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The Bible Often Mentions God’s Wrath — Why Does It Matter?
The issue with the wrath & judgment of God is that almost all those who excuse the sins of Sodom & Gomorrah as minor, do NOT know all the Scriptures concerning their EXCEEDINGLY GREAT sins, abominations before God. Not since the global flood has such judgment of God been shown as to these wicked cities! To this day, that area is still covered with the brimstone.
In Noah's day, only 8 were saved. At Sodom & Gomorrah & surrounding cities, only 3 survived. And the angels had to literally take them by the hand to get them out of there.
Ezek 16:49,50 "Behold! This was the INIQUITY of your sister Sodom: she & her daughters were majestically arrogant, overfed (literally 'absolute satiety' again & again--BDB) & complacent (unconcerned, undisturbed); they did NOT HELP the poor & needy.
50 They were haughty & committed ABOMINATION (did detestable acts) BEFORE ME, so I removed them when I saw this.
And most who tend to downplay the sins of these cities focus on vs 49 & IGNORE verse 50! The haughtiness is a Hebrew word that means to raise one up to the point of heaven itself in their pride, literally exalting themselves rather than God; just like the tower of Babel & there God confused their languages.
And there is a word that is consistent in other passages throughout Scripture concerning the abhorrent evil that was done there: abomination before the eyes of God. It is something loathesome, detestable, despicable, abhorrent. It is used 117X in the OT so you can't miss its meaning.
Sure it says that right in the text, even much more, as I showed above. Perhaps you are not reading ALL of the texts & surrounding context. Also overfed is NOT well-fed. Clear difference. Here is why.
Ezek 16:28,29 Moreover, you played the harlot with the Assyrians because you were not SATISFIED; you played the harlot with them & STILL were not SATISFIED. 29“You also multiplied your harlotry with the land of merchants, Chaldea, yet EVEN with this you were not SATISFIED.
The same Hebrew word is used multiple times in the above verses as it is used in vs 48. The idea of absolute satiety or overfed is just that. One continues to go to the absolute limit of satiety over & over again--and it doesn't satisfy each & every time & the desire for even more compels them to press against the absolute limit time & again.
Their overindulgence as the rich, their arrogance is an arrogance of someone majestic & despising those beneath them, the poor laborers who do their work & bidding; these have no worth in their eyes & are completely beneath their helping them or considering their needs.
The condition of the poor & needy is no concern to them at all; it doesn't disturb or bother them in the slightest. They were steeped in COMPLACENCY, thinking no sees what they are doing, nobody will judge them for their sins. They think that God does not see them nor will He intervene. And if you think complacency & being rich & well fed are minor sins, the Scripture does not allow that to happen. They did all this IN ADDITION to committing ABOMINATION--DETESTABLE ACTS BEFORE GOD'S EYES.
Isaiah 47:9-11 These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children & widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries & the potency of your spells. You felt COMPLACENT in your evil deeds (wickedness); you said, “No one sees me”; your wisdom & your knowledge led you astray & you said in your heart, 'I Am'--there is no one besides me.”
Zechariah 1:15 For a while I was angry at the nations who are COMPLACENT, but now I am furious, because they have made things worse for Jerusalem & are not the least bit concerned.
Jer 22:21 I warned you when you were COMPLACENT (secure, undisturbed, at ease). You said, 'I will not listen.' This has been your way from youth, that you have not you obeyed My voice.
Zephaniah 1:12 And at that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps & punish the men SETTLED IN COMPLACENCY, who say to themselves, 'The LORD will do nothing, either good or ill.'
Genesis 13:10-13 And Lot looked out & saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom & Gomorrah.) So Lot chose the whole plain of the Jordan for himself & set out toward the east. And Abram & Lot parted company.
12Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled in the cities of the plain & pitched his tent toward Sodom. But THE MEN of Sodom were wicked, sinning GREATLY against YHWH.
Gen 19:4 Before they had gone to bed, ALL THE MEN of the city of Sodom, BOTH YOUNG & OLD, surrounded the house.
Prov 21:12,13 The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked; He brings the wicked to ruin. The one who shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will himself also call out & not be answered.
