The Sins of Sodom

(Note: I realize I just posted something in reference to Genesis 19 but that was more on the order of a Scriptural meditation. This post is commentary)

"The cries of the victims in Sodom and Gomorrah are deafening; the sin of those cities is immense. I'm going down to see for myself, see if what they're doing is as bad as it sounds. Then I'll know."
Genesis 18:20-21, The Message

When the messengers who have been dispatched by Yahweh arrive in Sodom, their mission is simple to gauge whether or not things are as bad as they have heard. Shortly after their arrival they learn things are as bad as they have been led to believe - or perhaps worse.

   
  "Before Lot and his guests could go to bed, every man in Sodom, young  and old,
     came and stood outside his house and started shouting, 'Where are your visitors?
     Send them out, so we can have sex with them!"

    "Lot went outside and shut the door behind him. Then he said, 'Friends, please don't
    do such a terrible thing! I have two daughters who have never been married. I'll bring
    them out, and you can do what you want with them. But don't harm these men. They 
   are guests in my home." Genesis 19:4-8, CEV

As I read the story again, I don't know what creeps me out more: the fact that the men of Sodom have gathered outside of Lot's door hungry for fresh meat or that Lot offers his two virginal daughters to the crowd that they might satisfy their lusts on them. Something is very awry here. And where is Lot's wife in all this? What does she think about Lot's way of appeasing the angry crowd? And why would you want to stay in such a place or be reluctant to leave it? (see vv. 15-16)

Since the beginning of the year I have been reading Abraham's story and as as I have slowly turned the pages of it, I've pulled various books and commentaries off the shelf in hopes that those with a greater understanding of Hebrew and ancient Bible practices might point some things out to me that may be literally lost in translation. But this episode in the story is one of those places where I have had to pick my way carefully because my guides at times have offered me different conclusions as to why judgment ultimately consumes these communities.

As long as I can remember, I have believed (as most Christian people have believed until recent times) that these twin cities were destroyed because of rampant homosexuality - like an ancient San Francisco amped  up on steroids. But not so fast or so say a few of the guys I have been referencing. For example, Thomas Cahill, an Amerian scholar and writer, who has written some wonderful books like How the Irish Saved Civilization and The Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus believes that the sin of Sodom was not homosexual practice but inhospitality. I love how he spins words so here's his take on this tawdry moment in the square of Sodom from his book The Gifts of the Jews:
     Fade in: Sodom's main square, where Lot, encountering the angels, invites them to stay at his house. (Though not as generous to his guests as Avraham, he's undoubtedly a good guy.) But the men of the city surround the house like the ghouls in Night of the Living Dead and demand that Lot bring out the two handsome young men so they can, well, sodomize them. It becomes all too clear that there aren't ten innocents here. There's only Lot, who tries to buy time with a ploy that might not have occurred to most of us in this situation...

    Of course, the Sodomites aren't interested and roar that they will bugger Lot, too, once they have broken down the door. But no one gets buggered; and the Sodomites get theirs - fire and brimstone from heaven - once Lot and his family are out of the      way, save, unfortunately, for Lot's wife, who looks back on the raining destruction, even though she has been told not to, and gets turned into a pillar of salt... (pp. 76-77)
   ...
   It is only somewhat mollifying to realize that the sin of Sodom was not homosexuality
   but inhospitality. You can't tell from this episode whether God is against buggery, but 
   you can be sure he takes a dim view of raping perfectly nice strangers who come to
   visit. (my emphasis) (pp. 77-78)

Okay, maybe he knows better about these things but how he can claim that you can't detect God's feelings about such behavior from this text is beyond me. Read it and it gives you (or should) the shivers. Besides in the context of Genesis 18, we already know what God has heard of the goings on in Sodom and Gomorrah. Certainly it is more than being malicious toward outsiders.

Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann (whom I wonder if Cahill consulted) follows a similar train of thought in Genesis: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Says this erudite man who has authored nearly 60 books
   It is possible that the offense of Sodom is understood with specific reference to sexuality. But if such a reading is accepted, the turbulent mood of the narrative suggest gang-rape rather than a private act of either 'sodomy' or specific homosexual act. (p. 164)

Personally, I don't follow his reasoning. Reading the story I get no sense of 'something good' that has run amok like a river breaching its normal channel due to spring flooding. Smart though the guy may be, isn't he just a prime example of someone who wants the Bible to say what he thinks it should say. I wonder.

