Sodom in the Bible

If the Word of God gives quite a bit of attention to a subject, person, or place, then we need to discover why and what we are to learn. Sodom is mentioned 50 times in 28 Bible passages. In this post, we are going to take a look at everything the Bible says about Sodom. As we do this, we will ask ourselves what was pertinent to God’s people in Old Testament days and to us today.

The first time Sodom is mentioned is in Genesis 10:19 as a reference point for the reader to understand where the Canaanite border was. The Canaanite boundary was from Sidon, coming toward Gerar, to Gaza, coming toward Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Lasha.

In Genesis 13:10–13, Abram, Lot, and all of their possessions and livestock were located near Bethel. Besides Abram and Lot, there were also others living in the area (Canaanites and Perizzites), so it soon became apparent that this area was not fertile enough to support all flocks and livestock. Those watching Abram’s and Lot’s flocks and herds began to quarrel over the resources, so Abram decided it was best to divide the groups and move to different places. Because Abram was the older of the two, he had the right to have whichever land he wanted. He could have chosen first and let Lot have whatever was left, but he let Lot choose first. As Jesus would say later in Matthew 20:16, “So the last will be first, and the first, last.” Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the whole Jordan circuit was a watered country (as YHWH’s garden or Egypt when the account was written before YHWH destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah). As I have said in previous posts, YHWH is sometimes spelled “Yahweh” or spoken as “Jehovah” and is God’s proper name. It is called the “tetragrammaton, a fancy word that means “word with four letters.” Because it has no vowels, it is unsure how it is correctly pronounced. So some added vowels that it could be pronounced. So Lot chose the whole Jordan circuit for himself, and they parted as a man from his companion. Abram dwelt in Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the circuit cities, moving his tent to Sodom. Sodom’s people were evil because they exceedingly sinned before YHWH. Lot saw the immediate value of the land on which he looked. Abram looked at the land that was left, which God would promise to him and his descendants forever through an unconditional covenant as soon as Lot left, through a faith vision. The father of the co-founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), Jan Crouch, was a preacher named Edgar Bethany. He used to have a saying, “Children, put on your faith glasses!” Abram obviously had his faith glasses on while Lot was looking at things through the world’s eyes. Let us learn from this and look at the world through our faith glasses.

The next time we see Sodom, it is during the first war. In the days of King Amraphel of Shinar, King Arioch of Ellasar, King Chedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of nations, they made war with King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboim, and the King of Bela, which is Zoar, where Lot would later escape during the destruction of the Jordan circuit that included Sodom. These kings and their armies went to war with each other, four vs. five. The Siddim Valley was full of bitumen pits. When Sodom and Gomorrah’s kings fled, they fell into those pits. The victorious kings took all of Sodom and Gomorrah’s substance, including all of their food, and went away. Because Abram’s nephew, Lot, was dwelling in Sodom at the time, they took him as well. Abram went with 318 of his trained servants to rescue his captive nephew. Sodom’s King Bera tried to bargain with Abram, telling him to take all the substance and leave the people for him. But Abram came explicitly for one of those people, his nephew, Lot. Abram’s response was to lift his hand to YHWH, God Most High, possessor of the heavens and the earth, and refuse anything from Sodom’s king, not even a thread or a shoe-strap because Abram didn’t want King Bera to take credit for making Abram rich. Later, the Israelites plundered the Egyptians at God’s command during the Exodus. Proverbs 15:22 says, “The sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.” But Abram chose to not accept anything from this wicked king because he only wanted God to get the credit for his blessing. Let us not put words in God’s mouth, but let us also give credit to him for his favor regardless of what instruments he uses to reward us for our faith.

Now we come to the chapters we are studying currently: Genesis 18–19. Three men, God, and two angels came to see Sodom and the Jordan circuit cities because of the outcry against them for their exceedingly grievous sin. They determined that the cities should be destroyed as they looked on the face of Sodom. So the angels turned from there and went toward Sodom while Abraham bargained on behalf of the cities, asking God not to destroy the righteous with the wicked. During the negotiations, Abraham got God to promise that God would not destroy them if there were even 10 righteous people in those cities. Obviously, there were not. When the two angels arrived at Sodom’s city gate, Lot was there. That implies that Lot may have held some kind of government position, possibly as a magistrate or judge, since city gates were where that kind of business was done back then. There is further evidence of Lot being a government official in Sodom. In Genesis 19:9, Lot has to confront a raving crowd of perverse men seeking to commit homosexual sin and do harm to the two angels, also appearing as men. When Lot tries to interfere, they accuse him of being nothing more than a foreigner trying to judge their conduct. These wicked men cared for nothing but the fulfillment of their perverse lusts. How sad it is when that is all that is left in a person’s heart. YHWH remembered Abraham. For Abraham’s sake, the angels got Lot, his wife, and his two daughters to Zoar before the destruction began. YHWH rained brimstone and fire from the heavens on Sodom, Gomorrah, and all the cities of that circuit. Afterward, Abraham looked upon the face of Sodom, Gomorrah, and all the towns of that circuit. He saw nothing but smoke rising as from a furnace.