Gen 18:20,21 Then the LORD said, “The OUTCRY (19X in OT; implying distress, shrieking & lamentation) AGAINST Sodom & Gomorrah is great (much, large). Because their sin is so very grievous (greatly, exceedingly burdensome & heavy--abundant & heinous.), I will go down to see if their actions fully JUSTIFY the outcry that has reached Me.
James 5:1-6 Come now, you rich, weep & howl, for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted & your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold & silver have corroded & their corrosion will be evidence against you & will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are CRYING OUT AGAINST YOU & THE CRIES OF THE HARVESTERS HAVE REACHED THE EARS OF THE LORD OF HOSTS.
5You have lived on the earth in luxury & in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned & murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
Why did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah? We can find clues not just from the Genesis account, but also from the Prophets & the NT books 2 Peter & Jude. These give a sense of how ancient Jewish thinkers steeped in Jewish culture understood these texts.
First, Sodom & Gomorrah were judged because of grave sin. Genesis 18:20 says, "And the Lord said, 'The outcry of Sodom & Gomorrah is indeed great & their sin is exceedingly grave (heavy--abundant & grievous).'" Indeed, not even ten righteous people could be found in the city.
Second, it seems the judgment of these cities was to serve as a lesson to Abraham & to others that wickedness would be punished. In 2 Pet 2:6 we learn that God condemned & destroyed the cities as "an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter."
Third, peculiar qualities of the sin are described by Jude & Peter. Jude 7 depicts the activity as "gross immorality" & going after 'strange' flesh.
Peter wrote that Lot was "oppressed ( by the sensual (licentious) conduct of unprincipled men," and "by what he saw & heard...felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds." These people were "those who indulged the flesh in its corrupt desires & despised authority" (2 Pet 2:7-10).
Fourth, there are 27 references outside of Genesis where Sodom is mentioned. It is emblematic of gross immorality, deepest depravity & ultimate judgment.
Piecing together the biblical evidence gives us a picture of Sodom's offense. The sin of Sodom & Gomorrah was some kind of activity—a grave, ongoing, lawless, sensuous activity—that Lot saw & heard & that tormented him as he witnessed it day after day. It was an activity in which the inhabitants indulged the flesh in corrupt desires by going after strange flesh, ultimately bringing upon them the most extensive judgment anywhere in the Bible outside of the book of Revelation & the global flood.
What do we know about the conduct of the men of Sodom & Gomorrah that fits this description? Just a Couple of Questions
Was the city destroyed because the men of Sodom tried to rape the angels (option (2) above)? The answer is obviously no. God's judgment could not have been for the rapacious attempt itself because His decision to destroy the cities was made days BEFORE the encounter (Gen 18:20). Further, Peter makes it clear that the wicked activity was ongoing ("day after day"), not a one-time incident. The outcry had already been going up to God for some time.
Was this a mere interrogation? Though the Hebrew word yada ("to know")[6] has a variety of nuances, it is properly translated in the NASB as "have [sexual] relations with."[7] Though the word does not always have sexual connotations, it frequently does, and this translation is most consistent with the context of Genesis 9:5. There is no evidence that what the townsmen had in mind was a harmless interview. Lot's response—“Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly"—makes it clear they had other intentions.
In addition, the same verb is used in the immediate context to describe the daughters who had not "known" a man and who were offered to the mob instead. Are we to understand Lot to be saying, "Please don't question my guests. Here, talk to my daughters, instead. They've never been interviewed"?
Did God judge Sodom and Gomorrah for inhospitality? Is it true that God's judgment was not for homosexuality per se, but because the people of the town were discourteous to the visitors, violating sacred sanctuary customs by attempting to rape them? A couple of observations raise serious doubt.
First, the suggestion itself is an odd one. To say that the men of Sodom were inhospitable because of the attempted rape is much like saying a husband who's just beaten his wife is an insensitive spouse. It may be true, but it's hardly a meaningful observation given the greater crime.
Second—and more to the textual evidence—it doesn't fit the collective biblical description of the conduct that earned God's wrath: a corrupt, lawless, sensuous activity that Lot saw and heard day after day, in which the men went after strange flesh.
