Genesis 18:20-32
Then the Lord said, "How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know."
So the men turned from there, and went towards Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham came near and said, "Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" And the Lord said, "If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake."
Abraham answered, "Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?" And he said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there." Again he spoke to him, "Suppose forty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of forty I will not do it." Then he said, "Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there." He answered, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there." He said, "Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it." Then he said, "Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there." He answered, "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it."
This is now the sixth in our Summer Sermon Series on the Old Testament. We’ve had five weeks of fairly unremitting doom and gloom with the prophets. Today, however, I was given a choice of two Old Testament readings. The first was from the prophet Hosea, with the familiar refrain of Israel’s unfaithfulness and all the well-deserved bad things that are coming to it. The second, the one I chose and the one we just read is from Genesis. This story has plenty of doom later on, but right here, at this point of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, there is nothing but compassion and mercy. I thought that would be a nice change.
Sodom and Gomorrah were two towns generally held to be full of wicked people. They were constantly involved in small local wars with neighboring kings, but their biggest sin was their arrogance – before God and before their neighbors. Ezekiel, another prophet we haven’t gotten to yet, once described Sodom in these words: 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 God.
Just before today’s reading, three men appeared at Abraham’s encampment. Though they are described as men, everyone knew that they were, indeed, angels—angelic messengers--and these messengers spoke with God’s voice, just as if God’s own self was present. Just for context, this is the occasion when Abraham and Sarai were told that Sarai would bear a child in her advanced old age.
This is also where today’s reading takes place. Before the three men prepare to leave the encampment, God decides to tell Abraham where he is going and what he plans to do there—destroy Sodom for her arrogance.
Here is where the compassion comes in, from both Abraham and God. Abraham is aghast at the thought of the innocent souls who will be destroyed along with the wicked ones if God continues with this plan. As The Message paraphrases it:
When God gives in and agrees to be merciful for the sake of fifty innocents, Abraham proceeds to keep right on bargaining: forty-five, then forty, then thirty, then twenty, and finally he’s bargained God down to ten and God agrees, if there are ten righteous souls there, the town will not be destroyed. For the sake of ten righteous men God agrees to be merciful on the entire town – wicked though they’ve always been known to be.
This is a rare and beautiful bit of Old Testament “history.” While there are cases of mercy shown to individuals all through the writings, it is fairly rare that an entire town might be spared because of the goodness of a few. This is, of course, the same God who drowned an entire world, excepting one family and a handful of animals. The same God whose people, freed from slavery in Egypt, having reached their promised land, were sent in with instructions to slaughter anyone in their way.
Innocents were often slaughtered, with a very heavy hand, all throughout the Old Testament – but maybe not this time. I feel like I want to quit this story right here, when mercy is winning, but in all honesty I have to let you know how this one ends – and it’s not good for the Sodomites.
The angels (now down to two for some reason), arrived in Sodom at the home of Lot, Abraham’s nephew, where they are properly invited in and offered hospitality. In the middle of the night, the wicked people of Sodom, true to form, demand that Lot send the newcomers outside so they can “know them” – rape and degrade them. This is where the people who spend all their time searching the Old Testament for something they can use to justify their own homophobia get the idea that Sodom was destroyed for homosexual behaviors.
Unfortunately for them, scripture here makes it very clear that the sinfulness of Sodom existed long before this story, and it shows us how easily and automatically we can twist scripture to fit our preconceived ideas. In the past 200 years, homosexuality has become the reigning sin in many Christian theological beliefs and so these “Christians” see it everywhere.
What the Sodomites wanted was not about same sex attraction. It was about brutality and degradation. Their sin was their violation of the laws of hospitality, which state that strangers are always to be given welcome and safe rest.
Lot refused to send out his guests and offered his two virgin daughters, instead. It is very telling that I have never heard any of those who rant on about the “sin of homosexuality” in this story ever say anything at all condemning the outright rape of the two young girls.
It is clear that shaming a man’s “manhood” is a crime worthy of death. Raping young women – not so much. Daughters were simply property to be used as their father wanted.
After this shameful episode, God, remembering his bargain with Abraham, searched for at least ten righteous men in Sodom – still remembering his promise to be merciful -- but could find not a single one – except Lot and his family. Lot was told to pack up his family and belongings and leave Sodom immediately, without looking back, and Sodom was consequently destroyed.
Even though Gomorrah plays no role in this particular story, the implication is that they had done likewise at other times. Sodom and Gomorrah are always linked in the stories – they were equally evil, apparently, and had been thorns in God’s side for a long time. At the end of this story both towns were destroyed – slaves, wives, and children – all innocent I’m sure, all killed along with the guilty.
And now we’re back to the doom and gloom again. These were harsh times, ruled by petty kings, who vied among themselves to be the biggest and meanest. We today can recognize that God never truly was the harsh tyrant-king-God, often portrayed in the Old Testament, but the average person of that time had no image for lordship except that of power and violence, therefore that is the God they found to worship. The rulers they saw were rarely merciful, and so they expected little mercy from their God.
