The story of Sodom and Gamora can be found in Genesis 18 – 19. It begins after El has a little chat with Abraham about his descendants and promises that he will make his lineage a great nation if they keep him as their one and only El and obey him. As he is leaving, Abraham walks with him a short way, being the good host. Along the way, YHVH starts talking to himself about Sodom and decides to go there for a visit to see if the people are as wicked as He had been hearing. If they are, El decides that the city needs to be destroyed.
Starting in Genesis 18:22 to the end of the chapter, Abraham begins plea bargaining on behalf of the people of Sodom. He starts at fifty good people and asks if El would spare the city. Abraham does this until he is down to ten good people and YHVH promises not to destroy the city if he finds just ten people.
Let’s unpack this a bit. This is part of the Bible where El still talks to his people face to face, like many gods from other myths. Of course, many people say that it was only an angel and not actually El in these instances.
“Abraham’s god El is a very mild deity. He appears to Abraham as a friend and sometimes even assumes human form. This type of divine apparition, known as an epiphany, was quite common in the pagan world of antiquity. Even though in general the gods were not expected to intervene directly in the lives of mortal men and women, certain privileged individuals in mythical times had encountered their gods face to face.”
–Karen Armstrong, A History of God
So, Abraham and El are having a little chat and the man has the audacity to bargain with El. Something rather bold for a mere mortal, wouldn’t you say? Actually, Abraham’s nephew was living in Sodom, so he was just out to save his kin’s skin.
Now, El visits Sodom in Genesis 19. Here we see in most translations that El doesn’t actually go, but sends two messengers or angels on his behalf to look at the city. Sodom had a twin city, namely Gomorrah, and they both are accused of the same sin. We are told that Lot invites the messengers into his house and shortly after, the men of the city came knocking inquiring about Lot’s visitors. The men of the city asked that Lot send them out that they might “know them.” This little tidbit is what leads many to believe that they wanted to “know them” in the biblical way: in other words, have sex with them. This is where the story falls off from the Rabbinical teachings and takes on new life in the Christian world as El condemning homosexulaity as the sin of the cities. Let’s take a look at what the Rabbis have to say about it.
“Despite the common perception that the sin of Sodom was rampant sexual vice, Jewish literature has largely rejected this reading. The Prophet Ezekiel locates the sin of Sodom in its inhospitality, its cruelty and perversion of justice, and not in homosexuality. He describes Sodom as arrogant and insensitive to human need. The residents of Sodom had plenty of bread and untroubled tranquility, yet they refused to support the poor and the needy.”
— Rabbi Steve Greenberg The Real Sin of Sodom
Did you catch that? Ezekiel said that the great sin of Sodom was it’s inhospitality, its cruelty and perversion of justice. This is far from a sin of a sexual nature.
“Lo, this hath been the iniquity of Sodom thy sister, Arrogancy, fulness of bread, and quiet ease, Have been to her and to her daughters, And the hand of the afflicted and needy She hath not strengthened. And they are haughty and do abomination before Me, And I turn them aside when I have seen.”
Ezekiel 16:49-50 (Young’s Literal Translation)
So, the litany of sins did not include anything to do with sexual immorality, but haughtiness. So, El was displeased with them and decided to destroy the town after allowing Lot and his family to escape, a tale that is interesting in its own right, putting an end to their offensiveness in his sightl. A far cry from what modern Christians say about the whole mess.
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Cooper McPuppers
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