Genesis 19: The Sin of Sodom

February 2, 2008

We all know about Sodom. People who’ve never picked up a Bible have used the story of Sodom and its fiery demise as condemnation against homosexuality and here’s just one example from an email I received from someone who had a less than favorable view of homosexuality:

“There is a story in the bible, i would find it if i had the time, but it talks about this really sinful city. I believe it was around Abraham’s time. God talks about how he turned his back on these people because of their wicked sins. One of the sins He talks about is homosexuality.”

“One of the sins He (God) talks about is homosexuality.” Nope. God never talks about homosexuality or same-sex anything in reference to Sodom. The story of Sodom as evidence of the biblical witness against homosexuality has been dismissed by many scholars and theologians, including those who hold a non-affirming stance, as a straw dog, an argument that’s easy to disprove. And yet there are still those who come wielding the story like it’s the smoking gun. This is it. Sodom. Sodomites. Fire and brimstone. Case closed.

And maybe that’s what you’ve heard all your life and after years of having the Sodom-Homosexuality connection repeated over and over it can be really hard to believe any other possibility, but I’m going to ask you to try, try to imagine at least until the end of this page and see if anything you read here makes you wonder about the certainty of it all.

When homosexuality is named as the sin, or one of the sins, of Sodom, that’s a claim that’s staked on something other than what’s actually written in the Bible about the place because throughout both the Testaments there’s an abundance of references to Sodom’s sin and none of them imply or specifically tag homosexuality as one of them. The sin(s) of Sodom provided in the biblical text are:

