I want to explore a bit the reason or reasons why God destroyed Sodom.
The overwhelming general consensus on the matter especially as pushed by the evangelical Christian crowd is that God’s destruction of Sodom was a blanket condemnation of homosexuality.
Before jumping to any conclusions, let’s take a look at what the prophet Ezekiel had to say about the matter:
“The crimes of your sister Sodom were pride and gluttony; she and her daughters were careless and complacent, so that they did nothing to help the poor and needy. They were arrogant and committed disgusting acts before me; so that when I saw it, I swept them away.”
Ezekiel 16:49-50
I don’t think the reason for Sodom’s destruction was homosexuality in and of itself.
Certainly the perverse and degraded mindset of the people of Sodom was a factor.
However, more than that, was the inhospitable nature of the people that at times bordered on the torture or violent harassment of any individual unfortunate enough to find himself within Sodom’s borders.
To give you one example of the type of antics the people of Sodom engaged in, there is a recorded instance of a traveling merchant who went to Sodom to sell his wares.
Once he had his stand set up inside the city, the men of Sodom each came by and one by one began to strip the merchant of all of his goods.
And then when the merchant tried to lodge a complaint, he found his claims falling on deaf hears because each person had only taken a tiny amount.
There are many more horrid examples.
For example, there is a story of tying a man to a pole, placing food in front of him and jeering at him while he slowly starved to death.
And if someone tried to help him, that person would in turn be tortured for trying to help the man.
It kind of reminds me of the despicable self-proclaimed Islamic State and the atrocities they are committing against innocent men, women and children of the towns they take over.
Sodom was known for engaging in all kinds of repulsive behavior like this that eventually led God to take action.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“And he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing them to ashes and ruin, as a warning to those in the future who would live ungodly lives; but he rescued Lot, a righteous man who was distressed by the debauchery of those unprincipled people; for the wicked deeds which that righteous man saw and heard, as he lived among them, tormented his righteous heart day after day.“- 2 Peter 2:6-7
“And Sodom, Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, following a pattern like theirs, committing sexual sins and perversions, lie exposed as a warning of the everlasting fire awaiting those who must undergo punishment.”-Jude 1:7
I have wondered about how Lot could be called righteous when he offered his daughters, local customs notwithstanding. Is it possible that the same customs were that those men outside his door would be known to reject his offer and he was actually not in any danger of them taking him up on his “offer”? May Yah continue to open our eyes to His very deep Words.