Genesis 19:1-11

NASB	NLT	VOICE
1 Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he stood up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.	1 That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom. Lot was sitting there, and when he saw them, he stood up to meet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed with his face to the ground.	1 The two heavenly messenger arrived in Sodom that evening, and Lot was sitting at the gate of the city. When Lot saw them, he went out to meet them and bowed low, his face touching the ground.
2 And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No, but we shall spend the night in the public square.”	2 “My lords,” he said, “come to my home to wash your feet, and be my guests for the night. You may then get up early in the morning and be on your way again.” “Oh no,” they replied “We’ll just spend the night out here in the city square.”	2 Lot: Please my lords, take time to come into your servants house to spend the night and wash your feet. Then you can rise early and be on your way. Messengers: No we will be fine spending the night in the city square.
3 Yet he strongly urged them, so they turned aside him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.	3 But Lot insisted, so at last they went home with him. Lot prepared a feast for them, complete with fresh bread made without yeast, and they ate.	3 But Lot persisted and urged them to come home with him and enjoy his hospitality. They agreed finally and came with Lot to his house. Lot prepared a huge meal for them, served with unleavened bread, and they ate until they were full.
4 Before they lay down, the men of the city – the men of Sodom – surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter;	4 But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house.	4 But before they could lie down to rest for the night, the men of the city – that is, the men of Sodom, young and old alike, every last one of them – surrounded the house.
5 and they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring out to use that we may have relations with them.”	5 They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”	5 and called out to Lot Men of Sodom: Where are the men who came with you to your house tonight? We saw them go in with you! Bring them out here. We want to have sex with them!
6 But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him,	6 So Lot stepped outside to talk to him, shutting the door behind him.	6 Lot slipped out of the door to address the men, shutting it firmly behind him.
7 and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.	7 “Please my brothers,” he begged “don’t do such a wicked thing.	7 Look, I beg you, brothers, don’t do this. Don’t sink to this level of depravity!
8 Now look, I have two daughters who have not had relations with any man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do not do anything to these men, because they have come under the shelter of my roof.”	8 Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these men alone, for they are my guests and under my protection.”	8 Look – I have two daughters. Both are virgins. How about this: I’ll bring them out for you instead. You can do with them as you please. But please don’t do anything to these men. They are my guests. They deserve the protection of my home.
9 But they said, “Get out of the way!” They also said, “This one came in as a foreigner, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse them!” So they pressed hard against Lot and moved forward to break the door.	9 “Stand back!” they shouted. “This fellow came to town as an outsider, and now he’s acting like our judge! We’ll treat you far worse than those other men!” And they lunged toward Lot to break down the door.	9 Men of Sodom: Get out of the way, man! (to each other) Look, this guy came to our city as a stranger. He’s not one of us, and yet he thinks he has the right to judge all of us! (to Lot) You better watch out, or we’ll treat you far worse than we will your guests! They came at Lot and pushed him hard against the door until it was about to break.
10 But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut door.	10 But the two angels reached out, pulled out into the house, and bolted the door.	10 Just them the men inside reached out and pulled Lot into the house with them, shutting the door securely to block the men of Sodom out.
11 Then they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from the same to the great, so that they became weary of trying to find the doorway.	11 Then they blinded all the men, young and old, who were at the door of the house, so they gave up trying to get inside.	11 Then the heavenly messengers struck all of the men pressing at the door with blindness – both young and old alike. It wasn’t long before they exhausted themselves blindly groping for the door.

We hear about the men of Sodom wanted to seize the angel visitors and, quite frankly, wanted to gangrape them. Why would this section about rape be often used to clobber homosexuals? Most likely – because it was the MEN of Sodom doing this. Culturally though, they would do this to dehumanize the person and work towards making them an outcast of the society they were in. Let’s talk more about this story and see if we can understand why, it was clobbered so much on people and how we can unclobber it today.

The angels were sent to investigate the outcry happening in Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot’s actions when they arrive show the importance of their hospitality and his own awareness of the dangers of his society. The angels originally refused to stay with Lot because they were focused on assessing the city firsthand. Lot was persistent, though, and his urgency in bringing them back to his house reinforces how much he knows the town is wicked and his desire to protect his visitors.

All of the men of the city showed up together to Lot’s home. Their behavior was something that was the norm of the society and not just for just specific individuals. The men of Sodom completely disregarded Lot’s home and the protection that it should have offered for his guests. These men were a close knit community and they knew when a stranger came in to town. In ancient Near Easter culture, hospitality was a sacred duty. Lot’s role as host would have included protection the guests. The men wanted Lot to bring out the angels out so they could have sex/relations with them. These men were ready to commit sexual violence.

