While some scholars have suggested that the daughters had no choice, and even acted heroically, the analysis suggested here may lead to a reading that considers the reported sexual acts as negative and uncommon among Israelites.