Third, are we to believe that God annihilated two whole cities because they had bad manners, even granting that such manners were much more important then than now? There's no textual evidence that inhospitality was a capital crime. However, homosexuality was punishable by death in Israel (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13). Does God ignore the capital crime, yet level two entire cities for a wrong that is not listed anywhere as a serious offense?
The Only One That Fits
The prevailing modern view of the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is that the attempted rape of Lot's visitors violated the Mid-East's high code of hospitality (19:9). This inhospitality, however, is an inference, not a specific point made in the text itself.
Further, the inhospitality charge is dependent upon—and eclipsed by—the greater crime of rape, yet neither could be the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah because God planned to judge the cities long before either had been committed. What possibility is left? Only one.
We know the men of Sodom and Gomorrah were homosexual, "both young and old, all the people from every quarter" (19:4), to the point of disregarding available women (19:5-8). After they were struck sightless they still persisted (19:11). These men were totally given over to an overwhelming passion that did not abate even when they were supernaturally blinded by angels.
Homosexuality fits the biblical details. It was the sin that epitomized the gross wickedness of Sodom & Gomorrah—the "grave," "ungodly," "lawless," "licentious conduct of unprincipled men" that tormented Lot as he "saw & heard" it "day after day," the "corrupt desire" of those that went after "strange flesh."
Homosexuality and “Strange Flesh”
Clearly, the general wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah was great. That's not in question. Our concern here is whether homosexuality was part of that wickedness. Our analysis of Genesis shows that homosexuality was the principle behavior at issue in that passage. Ezekiel simply enumerates additional sins. The prophet doesn't contradict Moses, but rather gives more detail.
Stinginess and arrogance alone did not draw God's wrath. Ezekiel anchored the list of crimes with the word "abominations." This word takes us right back to homosexuality. The conduct Moses refers to in Genesis 18 he later describes in Leviticus as an "abomination" in God’s eyes.
The Mosaic Law has two explicit citations on homosexuality. Leviticus 18:22 says, "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination [toebah] ." Leviticus 20:13 says, "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act [toebah]. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood guiltiness is upon them."
What Was the Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? | Stand to Reason
The issue with the wrath & judgment of God is that almost all those who excuse the sins of Sodom & Gomorrah as minor, do NOT know all the Scriptures concerning their EXCEEDINGLY GREAT sins, abominations before God. Not since the global flood has such judgment of God been shown as to these wicked cities! To this day, that area is still covered with the brimstone.
In Noah's day, only 8 were saved. At Sodom & Gomorrah & surrounding cities, only 3 survived. And the angels had to literally take them by the hand to get them out of there.
Ezek 16:49,50 "Behold! This was the INIQUITY of your sister Sodom: she & her daughters were majestically arrogant, overfed (literally 'absolute satiety' again & again--BDB) & complacent (unconcerned, undisturbed); they did NOT HELP the poor & needy.
50 They were haughty & committed ABOMINATION (did detestable acts) BEFORE ME, so I removed them when I saw this.
And most who tend to downplay the sins of these cities focus on vs 49 & IGNORE verse 50! The haughtiness is a Hebrew word that means to raise one up to the point of heaven itself in their pride, literally exalting themselves rather than God; just like the tower of Babel & there God confused their languages.
And there is a word that is consistent in other passages throughout Scripture concerning the abhorrent evil that was done there: abomination before the eyes of God. It is something loathesome, detestable, despicable, abhorrent. It is used 117X in the OT so you can't miss its meaning.
Sure it says that right in the text, even much more, as I showed above. Perhaps you are not reading ALL of the texts & surrounding context. Also overfed is NOT well-fed. Clear difference. Here is why.
Ezek 16:28,29 Moreover, you played the harlot with the Assyrians because you were not SATISFIED; you played the harlot with them & STILL were not SATISFIED. 29“You also multiplied your harlotry with the land of merchants, Chaldea, yet EVEN with this you were not SATISFIED.
The same Hebrew word is used multiple times in the above verses as it is used in vs 48. The idea of absolute satiety or overfed is just that. One continues to go to the absolute limit of satiety over & over again--and it doesn't satisfy each & every time & the desire for even more compels them to press against the absolute limit time & again.
