021. IX. The Destruction of Sodom
§ IX. THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM Genesis 18:16; Genesis 18:20-33; Genesis 19:1-28; Genesis 19:30; Genesis 19:37-38
1.Departure of the men. Then the men rose up from there and looked off in the direction of Sodom; and Abraham went along with them to speed them on their way.
2.Jehovah’s revelation to Abraham. And Jehovah said, Because the complaint concerning Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very heinous, I will go down and see whether they have done exactly according to the complaint which comes to me; and if not, I will know. So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before Jehovah.
3. Abraham’s intercession. Then Abraham drew near and said, Wilt thou consume the righteous with the wicked? Perhaps there are fifty righteous within the city, Wilt thou consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are in it? Be it far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked! and that the righteous should be as the wicked, far be it from thee! Shall the Judge of all the earth not do justice? And Jehovah said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have presumed to speak to the Lord, even though I am but dust and ashes; perhaps there will be lacking five of the fifty righteous. Wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, I will not destroy it, if I find there forty-five. And he spoke to him yet again, and said, Perhaps forty will be found there. And he said, For the sake of forty I will not do it. And he said, Oh, let not my Lord be angry, but let me speak: perhaps thirty will be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. And he said, Behold now, I have presumed to speak to the Lord: perhaps twenty will be found there. And he said, For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, but let me speak yet this once: perhaps ten will be found there. And he said I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake. Then Jehovah went his way as soon as he had ceased talking with Abraham.
4. Lot’s reception of the men. Then Abraham returned to his place, and the two Messengers came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them he rose up to meet them, and bowed himself with his face to the earth, and said, Now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, into your servant’s house and abide all night, and wash your feet; then you shall rise up early, and go on your way. And they said, Nay, but we will abide in the street all night. But he urged them so strongly that they turned aside to him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
5.Shamelessness of the Sodomites. But before they had lain down, the men of the city, both young and old, all the people from every quarter surrounded the house; and they called to Lot saying to him, Where are the men who came in to you to-night ? Bring them out to us that we may know them. Then Lot went out to them at the door-way, but he shut the door after him. And he said, I pray you, my friends, do not thus wickedly. Behold now, I have two virgin daughters; let me, I pray you, bring them out to you, and do to them as you desire, only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shadow of my roof. But they replied, Stand back. And they said, This one came in to sojourn, and he would set himself up as a judge; now we will treat you worse than them. And they pressed hard against Lot and drew near to break the door. But the men reached out and drew Lot to them into the house, and shut the door, and smote the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary in searching for the door.
6. Deliverance of Lot. Then the men said to Lot, Hast thou here any besides? Son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place; for we are about to destroy this place; because great complaint concerning them hath come to Jehovah, and Jehovah hath sent us to destroy it. So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for Jehovah will destroy the city. But he seemed to his sons-in-law as one who was jesting. And when the rosy glow of morning appeared, the Messengers urged Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters who are here, lest thou be consumed in the punishment of the city. But as he lingered, the men took hold of his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters (since Jehovah was merciful to him), and brought him forth and set him outside the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that they said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the Plain; escape to the mountain lest thou be consumed. But Lot said to them, Oh, not so, my lords! Behold now, thy servant hath found favor in thy sight, and thou hast shown great mercy to me in saving my life—and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die—see now, this city is near to which to flee, and it is a little one. Oh, let me escape thither (is it not a little one?), and my life shall be preserved. And Jehovah said to him, I have also accepted thee concerning this thing, in that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken. Hasten, escape thither; for I cannot do anything until thou enter there. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar [Little]. And the sun had risen upon the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
7. Destruction of the cities of the Plain and fate of Lot’s wife. Then Jehovah rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven, and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, with all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But Lot’s wife looked back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the region of the Plain, and beheld: and there the smoke of the land had begun to ascend as the smoke of a smelting-furnace.
8. Lot’s life in the cave. Then Lot went up from Zoar and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him—for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar—and lived in the cave together with his two daughters.
9. Origin of the Moabites and Ammonites. And the elder bore a son, and called his name Moab. He is the father of the present Moabites. The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. That one is the father of the present Ammonites.
I.Origin of the Tradition. The scene of the story is that most striking of natural phenomena, the Dead Sea. The geological data indicate that the Jordan valley was probably once an estuary of the Red Sea, and that its salt waters in early periods washed the southern spurs of Mount Hermon. The land in the south later rose, cutting off all connection with the ocean, thus making an inland lake of which the Dead Sea alone remains. In the south, at En-gedi on the west, and in the lower Jordan valley on the north, fringes of rich tropical vegetation suggested to the ancients that the great basin between Judah and Moab was once well watered everywhere(before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah), like the garden of Jehovah, as far as Zoar (§ VII, 5). The bitter, heavy waters and the barren shores seemed to them to be convincing proof that some great destruction had overtaken the once fertile plain. The pools of petroleum, the sulphur springs and deposits at many points about the lake, and the evidence of volcanic action, probably all combined to perpetuate the present story. In the minds of the early Hebrews and their interpreters, the prophets, the dire displeasure of Jehovah alone sufficed to explain such an overwhelming destruction. With what seemed to them convincing logic, they argued that the crimes of a people thus punished must have been unspeakably heinous. In the shameful practices of the earlier Canaanites, they found the sufficient cause.