• Idolatry Deuteronomy 29:17-26; 32:32-38Deuteronomy 29:17-26; 32:32-38
  English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
  17 and ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them); ¹⁸ lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from Jehovah our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; ¹⁹ and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, to destroy the moist with the dry. ²⁰ Jehovah will not pardon him, but then the anger of Jehovah and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book shall lie upon him, and Jehovah will blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹ And Jehovah will set him apart unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that is written in this book of the law. ²² And the generation to come, your children that shall rise up after you, and the foreigner that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses wherewith Jehovah hath made it sick; ²³ [and that] the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, [and] a burning, [that] it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Jehovah overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath: ²⁴ even all the nations shall say, Wherefore hath Jehovah done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? ²⁵ Then men shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, ²⁶ and went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods that they knew not, and that he had not given unto them: ³² For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, And of the fields of Gomorrah: Their grapes are grapes of gall, Their clusters are bitter: ³³ Their wine is the poison of serpents, And the cruel venom of asps. ³⁴ Is not this laid up in store with me, Sealed up among my treasures? ³⁵ Vengeance is mine, and recompense, At the time when their foot shall slide: For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things that are to come upon them shall make haste. ³⁶ For Jehovah will judge his people, And repent himself for his servants; When he seeth that [their] power is gone, And there is none [remaining], shut up or left at large. ³⁷ And he will say, Where are their gods, The rock in which they took refuge; ³⁸ Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, [And] drank the wine of their drink-offering? Let them rise up and help you, Let them be your protection.  
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• Murder, greed, theft, rebellion Isaiah 1:9-23Isaiah 1:9-23
  English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
  9 Except Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah. ¹⁰ Hear the word of Jehovah, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. ¹¹ What unto me is the multitude of your sacrifices? saith Jehovah: I have had enough 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. ¹² When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to trample my courts? ¹³ Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; new moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies,-- I cannot away with iniquity and the solemn meeting. ¹⁴ Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth; they are a trouble unto me; I am weary of bearing them. ¹⁵ And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. ¹⁶ Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; ¹⁷ learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. ¹⁸ Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. ¹⁹ If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: ²⁰ but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it. ²¹ How is the faithful city become a harlot! she that was full of justice! righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. ²² Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water. ²³ Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; every one loveth bribes, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.  
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• Mistreating the poor, arrogance Isaiah 3:8-19Isaiah 3:8-19
  English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
  8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, to provoke the eyes of his glory. ⁹ The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have done evil unto themselves. ¹⁰ Say ye of the righteous, that [it shall be] well [with him]; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. ¹¹ Woe unto the wicked! [it shall be] ill [with him]; for what his hands have done shall be done unto him. ¹² As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they that lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. ¹³ Jehovah standeth up to contend, and standeth to judge the peoples. ¹⁴ Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and the princes thereof: It is ye that have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses: ¹⁵ what mean ye that ye crush my people, and grind the face of the poor? saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts. ¹⁶ Moreover Jehovah said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet; ¹⁷ therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts. ¹⁸ In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, and the cauls, and the crescents; ¹⁹ the pendants, and the bracelets, and the mufflers;  
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• Adultery, deceit by priests and prophets, pride of the heart, idolatry Jeremiah 23:10-14; 49:16-18; 50:2-40Jeremiah 23:10-14; 49:16-18; 50:2-40
  English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
  10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. And their course is evil, and their might is not right; ¹¹ for both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith Jehovah. ¹² Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery places in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith Jehovah. ¹³ And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. ¹⁴ In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evil-doers, so that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. ¹⁶ As for thy terribleness, the pride of thy heart hath deceived thee, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith Jehovah. ¹⁷ And Edom shall become an astonishment: every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof. ¹⁸ As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, saith Jehovah, no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn therein. ² Declare ye among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed; her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed. ³ For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they are fled, they are gone, both man and beast. ⁴ In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall go on their way weeping, and shall seek Jehovah their God. ⁵ They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces thitherward, [saying], Come ye, and join yourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten. ⁶ My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray; they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting-place. ⁷ All that found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Jehovah, the habitation of righteousness, even Jehovah, the hope of their fathers. ⁸ Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks. ⁹ For, lo, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country; and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of an expert mighty man; none shall return in vain. ¹⁰ And Chaldea shall be a prey: all that prey upon her shall be satisfied, saith Jehovah. ¹¹ Because ye are glad, because ye rejoice, O ye that plunder my heritage, because ye are wanton as a heifer that treadeth out [the grain], and neigh as strong horses; ¹² your mother shall be utterly put to shame; she that bare you shall be confounded: behold, she shall be the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. ¹³ Because of the wrath of Jehovah she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. ¹⁴ Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all ye that bend the bow; shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against Jehovah. ¹⁵ Shout against her round about: she hath submitted herself; her bulwarks are fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of Jehovah: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her. ¹⁶ Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land. ¹⁷ Israel is a hunted sheep; the lions have driven him away: first, the king of Assyria devoured him; and now at last Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones. ¹⁸ Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. ¹⁹ And I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. ²⁰ In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant. ²¹ Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: slay and utterly destroy after them, saith Jehovah, and do according to all that I have commanded thee. ²² A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. ²³ How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! ²⁴ I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against Jehovah. ²⁵ Jehovah hath opened his armory, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation; for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, hath a work [to do] in the land of the Chaldeans. ²⁶ Come against her from the utmost border; open her store-houses; cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly; let nothing of her be left. ²⁷ Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation. ²⁸ The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Jehovah our God, the vengeance of his temple. ²⁹ Call together the archers against Babylon, all them that bend the bow; encamp against her round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her; for she hath been proud against Jehovah, against the Holy One of Israel. ³⁰ Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets, and all her men of war shall be brought to silence in that day, saith Jehovah. ³¹ Behold, I am against thee, O thou proud one, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts; for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. ³² And the proud one shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all that are round about him. ³³ Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together; and all that took them captive hold them fast; they refuse to let them go. ³⁴ Their Redeemer is strong; Jehovah of hosts is his name: he will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. ³⁵ A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith Jehovah, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men. ³⁶ A sword is upon the boasters, and they shall become fools; a sword is upon her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed. ³⁷ A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be robbed. ³⁸ A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of graven images, and they are mad over idols. ³⁹ Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wolves shall dwell there, and the ostriches shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. ⁴⁰ As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, saith Jehovah, so shall no man dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn therein.  
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• Cruelty, failure to care for the young and poor Lamentations 4:3-6Lamentations 4:3-6
  English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
  3 Even the jackals draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: The daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. ⁴ The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: The young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them. ⁵ They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills. ⁶ For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, That was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands were laid upon her.  
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• Pride, greed, laziness, mistreatment of the poor and needy, haughty, abominations Ezekiel 16:49-50Ezekiel 16:49-50
  English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
  49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fulness of bread, and prosperous ease 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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• Oppression and mistreating the poor Amos 4:1-11Amos 4:1-11
  English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
  4 ¹ Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, that oppress the poor, that crush the needy, that say unto their lords, Bring, and let us drink. ² The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that they shall take you away with hooks, and your residue with fish-hooks. ³ And ye shall go out at the breaches, every one straight before her; and ye shall cast [yourselves] into Harmon, saith Jehovah. ⁴ Come to Beth-el, and transgress; to Gilgal, [and] multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, [and] your tithes every three days; ⁵ and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill-offerings and publish them: for this pleaseth you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah. ⁶ And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. ⁷ And I also have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. ⁸ So two or three cities wandered unto one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. ⁹ I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees hath the palmer-worm devoured: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. ¹⁰ I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I have made the stench of your camp to come up even into your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. ¹¹ I have overthrown [cities] among you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.  
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• Pride Zephaniah 2:8Zephaniah 2:8
  English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
  8 I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, wherewith they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border.  
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• Living after ungodliness 2 Peter 2:62 Peter 2:6
  English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
  6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should live ungodly;  
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• Fornication, going after strange flesh Jude 1

