Genesis 19:37

Gen 19:37 And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same [is] the father of the Moabites unto this day.

Ver. 37. Called his name Moab.] That is, the begotten of my father: so, Benammi; that is, begotten of one of my near kindred, viz., her father. Thus "they declared their sin as Sodom, they hid it not," {Isa 3:9} but gloried in their shame. It is as hard to come from Sodom, and not taste of the sap of such a soil, as to walk barefaced in the hot sun, and not be tanned.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Who as they were born in most horrible incest, so were they and their posterity vile and wicked.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 37. Called his name Moab] This name is generally interpreted of the father, or, according to Calmet, מואב Moab, the waters of the father.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

37. And the firstborn bare. This was a terrible blindness, that the daughters of Lot, shaking off all feeling of shame, raised up a memorial of their virtue, and through an eternal sign have exhibited their dishonor before their posterity. To their sons, or better, two nation in their persons, they give names, whence everybody can know that it was a family, originating from adultery and unchaste intercourse. The eldest boasts that she had obtained her son from her father, the other that her son was born of close relationship. Thus both unashamedly spread their crime, while they rather, through shame of their crime, had hidden themselves in eternal hideouts. Not content with the infamousness in their time, the propagate their crime into other times. Therefore, there is no doubt that they, enchanted by satan, have forgotten all difference between what is scandalous and honest. Paul says, (Romans 2:5,) that wicked, after a long pleasure in sinning, are at the end deprived of all feel of grief thereof. Such stupidity undoubtedly had caught those girls, because they did not shame themselves to spread their dishonor everywhere. Further, such an example of God’s punishment is revealed us, in order that we not allow any sin, and we will not lose ourselves in licentiousness, but that we, through fear of God, spur ourselves on to penitence.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(37, 38) Moab . . . Ben-ammi.—Both these names suggest an incestuous origin, but the latter in a less repulsive way. “Son of my people” means one born of intercourse with her own kin and family. It is a striking proof of the vigour of the race of Terah, that from this lone cavern, and after the loss of all the wealth possessed by Lot, these two children were able to reduce to obedience the aborigines dwelling on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, and establish petty kingdoms there. Both Moabites and Ammonites have finally merged in the Arabs.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

37. Moab] A play on the word “Moab,” on account of its general assonance with the Heb. mê-âb = “from a father”; an instance of derivation by folk-etymology.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Elder. She first proposes: she is not ashamed to call her child Moab, "from father." The younger is rather more modest, and calls her son Ammon, "my people," not born of the Sodomites. Many reasons might be alleged to extenuate, or even to excuse the conduct of Lot and his daughters, as many of the fathers have done. But the Scripture barely leaves it upon record, without either commendation or blame. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

1807

Called his name Moab, i.e. of my father, begotten upon me by my father. So she had learned from her neighbours to declare her sin as Sodom, Isa 3:9.

The Moabites were a mischievous and infamous people, branded, as their brethren also the Ammonites were, with characters of God’s displeasure.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

37. Called his name Moab — Which means, from father. This, we are informed, was the origin of the Moabites, who occupied the country on the east of the southern half of the Dead Sea, formerly occupied by the Emim. Deu_2:11.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab Meab, from the father, alluding to his incestuous origin (LXX, which adds legousa ejk tou patrov mou; Augustine, Jerome, Delitzsch, Keil); though Mo (water, an Arabic euphemism for the semen virile) and ab has been advanced as a more correct derivation (Rosenm The same is the father of the Moabites who originally inhabited the country northeast of the Dead Sea, between the Jabbok and the Arnon, (Deu_2:20) but were afterwards driven by the Amorites south of the Arnou unto this day. This phrase, indicating a variable period from a few years to a few centuries (cf. Gen_48:13; Exo_10:6; Num_22:39; Jos_22:3) cannot be regarded as a trace of post-Mosaic authorship (De Wette, et alii), since in Genesis it is always used of events which had taken place several centuries before the time of Moses, as in Gen_26:33 Gen_47:26 (cf. Heil, "Introduction," part 1. div. 1,

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

מואב MOAB — This daughter who was immodest openly proclaimed that the son was born of her father (מֵאָב) but the younger named her child in a euphemistic fashion and was rewarded for this at the time of Moses, as it is said regarding the children of Ammon, (Deuteronomy 2:19) “Do not contend with them” — in any manner at all — whereas in reference to Moab it (Scripture) only forbade waging war against them but permitted them (the Israelites) to vex them (Genesis Rabbah 51:11).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ותלד..מואב, meaning מאב, “from my father I bore this son.”

אבי מואב, the founding father of the people called Moabites until this day.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.