Sodom and Gomorrah

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For other uses, see Sodom and Gomorrah (disambiguation).
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, John Martin, 1832.
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, John Martin, 1832.

According to the Book of Genesis, Sodom (Hebrew: סְדוֹם, Standard Sədom Tiberian Səḏôm, Greek Σόδομα) and Gomorrah (Hebrew: עֲמוֹרָה, Standard ʿAmora Tiberian Ġəmôrāh, ʿĂmôrāh, Greek Γόμορρα) were two cities destroyed by God for their sins.

For the sins of their inhabitants Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim were destroyed by "brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven" (Genesis 19:24-25). Since then, their names are synonymous with impenitent sin, and their fall with a proverbial manifestation of God's wrath (Jude 1:7).

The story of Sodom has given rise to words in several languages, including English: the word "sodomy", meaning acts (stigmatized as "unnatural vice") such as homosexuality and anal sex, and the word "sodomite", meaning one who practices such acts.

Contents

[edit] The Biblical text

Sodom was one of a group of five towns, the Pentapolis (Wisdom 10:6): Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Bela -- also called Zoar (Genesis 19:22). The Pentapolis region is also collectively referred to as "the Cities of the Plain" (Genesis 13:12) since they were all sited on the plain of the Jordan River, in an area that constituted the southern limit of the lands of the Canaanites (Genesis 10:19). Lot, a nephew of Abram (Abraham) chose to live in Sodom, because of the proximity of good grazing for his flocks (Genesis 13:5-11).

In Genesis 18, God informs Abraham that he plans to destroy the city of Sodom because of its gross immorality. Abraham pleads with God not to destroy Sodom, and God agrees that he would not destroy the city if there were 50 righteous people in it, then 45, then 30, then 20, or even ten righteous people. The Lord's two angels only found one righteous person living in Sodom, Abraham's nephew Lot. Consequently, God destroyed the city.

In Genesis 19:4-5, the final episode in the story of Sodom is described as the angels visit Lot to warn him to flee:

4. When they had not yet retired, and the people of the city, the people of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, the entire populace from every end[of the city].
5. And they called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, and let us be intimate with them." (Judaica Press.)

Lot refused to give the visiting angels to the men of Sodom, instead he offered them his two daughters but the men refused. The men were struck with blindness, allowing Lot and his family, who were then instructed to leave the city, to escape. Then Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed with fire and brimstone by God.

A similar event is recorded in the Judges 19:20-22, this time involving the town of Gibeah. This suggests that the occurrences in Sodom were not unique:

20. And the old man said, "Peace be to you, just let all your needs be upon me, but do not lodge in the street."
21. And he brought him into his house, and gave fodder to the donkeys, and they washed their feet, ate and drank.
22. As they were enjoying themselves, and behold, the men of the city, men of wickedness, surrounded the house, (and were) beating at the door. And they spoke to the man, the elderly master of the house, saying, "Bring out the man that came into your house, so that we may be intimate with him. (Judaica Press.)

[edit] Jewish views

Classical Jewish texts do not specifically indicate that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because the inhabitants were homosexual, or sexually deviant from what was recorded as God's law of natural order, but rather, they were destroyed because the inhabitants were generally morally depraved and uncompromisingly greedy. Though homosexual acts were an abomination, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were guilty of many other sins as well. Rabbinic writings affirm that the primary crimes of the Sodomites were terrible and repeated economic crimes, both against each other and outsiders[citation needed].

A rabbinic tradition, described in the Mishnah, postulates that the sin of Sodom was related to property: Sodomites believed that "what is mine is mine, and what is yours is yours" (Abot), which is interpreted as a lack of compassion. Another rabbinic tradition is that these two wealthy cities treated visitors in a sadistic fashion. One example is the story of the "bed" that guests to Sodom were forced to sleep in: if they were too short they were stretched to fit it, and if they were too tall, they were cut up.(compare Procrustes.)

The Talmud also recounts the incident of a young girl (some sources say it was a daughter of Lot) who gave some bread to a poor man who had entered the city. When the townspeople discovered her act of kindness, they smeared her body with honey and hung her from the city wall until she was stung to death by bees. (Sanhedrin 109a) It is this gruesome event (and her scream, in particular), the Talmud concludes, that are alluded to in the verse that heralds the city’s destruction: "So Hashem said, 'Because the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and because their sin has been very grave, I will descend and see...'" (Genesis 18:20-21.)

