What was the Sin of Sodom?

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The Question of Sodom’s Sin in Genesis 19

My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist. Today we're going to be answering the question, what was the sin of Sodom? This is actually an extension of a sermon, which I preached at Sovereign Grace Family Church recently, and I'm currently going through the book of Genesis.

I'm going verse by verse through the book and I've been doing that now for a few years. We have spent a lot of time in creation and the first 11 chapters in Genesis, and now that I'm getting into the mid chapters of Genesis and beginning to work my way through the book, I'm sort of taking a chapter by chapter approach because the narratives are long and there's a lot that they say, and I certainly can't stop and preach every single verse.

I'd never be able to finish the book. And sometimes things come along that I would like to talk about, but they are not really necessary for the exposition of the text. And that's really what today is about.

Today is replacing what could be an additional sermon because I could do an entire sermon on this subject, but I decided not to because I want to continue with the flow of Genesis. I want to continue moving through.

But I know there are some people who have interest in this, and I did address this subject in my sermon that I preached on Genesis 19, but I did it in a shortened form. And today I want to extend that out.

I want to talk about it in a longer form. And since I have the medium of this program, I thought it would be a great time to do it. So if you clicked on today's program, you already know what it's about.

The title of the video is what is the sin of Sodom or what was the sin of Sodom? And right away, some people say, well, why even ask that question? We know what the sin of Sodom was. We see the sin of Sodom in Genesis 19.

We can read it. The angels come into Sodom and immediately Lot meets them at the city gate and he says, they say, we're going to go sleep in the city square. Lot says, no, you're not. It's too dangerous.

And he urges them to come into his home. They go into his home. Well, immediately his home is surrounded by, it says, all of the men of Sodom from the young and the old, all of the men of Sodom surround the house of Lot and demand that the two visitors who have come, who we know are angels, but they don't, they believe are men, to have these two angels come out so that we may know them.

Now there's a lot of debate among some about what it means to know someone in this context, because some people would say that the word know there simply means to identify them. You've brought strangers in among us.

We want to know who those strangers are. We want to get to know them. We don't like to have outsiders in our midst. And in a sense that some would claim that the sin of Sodom was xenophobia. They were afraid of outsiders and they wanted to know these men.

The problem is that particular interpretation as popular as it may be among some, does not hold any water because we recognize that immediately to placate the crowd, Lot offers his daughters in place of the two men.

So, uh, someone that doesn't fly. If all they want to know is their identity. Certainly they knew the identity of Lot's daughters. Lot is a man of reputation in this community. He sits in the city gates, which is a position of authority and judgment.

And so, and his daughters are set to marry their betrothed to men in Sodom. We learn about that in the story. So the, the idea that, that, that, um, they just want to know these men on an intellectual level is not what the text is saying the word knowledge there or no is used in the biblical sense of what we would call carnal knowledge.

Carnal knowledge is a sexual knowledge. It is in keeping with, uh, going back earlier in Genesis where it says Adam knew Eve and she conceived and bore a son. That is the idea of knowing there. There is a sexual component of the idea of knowledge there.

And so the men in Sodom wanted to essentially engage in a form of gang rape against these two men and, uh, wanted to do so on a mass level. We're talking about, uh, all of the men of Sodom and, and we, we can assume Sodom was somewhat of a larger city, uh, uh, based on several factors.

But you remember when Abraham was talking to God and he said, uh, you know, if there are 50 righteous, if they're 45, 40 members, that was, uh, in chapter 18, if, if the, well, if 50 was a large amount that, that wouldn't, wouldn't make a lot of sense.

So we're, we're assuming when, when Abraham started at 50, that would have been a smaller amount compared to the whole. So if you, if you're thinking about lots house being surrounded by only 50 men or a hundred men, probably not.

We're talking about several hundred, if not several thousand men, and they're all seeking to engage in the same acts of mutual, uh, or rather, uh, group, uh, sexual intercourse with these men, uh, which would be homosexual and of course, and in this event, we see that the men are struck with blindness because as lot is trying to argue with them, they, uh, they try to press upon him.

They even say, who are you to judge us? Which is very common today. And, uh, the angels strike them with blindness and it says they still groped for the door. I talked about this in my sermon. I said, they still went for the door, even after being struck with blindness, they were still going toward that.

They still wanted what they wanted. It's, it's an amazing and sad picture of what I would say is a Romans one community. And you may say, why, why Romans one community? Well, Romans one tells us that when people, uh, who know God exists, no longer honor him as God or worship him as God, but rather turn to idols that those people are given over to a debased mind.

