CONTENTS
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WHY WERE SODOM
AND GOMORRA DESTROYED?
Before we turn to the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra, let us review the preceding story. Onan, the second born of three sons, became the oldest surviving heir of his father when his older brother was struck down by God. The custom of the day required that he provide his older brother with an heir through his brother's wife. It also required that the oldest son of his father, (or son's heir) receive a double portion of the inheritance. Onan, realizing that he stood to inherit two-thirds as the oldest surviving son, but only one-quarter if he provided his brother an heir, purposely failed in this task. He practiced premature withdrawal and "spilt his seed on the ground." For this, God struck him dead.
Obviously, Onan's sin was greed. Yet the moralists of religion have usurped this story to condemn sexual practices which they consider wrong. The Church of Rome uses this story to condemn birth control. The Religious Right Protestants have used it to condemn masturbation. And...the Jewish sages have used it to condemn homosexuality. In this emphasis on sexual morality, the ethical concern of how greed can affect us and those around us has been totally lost.
In the same manner, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra is an ethical story. In the same manner, it has been usurped for the sake of sexual morality. In fact, this interpretation of Sodom and Gomorra has been ingrained in our traditions for so long that many are totally incapable of seeing any other interpretation, even the correct one, even if their nose is rubbed in it.
Perhaps we should start with a recap of the story:
Two angels were sent to Sodom, where Lot, the nephew of Abraham, resided. Lot, realizing the wickedness of the city, invited the angels to spend the night in his home, where they would be protected by his walls and, therefor, safe. They accepted. Once the other residents of the city realized that they had visitors, they came to Lot's door and demanded those visitors so that they could rape them. Lot refused, offering his two virgin daughters instead. He was rebuffed. The men of the city planned to break down his door, to get at the visitors, and deal with him later. The angels reacted by pulling Lot back inside to safety, and blinding the men of the city. The following morning they told Lot to escape with his family and then destroyed both Sodom and Gomorra by calling down fire and brimstone from heaven.
If that is where we leave this story, it is easy to understand the traditional interpretation. Two angels came to visit. They appeared as men. The men of the city wanted to rape them, meaning have homosexual relations with them, and the city was destroyed. What is there to question? Sodom and Gomorra were destroyed because her citizens were all homosexual! In fact, that is apparently how Jude interpreted the story when he wrote his letter.
Now, let us go back a bit, to the preceding chapter, Genesis 18, starting with verse twenty-three. Here we read about Abraham's intercession for the cities of Sodom and Gomorra. (I personally find it interesting that the preacher rarely puts these two portions of the same story together.) Abraham started out by asking God if he would destroy the entire city if there were righteous people in it, in effect, destroying the righteous with the wicked. Would God save the city for the sake of fifty righteous men? God agreed that he would. Then Abraham asked again for forty, and again for thirty, once more for twenty, and finally if God would save the city for the sake of ten righteous men. God agreed that he would.
A lot has been made out of this passage. The basic conclusion: Sodom and Gomorra were destroyed because ten good men could not be found. That appears to be a good conclusion because, in the basic story as recapped above, the scripture indicates that every male of the city, both young and old, participated in the demand to be able to rape the visitors.
When I did this as an exercise for an adult Bible Study, one of the members said, "Yeah, but their wickedness was still homosexuality. Sodom and Gomorra were still destroyed because there were not ten straight men in the city."
She had a point, that is until I asked the class, as I am asking you now, to go back a few more verses. Genesis 18:20&21 has God announcing his intentions to Abraham:
Then the Lord said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorra is so great, and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me." (The New International Version)
Sodom and Gomorra were destroyed because they oppressed the inhabitants of the land around them. How did they oppress? Ezekiel has some insight:
Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. (Ezekiel 16:49 New International Version)
In other words, Sodom and Gomorra were destroyed because in their abundance they did nothing to help the poor. How did they acquire that abundance? Most likely they acquired it in the same manner as the abundant have down through the ages. They acquired it by taking advantage of the poor and needy. They oppressed the surrounding peoples. This interpretation, provided by Ezekiel, dovetails with the reason God gives for investigating that is found in the story itself. The interpretation of homosexuality does not fit at all!
Let's look at the crime of rape itself. Many argue that rape is not a sexual crime, pointing out that the rapist quite often doesn't achieve orgasm. Instead, they say that rape is a violent crime, a crime of domination, or the crime of a predator. I am not going to argue either for or against the sexual nature of rape. But I will argue for the predatory aspect of rape. The rapist, in effect, says to his victim, "I can use you and abuse you with no regard for your willingness or desire. You are beneath me and you don't matter to me in any other means than how I use you." This is the same attitude of those who oppress. Rape, while it may be sexual, is first and foremost a crime of oppression, and the homosexual rape that the inhabitants of Sodom desired was rape, and therefor primarily a crime of oppression.
Now we can look at the conclusion of this story in a more complete perspective. The city of Sodom was not destroyed because its men expressed a desire to rape the angelic visitors in a homosexual fashion. It was destroyed because that expressed desire proved that they were oppressive. That expressed desire was not the crime, but all that was needed to prove the crime. Sodom, and her sister city Gomorra, oppressed their neighbors so grievously that justice demanded they be destroyed!
As I said in the beginning of this essay, the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra is an ethical story. It's theme is how we treat our neighbors, whether or not we accept them as fellow human beings, created by God, with every right to enjoy life and prosper to the same extent as we do, or merely use them for the sake of our own convenience. While the expressed desire to rape the visitors was sexual, and also homosexual in nature, the crime was ethical. The men of Sodom wanted to use and abuse these visitors. The homosexual nature of that crime was not the crime itself, but the means by which they intended to commit the crime. When we concentrate on the homosexual aspect of the crime, when we refuse to recognize the rape aspect of the crime, we completely lose the meaning of this story.
The church, like the individual, has two natures. There is the physical institution, and the purpose of that physical institution if to perpetuate its own existence, regardless of how this affects the individuals that belong to that institution or those around it. Then there is the spiritual community, and the purpose of that community is to express the love of God to both those within and without. When the physical nature of the church dominates, the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra will be seen as punishment for the homosexual nature of the crime mentioned at the conclusion of that story. Then, sexual morality will dominate and individuals will be oppressed, physically, emotionally and spiritually. When the spiritual nature of the church is allowed to dominate, the oppressive nature of that final crime will become the theme of the story. Then ethics will become the church's concern and individuals will be drawn to the community of the faithful because it respects the value of each and every member of the human race.
God calls us to be members of that spiritual community.
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