There are four other mentions of Sodom in the New Testament by Jesus. Three times Jesus referred to the city within the context of inhospitality (more on this in a minute) and another time Jesus compared the suddenness of the coming of the Kingdom of God with the suddenness of the judgment that befell the time in the time of Noah and the land of Sodom. In all three passages Jesus says nothing about the exact nature of Sodom’s sin.Wouldn’t you think that if the sin, or even one of the sins of Sodom had been homosexuality that it would have appeared somewhere in the Bible. Just a little side mention even?

Let’s go back to the story in Genesis 19 where we have Lot, standing at the gate, welcomes the two strangers, leading them through the defensive walls of the city and into the safe haven of his home. Having not been born in Sodom, Lot is considered an outsider himself so the men of Sodom, wary not only of these two strangers but of Lot, gather outside Lot’s house demanding that the strangers be sent out to them so they could have sex with them. Because the angry mob consisting of every male citizen of Sodom were all queer? With women and children included among the inhabitants, hardly. The crowd wasn’t comprised of gay men or straight men on the low-down. Sex for the sake of sex had nothing to do with what these men intended to do. Their intention was to let these strangers who had come into their city know exactly who was charge and so they sought to perpetrate a violent gang rape on them and put them in their place. This sounds like extreme behavior at first but not really. We hear about the same thing happening in prisons in our contemporary culture. The long-term inmates want to let the new boys know who holds the power. In antiquity the conquering armies frequently raped their defeated opponent as a sign of total supremacy, and rape, whether perpetrated against another man or a woman was then, as it is today, about power, not sex.

So what was Sodom’s sin if not homosexuality? Along with the other sins mentioned, the sin suggested both in Genesis 19 and in Jesus’ references to Sodom would be inhospitality. It’s hard to understand how inhospitality could be viewed with such contempt when in our current context, hospitality means setting out the hand towels that actually match the bathroom decor and putting dinner on the dining room table rather than on folding trays in front of the television. It means saying to a guest, “Our home is your home” and meaning it. It’s a warm welcome. In our world hospitality means being gracious and cordial to a visitor who enters our home but the same was not the case in antiquity. In a country where cities and villages were separated by the harsh desert, hospitality was life-giving to the one on a journey passing through. It was more than good manners; it was a matter of life and death, and to show hospitality to a stranger was considered a sacred obligation.

As was mentioned earlier, when Jesus referred to Sodom it was within the context of inhospitality. In both Luke 10 and Matthew 10 Jesus warns that a worse fate awaits those villages that don’t welcome his disciples than the fate that came to the lands of Sodom and Gomorrah. In a similar manner Matthew 11 tells of an occasion when Jesus compares the judgment that Sodom receives to those who don’t receive his miracles or the words of John the Baptist. When comparisons are made, they’re made between similar things and so it would be like comparing apples to oranges were Jesus to have compared the punishment coming to those who were inhospitable to his followers as to what came to the inhabitants of Sodom as a result of their sexual sin.

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Posted in The Bible and Homosexuality