And they they're given over to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. And one of the things in that category, when Paul is writing Romans one, one of the first things that happens when a people are given over to a debased mind is a, is a, uh, an expression of homosexual lust.

Uh, Paul says that women burn with lust for other women, uh, and leaving the natural use of the man and the man leaving the natural use of the woman burning and their passion for one another. So this is, I believe a picture.

I don't think Paul is writing about Sodom, but I think Sodom is an example of what Paul is writing about. So Paul is giving the example of a society that has, that has essentially turned its back on God.

Has it has, has, has resorted to worshiping idols rather than worshiping the one true God of heaven and earth. And the result is widespread sin, which expresses itself in different ways. And of course you read the end of Romans one, it's all kinds of, you know, disobedient to parents, uh, gossip, hatred of one another, all these dissension, all these things that are listed in the end of the end of Romans one, but before that we see what is mentioned, which is the idea of homosexual engagement.

Now, again, there are those who disagree. They would say Romans one, isn't about homosexuality. Romans one is about, uh, and there, there are books that have been written on this, Matthew Vines and others have written books to say that it's not about homosexual behavior.

It's about unnatural, uh, lusting. And, and there's, um, arguments that it involves things like pederasty and things like that. And, and, and, um, so all of these things have been argued that homosexuality is not the issue.

What the issue is, are these other things? And I have a friend pastor. I've had him on the show before. His name is Brian Borgman. And this is what he said. And I think it's a brilliant statement. He said that, uh, saying that homosexuality was not the sin of Sodom or was not among the sins of Sodom or would be like, or had nothing to do with the center.

So let me, let me, let me, let me try to quote him more, more precisely. Basically what he said is this, he said that to say that homosexuality had nothing to do with the center of Sodom would be like saying that antisemitism had nothing to do with the crimes of Germany, uh, during world war two, certainly we would say that their only crime was not, uh, antisemitism, but certainly that was part of what led to the crimes of Nazi Germany.

So this is the same thing. When we look at Sodom, we're looking at a people who were expressing their sin in a way that was homosexual gang rape, and they wanted to do so in such a way that even when struck with blindness, they continued to grope for the door.

They continue to try to reach their objective. So what I want to do now that I've sort of given you the idea, uh, I, I do want to look at some passages that I didn't get a chance to look at in my sermon, and I want to just address what they say, because I do think that these are important to mention, especially in regard to the issue of Ezekiel chapter 16, because those who would say that, that the sin of Sodom was not homosexuality often run to Ezekiel 16, and they say here Ezekiel 16 tells us what the sins of Sodom are or were, and what's not mentioned, homosexuality is not mentioned.

So let's read it. If you have your Bibles, turn to Ezekiel chapter 16, and we'll look at verses 44 to 52. Uh, now that's a longer portion because the actual passage that, you know, a lot of people focus on is, um, is in the midst of this, uh, beginning of around verse 48, but I want us to hear the context because the context is important to this particular argument because Sodom is being compared to, uh, sinful Israel here.

And we'll see in a moment how that, that happens. Let's, let's, let's read. It says in verse 44, behold, everyone who uses Proverbs will use this proverb about you, like mother, like daughter, you are the daughter of your mother who loathed her husband and her children, and you are the sister of your sisters who loathed her husband, husbands, and their children.

Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite and your elder sister is Samaria who lived with her daughters to the north of you and your younger sister who lived to the south of you is Sodom with her daughters.

Now only, not only did you walk in the ways and do according to their abominations with a very little time, you were more corrupt than they. And all your ways. So Sodom here is being used as an example.

Sodom is being used just, you know, this is allegorical and saying you are Sodom speaking to the sinful audience. You are, you're, you're Sodom, you know, or rather your younger sister is Sodom. It says in verse 46 and it says, not only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations within a very little time, you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.

Okay. So Sodom here is the example of sin. And by the way, Sodom is used throughout the Bible as an example of a sinful nation and is an example of the expression of God's judgment. If you go into the old Testament, Sodom is mentioned in Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Amos, Zephaniah, almost always to reference either a sinful and wicked people or God's judgment on a sinful and wicked people and the same in the new Testament.

The new Testament Sodom is mentioned in Matthew, Luke, Romans, second Peter, Jude and revelation always as either an allegory for a wicked city or wicked people or God's judgment on a wicked people. In fact, one of the interesting things we see is in the new Testament, we see Jesus mentioning, you know, speaking to Bethsaida and Corazon, you know, woe to you Bethsaida, woe to you Corazon for if the things done in you had been done in Sodom, they would have repented.

