Difference between revisions of "Sodom"

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[[Image:Martin destruction sodom640x422.jpg|thumb|400px|right|Destruction of Sodom by God]]
 
[[Image:Martin destruction sodom640x422.jpg|thumb|400px|right|Destruction of Sodom by God]]
  
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Sodom was an ancient city located in the Holy Lands. It was considered by bible scholars to be the sister city of another populated area known as Gommorah.   Both cities were destroyed in 1898 B.C. by God according the Book of Genesis in the Bible.   Biblical scholars believe the destruction of these twin cities was a statement by God concerning his views of [[Homosexuality | Sodomy and Sodomite Idolatry]] as defined in the [[Homosexuality | Old Testament]].  According the the [[Bible]], God rained burning hot [[lava]] onto the city from the sky, and killed all of the inhabitants because they practiced state sanctioned [[homosexuality | Sodomy and Sodomite Idolatry]]. The Bible also states that Lot's wife "burned in her bosom" for the ways of Sodom and was subsequently killed by God and transformed into a pillar of salt for her admiration of the [[Homosexuality | sodomite]] lifestyle practiced in the city.
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'''Sodom''' was one of five ancient Canaanite<ref>[[Genesis]] 10:19.</ref> "cities of the Plain,"<ref>[[Genesis]] 13:10.</ref> along with its sister city of iniquity, Gomorrah, and Admah, Zeboim and Lasha. The [[Bible]] records that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because, among other sins, they, "and the cities about them in like manner, [were] giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh," and thus "are set forth for an example, suffering the [[vengeance]] of eternal fire." (Jude 1:7 [[KJV]]) Biblical texts confirm that "the cities about them" would be or would include Admah, and Zeboim. (Dt. 29:23; Hos. 11:8) Their destruction was by means of brimstone (thought by some to be hot [[lava]]) and fire from heaven, but which was preceded by the confirmation of the wickedness of Sodom by [[angel]]s of [[God]] (appearing as men), and deliverance of righteous [[Lot]] and those of his family who went with him. Lot's wife however, disobeyed the command of the angels not to look back, and was turned into a pillar of salt.<ref>[[Genesis]] 19:26</ref> This region later became part of the Holy Land of [[Israel]].  
  
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A fascinating part of this event is the "[[struck with blindness]]" by the [[angel]]s of the Sodom residents to protect [[Lot]]'s family.
  
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==The Story of Sodom==
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==Archaeology and Sodom==
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[[Image:sodom1.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Location of the Ancient City of Sodom near the Dead Sea.]]
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[http://www.mcfarland.co.uk/andrew/testimony_articles/2004-01-01][http://www.mcfarland.co.uk/andrew/copyright]
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[[Image:sodom1.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Remains of the ancient city of Bab edh-Dhra, thought by some to be Sodom]]
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The story of [[Homosexuality | Sodom]] is often seen as a story of [[lava | destruction]] and punishment, both at the corporate and individual levels. Sodom was destroyed as was Lot's wife. The story of Sodom is also a story of salvation. It is a story about how an imperfect man, Lot, and how he was saved through faith.
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:''For more, see [[Steven Collins #Tall el-Hammam and the City of Sodom|Tall el-Hammam and the City of Sodom]]
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According to archaeologists, the city of Sodom has been plausibly identified with [[Tall el-Hammam]] by the archaeologist [[Steven Collins]],<ref>Collins, Steven, and Latayne C. Scott. Discovering the City of Sodom: The Fascinating, True Account of the Discovery of the Old Testament's Most Infamous City. Simon and Schuster, 2016.</ref> a site that sits north-east of the [[Dead Sea]] in the [[Jordan]]. Tall el-Hammam was destroyed by an airburst event during the Middle Bronze Age II, which, according to the great egyptologist [[Kenneth Kitchen]],<ref>Kitchen, Kenneth Anderson. On the reliability of the Old Testament. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003. 313-372.</ref> the time of the patriarchs took place and thus the time when Sodom should have been destroyed in the archaeological record.
  
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We know that Sodom was a very sinful city. We know that it was destroyed because of its sinfulness. However, we are not told explicitly in Genesis what the sin of Sodom actually was. The story does tell us implicitly how the Sodomites sinned, and serves as a warning that we must not sin in the same way.  
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The main reasoning of Steven Collins regarding the identification of the city of Sodom is the text of Genesis 13:1-12, which describes [[Lot]]'s itinerary and travel to the city of Sodom before departing from [[Abraham]], and thus describes the exact geographical pathway one must take to get to Sodom, therefore giving a very detailed sequence of geographical features in order to identify the location of the city of Sodom.
  
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'''Sodom in Genesis'''
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''Genesis 13:1-12: Then Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev—he, his wife, and all he had, and Lot with him... He went by stages from the Negev to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been, to the site where he had built the altar. And Abram called on the name of Yahweh there... At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land. Then Abram said to Lot, “Please, let’s not have quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, since we are relatives. Isn’t the whole land before you? Separate from me: if you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left." Lot looked out and saw that the entire Jordan Valley as far as Zoar was well watered everywhere like the Lord’s garden and the land of Egypt. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So Lot chose the entire Jordan Valley for himself. Then Lot journeyed eastward, and they separated from each other. Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot lived in the cities of the plain and set up his tent near Sodom.''
  
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The first few references to Sodom are fairly neutral. We know that it was on the Canaanite border (Genesis 10:19). It was in a fertile, prosperous region (Genesis 13:10). The people of Sodom were "wicked and sinners" before God (Genesis 13:13). The King of Sodom was Bera (Genesis 14:2), and when Bera went to war with Chedorlaomer, Lot was captured. Abraham rescued Lot, and in doing so he rescued Bera and his men. He would not accept any reward for this (Genesis 14).
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Genesis 13:1-12 says that Lot went from Egypt to the Negev-he, and then went from there to a location situated between the two cities of [[Bethel]] and [[Ai]]. After this, Lot travels eastward from Bethel and Ai, eventually getting to Sodom. East of Bethel and Ai leads to the plain north of the Dead Sea in the Jordan, where [[Jericho]] is located on the left, and a cluster of other cities, including Tall el-Hammam, is located on the right. The Bible makes an evident distinction between Jericho and Sodom. Tall el-Hammam is the largest site in the entire plain (kikkar) of the Jordan, and because the Bible likely reveals Sodom to be the most considerable city of the entire plain of the Jordan,<ref>see reference 1, pg. 159</ref> Collins identifies Tall el-Hammam with Sodom. Tall el-Hammam underwent a destruction event from a fiery airburst even, plausibly confirming the destruction of Sodom as described in Genesis 19:24. If Tall el-Hammam is Sodom, then one of its sister-cities in the plain of the Jordan (probably [[Tall Kafrayn]]) would qualify as [[Gomorrah]].
  
