Say Sodom and Gamorrah and what comes to mind?

When you say Sodom and Gamorrah, what do you think about? Well, society has tagged onto one definition. I am not trying to downplay that but let me sketch something a little different.

First, Sodom and Gamorrah (S&G) are talked about in Genesis. We are introduced when Abraham and Lot divide up and Lot turns towards S&G as his home base. In Genesis 14, S&G is sacked and many people are taken captive, including Lot. When Abraham hears about Lot, he arms his men and goes out and takes out the captives, freeing Lot and the people of S&G. The King of S&G offer Abraham all of the freed substance in which Abraham refuses citing that he didn’t do it for lucre and that God should be given the glory. I bring up this thinking that this was S&G’s wake up call. Wake up and clean up or next time… well, next time there wont be a next time.

In Genesis 19, Lot is told to flee (S&G didn’t wakeup and clean up) and soon S&G is burned.

19:24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;

Ok, now for what people don’t normally talk about with S&G. So, if I said, what was the sin of S&G, what got them cooked, you would say: __________

Now what do the scriptures say?

Ezekiel 26: 49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

You don’t say…? You mean some of their sin, in fact maybe a good sized portion of it was their pride and idleness? Oh, and they didn’t help those in need. That isn’t what we normally think of. If we are going to be judged by our idleness, our pride, and our lack of strengthening the hand of the poor and the needy, I think we are in trouble.

But you don’t buy it, you have always thought that S&G’s main sin was something else, not anything that you might do. Does this come up anywhere else? Why yes. Check out Isaiah Chapter 3 where the Lord is telling Jerusalem why they have messed up. Notice verses 9 to 15:

9 The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
…
14 The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
15 What mean ye that ye my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts.

So, Jerusalem was doing some of the stuff that S&G were, that being that “the spoil of the poor is in your houses” and “grind the faces of the poor”. Sounds a lot like what Ezekiel said.

In the final analysis, there are also scriptures that discuss the moral indecency and perversion of S&G and I don’t want to downplay that. But, did you ever think of these things in the scriptures above? How much like Sodom and Gamorrah are we? Something to think about.