What Was Sodom's Sin?

What Was Sodom’s Sin?

What was Sodom’s sin? The answer may seem obvious, but in our society today, we need to move past our own preconceptions and presuppositions to see what the Bible says. The answer may be surprising.

Sodom, as you may remember, was an ancient city mentioned in the book of Genesis. Abraham’s nephew Lot lived in the city, which was located on a fertile plain, “well-watered everywhere like the garden of the LORD” (Genesis 13:10). Yet God’s assessment of the city was that “the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD” (Genesis 13:13).

To determine the sin of Sodom, I went through all the Biblical references to this city. (It is mentioned 48 times in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation). After the epic story of its destruction in Genesis 19, the city of Sodom is referred to multiple times as an example of God’s judgment on evil-doers. In addition, as I searched through the references to this wicked city, I noticed two sets of sins that typified Sodom.

The First Set of Sins – Pride, Prosperous Idleness, and Neglect of the Needy

After we are first notified that Sodom was a wicked place (Genesis 13:13), we don’t hear about its evil again until Genesis 18, when God decides to tell Abraham about the destruction that he will send on Sodom. God determines to send messengers to go down into the city ‘to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me.” Why? “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave” (Genesis 18:20-21).

When God’s messengers come into Sodom and assess the situation, they decide that Sodom does, indeed, deserve destruction. They warn Lot to flee from the city, saying “We are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it” (Genesis 19:13).

In fact, God’s messengers had a horrific experience in Sodom. As strangers in a near eastern city, they expected hospitality, a place to sleep, and a meal to be provided for them. While Lot demonstrated this hospitality, the rest of the city attempted to assault and abuse them. Only Lot’s generosity, and divine intervention, kept the messengers from a horrible fate. Evidently this was not the first time that Sodom was inhospitable. Hence, Genesis pictures Sodom as a place that abuses and mistreats the strangers and foreigners, refusing to provide them with the basics of hospitality.

Isaiah 1:10-15 provides a similar description. Isaiah rebukes God’s people in strong terms, referring to them as ‘rulers of Sodom’ and ‘people of Gomorrah.’ He then goes on to describe their sin: they are a religious people, he admits, but it is a hypocritical religion. They spread their hands to pray, but those same hands are full of blood. Israel, like Sodom, is a land that mistreats the needy.

Ezekiel 16:49 provides the most concise description of this first set of sins: “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.” When we remember that Sodom was a city located in a prosperous and fertile plain, and we remember how they mistreated God’s messengers, it is easy to see how this description fits.

The Second Set of Sins – Parading Sensuality, Immorality, and Unnatural Desire

In an effort to be culturally inoffensive, some people today say that the only sins that Sodom was guilty of were the sins of pride, prosperous idleness, and neglect of the needy. Yet the Bible is quite clear that Sodom’s sin involved more.

The assault that God’s messengers almost experienced was an assault of ‘sodomy;’ the men of the city surround Lot’s house, calling out euphemistically, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them” (Genesis 19:5).

Lot, horrified at their evil, responds, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.” Then, in a moment of panic – and trying to follow the tenants of Middle Eastern hospitality, which demand protection for the stranger – he makes an incredibly stupid offer to the men – “Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” By the grace of God, and a miraculous intervention, God prevents Lot from carrying out his evil offer. Yet this offer shows something telling about the city of Sodom – even this horrific offer is not sufficient to ‘please’ the men of the city.

When we read Ezekiel 16, it is easy to only read verse 49, about pride and neglect of the needy. Yet Ezekiel continues on: “this was the guilt of your sister Sodom…They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it” (Ezekiel 16:50).

Was the sin of Sodom simply that it pursued ‘nonconsensual relations?’ No, because the New Testament describes, in clear language, why God destroyed Sodom:

“…Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire…in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones” (Jude 7-8).

In 2 Peter, Lot is described as one who was “greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked.”

Hence, the New Testament clearly teaches that Sodom’s sin was immorality and unnatural desire, which Paul defines in Romans 1 as “men committing shameless acts with men.”

This immorality was not hidden, but celebrated and paraded in Sodom. Isaiah condemned the Israelites that “They proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it.” (Isa 3:9)

What Is Left?

What can be done with a city, or a society, that lives like Sodom? While some people may give up hope, The Bible is surprisingly optimistic about Sodom.

Less Punishment

Three times in the New Testament, Jesus uses Sodom as an example of a city that will receive less punishment than the Galilean towns, because Sodom was ignorant of the truth. While Sodom may be an evil city, it was never given the opportunity to meet the Lord Jesus. There is hope even for the Sodomites.

Mercy

In one of the most heart-rending accounts of biblical prayer, Abraham decided to plead for Sodom right before it was destroyed. He begs God to save the city if 50 righteous people are within it. God agrees. Then, sensing that maybe he asked for more than he could expect, he asks for mercy if there are only 45…or 30…or 20…or 10. Each time God agrees.

Abraham stops asking at 10, and God didn’t find 10 righteous people in the city. Yet God’s mercy shines in this story – for the sake of 10 people he will save the city. We are left wondering – what would God do if Abraham asked for only one righteous person?! The implication seems obvious – God would still have mercy, if his people would intercede. There is hope even for the Sodomites.

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