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Genesis chapters 18 and 19 contain the most detail about Sodom. At the start of Genesis 18, three angels visit Abraham and Sarah. Abraham welcomes them into his tent. Although he does not immediately recognize them as angels, he nonetheless treats them as honored guests, feeding and making them comfortable.
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In contrast, archaeologist [[Bryant Wood]] takes the minority position that Tall el-Hammam is located at [[Bab edh-Dhra]], rather than Tall el-Hammam, and Numeira is Gomorrah. Although it was thought that these two cities were destroyed by fire at the same time, it is now known that Numeira was destroyed over 250 years before Bab edh-Dhra,<ref>see reference 1, pg. 152</ref> making it unlikely that these two cities could qualify as Sodom and Gomorrah. Bryant Wood has taken issue with Steven Collins' identification of Sodom with Tall el-Hammam and was the first scholar to provide a serious challenge to the work of Collins in 2007,<ref> B. G. Wood, “Locating Sodom: A Critique of the Northern Proposal,” Bible and Spade 23.3 (2007) 78-84.</ref> however since then Collins has provided a long and point-by-point rebuttal to the claims of Wood.<ref>Collins, Steven. A Response to Bryant G. Wood’s Critique
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of Collins’ Northern Sodom Theory. 2007.</ref>
  
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After promising Abraham and Sarah a child the angels set off towards Sodom, and here we get the first indication that Sodom's days are numbered.
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== The story of Sodom ==
  
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:''And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.'' (Genesis 18: 19, 20)
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''See also:'' [[Judgment (theology)]]
  
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The wickedness of Sodom was already well established. The angels had not yet set foot in the city, and its sin was already considered to be very grievous. What we are seeing here is God's formal process of judgement. He did not have to send the angels to Sodom to find out how evil the city was; he already knew. God was prepared to send Jonah to Nineveh, giving the Ninevehites the chance to repent. The Sodomites were also sent messengers from God, and they also had the same chance to repent. The people of Nineveh responded, but the people of Sodom, as we will see in Genesis 19, did not.
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Sodom was on the Canaanite border (Genesis 10:19), and is recorded as being part of a fertile, prosperous region, (Genesis 13:10) which would be highly desirably in an agrarian based economy. However, the people of Sodom were "wicked and sinners" before God (Genesis 13:13). The King of Sodom was Bera (Genesis 14:2), and when Bera went to war with Chedorlaomer, Lot was captured. In response, [[Abraham]], then called Abram, using his own trained servants, rescued Lot as well as Bera and his men. This was the first recorded example of a [[just war]] in the Bible. However, Abraham would not accept any reward for this. (Genesis 14)
  
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Abraham was a man of God, and he knew what Sodom was like. He knew what the angels would find. He asked that Sodom would be spared if as few as ten righteous people were found there. God agreed: Sodom would be spared if there were even ten righteous people there.
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Genesis chapters 18 and 19 contain the most detail about Sodom. At the beginning of Genesis 18, three men visit Abraham and Sarah, and Abraham bows before them, and hastens to treat them as honored guests, feeding under a tree and making them comfortable. They ask where Sarah is, and Abraham and Sarah are promised a child with the year. At this point it is revealed that one of the three men is the LORD, while later it is revealed that the other two men are angels. These two men then set their face toward Sodom, and as Abraham brings them on their way, the LORD reveals to him the purpose of their mission.
  
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The welcome the angels received in Sodom could hardly contrast more with the welcome they received at Abraham's tent. They were treated as honored guests by all of Abraham's household. At Sodom, the only one who welcomed them was Lot himself. Lot's wife, his daughters, and his sons in law are conspicuous by their absence. Lot's family sinned by inaction. The people of Sodom then tried to commit a terrible sin through action.
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:"And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know." (Genesis 18: 19, 20)
  
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But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. (Genesis 19:4, 5)
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It is thus seen that the very grievous wickedness of Sodom was already well established, well before the angels had not yet set foot in the city, but which would be confirmed by their reaction to the angelic men. This method is seen as being part of the formal process of [[*[[Judgment (theology)|judgment by God]], in which the reaction to messengers of God confirms their worthiness of wrath. (Mt. 11:20) A different reaction was manifested by the people of Nineveh to the preaching of [[Jonah (prophet)|Jonah]] the prophet of God.
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Abraham knows that his (decidedly weaker in faith) nephew Lot was in Sodom, and Abraham reverently inquires of God if he would spare the city if 50, then 45, then 30, then 20, or even 10 righteous people were found in it, with God affirming he would not destroy it after each request, for the sake of the righteous yet dwelling therein. The two angels of God proceed to Sodom and are met by Abraham's righteous nephew Lot, who constrains the angels to lodge with him, and they eat with his family.
  
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The entire population of the city - male and female1 - surrounded Lot's house. That mob had one thing in its collective mind. They wanted to rape the visitors, exactly as the men of Gilbeah would want to rape the Levite in Judges.
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[[Image:A02j LotAndDaughters.jpg|thumbnail|right|250px|[[Lot]] and his daughters fleeing Sodom.]]
  
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Abraham had done everything he could to make the visitors welcome, even though he had never met them before. The people of Sodom wanted to take the visitors out of the comfort of Lot's care and they wanted to physically abuse them in the worst possible way.
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However, similar to the parallel story in Judges 19, 
  
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Sometimes this incident is portrayed as sinful because of the gross inhospitality. Other times the attempted gang rape is seen as the core sin. Both points of view contain some truth. The Sodomites were inhospitable, but that inhospitality was not just a casual neglect of the visitors. It was an active attempt to harm them. The Sodomites were attempting gang rape, but they were not going to rape just anybody. They were going after two men who were on their own. Two men traveling without armed companions. Two men who, as far as they could see, had no means of defense.
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:"But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. (Genesis 19:4, 5)
  
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There can be no doubt. The sin the men of Sodom were attempting to commit was very grievous.
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In response, Lot pleads with his countrymen,
  
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The sinful nature of the city was already well established when the angels arrived. Abraham knew what the angels would find, and he knew it would lead to the destruction of the city, and that is why he pleaded that the city should be spared if there were even ten righteous people. The people of Sodom were already being described as wicked at the time of Genesis 13.
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:"I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. (Genesis 19:7,8)
  
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What was the sin of Sodom? What was it about Sodom that made Lot's wife look back? To answer this question we need to look at some of the later references to Sodom.
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However, this offer is refused, and instead the crowd threatens to do worse to Lot then they would have done to his guests, and press sore upon him, almost breaking the door. In response, Lot's angelic guests pull him inside, shut the door, and strike the men with blindness, no doubt revealing to the Sodomites that Lot's guests were no ordinary men. Lot is then commanded by the angels to gather his family and leave, revealing that the Lord will destroy the region. However, Lot's sons in law do not believe him, and while Lot himself lingers, the angels take him and his wife and their two daughters by the hand, "the LORD being merciful unto him", and set them outside the city. The angels also command Lot and his family not to look back under any circumstances. However, as Sodom and Gomorrah were being destroyed by fire and brimstone from God, Lot's wife looks back at the city, and becomes a pillar of salt.
  