Similar stories of the destruction of other cities by fire or water, because of inhospitality or the guilt of their inhabitants, are still current in Arabia and in many other parts of the world. The Greek story of Philemon and Baucis is the one most familiar to western students (Ovid, Met. VIII, 616 ff.). The fate of Lot’s wife was probably suggested by the peculiar geological formations still found to the southwest of the Dead Sea. From the remarkable cliffs of crystallized rock-salt, that rise to the height of six hundred feet, fragments are often detached. These pillar-like shafts frequently assume forms which suggest the outlines of the human figure. Josephus and other late Jewish writers believed that they were still able to identify the pillar of salt referred to in the story (Jos. Ant. II, 11:4). Doubtless a pillar of this character, famous in ancient times, but long since wasted away by the action of the elements, was the physical basis of the strange episode. The Greek myth regarding Niobe, who was changed to stone, is probably also of similar origin.
II.Interpretation of the Story. As in the story of the tower of Babel, Jehovah is represented as coming down to investigate the guilt of the cities of the Plain. In the present form of the narrative, however, only two of the angelic beings proceed toward Sodom, while Jehovah remains behind. Abraham uses this opportunity to intercede for his kinsman, Lot. Among the early Semites the communal instinct was so strong that the suffering of the innocent with the guilty tribe or city did not seem to them unjust. Abraham, however, voicing the deeper insight of the later prophets, who have added this familiar section, pleads for the righteous few (cf. Ezekiel 18). The appeal is not in vain. To each increasing demand upon Jehovah’s justice and mercy comes the quick response. At last, however, the overwhelming consciousness of the guilt of the many silenced the patriarch’s petition; but in the sequel the righteous few are nevertheless delivered. Abraham’s intercessions also bring out in clear relief the heinous guilt of the wicked Sodomites. Their character is clearly illustrated by the account of their reception of the divine guests. Lot proves true to his nomadic training and traditions. Even as Abraham had received the strangers under the tree before his tent, so his nephew entertained the two guests royally in his city home. The inhabitants of Sodom, however, one and all, prove insensible to the laws of hospitality and decency. The gross degeneracy of these representative Canaanites is thus portrayed in strongest colors.
Lot places the nomadic law of hospitality even above that of parental responsibility; but the judgment falls upon the guilty before his family suffers from his mistaken sense of honor. Divine justice is vindicated and Lot’s virtue is rewarded by the opportunity to escape, which is not only offered, but pressed upon him and his family by the divine messengers. He, with his wife and two daughters, flees alone and terror- stricken in the lurid light of the burning cities. The divine command is laid upon them not to look back; but again, as in the garden of Eden, a wife’s curiosity proves too strong. Lot and his daughters flee on alone, leaving behind a lifeless pillar of salt.
III.Sites of the Cities of the Plain. The implications of the story and the identification of the pillar of salt point to the southern end of the Jordan basin, as the traditional site of the cities of the Plain. This generally accepted conclusion is still further supported by the probable site of the Moabite town of Zoar in or near the little oasis of Ghor es- Safujeh, at the southeastern end of the Dead Sea. This bit of green stands out in striking contrast to the general barrenness of the region, and suggests that its preservation was a special act of Providence. The meaning of its Hebrew name, Little, is explained by the ancient story. The same Hebrew narrative also taught that in the neighboring mountains of Moab were born to the daughters of Lot, Moab and Ammon, the traditional ancestors of the peoples living to the east of the ancient Plain of the Jordan.
IV.Historical Significance of the Story. The Jordan valley is still the scene of frequent earthquakes. The memory of some great upheaval, caused by a subterranean explosion of petroleum and the accompanying gases, may be the basis of this early tradition. The upheaval may have destroyed certain Canaanite cities on the southern shores of the Dead Sea. The fact that the names of the cities are remembered lends support to this conclusion. The later prophetic literature also contains many allusions to the destruction of Sodom and the neighboring cities of Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim (e.g.,Amos 4:11, Isaiah 1:10; Isaiah 3:9; Isaiah 13:19, Jeremiah 23:14; Jeremiah 49:18, Zephaniah 2:9, Deuteronomy 29:23). Sodom is the classic Hebrew symbol of superlative shamelessness and ignominy. The tradition vividly reflects the gross moral degeneracy of the earlier Canaanites and the impression which their customs made upon the Israelites (cf. also §IV, 10). In a form characteristic of early nomadic tradition, but far from flattering to the national vanity of their neighbors across the Jordan, the story also states the historical fact that the Moabites and Ammonites were related to the Hebrews by virtue of common origin, traditions, and customs. Contemporary records, archaeology, and the later biblical references unite in confirming this fact.
V.Aim and Teachings. The early prophets, in common with their race and age, undoubtedly regarded the tradition as historical and retained it primarily for this reason. Like the later Judean story of the flood, to which it is in many ways closely parallel, it is one of the most dramatic illustrations of the overwhelming judgment that must inevitably overtake those who are deliberately and defiantly wicked. In the economy of the universe God himself is compelled to destroy them like worthless refuse. And yet the God who destroys is a God of infinite mercy, eager to stay the destruction, if only a leaven of good can be found. He is also just, not only to cities and nations, but to each individual. All in whom there is a gleam of promise are saved, as were Lot and his family, and given every opportunity to perform their work in the world. The one God whom the Hebrews worshipped, guided the early destinies of their polytheistic neighbors, even as he did those of his chosen people. The narrative and the stories which precede and follow also illustrate the supreme truth that the basis of the divine choice of the Hebrew race was primarily its character and aspirations, as exemplified by the lives and deeds of its traditional ancestors. A man who could plead, as did Abraham, for the life of his selfish, luxury-loving kinsman, and the shamelessly corrupt Canaanites, was the natural progenitor of a race of prophets. To those also who keep his commands the Lord ever reveals his character and purposes.