Genesis 19:37

Old Testament Law (Torah) ASV (1901)

What does Genesis 19:37 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “And the first-born bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

And the first-born bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.
Genesis 19:37 — American Standard Version

Context — Genesis 19

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
37And the first-born bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab, etc.] As if it was “Meab”, from the father, as Aben Ezra, and so Josephus, that is, which she had by her father; and she was so far from being ashamed that it might be known in time to come, she gave him this name. Hillerus f1194 makes it to be a compound of ba and abwm, and to signify “going into”, or “lying with a father”, which still more notoriously points to her own action. Drusius has another derivation of the word, at least proposes it, and renders it “aqua patris”; “mo” in the Egyptian language signifying “water”, which is sometimes used for seed, (see <234801>Isaiah 48:1): the same [is] the father of the Moabites unto this day;…”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“- The Destruction of Sodom and Amorah 9. גשׁ־הלאה gesh-hāl'âh, “approach to a distant point,” stand back. 11. סנורים sanevērı̂ym, “blindness,” affecting the mental more than the ocular vision. 37. מואב mô'āb, Moab; מאב mē'āb, “from a father.” בן־עמי ben-‛amı̂y, Ben-‘ammi, “son of my people.” עמון ‛amôn, ‘Ammon, “of the people.” This chapter is the continuation and conclusion of the former. It records a part of God’s strange work - strange, because it consists in punishment, and because it is foreign to the covenant of grace. Yet it is closely connected with Abraham’s history, inasmuch as it is a signal chastisement of wickedness in his neighborhood, a memorial of the righteous…”
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Related study paths

Sources and verification