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===The example of Sodom===
  
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===Sodom in Isaiah and Jeremiah===
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Sodom is often used in the Bible as an example of a people given to iniquity, and the climatic utter destruction of Sodom is invoked as an example of the wrath of God against ongoing impenitence and sin.  However, it is also seen as a story of the salvation of God, by His deliverance of God-fearing Lot, while Jesus referred to Lot's wife in warning not to look back to that which God has called the redeemed to leave behind. (Lk. 17:31,32)<ref>Matthew Henry, Gen 19:26</ref> 
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Genesis 19:24-25 records,
  
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We get an indication of the nature of Sodom in Isaiah and Jeremiah.
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:"...the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground." [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2019:24-25;&version=49; Genesis 19:24-25]
  
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:''Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.'' (Isaiah 1:10,11)
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2Peter 2:6-7 (KJV) also references both Sodom and Lot,
  
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These words were directed at the rulers and people of Israel. Their ostentatious sacrifice was being offered in the wrong way and for the wrong reasons. The people this message was directed at had distorted religion. They were worshiping God in a way he didn't want them to. The people are also compared to Sodom and Gomorrah.
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:"And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;  And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked".
  
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They would not have been compared to Sodom if they had had nothing in common with Sodom. The issue under discussion is inappropriate worship. Isaiah 1 at the very least suggests that Sodom was also worshiping God in a distorted, unwanted, manner.
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{{bibleverse||Jude|1:7|KJV}}, affirms that both Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them were "giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."
  
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False worship is also associated with Sodom and Gomorrah in Jeremiah,
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{{bibleverse||Isaiah|3:9|KJV}}, associates Sodom with shameless sinning. 
  
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:''And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness; they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.'' (Jeremiah 23:13, 14)
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{{bibleverse||Jeremiah|23:14|KJV}} associates Sodom and Gomorrah with adultery and lies.
  
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The prophets of Jerusalem are said to commit adultery, walk in lies, and strengthen the hand of evildoers. This support of evildoers also features in the most important Old Testament reference to Sodom, outside of Genesis.
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In Ezekiel 16:48-50 (KJV), God compares [[Jerusalem]] to Sodom, saying "As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.  (49)  Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.  (50)  And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.
  
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''See References below. The "high places" mentioned througout the Old Testament refer to the "poles of Astereth", phallic shrines used by worshipers of the Sodomite religion ([[Homosexuals | Homosexuality]]).''
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{{bibleverse||Mark|6:11-12|KJV}}(cf. Mt. 11:20-24; Lk. 10:1-12), Jesus declares certain cities more damnable than Sodom and Gomorrah, due to their response to Jesus' disciples, in the light of greater grace.  
  
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{{bibleverse||Luke|17:28-29|KJV}}, uses Sodom as an example of indifference; careless living.
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==== Additional biblical References to Sodom and Gomorrah ====
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* (Eze. 16:49)
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* (Gen. 13:13)
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* (Gen. 19:1-25; Jgs. 19)
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* (Lev. 20:13; Rom. 1:32)
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* (Deut. 23:17,18; Mat. 7:6; Phil. 3:2)
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* (Deut. 32:32,33)
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* (Isa. 3:9)
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* (Jer. 6:15)
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* (Psa. 5:5)
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* (Jn. 8:44)
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* (2 Pet. 2:7,8)
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* (2 Pet. 2:12)
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* (2 Pet. 2:22)
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* (Lk. 17:28-30)
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* (Rom. 1:23-28)
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* (Jude 7)
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* (Jude 23)
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* (Rev. 22:15)
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* (Jer. 6:15)
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* (I Timothy 4:2-4)
  
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===Sodom in Ezekiel===
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==Sodom and homosexuality==
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{{See also|Homosexuality and biblical interpretation#Genesis 19|l1=Genesis 19}}
  
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Ezekiel tells us exactly what the sin of Sodom was.
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Theological liberals often attempt to explain Sodom's primary sin as inhospitality rather than homosexuality.<ref>Lacey, Troy (August 3, 2019). [https://answersingenesis.org/contradictions-in-the-bible/what-was-primary-sin-sodom-gomorrah/ What Was the Primary Sin in Sodom and Gomorrah?] ''Answers in Genesis''. Retrieved September 15, 2019.</ref><ref>[https://www.gotquestions.org/Sodom-and-Gomorrah.html What was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?] ''Got Questions''. Retrieved September 15, 2019.</ref> Classical Jewish commentary consistently condemns homosexuality, yet comments on Sodom, though not abundant, most usually mention traditions which tell of the cruelty of Sodom to strangers, but not its manifestation in homosexual rape.  Reasons for this include the references to lack of charity and injustice elsewhere in the Bible, such as Ezekiel, and also because the angels were in Sodom ''because'' God had already decided to destroy it (Gen. 19:13) and so the attempted homosexual rape was "just" further evidence of the total depravity of the city. However, Hellenistic Jewish philosopher Philo (20 BC - 50 AD) described the inhabitants of Sodom,
  
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:''Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed [[Homosexuality | abomination]] before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.'' (Ezekiel 16:49, 50)
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"As men, being unable to bear discreetly a satiety of these things, get restive like cattle, and become stiff-necked, and discard the laws of nature, pursuing a great and intemperate indulgence of gluttony, and drinking, and unlawful connections; for not only did they go mad after other women, and defile the marriage bed of others, but also those who were men lusted after one another, doing unseemly things, and not regarding or respecting their common nature, and though eager for children, they were convicted by having only an abortive offspring; but the conviction produced no advantage, since they were overcome by violent desire; and so by degrees, the men became accustomed to be treated like women, and in this way engendered among themselves the disease of females, and intolerable evil; for they not only, as to effeminacy and delicacy, became like women in their persons, but they also made their souls most ignoble, corrupting in this way the whole race of men, as far as depended on them" [133-34; ET Jonge 422-23] (The Sodom tradition in Romans Biblical Theology Bulletin, Spring, 2004 by Philip F. Esler).
  
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Pride, fullness of bread, abundance of idleness, neglect of the poor and needy, haughty, and committed [[Homosexuality | abomination.]]
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In summarizing the Genesis 19 account, the Jewish historian Josephus also stated:
  
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This is why the sin of Sodom is a warning to us all. The sin of Sodom something unspeakable that only some people are prone to commit. The sin of Sodom was pride, materialism, haughtiness, and neglect of the poor and needy.
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“About this time the Sodomites grew proud, on account of their riches and great wealth; they became unjust towards men, and impious towards God, in so much that they did not call to mind the advantages they received from him: they hated strangers, and abused themselves with Sodomitical practices” “Now when the Sodomites saw the young men to be of beautiful countenances, and this to an extraordinary degree, and that they took up their lodgings with Lot, they resolved themselves to enjoy these beautiful boys by force and violence” (Antiquities 1.11.1 — circa A.D. 96).  
  
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Other statements from the [[Pseudepigrapha]] are seen to testify likewise.
  
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Consider the two angels from the point of view of the Sodomites. Here were two travelers with no means of defense. They had nowhere to sleep. The people of Sodom neglected these poor and needy travelers. Later on, the whole city works together in the attempted gang rape. There is no record of anybody apart from Lot trying to stop it. Some of the people, those at the back of the crowd, would merely have been failing to strengthen the hand of the poor and needy through their inaction. Those towards the front were actively adding their support, strengthening the hand of those at the front, those evil people who lead the lynch mob.
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Traditionally, most Christian scholars and commentators have seen homoeroticism as evidencing the extreme moral degradation of Sodom, and ultimately being causative of its judgment, with the destruction of Sodom being an eternal statement on God's view of [[homosexual]] relations.  
  