And so he's saying they're worse than Sodom in that regard. And this is an interesting point is that Sodom is always seen as this wicked city. It's the example of wickedness. And so that's what's happening here in Ezekiel.

Then we get to verse 48. Verse 48, he says, as I live declares the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done 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. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them when I saw it. Samaria has not committed half your sins.

You have committed more abominations than they and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. Bear your disgrace. You also, for you have intervened on behalf of your sisters because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you, so be ashamed.

You also and bear your disgrace for you have made your sisters appear righteous. All right. So that ends this section and how far I'm going to go. But going back, I want to point out something. The, this is using Sodom as an analogy or an allegory, but it does mention the sins of Sodom and, um, it could be argued though, that because Sodom is the allegory here, that the sins being mentioned are more specific to the audience of Ezekiel himself, who he's speaking to because he's using Sodom as the example, but some people say, no, no, this is the, these are the sins of Sodom, the actual city.

And that's the argument that's made. And, and again, I think that I think an argument could be made that this is the sin of the allegorical Sodom, which is the audience of Ezekiel, but let's just take for granted.

Let's say, okay, this is speaking of the sins of Sodom. Um, so let's look at what the sins are. It says, behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom. Remember earlier though, it talked about this, the sister Sodom being this, uh, not the literal Sodom, but, but for let's take for granted, if it is the literal Sodom and some people interpret it that way.

So let we'll say it is, no, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters, that being her citizens had pride. Okay. Well, going back to Romans one, what is, what is the major sin of Romans one?

It's not recognizing the God who exists, placing yourself in the place of the God who exists and, and making idols. That's, that's a form of pride. In fact, I've made the argument in the past, and I believe this is, I believe I can argue this out, that pride is really the heart of all sin.

Um, because it's pride that causes us to say no to God. It's, it's, it's pride that tells, that says that we somehow know better than God. Uh, it was, it was ultimately pride that led to Adam and Eve eating of the fruit because God told them not to, but what did the, how did Satan appeal to Eve?

You will become as God. You, you will be like God knowing good and evil. So the idea that pride would be a sin within the city of Sodom. Absolutely. That, that, that is the heart of, of all sin. Now the next one, the next few rather is, uh, what we, what we would call gluttony.

It says access of food and, uh, lethargy, prosperous ease. And, um, it says, but, and you did not aid the poor and needy. So we would say a lack of sympathy or love for those in need. So all of those things certainly existed in the wicked city of Sodom.

And like I said, even if this is allegorical, certainly those things existed. So here's the argument from those who would say the sin of Sodom was not homosexuality. The sin of Sodom was, they would say first it was pride gluttony.

It was lethargy and it was lack of sympathy or lack of empathy for those who were poor and needy. And as I said, I don't doubt that all of those things were true of the men of Sodom and the people of Sodom were wicked people.

Um, all of these things are true, but what the argument goes on to say is that see, it doesn't say anything about homosexuality. The sins of Sodom was not homosexuality. The sin of Sodom was the pride and gluttony and lethargy and lack of sympathy.

That was the, that was the sin of Sodom. But notice it doesn't end there. If you're in the passage, you notice verse 50 is hanging there like a hanging Chad. It says this, they were haughty, which is another word for prideful.

Excuse me. They were haughty and they did an abomination before me. So I removed them when I saw it. All right. So let's say this is referring to the literal Sodom. Let's, let's take that as again, that's the argument.

This is, this is literal Sodom. This is, this is the goal to, or this is the focus. Um, what's the abomination. What is the abomination that they did before him? It doesn't say it says they were haughty and they did an abomination before me.

Okay. Well, um, this is, this is a time when it would be important for us to understand word meanings because the word abomination is an important word in the Bible. And it does come up a few times, especially in the old Testament.

And, uh, the word abomination comes up specifically in a passage in Leviticus chapter 18. Now it comes up in other places as well. Um, but this is the, the, the word, uh, to Eva in Hebrew, uh, is the, uh, the idea of something that is disgusting.

That that's the concept here. The idea of toe Eva is something that is, uh, is something that is, is bad. It is disgusting. It is, uh, it is something that is abominable the way that I've described it, and if you've ever, you maybe have heard me talk about this before, uh, is the idea of something that smells bad when the, when the, the idea of the, the Yeti or the abominable snowman, the same word abomination abominable comes from the idea because when, when hikers would find these big footsteps of this animal that they believed was the missing link, this, this abominable snowman, the reason they called it the abominable snowman was because it was, uh, it was always accompanied by a smell that was just icky.

It was nasty. It was gross. And, uh, I was, while I was talking, I was looking up here in my, my Hebrew dictionary, um, for, for this word. And, uh, it says it is, um, it is properly something disgusting morally.