[edit] The view of Josephus

Flavius Josephus, a Romano-Jewish historian, wrote:

“ Now, about this time the Sodomites, overwhelmingly proud of their numbers and the extent of their wealth, showed themselves insolent to men and impious to the divinity, insomuch that they no more remembered the benefits that they had received from him, hated foreigners and avoided any contact with others. Indignant at this conduct, God accordingly resolved to chastise them for their arrogance, and not only to uproot their city, but to blast their land so completely that it should yield neither plant nor fruit whatsoever from that time forward. ”
 
— Jewish Antiquities 1:194-195

and Josephus recounts that angels came to Sodom to find good men they were instead greeted by rapists and sodomists[1]:

“ And the angels came to the city of the Sodomites...when the Sodomites beheld the young men, who were outstanding in beauty of appearance and who had been received into Lots’s house, they set about to do violence and outrage to their youthful beauty....Therefore, God, indignant at their bold acts, struck them with blindness, so that they were unable to find the entrance into the house, and condemned the Sodomites to destruction of the whole population. ”
 
— Jewish Antiquities 1:199-202

[edit] Reformist Torah approach with Hebrew translations

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"Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house."

One might get the impression that only the men of the city had surrounded Lot's house and also that they were all homosexuals out to have sex with the angels. But a small number of reformists feel neither of these points is necessarily supported by a close reading of the text.

As was historically the case with the English word men, the Hebrew word anashim used here can also refer to a group comprised of both sexes. (For example, in Genesis 17:23 the word anashim must be paired with the word zechar, meaning "male", to indicate that men and not women were circumcised, though it also must be mentioned that this generally is not the case.) If women were present too, then it is hard to argue that the whole crowd was looking for a homosexual experience. Those present were therefore possibly better described as bisexual.

The traditional interpretation may also rely on another textual interpretation, relating to the crowd's declaration of what they want to do to the visitors. There is no Old Testament text in which the word yadha specifically refers to homosexual coitus, except for this disputed Sodom and Gomorrah story in Genesis. The less ambiguous word shachabh, however, is used for homosexual, heterosexual, and bestial intercourse. Shachabh appears fifty times in the Old Testament; if it had been used instead of yadha in the Sodom story, the meaning of the text would have been unmistakable. However the term does refer to a sexual act, therefore the intention was rape, whether homosexual or not(if women were indeed present).

One more textual feature may support this point. When the mob cries out "Where are the men who came in to you tonight?", the Hebrew word translated men is again the term anashim, which is occasionally used ambiguously. One may ask: Why would homosexuals want to have sex with two strangers if they were unsure of what sex they were? However if the sin was rape, and the rapists were indiscriminate, then the sex of the strangers would not matter.

[edit] Christian views

There are two prevailing views of the sin of Sodom in Christian thought. One is that the destruction of Sodom was due to inhospitality, as illustrated by the gifts of God to Abraham for his gracious action, contrasted with consequences of the behavior of the city's inhabitants. First we see hospitality and the way we should act, then inhospitality in that the people of Sodom seek to mistreat the newcomers. The Biblical text itself seems to suggest that the sin is based in part on inhospitality to some (if not a major) extent (although traditionally, the reason promulgated for the punishment has been sexual immorality):

In a sixteenth-century depiction by Lucas Van Leyden, a drunken Lot embraces his daughter while Sodom burns in the distance.
In a sixteenth-century depiction by Lucas Van Leyden, a drunken Lot embraces his daughter while Sodom burns in the distance.
Ezekiel 16:49-50: Now this was the sin of Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.

This idea is paralleled in the Gospels when Jesus compares an inhospitable reception to Sodom:

Matthew 10:14-15: If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

This view of the Biblical story reflects that of other ancient civilizations, such as Greece and Rome, where hospitality was of singular importance and strangers were under the protection of the gods.[1] Also in these civilizations, men were held in a much higher regard than women, in Greece women being seen as little more than property[citation needed], therefore, to demand not only a guest but a male guest be violated against his will would be seen as more of a crime than to allow women to be used to save the guest[citation needed].

The other prevailing explanation among Christians, informed by certain interpretations of other Biblical texts (see The Bible and homosexuality) and believed to be further suggested by the following, is that the sins of Sodom involved sexual immorality:

Jude 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Interpretations of this passage vary. It may be that "going after strange flesh" is a euphemism for homosexuality, or, it may refer to sex with strangers, sex outside of wedlock, or possibly something akin to bestiality, as the men of Sodom were seeking copulation with angels rather than humans. [2]

[edit] Islamic view

Main article: Lut

Lut (Arabic: لوط ) was a prophet mentioned in the Qur'an and known as Lot in the Bible.

