(June 29, 2015) Since Friday's Supreme Court decision making LGBT marriage legal nationwide, my Facebook feed has featured several postings on sodomy, Sodom, and God's judgment for 'the sin of Sodom'. I thought a blog post to help us identify exactly what the sin of Sodom was, and why it matters to us, would be a good idea.
Before we read through the Biblical account though, I'll ask you to clear your mind of a couple of things so we can look at the text without any predetermined 'filters' or obstacles. Granted, this isn't easy, but it's the only way to see the text clearly, without bias.
First, let's clear our minds of the filter that "homosexual acts are called 'sodomy'" While this is true today, and the equating of Sodom with gay sex acts has a long history, it's still a post-biblical association. You see, outside of the actual story in Genesis, neither the word 'sodomy' nor the connection of gay sex to Sodom, occurs in either the Hebrew Bible or the Greek Scriptures. In fact, the term 'sodomy' doesn't make its first appearance until 395 CE! So, for our look at the story, let's remove this filter.
Second, we need to remove the filters that come from having been taught this Biblical story and its moral(s) in the past. Whatever you've been taught about what's happening in the story, or what its moral or spiritual message is, are filters you need to put aside as you walk with me through these verses. For now, pretend you've never heard the story and you have no idea what will happen next. Let's read it fresh, with open minds and hearts, moving through it scene by scene from its unfolding to it's conclusion. Clear your filters, and we'll begin.
Ready? Let's go!
Genesis 19:1-16 (JPSTanakh)
1 The two angels arrived in Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to greet them and, bowing low with his face to the ground,
Here, Lot is 'sitting in the gate' of Sodom, a position of respect and authority. Disputes of local law were decided by those who sat in the gates of a city.
2 he said, "Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant's house to spend the night, and bathe your feet; then you may be on your way early." But they said, "No, we will spend the night in the square."
When Lot arrives, he 'pitches his tents near Sodom' (13:12), an indication of the wealth he arrived with. These men arrive with nothing but the clothes on their backs and intend to 'sleep in the square,' an indication of their poverty.
Why would they reject Lot's offer of hospitality? Could it have anything to do with the purpose of their visit—to 'go down to see whether they have acted altogether according to the outcry that has reached Me' (18:21)?
3 But he urged them strongly, so they turned his way and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
Lot persists in offering hospitality until they relent and accept. Had Lot not insisted, these strangers would've slept in the square. Lot feeds them 'a feast'
4 They had not yet lain down, when the townspeople, the men of Sodom, young and old-- all the people to the last man-- gathered about the house.
After Lot has fed these strangers, but before they're going to sleep, *every* man in the city gathers around the house. Why?
5 And they shouted to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may be intimate with them."
Here, we have the first sexual reference of this story. What we don't know yet is 'why' this demand is occurring. Let's be clear here, this isn't a 'request for consensual sex', this is a demand for gang rape. One thing we know today about rape—it's *never* about wanting sex, it's about wanting power and control over the victim, subjugating and/or humiliating them! So how might that fact inform our story?
6 So Lot went out to them to the entrance, shut the door behind him, 7 and said, "I beg you, my friends, do not commit such a wrong. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you please; but do not do anything to these men, since they have come under the shelter of my roof."
Two points to take note of in these verses: First, Lot continues his persistent hospitality, in closing the door behind him to protect his visitors while putting himself at risk, in pleading that they be left alone as his guests, and even by offering his virgin daughters in exchange for their safety. Second, Lot seems to believe that his virgin daughters are a trade that would pacify these men. How does this make sense if this passage is about the men being gay and demanding sex?
9 But they said, "Stand back! The fellow," they said, "came here as an alien, and already he acts the ruler! Now we will deal worse with you than with them." And they pressed hard against the person of Lot, and moved forward to break the door.
What does Lot 'coming as an alien' and 'acting the ruler' have to do with anything? How does it tie it with the mob's demand? Lot has obviously been heterosexual during his stay, with a wife and several daughters. This can't be because Lot isn't adhering to their gay lifestyle, so what's going on here? What has Lot done to cause them to threaten to 'do worse to him than them'?
All Lot has done so far is show persistent hospitality. He's said nothing to these men in judgment of them, sexually or otherwise
10 But the men stretched out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11 And the people who were at the entrance of the house, young and old, they struck with blinding light, so that they were helpless to find the entrance.
All the men of the city are, for the time being, kept from doing harm to Lot, his family, or the men who are his guests, when they are 'struck with a blinding light' after his guests pull Lot to safety
12 Then the men said to Lot, "Whom else have you here? Sons- in- law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else that you have in the city-- bring them out of the place. 13 For we are about to destroy this place; because the outcry against them before the LORD has become so great that the LORD has sent us to destroy it." 14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons- in- law, who had married his daughters, and said, "Up, get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons- in- law as one who jests.
While 'all the men of the city' are light-blinded around his house, Lot's guests ask who else he has 'in the city' that need to be brought out and spared from destruction. Lot goes and speaks to his sons-in-law. Where? It would seem they're part of the crowd around his house who are blinded and groping! His sons-in-law don't sound much like gay men looking for sex. What else could be going on here?
15 As dawn broke, the angels urged Lot on, saying, "Up, take your wife and your two remaining daughters, lest you be swept away because of the iniquity of the city." 16 Still he delayed. So the men seized his hand, and the hands of his wife and his two daughters-- in the LORD's mercy on him-- and brought him out and left him outside the city.
If the city was engrossed in homosexuality, after surviving such a close call, why would Lot hesitate to leave? His wealth could have a hold on him, but after a near sexual assault of his guests, why not try to pack and take it with him? Why does he hesitate to leave at all, to feel safe enough to stay? Could his guests plans to be on their way be a factor? The guests eventually persist on bringing Lot's household out in much the same way he persisted in being hospitable.