Lot wanted to play intermediary. The act of stepping outside shows his willingness to confront the mob and protect his visitors. Lot created a barrier between the men of Sodom and the angels. He created a separation of right and wrong. Lot pleaded with them, connecting with the communal bond that gathered them together hoping to make sure he could diffuse the group. Lot’s method of diffusing was to after his daughters. The extreme deal shows how passionate he was about protecting his guests. Unfortunately, he was willing to let his daughters be gangraped by the men of Sodom. This affirms the moral decline of Sodom, and the complex dealings about morals and ethics in a world affixed by sin. Once someone entered a home, they were under the host’s protection. This protection was seen as a moral obligation and his insistence about that reflects the seriousness he took with this duty.

These men were ready to disregard any moral or social boundaries. This accusation of acting like a judge shows that Lot’s attempt to uphold righteousness is not met with success. The threat to Lot in verse 9 was worse than the angels in verse 6. They wanted to commit violence. The angels rescued Lot from the potential violence. The angels are seeing the wickedness of the community. The angels struck the men with blindness in response. The blindness is both physical and spiritual. The physical prevented them from carrying out their evil acts. The spiritual is being unable to perceive the truth or recognize the divine presence among them. The men were unable to achieve their sexual violence.

So, there were no homosexual acts that were committed. The men of Sodom were wanting to commit sexual violence to either the angels, or as Lot’s daughters as a replacement. What was the true sin of Sodom?

Ezekiel 16:49-50

NASB	NLT	VOICE
49 Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, plenty of food, and carefree ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.	49 Sodom’s sin were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door.	49 This was the sin of your warped sister, Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, gluttonous, and lazy. She never gave help to the poor and needy.
50 So they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it.	50 She was proud and committed detestable sins, so I wiped her out, as you have seen.	50 They were prideful, and they did abhorrent things right in front of Me, shamelessly and without remorse! As you already know, I put an end to Sodom and her daughters when I saw their behavior.

Sodom was remembered for its destruction due to its wickedness. Sodom was arrogant. Arrogance is a self-sufficient attitude that dismisses the need for God. It led to a disregard of divine laws and a sense of superiority over others. Sodom was overfed. Overfed means they were involved with excess and overindulgence. This implies Sodom neglected their spiritual matters in favor of the physical satisfaction. Sodom was complacent. Complacent means to lack concern and indifference. Sodom failed in acting justly or addressing the needs of others. Sodom was haughty. Haughty is just simple pride or arrogance. The pride of Sodom was a direct challenge to God’s authority and power. Sodom was an abomination. Their actions were detestable to God. The act of judgment God did to Sodom was a warning to others about the consequences of persistent sin and rebellion against God.

The sin of Sodom had nothing to do with sex. It had to do with violence, arrogance, haughtiness, complacency, and more. The men were willing to commit gangrape and sexual violence to their visitors. Who would default to this mindset? As I mentioned earlier, the men viewed these homosexual acts as degrading and dehumanizing. They were wanting to get these people to become outcasts of society. These acts were done with malice and evil. God didn’t support these acts. God prevented the sexual violence before it could happen. God did not agree with these acts of violence, so why would we use these passages to condemn homosexuality. As with all relationships, homosexual relationships are built on respect, honor, love, and compassion. Some are rough, but that comes with relationships altogether. Yet, the priority of the passage condemns the sexual violence of the society and the evil mindset behind it.

Are you willing to publicly display these convictions? Would you be willing to have a conversation about this with someone? It can be a scary to support homosexuality in some Christian circles without the risk of judgment, ostracizing, and banishment in some circles. However, being an ally to homosexuals is one of the greatest acts of caring for God’s creation. We stand up for a marginalized group. We are fighting to meet the needs of a group of people that struggle to live a life with equal rights. God created the world for people to manage creation and populate the world – that I will not argue with. However, God created all people with a purpose and plan in mind – and I believe that plan can include our homosexual siblings. We need to understand that our LGBTQ+ community often have more of God’s love and compassion than our straight members because they have been victims bullying, abuse, and violence just because of their relationship choices.

God’s people saw that Sodom was more about evil, haughtiness, indulgence, complacency and more. They didn’t see anything about homosexuality. They saw evil. They saw violence. They saw a community that didn’t like to see people outside of their community. They saw that God was against how they lived and gave them the justice deserved for their violence that they caused his creation. For us, we need to acknowledge that the church has caused harm to our LGBTQ+ community, and we need to work toward reparations on that. We need to acknowledge that, even though each of us individually may not commit any homosexual acts due to preference or anything, there’s no reason that we should condemn who they are and judgment them accordingly for it. The final judgment is up to God. We are still able to love and care for them as God cares for us.

Next part: What Leviticus Really Says About Homosexuality || The Church Clobber || Part 3