Their overindulgence as the rich, their arrogance is an arrogance of someone majestic & despising those beneath them, the poor laborers who do their work & bidding; these have no worth in their eyes & are completely beneath their helping them or considering their needs.
The condition of the poor & needy is no concern to them at all; it doesn't disturb or bother them in the slightest. They were steeped in COMPLACENCY, thinking no sees what they are doing, nobody will judge them for their sins. They think that God does not see them nor will He intervene. And if you think complacency & being rich & well fed are minor sins, the Scripture does not allow that to happen. They did all this IN ADDITION to committing ABOMINATION--DETESTABLE ACTS BEFORE GOD'S EYES.
Isaiah 47:9-11 These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children & widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries & the potency of your spells. You felt COMPLACENT in your evil deeds (wickedness); you said, “No one sees me”; your wisdom & your knowledge led you astray & you said in your heart, 'I Am'--there is no one besides me.”
Zechariah 1:15 For a while I was angry at the nations who are COMPLACENT, but now I am furious, because they have made things worse for Jerusalem & are not the least bit concerned.
Jer 22:21 I warned you when you were COMPLACENT (secure, undisturbed, at ease). You said, 'I will not listen.' This has been your way from youth, that you have not you obeyed My voice.
Zephaniah 1:12 And at that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps & punish the men SETTLED IN COMPLACENCY, who say to themselves, 'The LORD will do nothing, either good or ill.'
Genesis 13:10-13 And Lot looked out & saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom & Gomorrah.) So Lot chose the whole plain of the Jordan for himself & set out toward the east. And Abram & Lot parted company.
12Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled in the cities of the plain & pitched his tent toward Sodom. But THE MEN of Sodom were wicked, sinning GREATLY against YHWH.
Gen 19:4 Before they had gone to bed, ALL THE MEN of the city of Sodom, BOTH YOUNG & OLD, surrounded the house.
Prov 21:12,13 The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked; He brings the wicked to ruin. The one who shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will himself also call out & not be answered.
Gen 18:20,21 Then the LORD said, “The OUTCRY (19X in OT; implying distress, shrieking & lamentation) AGAINST Sodom & Gomorrah is great (much, large). Because their sin is so very grievous (greatly, exceedingly burdensome & heavy--abundant & heinous.), I will go down to see if their actions fully JUSTIFY the outcry that has reached Me.
James 5:1-6 Come now, you rich, weep & howl, for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted & your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold & silver have corroded & their corrosion will be evidence against you & will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are CRYING OUT AGAINST YOU & THE CRIES OF THE HARVESTERS HAVE REACHED THE EARS OF THE LORD OF HOSTS.
5You have lived on the earth in luxury & in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned & murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
Why did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah? We can find clues not just from the Genesis account, but also from the Prophets & the NT books 2 Peter & Jude. These give a sense of how ancient Jewish thinkers steeped in Jewish culture understood these texts.
First, Sodom & Gomorrah were judged because of grave sin. Genesis 18:20 says, "And the Lord said, 'The outcry of Sodom & Gomorrah is indeed great & their sin is exceedingly grave (heavy--abundant & grievous).'" Indeed, not even ten righteous people could be found in the city.
Second, it seems the judgment of these cities was to serve as a lesson to Abraham & to others that wickedness would be punished. In 2 Pet 2:6 we learn that God condemned & destroyed the cities as "an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter."
Third, peculiar qualities of the sin are described by Jude & Peter. Jude 7 depicts the activity as "gross immorality" & going after 'strange' flesh.
Peter wrote that Lot was "oppressed ( by the sensual (licentious) conduct of unprincipled men," and "by what he saw & heard...felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds." These people were "those who indulged the flesh in its corrupt desires & despised authority" (2 Pet 2:7-10).
Fourth, there are 27 references outside of Genesis where Sodom is mentioned. It is emblematic of gross immorality, deepest depravity & ultimate judgment.