So, now that we've read our central text, and raised a few questions that need to be answered about what might be going on in this text, we should see if there are other Biblical texts that can help us answer those questions and point us towards the underlying moral message of this story.
Ezekiel 16:48-50 (JPSTanakh)
48 As I live-- declares the Lord GOD-- your sister Sodom and her daughters did not do what you and your daughters did. 49 Only this was the sin of your sister Sodom: arrogance! She and her daughters had plenty of bread and untroubled tranquillity; yet she did not support the poor and the needy. 50 In their haughtiness, they committed abomination before Me; and so I removed them, as you saw.
In this passage, a rebuke of Jerusalem for her many sins, God declares 'this only was the sin of Sodom: arrogance—that they had plenty and were at peace (no need to hoard, as during war or unrest), yet they failed to support the poor and needy. It is because they committed this abomination that the Lord removed (destroyed) them!
Here we have an opportunity for the prophet to point out clearly what the 'sin of Sodom' was, and he does—only he says *nothing* about gay sex, or any sex at all for that matter! The prophet's rebuke is that they had the security and resources to take care of the poor and needy and instead were arrogant in their wealth. Period.
Pretty unexpected, right? But wait, there's more.
Isaiah 1:9-17 (JPSTanakh)
Like a booth in a vineyard,
Like a hut in a cucumber field,
Like a city beleaguered.
9 Had not the LORD of Hosts
Left us some survivors,
We should be like Sodom,
Another Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the LORD,
You chieftains of Sodom;
Give ear to our God's instruction,
You folk of Gomorrah!
11 "What need have I of all your sacrifices?"
Says the LORD.
"I am sated with burnt offerings of rams,
And suet of fatlings,
And blood of bulls;
And I have no delight
In lambs and he- goats.
12 That you come to appear before Me--
Who asked that of you?
Trample My courts
13 no more;
Bringing oblations is futile,
Incense is offensive to Me.
New moon and sabbath,
Proclaiming of solemnities,
Assemblies with iniquity,
I cannot abide.
14 Your new moons and fixed seasons
Fill Me with loathing;
They are become a burden to Me,
I cannot endure them.
15 And when you lift up your hands,
I will turn My eyes away from you;
Though you pray at length,
I will not listen.
Your hands are stained with crime--
16 Wash yourselves clean;
Put your evil doings
Away from My sight.
Cease to do evil;
17 Learn to do good.
Devote yourselves to justice;
Aid the wronged.
Uphold the rights of the orphan;
Defend the cause of the widow.
Once again, Jerusalem's wickedness is being compared to that of Sodom, and what is she told to do? End all sexual perversion? No, nothing about sex is mentioned here at all (even though the Bible addresses sexual issues with no hesitation elsewhere). Here, Jerusalem is told to:
Learn to do good.
Devote yourselves to justice;
Aid the wronged.
Uphold the rights of the orphan;
Defend the cause of the widow.
Hmm, here too it doesn't seem like Sodom's incredible sin, its abomination, had anything at all to do with gay sex...
So, what was *really* going on in our story?
See how this scenario fits both our reading in Genesis and these two passages on Sodom:
Instead of being a story about a city filled with homosexual men, whose evil ways were an abomination to God, this is a story about Lot violating the Sodom 'city ordinance' or 'code of conduct' that deliberately refused to welcome outsiders who were poor. A community where only those of means were to be welcomed. But Lot, in public defiance of this code, insists on welcoming and feeding two poor strangers, raising the concern—and anger—of the entire city that he was damaging their elite community!
With this understanding, their comments to Lot about 'coming as an alien' and 'acting as a judge' make sense. They're saying, "You came here as an outsider, and we let you stay (because of your wealth), but, now you're trying to change the way we run things so poor people will feel welcome here. Give us the men so we can humiliate them sexually, sending the message that the poor aren't welcome here. And because you've violated our way of life and welcomed the poor, we'll do even worse to you than to them!"
This scenario answers the questions raised in the central text in a way that's also consistent with the Ezekiel and Isaiah texts. Reading this as a story about sodomy just doesn't fit the core text, nor does it unite the three passages.
The moral message of the story of Sodom apparently isn't 'the evils of an LGBT lifestyle,' but, rather, the evils of arrogantly hoarding wealth and having apathy towards the poor—or rejecting them outright.
When we see the message of this story as condemning LGBT sex, it's easy for most Americans to evade moral soul-searching, since the LGBT community makes up only a small percentage of the population. However, if this story's moral imperative is about caring for the poor, the vast majority of Americans have some soul-searching to do to honestly apply this lesson to their own lives, as citizens of a nation with so much wealth—and so much poverty.
Yes, we need to confront the 'Sin of Sodom' in this country: the laws that make it a crime to feed the poor, the elite communities that lock their gates to 'those people', the affluent neighborhoods that refuse to let the working poor move in even though living in such a community increases their chances of working their way out of poverty, the tons of food we throw away each year as our neighbors go hungry, the lack of adequate low-income housing, the prosperous corporations who leave many of their workers on government assistance while they enjoy record profits, The 'poor doors' and 'back entrance access' buildings that humiliate the poor, the mandatory drug testing to receive public assistance (which costs more than it saves but serves to humiliate the poor), the judgmental attitudes we exude towards the poor, and the unkind—even cruel—words we speak to, and about, them.
We need to be upset by the 'Sin of Sodom' in America! Not the 'sin' of a SCOTUS decision on same-sex marriage, but the sin of our own greed and indifference towards those struggling in poverty, in need of persistent hospitality like Lot's...
Karla Worrell
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