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The Sodomites committed abomination. The Hebrew word translated abomination here is tow'ebah. In the Old Testament this word is normally used in connection with inappropriate worship. Idol worship, for example, is considered tow'ebah in Deuteronomy 7:26 and 26. Tow'ebah is used of conscious inappropriate worship. Someone who didn't know any better would not be committing tow'ebah by sacrificing to an idol. Someone who knew the law of Moses certainly would.
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Concerning Jude 1:7, the noted but normally tempered commentator, Matthew Henry solemnly warns,
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...they were guilty of abominable wickedness, not to be named or thought of but with the utmost abhorrence and detestation; their ruin is a particular warning to all people to take heed of, and fly fRom. fleshly lusts that war against the soul, 1Pe_2:11. “These lusts consumed the Sodomites with fire from heaven, and they are now suffering the vengeance of eternal fire; therefore take heed, imitate not their sins, lest the same plagues overtake you as did them. God is the same holy, just, pure Being now as then; and can the beastly pleasures of a moment make amends for your suffering the vengeance of eternal fire? Stand in awe, therefore, and sin not,” Psa_4:4.
  
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At the very least, the use of tow'ebah in Ezekiel 16:50 suggests that the people of Sodom did have some knowledge of God that the rejected. Ezekiel 16 is directed towards Jerusalem. If the people of Sodom had heard the word of God as the people of Jerusalem had then it is even more appropriate that Sodom and Jerusalem are considered sisters. They not only shared a knowledge of God, but they shared a rejection of God. The people of Sodom were not ignorant innocents punished by a brutal God.
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Likewise John Gill comments,  
  
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...and going after strange flesh; or "other flesh"; meaning not other women besides their own wives, but men; and designs that detestable and unnatural sin, which, from these people, is called sodomy to this day; and which is an exceeding great sin, contrary to the light of nature and law of God, dishonourable to human nature, and scandalous to a nation and people, and commonly prevails where idolatry and infidelity do,...
  
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===Sodom in the Gospels===
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Also, Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown:
  
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:''Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat. And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. And when ye come into an house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.'' (Matthew 10:9-15)
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...going after strange flesh — departing from the course of nature, and going after that which is unnatural. In later times the most enlightened heathen nations indulged in the sin of Sodom without compunction or shame.
  
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Of the five references to Sodom in the Gospels, three reinforce the connection between Sodom and inhospitality - Matthew 10:15, Mark 6:11 and Luke 10:12. Hospitality - kindness to others - is a key part of Christ's teaching, and we would expect that a city destroyed for inhospitality, neglect of the poor and needy, would feature as an example.
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Archibald Thomas Robertson adds,  
  
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One of the references - Matthew 11:23,24 - simply uses Sodom as an example of an iniquitous city. The final reference uses Sodom as a warning for the followers of Christ living in the last days:
+
Strange flesh (sarkos heteras). Horrible [[licentiousness]], not simply with women not their wives or in other nations, but even unnatural uses (Rom_1:27) for which the very word “sodomy” is used (Gen_19:4-11).
  
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:''And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.'' (Luke 17:26-30)
+
In contrast, pro homosexual apologists most typically contend that the sin of Sodom in Gn. 19 was non-sexual inhospitality,<ref>Bailey, Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition', p. 8; McNeil, The Church and the Homosexual, p. 50; Boswell, Christianity, social tolerance, and homosexuality, pp 93-94</ref> and which polemic primarily focuses upon the Hebrew word for ''know'' in Gn. 19:5 (and synginomai the Greek [[Septuagint]]) and the attribution of non-sexual sins in Ezekiel 16:49 and Matthew 11:20-24. Traditionalists counter that sound [[Bible exegesis]] best evidences that Lot's countrymen (the Sodomites) sought sex.<ref>[http://www.str.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5702 Gregory Koukl, What was the Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?]</ref><ref>[http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/480 Dave Miller, Sodom—Inhospitality or Homosexuality?]</ref>  This is based upon the use of "know in Gn. 19:8 and its 14 other occurrences in the O.T.(and synginomai in Gn. 39:10 and in the Apocrypha and other literature) for sex, as well as the parallel story of Judges 19, and the specific attribution of sexual sins to Sodom and its region in Jude 1:7, concluding in a perverse manner of such.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXAVf8m_HKgC&pg=PA37&lpg=PA37&dq=early+christian+writings+on+homosexuality&source=bl&ots=ZjVFV3k7Fe&sig=75PdqP0qrE9AeeJxBSlcfhG0hdE&hl=en&ei=ljkbSu7xF4S0MJCchY8P&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=19#PPA36,M1 Homosexuality, by James B. DeYoung, pp. 32-39, 118-122]</ref>
  
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The days of Lot and the days of Noah had one important thing in common: the people were worldly and materialistic, and that is what people will be like before the return of Christ. Pride, fullness of bread, abundance of idleness, neglect of the poor and needy.
+
===Sodom in Isaiah and Jeremiah (False religion)===
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Sodom in the Rest of the New Testament
+
  
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The parallels between the days of Lot, the days of Noah and the last days are used as exhortation in 2nd Peter chapter 2, verses 5 to 9:
+
Rulers in Israel are addressed as heads of Sodom and Gomorrah in Isaiah and Jeremiah due their false worship, and the injustices and other aspects of immorality whichg resulted from it.  (cf. Romans 1:16-32)
  
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:''And [God] spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished''
+
:''Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.'' (Isaiah 1:10,11)
 +
 +
False worship is also associated with Sodom and Gomorrah in Jeremiah,
  
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Just as Lot was vexed with the filthy conversation - the godless incontinent lifestyles - of those around him, the disciples of Christ will be and are vexed by the godless incontinent people in the 21st Century. To be vexed by these things is not the same as fearing that we have been abandoned by God. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly, and as he delivered Lot, so he will also deliver us.
+
:''And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness; they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.'' (Jeremiah 23:13, 14)
  
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The most puzzling reference to Sodom in the New Testament - probably the most puzzling of all Biblical references to Sodom - is found in Jude:
+
The prophets of Jerusalem reprove Israel for its widespread adultery, lying, and strengthening the hand of evildoers. This reference to supporting evildoers and remaining impenitent is seen as a  most important Old Testament reference to Sodom, outside of Genesis.
  
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:''I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.'' (Jude 5 -7)
+
===Sodom in Ezekiel (Idleness, or affluence without charity)===
  
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There are three groups here: "the people out of the land of Egypt", "the angels which kept not their first estate", and "Sodom and Gomorrha". The first two groups rebelled against God and were punished, so Jude supports my conclusion that Sodom and Gomorrah were not godless cities destroyed for their godlessness, but were rebellious cities destroyed for their rebellion, just as "the people out of the land of Egypt", "the angels which kept not their first estate" were punished for their rebellion.
+
Ezekiel 16:49, 50 similarly explain that the sins of Sodom were pride, materialism, haughtiness, and neglect of the poor and needy, and which the story of Lot exemplified.  
  