According to Islamic tradition, Lut lived in Ur and was a nephew of Ibrahim or Abraham. His story is often used as a reference by traditional Islamic scholars to show homosexuality to be against God's law or Haraam. He was commanded by God to go to the land of Sodom and Gomorra to preach against homosexuality. In the Qur'an as in the Bible, Lut's message is ignored, Sodom and Gommorra is destroyed and his wife is left behind to be destroyed.

“ And Lut, when he said to his tribe: "Do you commit an obscenity not perpetrated before you by anyone in all the worlds? You come with lust to men instead of women. You are indeed a depraved tribe." The only answer of his tribe was to say: "Expel them from your city! They are people who keep themselves pure!" So We rescued him and his family-except for his wife. She was one of those who stayed behind. We rained down a rain upon them. See the final fate of the evildoers! ”
 
— Qur'an, 7:80-84
“ And (remember) Lout (Lot), when he said to his people: "Do you commit the worst sin such as none preceding you has committed in the 'Alamin (mankind and jinns)?"

"Verily, you practise your lusts on men instead of women. Nay, but you are a people transgressing beyond bounds (by committing great sins)." And the answer of his people was only that they said: "Drive them out of your town, these are indeed men who want to be pure (from sins)!" Then We saved him and his family, except his wife; she was of those who remained behind (in the torment). And We rained down on them a rain (of stones). Then see what was the end of the Mujrimun (criminals, polytheists, sinners, etc.).

 ”
 
— Qur'an 7:84
“ And verily, there came Our Messengers to Ibrahim (Abraham) with glad tidings. They said: Salam (greetings or peace!) He answered, Salam (greetings or peace!) and he hastened to entertain them with a roasted calf.

But when he saw their hands went not towards it (the meal), he felt some mistrust of them, and conceived a fear of them. They said: "Fear not, we have been sent against the people of Lout (Lot)." And his wife was standing (there), and she laughed (because she was told that she was going to get pregnant, she laughed because she was over 90 years of age(Lot). But We gave her glad tidings of Ishaque (Isaac), and after him, of Ya'qub (Jacob). She said (in astonishment): "Woe unto me! Shall I bear a child while I am an old woman, and here is my husband, an old man? Verily! This is a strange thing!" They said: "Do you wonder at the Decree of Allah? The Mercy of Allah and His Blessings be on you, O the family [of Ibrahim (Abraham)]. Surely, He (Allah) is All-Praiseworthy, All-Glorious." Then when the fear had gone away from (the mind of) Ibrahim (Abraham), and the glad tidings had reached him, he began to plead with Us (Our Messengers) for the people of Lout (Lot). Verily, Ibrahim (Abraham) was, without doubt, forbearing, used to invoke Allah with humility, and was repentant (to Allah all the time, again and again). "O Ibrahim (Abraham)! Forsake this. Indeed, the Commandment of your Lord has gone forth. Verily, there will come a torment for them which cannot be turned back." And when Our Messengers came to Lout (Lot), he was grieved on their account and felt himself straitened for them (lest the town people should approach them to commit sodomy with them). He said: "This is a distressful day." And his people came rushing towards him, and since aforetime they used to commit crimes (sodomy, etc.), he said: "O my people! Here are my daughters (i.e. the daughters of my nation), they are purer for you (if you marry them lawfully). So fear Allah and degrade me not as regards my guests! Is there not among you a single right-minded man?" They said: "Surely you know that we have neither any desire nor in need of your daughters, and indeed you know well what we want!" He said: "Would that I had strength (men) to overpower you, or that I could betake myself to some powerful support (to resist you)." They (Messengers) said: "O Lout (Lot)! Verily, we are the Messengers from your Lord! They shall not reach you! So travel with your family in a part of the night, and let not any of you look back, but your wife (will remain behind), verily, the punishment which will afflict them, will afflict her. Indeed, morning is their appointed time. Is not the morning near?" So when Our Commandment came, We turned (the towns of Sodom in Palestine) upside down, and rained on them stones of baked clay, piled up; Marked from your Lord, and they are not ever far from the Zalimun (polytheists, evil-doers, etc.).

 ”
 
— Qur'an 11:69-83
“ And verily! Your Lord, He is indeed the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful.

