Were Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed because of rampant homosexuality in those cities? Many folks still believe that was the reason that G-d destroyed those cities. This is mainly because of the scene at Lot's house in which the mob/crowd was trying to get to the angels (they believed them to be strangers) to "know" them. However, nothing in the story really suggests that the cities were destroyed because of homosexuality or homosexual sex. And, other scriptures and passages indicate that the sins of Sodom were other than homosexuality (i.e. inhospitality). Does this story tell us anything about what is going on now? Are Republicans in Congress like the Sodomites spoken of in Genesis?
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah begins in Genesis 18 when G-d tells Abraham that the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin is so grievous that S/He wants to go and investigate the matter. And, if true, G-d plans to destroy the cities. Well, Abraham begins to bargain with G-d and is able to get it down to just ten righteous men in Sodom to save the city. So, there only needed to be ten righteous men in Sodom. That is not what the angels found (in Genesis 19). Right away I see two problems, at least, with the theory that the cities were destroyed because of homosexuality. The scene at Lot's house had not even happened yet, and G-d had already decided to destroy Sodom. And, at this point, there could only have been NINE heterosexuals found in ALL of Sodom and Gomorrah if G-d was destroying the cities as a result of homosexuality. Does that make any sense to anyone? It does not make sense to me.
In Genesis 19, Lot convinces the angels to go to his house. He makes bread for them and shelters them. Then the raucous crowd arrives demanding Lot to hand over the strangers so that they could "know" them. The ancient Hebrew word for know here is "yada." It is used a little over 900 times in the Bible (I believe). In all but about ten times, yada simply means to get to know someone or something (the way we would use the word know). The other (approximately) ten times, it means to have sex with. The Hebrew word "shakab" is the word that is usually used to indicate a sexual encounter. It means to lie down.
In an effort to protect the angels, Lot offers the crowd his daughters. They told Lot to get out of their way and continued to pressure him and tried to break down the door. The angels inside pulled Lot back in, shut the door, and struck the men at the door with blindness so they could not see. They told Lot to get his family and leave the city as G-d was about to destroy it. Lot, his wife and two daughters left. And, then G-d rained down sulfur on to Sodom and Gomorrah (and, destroyed the entire plain).
In Genesis 19:4, most translations say that the men surrounded Lot's house. However, the Hebrew word used there for men is "en-oshe'" It means persons or mortals. So, all of the people surrounded Lot's house, and not just the men/males.
The next point I'd make is that the crowd was very angry. If any of them wanted to have sex with the angels (or the strangers, in their view), it would have been rape/violence. This certainly does not describe a consensual loving and committed same gender relationship or sexual event. In addition, if the mob was full of homosexual men, why did Lot offer them his daughters?
I asked a Priest about this incident at Lot's house and got this comment:
"According to the Talmud and based on oral traditions handed down, the people of Sodom were in the habit of having a bit of sport with travellers, with "sport" in this case referring to acts of robbery, theft, assault, and assorted other criminal acts. Travellers were robbed and reduced to begging. Rather than receiving help, the beggers were left to starve to death.
Their courts were corrupt. One of the tales recounts how a man went to Sodom to see if the tales were true. While there, one of the townsfolk threw a rock and hit him in the head. In court, the judge demanded that the TRAVELLER had to pay, for the man who hit him with a rock was a doctor and charged money for bloodletting. Corrupt courts were a violation of the Noahide laws, since the laws of Moses would not be written for a couple of centuries.
Sex, consensual or rape, probably had NOTING to do with it."
And, a pastor/missionary says this about it:
"in reality, i don't think that it was either homosexuality, or rape. you see, all the cities of the valley were at war, one with another, and every stranger was looked at as a spy... and of course, since it was every person's duty to protect their own city from the 'foreigners' they had all turned out to take them to task and since lot was harbouring them within his house, then they were suspicious of him as well. why read something into it that isn't there?"
The best way to find out what the sins of Sodom were is to look elsewhere in the Bible. And, actually the prophet, Ezekiel, lists them in Ezekiel 16: 49-50. It reads:
49) Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
50) And they were haughty and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. (KJV)
Another version states that they were "arrogant, overfed and unconcerned, and did not help the poor and needy." The Hebrew word for abomination in verse 50 is to'evah. In this context, it means that they committed idolatrous acts.
This certainly seems relevant to what is going on today in Congress, and particularly the Republican Party. They have cut food stamps (SNAP) for the poor and needy. And, they have not extended long-term unemployment insurance benefits for some of these same folks. All the while, most of the members of Congress would be considered wealthy and certainly have plenty of food (some of them look like they have had quite a bit more than enough). And, they could not be bothered to stay in session long enough to correct any of these problems. This is said to be the least productive Congress in history. As far as arrogance goes, many of you have heard the comments that Rand Paul, Steve King, Ted Cruz, and others have made.