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The puzzling part of this passage is "going after strange flesh". It is possible that this is an obscure reference to the attempted rape of the angels. This would be another parallel between the days of Lot and the days of Noah (Genesis 6:1-4). Indeed, the "angels which kept not their first estate" may also be the "sons of God" described  in Genesis 62.  
+
However, such a condition is usually concomitant with sexual sin, and is implicated in the fall of the [[Roman Empire]].<ref>(historian D. Earl), referenced by Young, Homosexuality, p. 153</ref> Ezekiel goes to state that the Sodomites committed abomination, with the Hebrew word used here being tow'ebah. In the Old Testament this word is normally used in connection with idol worship, such as in Deuteronomy 7:26, as well as other moral sins, including those of a sexual nature. (Lv.18:22; 26-27,29,30; 20:13; Dt. 23:18; 24:4 1Ki. 14:24; Ezek. 16:2258; 22:11; 33:26)
  
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The fate of Lot's wife is probably the most chilling aspect of the story of Sodom.
+
===Sodom in the Gospels===
  
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:''And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed… The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.'' (Gen 19:17-26)
+
In the gospels, Jesus sends His disciples out on a mission to preach his word, and to heal the sick, and cast out demons, [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:11-15;&version=49; Matthew 10:5-15] and [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2010:5-12;&version=49; Luke 10:1-12] and further instructs them,
 +
 
 +
:''In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. Mar 6:12  And they went out, and preached that men should repent. (Mk. 6:10-12)  
  
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Lots wife looked back, and for that transgression she was killed. When I was growing up I used to have the image of Lot and his family fleeing from Sodom with terrible sounds behind them, and Lot's wife was struck down for glancing over her shoulder, perhaps showing concern for the people she had once lived with. That is not what happened. It was not a casual glance that cost her her life. It was not a concerned glance as they were fleeing. Lots wife looked back after they had escaped. They had reached safety, saved by the hand of God. She looked back with longing, she looked back to the city where they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, and they built, but they did not concern themselves with the things of God. She had been saved from Sodom, but she did not really want to be. She snatched damnation from the jaws of salvation.
+
This is understood by some as evidencing that the cause of Sodom's judgment was inhospitality.<ref>Bailey, Homosexuality and Western Tradition, pp. 1-28; McNeil, Church and the Homosexual, pp. 42-50;  Boswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality, pp. 92-97</ref>  Countering this it is pointed out that the reason Jesus condemned those cities was "because they repented not." (Mt. 11:20), which, as in the inhospitably of Sodom, was the root cause of their rejection of the disciples of the Lord.<ref>[http://homosexvsthebible.wikia.com/wiki/Homosexual_relations_and_the_Bible#Ezekiel_16:49_and_inhospitality_texts Homosexual relations and the Bible]</ref>
  
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This is why Christ tells us to remember Lot's wife. Looking over your shoulder is not intrinsically sinful. Looking back with desire to a sinful, Godless lifestyle, is what we must never do.
+
===Sodom in Jude===
  
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Look at the way Christ describes it:
+
The most explicit reference to Sodom in the New Testament is found in the short book of Jude, in which one aspect has seen some varied interpretations. 
  
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:''And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.'' (Luke 17:26-33)
+
:''I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.'' - Jude 5 -7 (KJV)
  
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He that was on the housetop was not to go back for his possessions. He that was in the field was to leave without his things. And the third example? Remember Lot's wife.
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This section is part of a discourse warning of [[apostasy]], in which contemporary examples of those who are acting in rebellion to truth are likened to past examples, from Israelites who were faithless and disobedient to God, to angels who left their ordained position in rebellion against God, to Sodom and Gomorrah and like cities, who likewise acted in rebellion to God's order. While Sodom did not have the light the previous parties were given, as they were pagan Canaanites, pagan rebellion is detailed in [[Roman 1]], in which many iniquities are named as the result of rejection of truth which God has given by way of creation.
  
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Do not go back for your material things, for your lifestyle, your stuff in the house. Remember Lot's wife. She was worldly, and that was her downfall.
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The part of verse 7 which commentators have found intriguing is "going after strange flesh". Pro homosexual writers seek to disallow its meaning as referring to homosexual relations, pointing out that the word for "strange" usually means ''another'' or ''other'', and contend that if it was sexual, then it referred attempted sex with angels. However, countering this is the traditionalist argument which points out that the wickedness of Sodom was regional, and that no distinction is indicated that only Sodom was going after strange flesh. Genesis 18 reveals that the angels appearance as men was in order to find out whether the cry of Sodomy was true, and it is certain that this cry was not that of seeking sex with angels. It is also understood that it would be unlikely that the Sodomites (or even Lot: Heb. 13:2) knew Lot's visitors men were angels. In addition, it is seen that the word for strange can easily mean that is which is unlawful or perverse, as in Rm. 7:3 or Gal. 1:6<ref>[http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/Homosex_versus_the_Bible.html#Jude Homosexual relations and the Bible, Jude 1:7]</ref> Dave Miller states this pertains to the indulgence of passions that are “contrary to nature” (Barnes, 1949, p.&nbsp;393)—“a departure from the laws of nature in the impurities practiced” (Salmond, 1950, 22:7).<ref>Dave Miller, Ph.D. http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/480</ref> Gagnon provides six indications why "giving themselves over to fornication" alludes, at least in part, to attempted male-male intercourse.<ref>[http://www.robgagnon.net/RevCountryman.htm RESPONSE TO PROF. L. WILLIAM COUNTRYMAN’S REVIEW IN ANGLICAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW; On Careless Exegesis and Jude 7]</ref> After examining evidence for both positions,  Thomas E. Schmidt  states, "The first Christians undoubtedly connected the sin of Sodom to the sin of same-sex relations and used the name of city as a symbol for extreme sexual wrongdoing, including but not limited to same-sex relations.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Zeotd-ylKtwC&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=quotes+Straight+and+Narrow?+Compassion+and+Clarity+in+the+Homosexuality+Debate&source=web&ots=WOXT85Pbxk&sig=8W9pkL8rcJ_7PS6oXbZ1QQBWCxQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPA97,M1 Straight & narrow? by Thomas E. Schmidt]</ref>
  
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But we must also remember Lot. Even when receiving a direct instruction from his angelic visitors, Lot hesitated and disobeyed, and he hesitated and disobeyed because of his family.
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==Other References==
  
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:''And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.'' (Gen 19:14-16)
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<References/>
  
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== Fundamental Christian Teachings ==
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[[Category:Biblical Places]]
  
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Many Christians believe God's treatment of Sodom and Gommorah was an eternal statement on his views of Homosexuality.   Notably, Two Angels of God visited the city and the Homosexual inhabitants attempted to rape both of them in front of Lot's home. The Angels struck the sodomites blind and provided safe passage for Lot, a servant of the Living God, from Sodom according the the Biblical account. During the journey from Sodom, Lot's wife, who turned to look back at Sodom, was killed by God for her disobediance and her yearning for her homosexual friends.  Many Christians and Biblical Scholars believe the transformation of Lot's wife into a pillar of salt was a statement by God concerning his views and eventual punishment of any non-Homosexuals who endorse, sponsor, or support the Homosexual Lifestyle or agenda.
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==External links==
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*[http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/Homosex_versus_the_Bible.html#Jude Homosexual relations and the Bible]
  
