The Angels Arrive in Sodom
Everyone has heard of Sodom and Gomorrah. Was it an actual event or just a metaphor? Was it about the sin of homosexuality or the absence of hospitality? Everyone has an opinion about what it is all about. You can read the story without interruption in Genesis. But here, we’ll break down the elements of what is happening and throw in some archeological evidence.
The two angels arrived in the evening while Lot was sitting at the city gates. Chapter 18 identifies the two as men, but chapter 19 confirms they are angels. Regarding Lot sitting in the city gates, this was a position of authority. Sodom was the largest city along the main thoroughfare on the east side of the Jordan River from Assyria and Babylon to Egypt. The population at the time was around 25,000 people. Travelers looking for lodging along the way would stop at Sodom and check-in at the city gate. The other city gates were probably closed in the evening, so all traffic would have to go through the main city gate where Lot sat. That is how everyone in town knew that the two angels had arrived. It was the only gate that was open.
The text doesn’t say that Lot recognized the two as angels, but he strongly encouraged them to stay within the safety of the walls of his house. Lot fed them a meal, and they went to sleep.
The Sodomites show up at Lot’s door, surrounding the house, and demand to have their way with the two men. Lot’s response is controversial in offering his two daughters to the men outside instead, calling their desires wickedness. Is Lot offering his daughters up to be raped all night? I don’t think so. Look at the response from the Sodomites in verse nine. “You came here to dwell; did you come also to pass judgment? Now, then, we will hurt you more than them.”
They view Lot as an outsider that came to live in Sodom. Regardless of his authority at the city gate, they don’t accept Lot’s authority over their sexual preferences. They don’t want women; they want men. Lot knew that. The offer of his daughters would not be acceptable. I believe that Lot was showing them how depraved they were. They could have just had a homosexual orgy to satisfy their lust. Instead, they specifically wanted the new men in town. And since Lot stood in the way, they were now going to fulfill their desires through Lot first and then go after the two men.
The two angels didn’t sleep long. They grabbed Lot back into the house and struck the men outside with blindness. But being inflicted with blindness didn’t dissuade their wickedness. They kept looking for the door to get inside to the men. The angels told Lot to get his family and flee the city ‘because the outcry [of the city] has risen before the Lord, and the Lord sent us to wipe it out.’ What was the outcry?
In the previous chapter, verse 20 says that the Lord told Abraham, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah has increased, and their sins are very great.” Are the cities making the outcry, or is it coming from the people? There are a couple of things that could be going on here.
The Hebrew word used here is zaʿaq. There is one other time that we see an outcry going up to the Lord. In Genesis 4, Abel’s blood cries out to God. Genesis 4:10 “God said, ‘What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to Me from the earth.'” The Hebrew word used here is ṣāʿaq. There is only one letter difference, and they mean similar things. Zaʿaq means to clamor or a cry of distress. ִSāʿaq means the same thing as zaʿaq, but it also means to cry out is sorrow or grief.
Let’s compare that to Revelation 6:9-10. “When [The Lamb] opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the witness they had borne. They shouted to the Lord and said, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before You judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?'”
In Genesis, the blood is crying out; In Revelation, the souls are crying out. In both accounts, the outcry is because of the unjust shedding of blood. That’s the first option for the reason of the plea to the Lord. But God also said the outcry was from Sodom and Gomorrah. Was it the cities that were exclaiming the sins?
Paul explains to the Romans that the earth is calling out because of the corruption from sin. Romans 8:22 “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” The Greek word used here literally means to groan together. The Greek word in Revelation means to cry out loudly or to cry for vengeance. Both of these cries are because of sin.
Whether the cry is from the cities or innocent blood, it is coming because of the multitude of sins happening in Sodom and Gomorrah. God told Abraham that the sins were great (in number). It wasn’t just because of homosexuality. And a lack of hospitality seems a trivial matter. Hardly a reason to destroy an entire population.