Genesis 19:38

That is, son of my people: signifying that they rather rejoiced in their sin, than repented for the same.

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

Verse 38. Ben-ammi] בן עמי Ben-ammi, the son of my people. Both these names seem to justify the view taken of this subject above, viz., that it was merely to preserve the family that the daughters of Lot made use of the above expedient; and hence we do not find that they ever attempted to repeat it, which, had it been done for any other purpose, they certainly would not have failed to do. On this subject Origen, in his fifth homily on Genesis, has these remarkable words: Ubi hic libidinis culpa, ubi incesti criminis arguitur? . Quomodo dabitur in VITIO QUOD NON ITERATUR IN FACTO? Vercor proloqui quod sentio, vereor, inquam, ne castior fuerit harum incestus, quam pudicitia multarum. "Where, in all this transaction, can the crime of lust or of incest be proved? How can this be proved to be a vice when the fact was never repeated? I am afraid to speak my whole mind on the subject, lest the incest of these should appear more laudable than the chastity of multitudes." There is a distinction made here by Origen which is worthy of notice; a single bad act, though a sin, does not necessarily argue a vicious heart, as in order to be vicious a man must be habituated to sinful acts.

The generation which proceeded from this incestuous connection, whatever may be said in extenuation of the transaction, (its peculiar circumstances being considered,) was certainly a bad one. The Moabites soon fell from the faith of God, and became idolaters, the people of Chemosh, and of Baal-peor, Nu 21:29; Nu 25:1-3; and were enemies to the children of Abraham. See Nu 22:1-6 c.; Jdg 3:14, c. And the Ammonites, who dwelt near to the Moabites, united with them in idolatry, and were also enemies to Israel. See Jdg 11:4; Jdg 11:24; De 23:3-4. As both these people made afterwards a considerable figure in the sacred history, the impartial inspired writer takes care to introduce at this early period an account of their origin. See what has been said on the case of Noah's drunkenness, Ge 9:20, c.

THIS is an awful history, and the circumstances detailed in it are as distressing to piety as to humanity. It may, however, be profitable to review the particulars.

1. From the commencement of the chapter we find that the example and precepts of Abraham had not been lost on his nephew Lot. He also, like his uncle, watches for opportunities to call in the weary traveller. This Abraham had taught his household, and we see the effect of his blessed teaching. Lot was both hospitable and pious, though living in the midst of a crooked and perverse race. It must be granted that from several circumstances in his history he appears to have been a weak man, but his weakness was such as was not inconsistent with general uprightness and sincerity. He and his family were not forgetful to entertain strangers, and they alone were free from the pollutions of this accursed people. How powerful are the effects of a religious education, enforced by pious example! It is one of God's especial means of grace. Let a man only do justice to his family, by bringing them up in the fear of God, and he will crown it with his blessing. How many excuse the profligacy of their family, which is often entirely owing to their own neglect, by saying, "O, we cannot give them grace!" No, you cannot but you can afford them the means of grace. This is your work, that is the Lord's. If, through your neglect of precept and example, they perish, what an awful account must you give to the Judge of quick and dead! It was the sentiment of a great man, that should the worst of times arrive, and magistracy and ministry were both to fall, yet, if parents would but be faithful to their trust, pure religion would be handed down to posterity, both in its form and in its power.

2. We have already heard of the wickedness of the inhabitants of the cities of the plain, the cup of their iniquity was full; their sin was of no common magnitude, and what a terrible judgment fell upon them! Brimstone and fire are rained down from heaven upon these traders in iniquity; and what a correspondence between the crime and the punishment? They burned in lust towards each other, and God burned them up with fire and brimstone. Their sin was unnatural, and God punished it by supernatural means. Divine justice not only observes a proportion between the crime and the degree of punishment, but also between the species of crime and the kind of punishment inflicted.

3. Disobedience to the command of God must ever meet with severe reprehension, especially in those who have already partaken of his grace, because these know his salvation, and are justly supposed to possess, by his grace, the power of resisting all solicitations to sin. The servant who knew his lord's will and did it not, was to be beaten with many stripes; see Lu 12:47. Lot's wife stands as an everlasting monument of admonition and caution to all backsliders. She ran well, she permitted Satan to hinder, and she died in her provocation! While we lament her fate, we should profit by her example. To begin in the good way is well; to continue in the path is better; and to persevere unto the end, best of all. The exhortation of our blessed Lord on this subject should awaken our caution, and strongly excite our diligence: Remember Lot's wife! On the conduct of Lot and his daughters, See Clarke on Ge 19:31.