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== Biblical References to [[Homosexuality | Sodomites]], [[Homosexuality | Sodomy]], and Sodom and Gommorah ==
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{{Bible Cities}}
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* (Gen. 13:13)
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* (Gen. 19:1-25; Jgs. 19)
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* (Lev. 18:22),
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* (Lev. 20:13; Rom. 1:32)
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* (Deut. 23:17,18; Mat. 7:6; Phil. 3:2)
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* (Deut. 32:32,33)
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* (Isa. 3:9)
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* (Jer. 6:15)
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* (Psa. 5:5)
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* (Jn. 8:44)
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* (2 Pet. 2:7,8)
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* (2 Pet. 2:12)
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* (2 Pet. 2:22)
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* (Lk. 17:28-30)
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* (Rom. 1:23-28)
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* (Jude 7)
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* (Jude 23)
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* (Rev. 22:15)
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* (Jer. 6:15)
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* (I Timothy 4:2-4)
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Latest revision as of 20:11, October 19, 2025

Destruction of Sodom by God

Sodom was one of five ancient Canaanite[1] "cities of the Plain,"[2] along with its sister city of iniquity, Gomorrah, and Admah, Zeboim and Lasha. The Bible records that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because, among other sins, they, "and the cities about them in like manner, [were] giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh," and thus "are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." (Jude 1:7 KJV) Biblical texts confirm that "the cities about them" would be or would include Admah, and Zeboim. (Dt. 29:23; Hos. 11:8) Their destruction was by means of brimstone (thought by some to be hot lava) and fire from heaven, but which was preceded by the confirmation of the wickedness of Sodom by angels of God (appearing as men), and deliverance of righteous Lot and those of his family who went with him. Lot's wife however, disobeyed the command of the angels not to look back, and was turned into a pillar of salt.[3] This region later became part of the Holy Land of Israel.

A fascinating part of this event is the "struck with blindness" by the angels of the Sodom residents to protect Lot's family.

Archaeology and Sodom

Remains of the ancient city of Bab edh-Dhra, thought by some to be Sodom
For more, see Tall el-Hammam and the City of Sodom

According to archaeologists, the city of Sodom has been plausibly identified with Tall el-Hammam by the archaeologist Steven Collins,[4] a site that sits north-east of the Dead Sea in the Jordan. Tall el-Hammam was destroyed by an airburst event during the Middle Bronze Age II, which, according to the great egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen,[5] the time of the patriarchs took place and thus the time when Sodom should have been destroyed in the archaeological record.

The main reasoning of Steven Collins regarding the identification of the city of Sodom is the text of Genesis 13:1-12, which describes Lot's itinerary and travel to the city of Sodom before departing from Abraham, and thus describes the exact geographical pathway one must take to get to Sodom, therefore giving a very detailed sequence of geographical features in order to identify the location of the city of Sodom.

Genesis 13:1-12: Then Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev—he, his wife, and all he had, and Lot with him... He went by stages from the Negev to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been, to the site where he had built the altar. And Abram called on the name of Yahweh there... At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land. Then Abram said to Lot, “Please, let’s not have quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, since we are relatives. Isn’t the whole land before you? Separate from me: if you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left." Lot looked out and saw that the entire Jordan Valley as far as Zoar was well watered everywhere like the Lord’s garden and the land of Egypt. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So Lot chose the entire Jordan Valley for himself. Then Lot journeyed eastward, and they separated from each other. Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot lived in the cities of the plain and set up his tent near Sodom.

Genesis 13:1-12 says that Lot went from Egypt to the Negev-he, and then went from there to a location situated between the two cities of Bethel and Ai. After this, Lot travels eastward from Bethel and Ai, eventually getting to Sodom. East of Bethel and Ai leads to the plain north of the Dead Sea in the Jordan, where Jericho is located on the left, and a cluster of other cities, including Tall el-Hammam, is located on the right. The Bible makes an evident distinction between Jericho and Sodom. Tall el-Hammam is the largest site in the entire plain (kikkar) of the Jordan, and because the Bible likely reveals Sodom to be the most considerable city of the entire plain of the Jordan,[6] Collins identifies Tall el-Hammam with Sodom. Tall el-Hammam underwent a destruction event from a fiery airburst even, plausibly confirming the destruction of Sodom as described in Genesis 19:24. If Tall el-Hammam is Sodom, then one of its sister-cities in the plain of the Jordan (probably Tall Kafrayn) would qualify as Gomorrah.

In contrast, archaeologist Bryant Wood takes the minority position that Tall el-Hammam is located at Bab edh-Dhra, rather than Tall el-Hammam, and Numeira is Gomorrah. Although it was thought that these two cities were destroyed by fire at the same time, it is now known that Numeira was destroyed over 250 years before Bab edh-Dhra,[7] making it unlikely that these two cities could qualify as Sodom and Gomorrah. Bryant Wood has taken issue with Steven Collins' identification of Sodom with Tall el-Hammam and was the first scholar to provide a serious challenge to the work of Collins in 2007,[8] however since then Collins has provided a long and point-by-point rebuttal to the claims of Wood.[9]

The story of Sodom

See also: Judgment (theology)

Sodom was on the Canaanite border (Genesis 10:19), and is recorded as being part of a fertile, prosperous region, (Genesis 13:10) which would be highly desirably in an agrarian based economy. However, the people of Sodom were "wicked and sinners" before God (Genesis 13:13). The King of Sodom was Bera (Genesis 14:2), and when Bera went to war with Chedorlaomer, Lot was captured. In response, Abraham, then called Abram, using his own trained servants, rescued Lot as well as Bera and his men. This was the first recorded example of a just war in the Bible. However, Abraham would not accept any reward for this. (Genesis 14)

Genesis chapters 18 and 19 contain the most detail about Sodom. At the beginning of Genesis 18, three men visit Abraham and Sarah, and Abraham bows before them, and hastens to treat them as honored guests, feeding under a tree and making them comfortable. They ask where Sarah is, and Abraham and Sarah are promised a child with the year. At this point it is revealed that one of the three men is the LORD, while later it is revealed that the other two men are angels. These two men then set their face toward Sodom, and as Abraham brings them on their way, the LORD reveals to him the purpose of their mission.

"And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know." (Genesis 18: 19, 20)

It is thus seen that the very grievous wickedness of Sodom was already well established, well before the angels had not yet set foot in the city, but which would be confirmed by their reaction to the angelic men. This method is seen as being part of the formal process of [[*judgment by God, in which the reaction to messengers of God confirms their worthiness of wrath. (Mt. 11:20) A different reaction was manifested by the people of Nineveh to the preaching of Jonah the prophet of God.