Piecing together the biblical evidence gives us a picture of Sodom's offense. The sin of Sodom & Gomorrah was some kind of activity—a grave, ongoing, lawless, sensuous activity—that Lot saw & heard & that tormented him as he witnessed it day after day. It was an activity in which the inhabitants indulged the flesh in corrupt desires by going after strange flesh, ultimately bringing upon them the most extensive judgment anywhere in the Bible outside of the book of Revelation & the global flood.
What do we know about the conduct of the men of Sodom & Gomorrah that fits this description? Just a Couple of Questions
Was the city destroyed because the men of Sodom tried to rape the angels (option (2) above)? The answer is obviously no. God's judgment could not have been for the rapacious attempt itself because His decision to destroy the cities was made days BEFORE the encounter (Gen 18:20). Further, Peter makes it clear that the wicked activity was ongoing ("day after day"), not a one-time incident. The outcry had already been going up to God for some time.
Was this a mere interrogation? Though the Hebrew word yada ("to know")[6] has a variety of nuances, it is properly translated in the NASB as "have [sexual] relations with."[7] Though the word does not always have sexual connotations, it frequently does, and this translation is most consistent with the context of Genesis 9:5. There is no evidence that what the townsmen had in mind was a harmless interview. Lot's response—“Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly"—makes it clear they had other intentions.
In addition, the same verb is used in the immediate context to describe the daughters who had not "known" a man and who were offered to the mob instead. Are we to understand Lot to be saying, "Please don't question my guests. Here, talk to my daughters, instead. They've never been interviewed"?
Did God judge Sodom and Gomorrah for inhospitality? Is it true that God's judgment was not for homosexuality per se, but because the people of the town were discourteous to the visitors, violating sacred sanctuary customs by attempting to rape them? A couple of observations raise serious doubt.
First, the suggestion itself is an odd one. To say that the men of Sodom were inhospitable because of the attempted rape is much like saying a husband who's just beaten his wife is an insensitive spouse. It may be true, but it's hardly a meaningful observation given the greater crime.
Second—and more to the textual evidence—it doesn't fit the collective biblical description of the conduct that earned God's wrath: a corrupt, lawless, sensuous activity that Lot saw and heard day after day, in which the men went after strange flesh.
Third, are we to believe that God annihilated two whole cities because they had bad manners, even granting that such manners were much more important then than now? There's no textual evidence that inhospitality was a capital crime. However, homosexuality was punishable by death in Israel (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13). Does God ignore the capital crime, yet level two entire cities for a wrong that is not listed anywhere as a serious offense?
The Only One That Fits
The prevailing modern view of the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is that the attempted rape of Lot's visitors violated the Mid-East's high code of hospitality (19:9). This inhospitality, however, is an inference, not a specific point made in the text itself.
Further, the inhospitality charge is dependent upon—and eclipsed by—the greater crime of rape, yet neither could be the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah because God planned to judge the cities long before either had been committed. What possibility is left? Only one.
We know the men of Sodom and Gomorrah were homosexual, "both young and old, all the people from every quarter" (19:4), to the point of disregarding available women (19:5-8). After they were struck sightless they still persisted (19:11). These men were totally given over to an overwhelming passion that did not abate even when they were supernaturally blinded by angels.
Homosexuality fits the biblical details. It was the sin that epitomized the gross wickedness of Sodom & Gomorrah—the "grave," "ungodly," "lawless," "licentious conduct of unprincipled men" that tormented Lot as he "saw & heard" it "day after day," the "corrupt desire" of those that went after "strange flesh."
Homosexuality and “Strange Flesh”
Clearly, the general wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah was great. That's not in question. Our concern here is whether homosexuality was part of that wickedness. Our analysis of Genesis shows that homosexuality was the principle behavior at issue in that passage. Ezekiel simply enumerates additional sins. The prophet doesn't contradict Moses, but rather gives more detail.
Stinginess and arrogance alone did not draw God's wrath. Ezekiel anchored the list of crimes with the word "abominations." This word takes us right back to homosexuality. The conduct Moses refers to in Genesis 18 he later describes in Leviticus as an "abomination" in God’s eyes.
The Mosaic Law has two explicit citations on homosexuality. Leviticus 18:22 says, "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination [toebah] ." Leviticus 20:13 says, "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act [toebah]. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood guiltiness is upon them."
What Was the Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? | Stand to Reason
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