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

38. Ben-ammi] “The son of my people”; or “the son of my father’s kin”; see Gen_17:14. “Unto this day,” cf. Gen_26:33, Gen_32:32, Gen_35:20, Gen_47:26 (J).

There is no need for us to regard this repulsive story as literal history. It should be included among the popular narratives which grew up round the traditional origin of proper names. It has been held that the tradition may have had a local Moabite origin connected with some famous cavern, and that the people of Moab and Ammon may have had an old belief that their races arose in prehistoric times from the same ancestor, in accordance with this tale. Undoubtedly, there were ancient Eastern peoples to whom the incest here described would have seemed in no way atrocious.

It is, of course, also possible, that the story, as we have it in Gen., reflects the feelings of bitterness and hatred which were felt among the Israelites towards their neighbours on the east side of the Jordan. The antipathy expressed in Deu_23:3 and Neh_13:1-2 may well account for the circulation of traditions concerning the parentage of these two peoples, combining a popular explanation of their names with contumely and reproach as to their origin.

Again, it is conceivable that this story may contain a fragment of a tradition, Moabite and Ammonite in its derivation, which recorded some stupendous catastrophe, from which, through the favour of the Deity, only Lot and his daughters, out of all the inhabitants of the world, were saved. The story may then have been regarded as reflecting not ignominy, but honour, upon those who were the means of preserving the whole human race from the peril of extinction. There is plausibility in this theory of Gunkel’s. The words of the elder daughter, “there is not a man,” seem to imply that all the inhabitants of the earth had been annihilated. Our ignorance of Moabite early traditions forbids us to go further than to admit the possibility of some such explanation.

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.

Called his name Ben-ammi, i.e. the son of my people, or kindred, not of the cursed race of the Sodomites, where I was to be married. This is something more modest than the other in the name she gives, but both impudently glorying in their sin and shame, of which they should have bitterly repented.

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

38. Ben-ammi — Which means, son of my people; that is, begotten of my own race. The Ammonites expelled the Zamzummim, and occupied their land, on the north of the territory of Moab. Deu_2:19-21. “In Lot’s history we may trace the judgment as well as the mercy of God. His selfish choice of the plain of the Jordan led him, perhaps, to present wealth and prosperity, but withal to temptation and danger. In the midst of the abandoned profligacy of Sodom he, indeed, was preserved in comparative purity, and so, when God overthrew the cities of the plain, he yet saved Lot from destruction. Still Lot’s feebleness of faith first caused him to linger, (Gen_19:16,) then to fear escape to the mountains, (Gen_19:19,) and, lastly, to doubt the safety of the place which God had spared for him, Gen_19:30. Now again he is led by his children into intoxication, which betrays him, unconsciously, into far more dreadful wickedness. And then we hear of him no more. He is left by the sacred narrative, saved indeed from the conflagration of Sodom, but an outcast — widowed, homeless, hopeless, without children or grandchildren, save the authors and the heirs of his shame.” — Speaker’s Commentary.

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 younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi. Ie. son of my people (LXX, Jerome, Augustine), meaning that her child was the offspring of her own kind and blood (Rosenm or the son of her relative (Kalisch), or of an unmixed race ("Speaker"s Commentary"). The same is the father of the children of Ammon an unsettled people who occupied the territory between the Yabbok and the Arnon, from which they had ejected the Rephaims or Zamzummims, (Deu_2:22) and in which they possessed a strong city, Rabbah; (2Sa 40:1) in their habits more migratory and marauding than the Moabites, (Isa 15 Isa 16 Jer 48) and in their religion worshippers of Molech, "the abomination of the Ammonites" (1Ki_11:7) unto this day.

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

והצעירה...בן עמי, meaning “the father of this child was a member of my family.” This name was somewhat more chaste than the name given by her older sister, as she did not spell out that Lot was the father of her child.

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.