Abraham knows that his (decidedly weaker in faith) nephew Lot was in Sodom, and Abraham reverently inquires of God if he would spare the city if 50, then 45, then 30, then 20, or even 10 righteous people were found in it, with God affirming he would not destroy it after each request, for the sake of the righteous yet dwelling therein. The two angels of God proceed to Sodom and are met by Abraham's righteous nephew Lot, who constrains the angels to lodge with him, and they eat with his family.

Lot and his daughters fleeing Sodom.

However, similar to the parallel story in Judges 19,

"But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. (Genesis 19:4, 5)

In response, Lot pleads with his countrymen,

"I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. (Genesis 19:7,8)

However, this offer is refused, and instead the crowd threatens to do worse to Lot then they would have done to his guests, and press sore upon him, almost breaking the door. In response, Lot's angelic guests pull him inside, shut the door, and strike the men with blindness, no doubt revealing to the Sodomites that Lot's guests were no ordinary men. Lot is then commanded by the angels to gather his family and leave, revealing that the Lord will destroy the region. However, Lot's sons in law do not believe him, and while Lot himself lingers, the angels take him and his wife and their two daughters by the hand, "the LORD being merciful unto him", and set them outside the city. The angels also command Lot and his family not to look back under any circumstances. However, as Sodom and Gomorrah were being destroyed by fire and brimstone from God, Lot's wife looks back at the city, and becomes a pillar of salt.

The example of Sodom

Sodom is often used in the Bible as an example of a people given to iniquity, and the climatic utter destruction of Sodom is invoked as an example of the wrath of God against ongoing impenitence and sin. However, it is also seen as a story of the salvation of God, by His deliverance of God-fearing Lot, while Jesus referred to Lot's wife in warning not to look back to that which God has called the redeemed to leave behind. (Lk. 17:31,32)[10]

Genesis 19:24-25 records,

"...the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground." Genesis 19:24-25

2Peter 2:6-7 (KJV) also references both Sodom and Lot,

"And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked".

Jude 1:7, affirms that both Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them were "giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."

Isaiah 3:9, associates Sodom with shameless sinning.

Jeremiah 23:14 associates Sodom and Gomorrah with adultery and lies.

In Ezekiel 16:48-50 (KJV), God compares Jerusalem to Sodom, saying "As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. (49) Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. (50) And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

Mark 6:11-12(cf. Mt. 11:20-24; Lk. 10:1-12), Jesus declares certain cities more damnable than Sodom and Gomorrah, due to their response to Jesus' disciples, in the light of greater grace.

Luke 17:28-29, uses Sodom as an example of indifference; careless living.

Additional biblical References to Sodom and Gomorrah

  • (Eze. 16:49)
  • (Gen. 13:13)
  • (Gen. 19:1-25; Jgs. 19)
  • (Lev. 20:13; Rom. 1:32)
  • (Deut. 23:17,18; Mat. 7:6; Phil. 3:2)
  • (Deut. 32:32,33)
  • (Isa. 3:9)
  • (Jer. 6:15)
  • (Psa. 5:5)
  • (Jn. 8:44)
  • (2 Pet. 2:7,8)
  • (2 Pet. 2:12)
  • (2 Pet. 2:22)
  • (Lk. 17:28-30)
  • (Rom. 1:23-28)
  • (Jude 7)
  • (Jude 23)
  • (Rev. 22:15)
  • (Jer. 6:15)
  • (I Timothy 4:2-4)

Sodom and homosexuality

See also: Genesis 19

Theological liberals often attempt to explain Sodom's primary sin as inhospitality rather than homosexuality.[11][12] Classical Jewish commentary consistently condemns homosexuality, yet comments on Sodom, though not abundant, most usually mention traditions which tell of the cruelty of Sodom to strangers, but not its manifestation in homosexual rape. Reasons for this include the references to lack of charity and injustice elsewhere in the Bible, such as Ezekiel, and also because the angels were in Sodom because God had already decided to destroy it (Gen. 19:13) and so the attempted homosexual rape was "just" further evidence of the total depravity of the city. However, Hellenistic Jewish philosopher Philo (20 BC - 50 AD) described the inhabitants of Sodom,

"As men, being unable to bear discreetly a satiety of these things, get restive like cattle, and become stiff-necked, and discard the laws of nature, pursuing a great and intemperate indulgence of gluttony, and drinking, and unlawful connections; for not only did they go mad after other women, and defile the marriage bed of others, but also those who were men lusted after one another, doing unseemly things, and not regarding or respecting their common nature, and though eager for children, they were convicted by having only an abortive offspring; but the conviction produced no advantage, since they were overcome by violent desire; and so by degrees, the men became accustomed to be treated like women, and in this way engendered among themselves the disease of females, and intolerable evil; for they not only, as to effeminacy and delicacy, became like women in their persons, but they also made their souls most ignoble, corrupting in this way the whole race of men, as far as depended on them" [133-34; ET Jonge 422-23] (The Sodom tradition in Romans Biblical Theology Bulletin, Spring, 2004 by Philip F. Esler).

In summarizing the Genesis 19 account, the Jewish historian Josephus also stated:

“About this time the Sodomites grew proud, on account of their riches and great wealth; they became unjust towards men, and impious towards God, in so much that they did not call to mind the advantages they received from him: they hated strangers, and abused themselves with Sodomitical practices” “Now when the Sodomites saw the young men to be of beautiful countenances, and this to an extraordinary degree, and that they took up their lodgings with Lot, they resolved themselves to enjoy these beautiful boys by force and violence” (Antiquities 1.11.1 — circa A.D. 96).

Other statements from the Pseudepigrapha are seen to testify likewise.

Traditionally, most Christian scholars and commentators have seen homoeroticism as evidencing the extreme moral degradation of Sodom, and ultimately being causative of its judgment, with the destruction of Sodom being an eternal statement on God's view of homosexual relations.

Concerning Jude 1:7, the noted but normally tempered commentator, Matthew Henry solemnly warns,

...they were guilty of abominable wickedness, not to be named or thought of but with the utmost abhorrence and detestation; their ruin is a particular warning to all people to take heed of, and fly fRom. fleshly lusts that war against the soul, 1Pe_2:11. “These lusts consumed the Sodomites with fire from heaven, and they are now suffering the vengeance of eternal fire; therefore take heed, imitate not their sins, lest the same plagues overtake you as did them. God is the same holy, just, pure Being now as then; and can the beastly pleasures of a moment make amends for your suffering the vengeance of eternal fire? Stand in awe, therefore, and sin not,” Psa_4:4.

Likewise John Gill comments,

...and going after strange flesh; or "other flesh"; meaning not other women besides their own wives, but men; and designs that detestable and unnatural sin, which, from these people, is called sodomy to this day; and which is an exceeding great sin, contrary to the light of nature and law of God, dishonourable to human nature, and scandalous to a nation and people, and commonly prevails where idolatry and infidelity do,...

Also, Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown:

...going after strange flesh — departing from the course of nature, and going after that which is unnatural. In later times the most enlightened heathen nations indulged in the sin of Sodom without compunction or shame.

Archibald Thomas Robertson adds,

Strange flesh (sarkos heteras). Horrible licentiousness, not simply with women not their wives or in other nations, but even unnatural uses (Rom_1:27) for which the very word “sodomy” is used (Gen_19:4-11).