Uh, it is, uh, an abhorrence, especially idolatry or an idol. It is abominable, uh, an abomination. And it's from a root, uh, to ab, and, uh, that means to loathe something or to detest something, to abhor something.

So, so it is something that is, that is gross. It is something that is bad. And so going back to the Ezekiel passage for just a moment, Ezekiel passage says, behold, this was your guilt. You know, you had pride, you had gluttony, you had, uh, uh, lethargy, you had lack of sympathy, but you also had an abomination before me.

It doesn't define what the abomination is. Well, what are some things that we know happened in Sodom? Well, we go back to the actual story of Sodom and we go back to Leviticus, uh, or I'm sorry, go back to Genesis 19.

And we know that one of the abominations done among them was the sin of attempted gang rape, but it wasn't just attempted gang rape because the men of Sodom didn't want the daughters of Lot. Remember this, they did not, Lot offered his daughters and that's awful.

I talked about it in the sermon. Can't even imagine offering up my daughters, my virgin daughters to this gang of terrible men. But they didn't want them. They don't want them. They want the men, they want this.

They want to express their lust in a way that is homosexual rather than heterosexual in nature. And so what, where do we see the word abomination come up? Many of you know this, but I just want to point it back out.

Is Leviticus 18 22, when we're given a picture of what an abomination, one of the abominations mentioned in scripture, it says you shall not lie with a man or with a male as with a woman, it is an abomination.

And, um, it's interesting that, and, uh, Brian Borgman pointed this out in his sermon, by the way, he does, he does a great sermon on this subject. And, uh, he was very helpful in me putting together some of this.

So I'm thankful for him. Uh, but one of the things he pointed out in his sermon was that when we look at the word abomination throughout the Bible, it's typically in the plural abominations, but in Leviticus 18 22, it's in the singular.

And so it says you shall not lie with a male as with a female. It is an abomination. And then if you go over to chapter 20, verse 13 of Leviticus, it says, if a man lies with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination, surely they shall be put to death.

Their blood is upon them again, singular abomination. And then when you go back to the Ezekiel passage and it says they were haughty and they did an abomination before me, this is a singular abomination.

This is, this is a singular, uh, in, in, in Ezekiel. So the point being is that this is a specific thing. This isn't that they did abominations that they had all these things, which, which is certainly true, but it's that they did an abomination before me.

Now, considering that, uh, I think that it would be reasonable to conclude that the abomination that Ezekiel is referring to would be the abomination of the act of homosexual, uh, sin, homosexual sex.

And, and, and this expression would be homosexual rape. So it would be even more, uh, because it's forcible homosexual action. So this is interesting because think about it for just a moment. How has Sodom, uh, been typically defined through history?

It's, it's been defined with the sin of homosexuality. Uh, in fact, we, we have a term in our world, the term sodomy and the term sodomy is a word, which means a person who engages in particularly male homosexual sex.

In fact, while I'm sitting here, I'm just going to, um, consider the fact that the word sodomy also you is used in the idea of a Sodomite. You talk about what is a Sodomite? A Sodomite is a person who is a person who engages in male to male homosexual behavior.

This is the way it's been used. So it's been, it's had a particular understanding that people have understood this passage to mean one specific thing for hundreds of years. And then less than a hundred years ago, uh, or really in the, in the last generation, there are those who come out and say, nope, everyone before had it wrong, we have it right now.

We have this and, um, everybody else has missed it. It's not talking about homosexuality. It's talking about other expressions of sinful, uh, sinfulness, but not homosexuality, and I think that that's just being absolutely unfair and disingenuous with the text.

Now, as we begin to, uh, draw to a close, I do want to point out two other passages in the, in the new Testament, as I think would just simply reaffirm what we are saying here. And again, I admit neither one of these will use the word homosexual, but both of these talk about the sin, the sins of Sodom and their wickedness and in a very distinct way.

The first one is we're going to look at second Peter two, beginning at verse four, if you want to open your Bibles, and then we're going to go to Jude, Jude verse six, there's only one chapter in Jude.

So Jude verse six and seven. So let's go to second Peter. And, uh, it begins by talking about, uh, angels who did not keep their, uh, or God not sparing the angels, um, who committed sin. So this is what it says in verse four.

It says for, if God did not spare angels when they sin, we cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment. If he did not spare the ancient world, but preserve Noah, a herald of righteousness with seven others.

When he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly, if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly.

And if he rescued righteous lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked notice the term sensual, they're important. Uh, cause it references a, a, a, a sin of the flesh sensual conduct of the wicked for us, this righteous man lived among them day by day.

