![]() It is no wonder that the sin of Sodom was described as “very grave” as the men of Sodom had “unnatural desires” (Jude 7) wanting to commit a shameless act (cf. The main issue that Genesis 19 focuses on is the fact that all the men of Sodom want to “know” ( yādaʿ 4) the angelical visitors: in other words, to have sexual relations with them (Genesis 19:4–5 cf. The latter term “wicked” ( raʿ) is also used to describe the people at the time of the flood (Genesis 6:5, 8:21) and indicates that the people of Sodom’s “sins deserved the same catastrophic response from God.” 3 But what was the wickedness of Sodom? The men of Sodom were previously described as “wicked, great sinners against the LORD” (Genesis 13:13). In Genesis 18, the LORD appears to Abraham and announces his intention that Sodom is to be destroyed because its sin is “very grave” (Genesis 18:20). From the time that Lot left Abraham to his living in Sodom and its destruction, a little over 20 years had passed. It seems that Lot did not influence Sodom, but rather Sodom influenced Lot. Abraham settled in the land of Canaan, by the Oaks of Mamre at Hebron (Genesis 13:18), but Lot journeyed eastward and “settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom” (Genesis 13:12).Īlthough Lot was not living in Sodom at this point, it did not take long for Lot to move into that wicked city (Genesis 14:12). Lot chose “all the Jordan Valley” (Genesis 13:11) because it was “well-watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt …” (Genesis 13:10). Abraham, therefore, proposes that he and Lot separate, and he gives Lot the choice of the whole land (Genesis 13:9). In Genesis 13, because Abram (Abraham) and his nephew Lot have become affluent in flocks and herds, strife breaks out between their herdsmen as the land can no longer sustain all their possessions (Genesis 13:6–7). Given the significance that both the Old and New Testament place on the destruction of Sodom as a warning of future judgment, it is important to understand this event. Just as God preserved Noah and seven others in the judgment of the flood, and Lot in the judgment of Sodom, he will also spare the godly while judging and destroying the ungodly (2 Peter 2:9). This final eternal judgment, however, will not engulf everybody. Likewise, when Peter spoke of the judgment that took place at Sodom and Gomorrah, turning it to ashes, it was to foreshadow the coming future eschatological judgment by fire (cf. Then the destruction by fire and sulfur came quickly and unexpectedly, destroying them all. In other words, people were caught up with material things of life, which caused them to have a lack of concern for the things of God. Just as with the days before the flood, Jesus spoke of the days before the destruction of Sodom as a time when people were indifferent and solely concerned with the things of this life: eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. (Luke 17:26–32)į he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved 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 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, 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 … (2 Peter 2:5–9) Just as with the days before the flood, Jesus spoke of the days before the destruction of Sodom as a time when people were indifferent and solely concerned with the things of this life. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot-they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all-so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. ![]() Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. ![]() Just as Jesus and the apostle Peter pointed to the flood as a guarantee of future judgment, so they both also pointed to God’s judgment of Sodom by fire as a guarantee of future judgment: ![]() Although critical scholars, because of their naturalistic mindset, view the account of Sodom’s destruction as just another legend or folk tale, the Bible clearly teaches it was a genuine historical event. ![]()
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