The Civilizational Dichotomy of Genesis: Pastoral Abraham & Urban Sodom.
Rav Dror Moshe Cassouto recenly talked about Sodom in a shiur, and what their true sin was, which inspired me to look further into the issue.
When people say the sin of Sodom was lack of hospitality, they usually have an agenda, namely to suggest that homosexuality "is not such a bad thing." But they misunderstand the origin of the idea. It was actually the Rabbis that came up with this idea. Their intent was not to excuse homosexuality.
The people of Sodom did practice homosexual rape, but not out of attraction to men. If they had wanted to rape men they would try to lure them to their city, saying: "Don't believe the rumors, it's a great city, come visit us, bring your sons." But they didn't. They practiced sexual terror and cultivated a rumor of being perverse rapists exactly so as to discourage visitors and people seeking refuge in Sodom.
They encouraged outsiders to believe the negative rumors, actually they would have encouraged them to believe an even more extreme version of events.
From what I'm told, it appears their pattern was to let people go after abusing them, exactly so the rumor could spread. If the victims exaggerated what happened to them, even better.
The Biblical story begins with the travellers being kindly received by the hospitable bedouin Abraham, then shows the travellers being exposed to the extreme inhospitality of the people of Sodom. The story thus contrasts Bedouin hospitality with an evil, inhospitable city that goes so far in its inhospitality as to abuse or threaten to abuse people seeking refuge.
The story clearly represents the perspective of nomadic culture / people, or at least the perspective of people that place nomadic values above urban values, regardless of whether they themselves are nomads.
The story of Cain and Abel also presents the pastoralist (Abel with flock) as superior to the settled agrarian (Cain with the fruit of the earth.) God himself prefers Abel's sacrifice, the text takes care to note.
The agrarian and the urban lifestyle may be distinguished, but for the intents and purposes of the scriptures they are both treated as opposite to the pastoral / nomadic way of life.
These ways of life are connected to different categories of civilization, different ways in which a society may be organized.
All of Israel was organized as a nomadic society under Moses while wandering in the Sinai, living a similar lifestyle to that lived by the nomadic Patriarchs and by Moses while staying with the bedouin Jethro.
A nomadic civilization is usually autonomous.
The next category is that of a settled nation, divided into cities, each city usually having multiple villages tributary to it. The city is a walled settlement, while the village is an agrarian settlement. On its most basic level the relationship between village and city boils down to the city needing food from the village, and in return the villagers can seek refuge behind city walls when they need to.
A settled nation may be fully autonomous or it may be a vassal state.
The third category of civilization would be that of the subculture, which is explored in the accounts of Israel's time as a subculture in Egypt and later in Persia.
Subcultures are never truly autonomous, but may be granted some measure of autonomy if the dominant culture decides to allow it.
The Bible shows us Abraham leaving the city of Ur to live as a pastoral nomad. His descendants decide to resettle in Egypt, ultimately becoming an oppressed minority there. They then leave, becoming nomads again. They gradually conquer Canaan and shift into a settled nation of villages and cities, even making other such settled nations tributary to them under the reign of David and Solomon.
On a civilizational level, and from a Spenglerian standpoint, this was the golden age, the zenith, of historical Israel. They ruled over others, and were not ruled by others. The glory of the days of Solomon was never recaptured. For the next 2500 years, Israel would go on to exist as a non-autonomous people in their own land and as a non-autonomous people, a subculture, in foreign lands.
By the hand of Hashem, Israel became a modern nation, officially independent for almost 70 years.
But ultimately, why is lack of hospitality such a big sin ?
Hospitality is especially important because one day, near the end of this era, Hashem will send his witnesses. They will rely on the hospitality of others, much as did the apostles when they were sent out by Yeshua in the first century and had to rely on hospitality to survive.
Rav Dror Moshe Cassouto recenly talked about Sodom in a shiur, and what their true sin was, which inspired me to look further into the issue.
When people say the sin of Sodom was lack of hospitality, they usually have an agenda, namely to suggest that homosexuality "is not such a bad thing." But they misunderstand the origin of the idea. It was actually the Rabbis that came up with this idea. Their intent was not to excuse homosexuality.
The people of Sodom did practice homosexual rape, but not out of attraction to men. If they had wanted to rape men they would try to lure them to their city, saying: "Don't believe the rumors, it's a great city, come visit us, bring your sons." But they didn't. They practiced sexual terror and cultivated a rumor of being perverse rapists exactly so as to discourage visitors and people seeking refuge in Sodom.
They encouraged outsiders to believe the negative rumors, actually they would have encouraged them to believe an even more extreme version of events.
From what I'm told, it appears their pattern was to let people go after abusing them, exactly so the rumor could spread. If the victims exaggerated what happened to them, even better.
The Biblical story begins with the travellers being kindly received by the hospitable bedouin Abraham, then shows the travellers being exposed to the extreme inhospitality of the people of Sodom. The story thus contrasts Bedouin hospitality with an evil, inhospitable city that goes so far in its inhospitality as to abuse or threaten to abuse people seeking refuge.
The story clearly represents the perspective of nomadic culture / people, or at least the perspective of people that place nomadic values above urban values, regardless of whether they themselves are nomads.
The story of Cain and Abel also presents the pastoralist (Abel with flock) as superior to the settled agrarian (Cain with the fruit of the earth.) God himself prefers Abel's sacrifice, the text takes care to note.
The agrarian and the urban lifestyle may be distinguished, but for the intents and purposes of the scriptures they are both treated as opposite to the pastoral / nomadic way of life.
These ways of life are connected to different categories of civilization, different ways in which a society may be organized.
All of Israel was organized as a nomadic society under Moses while wandering in the Sinai, living a similar lifestyle to that lived by the nomadic Patriarchs and by Moses while staying with the bedouin Jethro.
A nomadic civilization is usually autonomous.
The next category is that of a settled nation, divided into cities, each city usually having multiple villages tributary to it. The city is a walled settlement, while the village is an agrarian settlement. On its most basic level the relationship between village and city boils down to the city needing food from the village, and in return the villagers can seek refuge behind city walls when they need to.
A settled nation may be fully autonomous or it may be a vassal state.
The third category of civilization would be that of the subculture, which is explored in the accounts of Israel's time as a subculture in Egypt and later in Persia.
Subcultures are never truly autonomous, but may be granted some measure of autonomy if the dominant culture decides to allow it.
The Bible shows us Abraham leaving the city of Ur to live as a pastoral nomad. His descendants decide to resettle in Egypt, ultimately becoming an oppressed minority there. They then leave, becoming nomads again. They gradually conquer Canaan and shift into a settled nation of villages and cities, even making other such settled nations tributary to them under the reign of David and Solomon.
On a civilizational level, and from a Spenglerian standpoint, this was the golden age, the zenith, of historical Israel. They ruled over others, and were not ruled by others. The glory of the days of Solomon was never recaptured. For the next 2500 years, Israel would go on to exist as a non-autonomous people in their own land and as a non-autonomous people, a subculture, in foreign lands.
By the hand of Hashem, Israel became a modern nation, officially independent for almost 70 years.
But ultimately, why is lack of hospitality such a big sin ?
Hospitality is especially important because one day, near the end of this era, Hashem will send his witnesses. They will rely on the hospitality of others, much as did the apostles when they were sent out by Yeshua in the first century and had to rely on hospitality to survive.