The people of Lout (Lot) (those dwelt in the towns of Sodom in Palestine) belied the Messengers. When their brother Lout (Lot) said to them: "Will you not fear Allah and obey Him? "Verily! I am a trustworthy Messenger to you. "So fear Allah, keep your duty to Him, and obey me. "No reward do I ask of you for it (my Message of Islamic Monotheism), my reward is only from the Lord of the 'Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists). "Go you in unto the males of the 'Alamin (mankind), "And leave those whom Allah has created for you to be your wives? Nay, you are a trespassing people!" They said: "If you cease not. O Lout (Lot)! Verily, you will be one of those who are driven out!" He said: "I am, indeed, of those who disapprove with severe anger and fury your (this evil) action (of sodomy). "My Lord! Save me and my family from what they do." So We saved him and his family, all, Except an old woman (his wife) among those who remained behind. Then afterward We destroyed the others. And We rained on them a rain (of torment). And how evil was the rain of those who had been warned. Verily, in this is indeed a sign, yet most of them are not believers. And verily! Your Lord, He is indeed the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful.

 ”
 
— Qur'an 26:159-175

The major difference between the story of Lut in the Qur'an and the story of Lot in the Bible is that the Biblical version includes stories of Lot's incestuous relationship with his daughters, which is denied in Qur'an. Moreover, the definition of Prophethood is not the same in Islam and Christian believes.

[edit] Historicity

The historical existence of Sodom and Gomorrah is still in dispute by archaeologists, with some believing they never existed, some believing they are now under the Dead Sea, and others claiming that they have been found (under other names) in the region to the southeast of the Dead Sea. Their exact location is unknown, however the Bible indicates they were located near the Dead Sea (Genesis 14:1-3, Genesis 14:8-10, Deuteronomy 34:3). Strabo states that locals living near Moasada (probably referring to Masada) say that "there were once thirteen inhabited cities in that region of which Sodom was the metropolis".[2] There is a small "mountain", mainly composed of salt, next to the Dead Sea, called in Arabic Jabal (Mount) Usdum, which is similar to the Arabic for Sodom, Sadūm.

Archibald Sayce translated an Akkadian poem describing cities that were destroyed in a rain of fire, written from the view of a person who escaped the destruction, however the names of the cities are not given.[3] This rain of fire may have been a combination of meteorites and earth quakes along the fault line running into the dead sea. This could explain the current salty state of the sea, which prohibits plant growth in what was supposedly a once fertile region.

Some modern biblical scholars argue that a sin was attached to the story of Sodom to justify the destruction of the cities, which may be based on an authentic account of a natural cataclysm. Geologists have confirmed that no volcanic activity occurred within the last 4000 years, but it is possible that the towns were destroyed by an earthquake in the region, especially if the towns lie along a major fault, the Jordan Rift Valley, the northernmost extension of the Great Rift Valley of the Red Sea and East Africa.[4] It is also possible that the sin of the inhabitants appearing in the original text was edited out and lost.

According to Burton MacDonald, the name “Sodom” "is probably related to the Arabic sadama meaning 'fasten,' 'fortify,' 'strengthen'" and Gomorrah is based on the root gh m r which means 'be deep,' 'copious (water)'.[5] Another possibility for "Sodom" is the Arabic meaning "to dry up (spring)".

In 1976 Giovanni Pettinato claimed that a cuneiform tablet that had been found in the newly discovered library at Ebla contained the names of all five of the Cities of the Plain (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Bela), listed in just the same order that they are named in Genesis, though not all of the names have been wholly verified. However, that si-da-mu [TM.76.G.524] and ì-ma-ar [TM.75.G.1570 and TM.75.G.2233] are almost universally accepted to represent Sodom and Gomorrah.[6] However, Alfonso Archi states that, judging from the surrounding city names in the cuneiform list, si-da-mu lies in northern Syria and not near the Dead Sea, and ì-ma-ar is a variant of ì-mar, known to represent Emar, an ancient city located near Ebla.[7] William Shea points out in 1983 that on the 'Eblaite Geographical Atlas' (TM.75.G.2231), ad-mu-ut and sa-dam are good readings by Pettinato and correspond to Admah and Sodom, and they are contained in a list of cities that traces a route along the shores of, or quite possibly within the Dead Sea, whose position may have since shifted along its fault.[8]

Possible candidates for Sodom or Gomorrah are the sites discovered or visited by Walter E. Rast and R. Thomas Schaub in 1973, including Bab edh-Dhra, Numeira, es-Safi, Feifeh and Khanazir. All sites were located near the Dead Sea, with evidence of burning on many of the stones and a sudden stop of inhabitation towards the end of the Early Bronze Age.[9]

[edit] The Modern Israeli Sodom

In accordance with the general Zionist and Israeli practice of naming places for the cities or villages which existed in the general vicinity in Biblical times, the site of the present Dead Sea Works, extensively extracting the Dead Sea minerals, is called "Sdom" (סדום) - though there is no reason to believe that the Biblical city, if it actually existed, was in that particular location. Unlike its Biblical namesake, the modern Sodom is not specifically associated with homosexuality.