Later, in Deuteronomy 29:23, God would prophesy a judgment, comparing it to Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that the whole land would be burned with brimstone and salt so that no vegetation could shoot up from the ground just like with those wicked cities. God even described their produce as “grapes of gall with bitter clusters” in Deuteronomy 32:32, comparing it to those wicked cities. The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was so exceedingly evil that even the food was affected.

The prophet Isaiah in 1:9–10 prophesied against Judah and Jerusalem after becoming wicked hundreds of years later. In this proclamation of God’s coming judgment, Isaiah compared them to Sodom and Gomorrah. God’s chosen nation had fallen to such a low spiritual state that they were worthy to be compared to those destroyed cities that are the epitome of wickedness to this day. Like Sodom, Isaiah 3:9 says they did not hide their sin. They were actually proud of it. He says, “Woe to their soul because they have done evil to themselves!” That reminds me of the Romans 1 judgment. The Apostle Paul writes that a society’s impiety and unrighteousness can become so bad that God’s wrath is revealed on them. This wrath comes in the form of God giving them up to their hearts’ desires to dishonor their bodies among themselves. That is what had happened to Sodom, Gomorrah, and those other cities by the time the angels had arrived. Continuing the judgment against Jerusalem and Judah, Jeremiah 23:14 says Jerusalem’s prophets were committing adultery, walking falsely, and strengthening evildoers’ hands. The same was true of Sodom, which is why Jeremiah 50:40 notes that none dwell there any longer. Eventually, God’s chosen people’s sin had gotten so bad that in Lamentations 4:6 and Amos 2:9, he said their punishment was greater than that of Sodom, whom YHWH refers to as Jerusalem and Judah’s sister cities in Ezekiel 16:46–55.

Zephaniah 2:9 compares Moab and Ammon to Sodom and Gomorrah as well. Moab and Ammon were the Lot’s daughters’ sons, which they conceived by getting their father drunk and having sex with him without his awareness in Genesis 19:30–38. God compared the Moabites and Ammonites to Sodom and Gomorrah. That just goes to show that while you may be able to get some people away from their Sodom physically, even if you have to drag them, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are willing to let their “Sodom” go.

When we get to the New Testament, Jesus tells the apostles in Matthew 10:15, Mark 6:11, and Luke 10:12 that it would be more tolerable on Judgment Day of Sodom and Gomorrah’s inhabitants than for people who reject the good news about Christ. In Matthew 11:23–24, Jesus said that Capernaum, which has been exalted to Heaven, would be brought down to Hades because they would not repent despite the great works he had done in their cities. He then makes the fascinating statement that if Sodom and Gomorrah had seen the things Capernaum had, they would have repented and remained to this day.

We see the most grievous sin of Sodom and Gomorrah in 1 Corinthians 6:9, where homosexuals are referred to as Sodomites. This is in line with the wicked men’s request who wanted Lot to send the two angels, appearing as men, out to them so that they could have their way with them. Luke 17:29, Romans 9:29, 2 Peter 2:6, and Jude 1:7 confirm this account’s historicity. God’s Word has much to say about Sodom, and it is all relevant to today. Much of our world has become so wicked that they can no longer recognize the fundamental difference between male and female, one of the very first things God distinguished. If we can’t even recognize truth at its most basic level, what hope do we have? Without Christ, there is no hope. Without revival, our culture and our world will continue careening down the highway to Hell with the pedal to the metal and no working brake. The only brake is Jesus. No politician or political party can do what only Jesus can accomplish. May we remember that before it is too late, if we have not been given over to a Romans 1 judgment already.

SOURCES

1. Holy Bible: Literal Standard Version https://read.lsvbible.com/
2. Genesis Part 3-Precept Workbook (NASB) https://shop.precept.org/products/genesis-part-3-precept-workbook-nasb-2
3. Abram Gives Lot First Choice by Mission Bible Class https://missionbibleclass.org/old-testament/part1/tower-of-babel-through-joseph/abram-gives-lot-first-choice/
4. Hello World!: A Personal Message to the Body of Christ by Paul Crouch, published on April 15, 2003, https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=POny_3SvXIkC
5. The Lesson of Lot by Bruce A. Ritter, https://rcg.org/youth/articles/0504-tlol.html