In contrast, pro homosexual apologists most typically contend that the sin of Sodom in Gn. 19 was non-sexual inhospitality,[13] and which polemic primarily focuses upon the Hebrew word for know in Gn. 19:5 (and synginomai the Greek Septuagint) and the attribution of non-sexual sins in Ezekiel 16:49 and Matthew 11:20-24. Traditionalists counter that sound Bible exegesis best evidences that Lot's countrymen (the Sodomites) sought sex.[14][15] This is based upon the use of "know in Gn. 19:8 and its 14 other occurrences in the O.T.(and synginomai in Gn. 39:10 and in the Apocrypha and other literature) for sex, as well as the parallel story of Judges 19, and the specific attribution of sexual sins to Sodom and its region in Jude 1:7, concluding in a perverse manner of such.[16]

Sodom in Isaiah and Jeremiah (False religion)

Rulers in Israel are addressed as heads of Sodom and Gomorrah in Isaiah and Jeremiah due their false worship, and the injustices and other aspects of immorality whichg resulted from it. (cf. Romans 1:16-32)

Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. (Isaiah 1:10,11)

False worship is also associated with Sodom and Gomorrah in Jeremiah,

And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness; they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. (Jeremiah 23:13, 14)

The prophets of Jerusalem reprove Israel for its widespread adultery, lying, and strengthening the hand of evildoers. This reference to supporting evildoers and remaining impenitent is seen as a most important Old Testament reference to Sodom, outside of Genesis.

Sodom in Ezekiel (Idleness, or affluence without charity)

Ezekiel 16:49, 50 similarly explain that the sins of Sodom were pride, materialism, haughtiness, and neglect of the poor and needy, and which the story of Lot exemplified.

However, such a condition is usually concomitant with sexual sin, and is implicated in the fall of the Roman Empire.[17] Ezekiel goes to state that the Sodomites committed abomination, with the Hebrew word used here being tow'ebah. In the Old Testament this word is normally used in connection with idol worship, such as in Deuteronomy 7:26, as well as other moral sins, including those of a sexual nature. (Lv.18:22; 26-27,29,30; 20:13; Dt. 23:18; 24:4 1Ki. 14:24; Ezek. 16:2258; 22:11; 33:26)

Sodom in the Gospels

In the gospels, Jesus sends His disciples out on a mission to preach his word, and to heal the sick, and cast out demons, Matthew 10:5-15 and Luke 10:1-12 and further instructs them,

In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. Mar 6:12 And they went out, and preached that men should repent. (Mk. 6:10-12)

This is understood by some as evidencing that the cause of Sodom's judgment was inhospitality.[18] Countering this it is pointed out that the reason Jesus condemned those cities was "because they repented not." (Mt. 11:20), which, as in the inhospitably of Sodom, was the root cause of their rejection of the disciples of the Lord.[19]

Sodom in Jude

The most explicit reference to Sodom in the New Testament is found in the short book of Jude, in which one aspect has seen some varied interpretations.

I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. - Jude 5 -7 (KJV)

This section is part of a discourse warning of apostasy, in which contemporary examples of those who are acting in rebellion to truth are likened to past examples, from Israelites who were faithless and disobedient to God, to angels who left their ordained position in rebellion against God, to Sodom and Gomorrah and like cities, who likewise acted in rebellion to God's order. While Sodom did not have the light the previous parties were given, as they were pagan Canaanites, pagan rebellion is detailed in Roman 1, in which many iniquities are named as the result of rejection of truth which God has given by way of creation.

The part of verse 7 which commentators have found intriguing is "going after strange flesh". Pro homosexual writers seek to disallow its meaning as referring to homosexual relations, pointing out that the word for "strange" usually means another or other, and contend that if it was sexual, then it referred attempted sex with angels. However, countering this is the traditionalist argument which points out that the wickedness of Sodom was regional, and that no distinction is indicated that only Sodom was going after strange flesh. Genesis 18 reveals that the angels appearance as men was in order to find out whether the cry of Sodomy was true, and it is certain that this cry was not that of seeking sex with angels. It is also understood that it would be unlikely that the Sodomites (or even Lot: Heb. 13:2) knew Lot's visitors men were angels. In addition, it is seen that the word for strange can easily mean that is which is unlawful or perverse, as in Rm. 7:3 or Gal. 1:6[20] Dave Miller states this pertains to the indulgence of passions that are “contrary to nature” (Barnes, 1949, p. 393)—“a departure from the laws of nature in the impurities practiced” (Salmond, 1950, 22:7).[21] Gagnon provides six indications why "giving themselves over to fornication" alludes, at least in part, to attempted male-male intercourse.[22] After examining evidence for both positions, Thomas E. Schmidt states, "The first Christians undoubtedly connected the sin of Sodom to the sin of same-sex relations and used the name of city as a symbol for extreme sexual wrongdoing, including but not limited to same-sex relations.[23]

Other References

  1. ↑ Genesis 10:19.
  2. ↑ Genesis 13:10.
  3. ↑ Genesis 19:26
  4. ↑ Collins, Steven, and Latayne C. Scott. Discovering the City of Sodom: The Fascinating, True Account of the Discovery of the Old Testament's Most Infamous City. Simon and Schuster, 2016.
  5. ↑ Kitchen, Kenneth Anderson. On the reliability of the Old Testament. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003. 313-372.
  6. ↑ see reference 1, pg. 159
  7. ↑ see reference 1, pg. 152
  8. ↑ B. G. Wood, “Locating Sodom: A Critique of the Northern Proposal,” Bible and Spade 23.3 (2007) 78-84.
  9. ↑ Collins, Steven. A Response to Bryant G. Wood’s Critique of Collins’ Northern Sodom Theory. 2007.
  10. ↑ Matthew Henry, Gen 19:26
  11. ↑ Lacey, Troy (August 3, 2019). What Was the Primary Sin in Sodom and Gomorrah? Answers in Genesis. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  12. ↑ What was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? Got Questions. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  13. ↑ Bailey, Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition', p. 8; McNeil, The Church and the Homosexual, p. 50; Boswell, Christianity, social tolerance, and homosexuality, pp 93-94
  14. ↑ Gregory Koukl, What was the Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?
  15. ↑ Dave Miller, Sodom—Inhospitality or Homosexuality?
  16. ↑ Homosexuality, by James B. DeYoung, pp. 32-39, 118-122
  17. ↑ (historian D. Earl), referenced by Young, Homosexuality, p. 153
  18. ↑ Bailey, Homosexuality and Western Tradition, pp. 1-28; McNeil, Church and the Homosexual, pp. 42-50; Boswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality, pp. 92-97
  19. ↑ Homosexual relations and the Bible
  20. ↑ Homosexual relations and the Bible, Jude 1:7
  21. ↑ Dave Miller, Ph.D. http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/480
  22. ↑ RESPONSE TO PROF. L. WILLIAM COUNTRYMAN’S REVIEW IN ANGLICAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW; On Careless Exegesis and Jude 7
  23. ↑ Straight & narrow? by Thomas E. Schmidt

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