[edit] Films and Literature

Some films have attempted to portray the Biblical tale of Sodom and Gomorrah, although many of them take liberties with the historical text.

  • Sodom and Gomorrah / Sodom und Gomorra (1922) - an Austrian film directed by Michael Curtiz
  • Lot in Sodom (1933) - a film that passed the censors because it depicted the wickedness of the sin.
  • Sodom and Gomorrah (1963) - a film directed by Robert Aldrich which depicts the destruction of the two cities for their decadence and human cruelty.
  • Parts of the The Scorpion King (2002, in effect a fantasy movie) are set in a city called Gomorrah, apparently meant to be the Biblical city before it was destroyed.
  • In the stories "Lot"(1953) and "Lot's Daughter"(1954) by Science Fiction writer Ward Moore, the Bibilical story of Lot and his daughters' survival from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is reinterpreted as the story of the survival of a modern American family in the aftermath of nuclear war.
  • The Bible: In The Beginning (1966)
  • Sodom and Gomorrah - The fourth volume of the Novel In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

[edit] Metaphorical References

Sodom and Gomorrah have been used as metaphors for sinfulness and sexual deviation.

[edit] Television and Music

[edit] References

  1. ^ Peck, Harry Thurston (1898). Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York: Harper and Brothers. Retrieved on March 17, 2006. 
  2. ^ Strabo XVI 2:44
  3. ^ A. H. Sayce. "The Overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah (Accadian Account)." Records of the Past XI 115. 
  4. ^ J. Penrose Harland (September 1943). "Sodom and Gomorrah: The Destruction of the Cities of the Plain". Biblical Archaeologist 6 (3). 
  5. ^ B. Macdonald (2000). "East of the Jordan": Territories and Sites of the Hebrew Scriptures. American Schools of Oriental Research. 
  6. ^ Hershel Shanks (Nov/Dec 1981). "BAR Interviews Giovanni Pettinato". Biblical Archaeology Review 7 (6). 
  7. ^ Alfonso Archi (Sep/Oct 1980). "Are "The Cities of the Plain" Mentioned in the Ebla Tablets?". Biblical Archaeology Review 6 (5). 
  8. ^ Bryant G. Wood (Summer 1999). "The Discovery of the Sin Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah". Bible and Spade 12 (3). 
  9. ^ Willem C. van Hattem (Spring 1981). "Once Again: Sodom and Gomorrah". Biblical Archaeologist 44 (2). 
  • Gagnon, Robert A.J. (2002), The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics, Abingdon Press, pages 71-91.

[edit] See also

Referenced in the movie "Dogma" where, Loki, The Angel of Death was responsible for the havok.

[edit] External links and sources

  • Wyatt Archaeological Research Ashen city-shaped remains in the vicinity of Masada, that stretch for miles, with deposits of sulphur in 'ball' shapes (i.e. brimstone), a type of sulphur found nowhere else on planet earth. Ron Wyatt's account of his supposed re-discovery of this ancient city.
  • Harvard University The 1975–1981 Excavations At The Town Site Of Bab edh-Dhra
  • University of Melbourne "Bab edh-Dhra is located on the South-East edge of the Dead Sea in Jordan, not far from Numeira (identified with Gomorroh)."
  • University of Notre Dame Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain. "One of the most important transitions in human history involved the establishment of the world's first cities approximately 5,000 years ago in the ancient Middle East. In the eastern Mediterranean region (Israel, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan), people built the first walled cities during a period archaeologists call the Early Bronze Age (EBA, c. 3500–2000 BCE). In the EBA on the southeastern Dead Sea Plain (Map 1), people began burying their dead in extensive cemeteries, creating a landscape of the dead. Interestingly, they soon built two walled towns next to the cemeteries that they had used for a few centuries. In these settlements, called Bab edh-Dhra' (pronounced "bob-ed-draw") and Numeira (pronounced "new-mere-a"), people established the way of life that we read about in the Bible. In fact, for the writers of the Bible, the desolate nature of this stretch of shore along the Dead Sea and the visible ruins of Bab edh-Dhra' and Numeira may have helped them to identify this area with the stories of the ill-fated sites of Sodom and Gomorrah."
  • Atlantic Baptist University Sodom and Gomorrah
  • Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance This site has an extensive coverage of both the liberal and conservative Christian views of the story of Sodom and Gomorra.
  • Sodom and Gomorrah at the Catholic Encyclopedia
  • "Commentary on Genesis 19" by Robert Jameison, D.D. 1871
  • "Commentary on Genesis 19" by Theodore Beza
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