And this is why Jesus insisted repeatedly that he had come to “do a new thing.” Jesus taught us to expect our God to be a God of mercy. Perhaps the most important lesson he taught us.
Thank you, Jesus.
Sodom and Gomorrah were two towns generally held to be full of wicked people. They were constantly involved in small local wars with neighboring kings, but their biggest sin was their arrogance – before God and before their neighbors. Ezekiel, another prophet we haven’t gotten to yet, once described Sodom in these words: 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 God.
Just before today’s reading, three men appeared at Abraham’s encampment. Though they are described as men, everyone knew that they were, indeed, angels—angelic messengers--and these messengers spoke with God’s voice, just as if God’s own self was present. Just for context, this is the occasion when Abraham and Sarai were told that Sarai would bear a child in her advanced old age.
This is also where today’s reading takes place. Before the three men prepare to leave the encampment, God decides to tell Abraham where he is going and what he plans to do there—destroy Sodom for her arrogance.
Here is where the compassion comes in, from both Abraham and God. Abraham is aghast at the thought of the innocent souls who will be destroyed along with the wicked ones if God continues with this plan. As The Message paraphrases it:
- “Are you serious? Are you planning on getting rid of the good people right along with the bad? What if there are fifty decent people left in the city; will you lump the good with the bad and get rid of the lot? Wouldn’t you spare the city for the sake of those fifty innocents? I can’t believe you’d do that, kill off the good and the bad alike as if there were no difference between them. Doesn’t the Judge of all the Earth judge with justice?”
When God gives in and agrees to be merciful for the sake of fifty innocents, Abraham proceeds to keep right on bargaining: forty-five, then forty, then thirty, then twenty, and finally he’s bargained God down to ten and God agrees, if there are ten righteous souls there, the town will not be destroyed. For the sake of ten righteous men God agrees to be merciful on the entire town – wicked though they’ve always been known to be.
This is a rare and beautiful bit of Old Testament “history.” While there are cases of mercy shown to individuals all through the writings, it is fairly rare that an entire town might be spared because of the goodness of a few. This is, of course, the same God who drowned an entire world, excepting one family and a handful of animals. The same God whose people, freed from slavery in Egypt, having reached their promised land, were sent in with instructions to slaughter anyone in their way.
Innocents were often slaughtered, with a very heavy hand, all throughout the Old Testament – but maybe not this time. I feel like I want to quit this story right here, when mercy is winning, but in all honesty I have to let you know how this one ends – and it’s not good for the Sodomites.
The angels (now down to two for some reason), arrived in Sodom at the home of Lot, Abraham’s nephew, where they are properly invited in and offered hospitality. In the middle of the night, the wicked people of Sodom, true to form, demand that Lot send the newcomers outside so they can “know them” – rape and degrade them. This is where the people who spend all their time searching the Old Testament for something they can use to justify their own homophobia get the idea that Sodom was destroyed for homosexual behaviors.
Unfortunately for them, scripture here makes it very clear that the sinfulness of Sodom existed long before this story, and it shows us how easily and automatically we can twist scripture to fit our preconceived ideas. In the past 200 years, homosexuality has become the reigning sin in many Christian theological beliefs and so these “Christians” see it everywhere.
What the Sodomites wanted was not about same sex attraction. It was about brutality and degradation. Their sin was their violation of the laws of hospitality, which state that strangers are always to be given welcome and safe rest.
Lot refused to send out his guests and offered his two virgin daughters, instead. It is very telling that I have never heard any of those who rant on about the “sin of homosexuality” in this story ever say anything at all condemning the outright rape of the two young girls.
It is clear that shaming a man’s “manhood” is a crime worthy of death. Raping young women – not so much. Daughters were simply property to be used as their father wanted.
After this shameful episode, God, remembering his bargain with Abraham, searched for at least ten righteous men in Sodom – still remembering his promise to be merciful -- but could find not a single one – except Lot and his family. Lot was told to pack up his family and belongings and leave Sodom immediately, without looking back, and Sodom was consequently destroyed.
Even though Gomorrah plays no role in this particular story, the implication is that they had done likewise at other times. Sodom and Gomorrah are always linked in the stories – they were equally evil, apparently, and had been thorns in God’s side for a long time. At the end of this story both towns were destroyed – slaves, wives, and children – all innocent I’m sure, all killed along with the guilty.
And now we’re back to the doom and gloom again. These were harsh times, ruled by petty kings, who vied among themselves to be the biggest and meanest. We today can recognize that God never truly was the harsh tyrant-king-God, often portrayed in the Old Testament, but the average person of that time had no image for lordship except that of power and violence, therefore that is the God they found to worship. The rulers they saw were rarely merciful, and so they expected little mercy from their God.
And this is why Jesus insisted repeatedly that he had come to “do a new thing.” Jesus taught us to expect our God to be a God of mercy. Perhaps the most important lesson he taught us.
Thank you, Jesus.
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