This Saturday (10-30-04) morning we discussed the two “strangers” who visited Lot in Sodom.  Now, Lot was kin to Abraham and what happened to him is supposed to be instructive to us who read the “Old” Testament. Homosexual behavior (man with man or woman with woman or either with animals) has been proscribed, along with the descriptive word, “sodomy”. This is a reference to the inhabitants of an unlucky place where Lot settled. There were a number of productive Canaanite settlements in the plain below the Dead Sea where they “practiced cult prostitution consistent with their fertility religions” (From the internet).  The Genesis story tells how Abraham bargained with God for the lives of 50, 45 and down to 5 innocent people if they were to be found. The inhospitality of the Sodomites was one cause of their punishment. Looking back at the doomed town was paid by being turned into a pillar of salt. There is a lot of salt in that area.

The story is as good as any dreamed up by script writers in movie-land. The strangers (most likely angels) came to Lot at the gates of Sodom and Lot invited them inside his dwelling for it was dangerous for them to settle down for the night in the town square. Sure enough, the townspeople called upon Lot to give up the strangers for them to use sexually; Lot demurs and finally offers up his daughters instead.  Now Abraham had tried to excuse the destruction of these Canaanite settlements if innocents could be found.  The internet analysis looked at it a bit differently. “The men of Sodom were rightly suspicious of the two spies that Yahweh had sent.  They became violently angry at Lot for protecting them.  They were not destroyed for reasons of homosexuality.  The story grew into an object lesson to condemn homosexuals.” (Again from the Internet)

Actually, naturalistic explanations can be used. An earthquake and volcanic eruptions sending out “fire and brimstone” were the causes of the destruction and disappearance of these “settlements”.  Archaeological investigations have shown sulfurous remains; but this is really not about this part of the story that we read of in the Bible. What interests me is that Sodom has always been joined with Gomorrah but Gomorrah has escaped the connection with sin that we have always associated with “perverse” practices of a sexual nature.

In our meeting I tried to keep a straight and serious face when I asked if anyone ever used the term to “Gomorrize” someone. It got a couple of smiles but no one knows. The record on the internet solely involves the people of Sodom as a bad and sad example of poor hospitality to strangers as well as displaying the displeasure of Yahweh. Why are the names linked? “Haman” in Persia as well as “Pharaoh” punished the Jews, but “Sodom” has reached through history as a contemporary sin.