He was tormented. He was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard. Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

So, so here we see in second Peter, we see the term sensual, we see the term lust, we see the term defiling passion, all of these, uh, I believe in referencing particularly the sin of Sodom. So, um, going back to the argument from Ezekiel, whether, whether their sin was pride, their sin was gluttony.

Their sin was lethargy. Their sin was lack of sympathy. Um, all of those are true, but those things typically don't fall under the category of what we would call, um, uh, a lustful or defiling passion or a sensual passion.

And that's what perhaps maybe the gluttony or the lethargy could be a sensual. It's a less of the, it's a sin of the flesh, but these seem to be referring more toward a sin of a sexual nature. But let's now move to Jude and look specifically at what Jude says, because Jude, I think is a little clearer.

It says in the beginning of verse six, it says in the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling. He has kept an eternal change under gloomy darkness until the judgment of great day.

This is referring to the fall of, um, of sinful angels. Just like it's interesting how there's a lot of parallels between second Peter and Jude. And here is an example, uh, the, the, the passage in second Peter is longer, but Jude is dealing with the same thing.

The fall of the angels verse seven, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued. Here's a, here's key unnatural desire served as an example by undergoing an, a punishment of eternal fire.

Listen to it again. This is, this to me is so clear. It says, uh, they, they, they indulge this Sodom and Gomorrah. This is specifically referring to Sodom and Gomorrah. Indulged in sexual immorality of what kind it says that they pursued unnatural desire and they served as an example, uh, undergoing punishment.

And you say, well, how can we define a natural desire? I remember years ago, I was having a conversation with a man, uh, and he said, well, we, there's no such thing as natural, unnatural desire. And the Bible uses that term in a, in a inappropriate way because it's an, he, he was arguing, he didn't believe the Bible anyway.

And I was saying, well, the Bible talks about unnatural desire. He says, there's no such thing as natural, unnatural. It just, and, and, and our argument went on and on and I couldn't convince him, but I did point out some things I said.

So, uh, you wouldn't say that a man desiring an animal would be unnatural. Oh, well, you're being ridiculous and disgusting. I'm saying, no, that's unnatural. Right. And he would say, well, you know, you're using that term.

I don't agree with the term natural. And, and I'm like you, this is the biblical term. And again, going back to Romans one, where we started today in our conversation, I want you to consider what Jude has said.

Jude has said Sodom and Gomorrah pursued unnatural desire. Going back to Romans one, listen to what it says. It says, um, referring to, uh, the dishonorable passions. It says for this reason, or actually let's begin in verse 24, Romans one 24, therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie.

And they worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. Verse 26 for this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions for the women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature.

What's contrary to nature, unnatural. That's the term. And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

There it is. I think that is to me, it is, it is very clear. And I say these things, um, not because I want to point out homosexuality, homosexuality and say, this is, this is it. This is absolutely it.

This is, um, this is, you know, the, the, the sin of sins. No, but it is a sin. And that's the problem is not that homosexuality is the greatest of all sins, but homosexuality is a sin. And it certainly was among the sins of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities.

The unnatural sexual perversion that existed in those cities was a sin. And it was among the sins for which they were judged. And it was the sin that God chose to put on display right before they were judged by sending in two witnesses against them, two witnesses that they attempted themselves to have a homosexual gang orgy rape with.

So that's the point of this. It's to simply say for those who would say homosexuality has nothing to do with this, as my friend, my pastor friend, Brian Borgman said, that would be like saying that antisemitism had nothing to do with Nazi Germany.

It just doesn't hold water. It doesn't make sense. So my encouragement to you today is if you hear someone argue, well, the sin of Sodom wasn't homosexuality. They had all these other sins. So, well, certainly they had all these other sins, but the sin that is consistently pointed out when Sodom is mentioned is this particular sin, this abomination, this unnatural sexual desire, which is an expression of them having been turned over to a debased mind.

We look at our world around us and what do we see when the world is turned over to its debased mind, when people are given over to the sinful lust of the flesh, what's one of the ways that it expresses itself most clearly in the world, it expresses itself through reckless and wild expressions of homosexual interactions and homosexual displays.

So I hope that this has been helpful for you. I hope this was a good addition to what I preached last Sunday, and we'll continue to move forward in the book of Genesis as we go, if you have questions on the subject, or you'd like me to elaborate on something that I said, please send me a message at calvinistpodcast at gmail .com.

Thank you for listening to Conversations with a Calvinist. My name is Keith Foskey, and I've been your Calvinist. May God bless you.

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