Thank God for good evangelical scholarship. Derek Kidner is a guy who not only can parse Hebrew but has a high view of Scripture as well. In his commentary on Genesis (Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary from the Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries produced by IVP) he addresses the likes of Cahill, Brueggemann, et.al., who want to put emphasis on the inhospitableness of Sodom's citizenry as the cause of their demise. One particular advocate of this theory suggests that the mob became incensed because the angelic visitors couldn't produce the proper I.D. They were illegals, as it were, and so when they call out "bring them out unto us, that we may know them" (KJV) they are just looking for the proper credentials. Really? To this Kidner counters by pointing to contextual evidence. If the men do not want "to know" the men in a sexual way what sense would it make for Lot to offer them his daughters so that they would be appeased? Why indeed? (This is simply a synopsis of his entire argument found on pp. 136-37)

Of this incident before Lot's house he says:
  At this early point in Scripture the sin of sodomy is branded as particularly heinous. The law was
  to make it a capital offense, grouped with incest and bestiality (Lv 18:22; 20:13), and the New
  Testament is equally appalled at it (Rom 1:26, 27; 1 Cor 6:9; 1 Tim 1:10). (p. 134)
So clearly the sins of Sodom, which may touch on other matters, have something to do with unnatural relationships between men that had become the norm in that area. The fact that a whole mob is attempting to break down Lot's door to have their way with his guests is merely an indicator of just how perverted the city had become. If this is the kind of town you live in, why would you need to be practically dragged from it come morning? I mean, wouldn't you have enough motivation to run for the hills?

But Brueggemann has other things to say about the sins of Sodom, things we should consider. While he doesn't believe that their crimes were "specifically sexual" they were
    ...a general disorder of a society organzied against God (my emphasis). Thus in Is 1:10; 3:9,
   the reference is to injustice; in Jer 23;14, to a variety of irresponsible acts which are named; and
   in Ezek 16:49 the sin is pride, excessive food, and indifference to the needy (p. 164)
If you're starting to feel a little uncomfortable, you should be, for here is the prophetic record that he references:
Isaiah 1:9-13, CEV
  9 Zion would have disappeared
  like Sodom and Gomorrah, if the LORD All-Powerful
  had not let a few
  of its people survive.

 10 You are no better
   than the leaders and people
   of Sodom and Gomorrah!

  So listen to the LORD God:
  11 "Your sacrifices
   mean nothing to me.
   I am sick of your offerings
   of rams and choice cattle;
   I don't like the blood
   of bulls or lambs or goats.
   12 "Who asked you to bring all this
   when you come to worship me?
   Stay out of my temple!
   13 Your sacrifices are worthless,
   and incense is disgusting.

Isaiah 3:8-9, CEV
  8 Jerusalem and Judah,
      you rebelled against
      your glorious LORD--
     your words and your actions,
     made you stumble and fall.
   9 The look on your faces shows
    that you are sinful as Sodom,
    and you don't try to hide it,
    You are in for trouble,
    and you have brough it all
    on yourselves.

Jeremiah 23:13-14, NLT
  13 I saw that the prophets of Samaria were terribly evil,
        for they prophesied in the name of Baal
        and led my people of Israel into sin.
  14 But now I see that the prophets of Jerusalem are even worse!
        They commit adultery and love dishonesty.
       They encourage those who are doing evil
         so that no one turns away from their sins.
       These prophets are as wicked
         as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah once were

Ezekiel 16:49-50
   49-50 The sin of your sister Sodom was this: She lived with her daughters in the lap of luxury -
      proud, gluttonous, and lazy. They ignored the oppressed and the poor. They put on airs
     and lived obscene lives. And you know what happened: I did away with them.

Okay, score one for Walter. The sins listed here are ones of overwhelming pride, deceit, a callow attitude to those who are oppressed and a remarkable indifference to human suffering. It should make every American tremble for we are guilty on all counts. I don't agree with Brueggemann's opinion that Genesis 19 is off-limits in the "homosexual" debate in our country because those who would reference it as an example of heaven's referendum against such acts miss the point. But I do get what he's trying to say: there is way more than misbehaving going on here.

Conservatives like to boil matters down to a few guilty parties as to what is wrong with our country. We want straw men like "liberals" or "gays" or "media moguls" to rage against and get the crowd to "Amen" us as we do. But if the increase of homosexual activity - or, at the very least, the acceptance of homosexual behavior being perceived as a viable alternative to hetersexual practice - is symptomatic of a society that is losing or has lost its moral compass, there are even bigger fish to fry than GLBT-ers out on a lark. For starters, those who are proud, obese, lazy and do nothing to alleviate oppression. Or those who profess religious devotion but who are in reality just going through the motions.

Isaiah 5:5-7, NLT
  5 Now let me tell you
     what I will do to my vineyard:
    I will tear down its hedges
     and let it be destroyed.
   I will break down its walls
     and let the animals trample it.
  6 I will make it a wild place
     where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed,
     a place overgrown wiht briers and thorns.
    I will command the clouds
     to drop no rain on it.
  7 The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Heaven's Armies.
     The people of Judah are his pleasant garden.
    He expected a crop of justice,
     but instead he found oppression.
    He expected to find righteousness,
     but instead he heard cries of violence.

If Lot were still among the living he would counsel us to run for the hills or, if we can't make it that far, to Zoar, at least. The clouds are gathering and it can only be a matter of time before the fire from heaven falls again but this time it won't be the kind that ignites hearts. It will be the kind that incinerates bodies, towns, forests, all.