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†. Gen 18:20 . .Then the Lord said: The outrage of Sodom and Gomorrah is
so great, and their sin so grave!
The people of Sodom weren't just your every-day, average garden variety of
sinners. According to Gen 13:13, they were very wicked sinners; and not
only were they very wicked sinners, but very wicked sinners against the
Lord; in other words: they were insolent; which Webster's defines as:
exhibiting boldness or effrontery; viz: impudence. People like that are
defiant-- they make a point of standing up to others and asserting their
independence to a hateful degree.
Some of Yhvh's statements, spoken to shame His people, shed additional
light on the nature of Sodom's wickedness.
"Ah, Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because by word and
deed they insult the Lord, defying His majestic glance. Their partiality in
judgment accuses them; they avow their sins like Sodom, they do not
conceal them." (Isa 3:8-9)
"What I see in the prophets of Jerusalem is something horrifying: adultery
and false dealing. They encourage evildoers, so that no one turns back from
his wickedness. To Me they are all like Sodom, and [all] its inhabitants like
Gomorrah." (Jer 23:14)
"Only this was the sin of your sister Sodom: arrogance! She and her
daughters had plenty of bread and untroubled tranquility; yet she did not
support the poor and the needy. In their haughtiness, they committed
abomination before Me; and so I removed them, as you saw." (Ezk 16:49
-50)
Sodom is widely reputed for its moral depravity. But as you can see from
those passages above, they were a whole lot more evil than that. One of the
most interesting of their sins was that they did nothing to discourage
wickedness. They actually applauded evildoers and encouraged them to keep
it up. Added to that was arrogance, and a lack of charity-- indifference to the
plight of the poor --and haughtiness, adultery, dishonesty, partiality,
insulting the glory and dignity of God, bragging about their sins, and
idolatry.
Since God had not yet proclaimed any official laws specifically prohibiting the
Sodomites' conduct, then He really couldn't prosecute them in that respect.
So then, what was His justification for nailing them? It was for the very
same attitude that nails everybody; both pre Flood and post-Flood.
"This is the condemnation: that the light has come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For
everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest
his deeds should be exposed." (John 3:18-21)
So then, the Sodomites were not only indifferent to God's wishes; but they
deliberately avoided knowing them just as Yhvh's people themselves did in
later years to come.
"But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped
their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an
adamant stone, lest they should hear the law and the words which The Lord
of hosts hath sent in His spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a
great wrath from The Lord of hosts." (Zech 7:11-12)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
†. Gen 18:20 . .Then the Lord said: The outrage of Sodom and Gomorrah is
so great, and their sin so grave!
The people of Sodom weren't just your every-day, average garden variety of
sinners. According to Gen 13:13, they were very wicked sinners; and not
only were they very wicked sinners, but very wicked sinners against the
Lord; in other words: they were insolent; which Webster's defines as:
exhibiting boldness or effrontery; viz: impudence. People like that are
defiant-- they make a point of standing up to others and asserting their
independence to a hateful degree.
Some of Yhvh's statements, spoken to shame His people, shed additional
light on the nature of Sodom's wickedness.
"Ah, Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because by word and
deed they insult the Lord, defying His majestic glance. Their partiality in
judgment accuses them; they avow their sins like Sodom, they do not
conceal them." (Isa 3:8-9)
"What I see in the prophets of Jerusalem is something horrifying: adultery
and false dealing. They encourage evildoers, so that no one turns back from
his wickedness. To Me they are all like Sodom, and [all] its inhabitants like
Gomorrah." (Jer 23:14)
"Only this was the sin of your sister Sodom: arrogance! She and her
daughters had plenty of bread and untroubled tranquility; yet she did not
support the poor and the needy. In their haughtiness, they committed
abomination before Me; and so I removed them, as you saw." (Ezk 16:49
-50)
Sodom is widely reputed for its moral depravity. But as you can see from
those passages above, they were a whole lot more evil than that. One of the
most interesting of their sins was that they did nothing to discourage
wickedness. They actually applauded evildoers and encouraged them to keep
it up. Added to that was arrogance, and a lack of charity-- indifference to the
plight of the poor --and haughtiness, adultery, dishonesty, partiality,
insulting the glory and dignity of God, bragging about their sins, and
idolatry.
Since God had not yet proclaimed any official laws specifically prohibiting the
Sodomites' conduct, then He really couldn't prosecute them in that respect.
So then, what was His justification for nailing them? It was for the very
same attitude that nails everybody; both pre Flood and post-Flood.
"This is the condemnation: that the light has come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For
everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest
his deeds should be exposed." (John 3:18-21)
So then, the Sodomites were not only indifferent to God's wishes; but they
deliberately avoided knowing them just as Yhvh's people themselves did in
later years to come.
"But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped
their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an
adamant stone, lest they should hear the law and the words which The Lord
of hosts hath sent in His spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a
great wrath from The Lord of hosts." (Zech 7:11-12)
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