Crime and Punishment in Sodom and Gomorrah

In many religious circles, Sodom and Gomorrah have become watchwords for the moral panic many people feel in connection with the perceived corruption and depravity of society. The metaphor is invoked particularly by those who oppose the increasing acceptance of homosexuality, and it is not hard to see why. The story of Sodom in Genesis 19 is a vivid tale of fire-and-brimstone destruction, and same-sex attraction is frequently thought to be the main crime for which its denizens are punished. Understandably, then, this biblical passage has become a target for Christians on both side of the debate who need the Bible to express either condemnation or silence on the matter. If the biblical story of Sodom is an infallible morality tale, then interpreting it correctly is of utmost importance.

But is an unbiased theological interpretation really possible? How is it that Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and patriarch of the US’s largest Protestant denomination, can claim that Sodom and Gomorrah is all about God’s wrath over homosexuality¹, while Matthew Vines, author of God and the Gay Christian, sees no such condemnation at all in the story?²

For my part, I find all this odium theologicum tiresome and counterproductive. I have no interest in making the Bible conform to my personal convictions. However, I remain keenly interested in what it does say and what its authors believed. Is Genesis 19 a straightforward tale of sexual perversion? If not, what is the story about, and where did it come from?

Sodom and the Cities of the Plain: An Evolving Tradition

This story stands out for a number of reasons. Although the other people and events of Genesis are rarely mentioned in the Old Testament outside the Pentateuch, Sodom and Gomorrah are referred to frequently in the prophetic books — Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, and Zephaniah. Upon close inspection, however, none of these passages seem to be direct allusions to Genesis 19, since they show no awareness of the story about Abraham, Lot and the angels. With the Pentateuch increasingly seen as a late work post-dating the majority of the prophetic writings, it seems likely that these vague references outside the Pentateuch preceded the creation of the tale about Lot and the angels in Sodom. (For more reasons why Genesis is likely to post-date other Sodom references, see Brodie p. 435.)

Though “Sodom and Gomorrah” are usually referred to as though they were a pair of cities, the story and its context appears to involve a plain with five cities: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar. Moreover, there appears to be a chronological pattern in the biblical references to these names. Most of the earlier prophetic writings refer to either Sodom alone or to “Sodom and Gomorrah” as a pair. Hosea, a book associated with northern Israel, mentions only Admah and Zeboiim (11:8). Deuteronomy 29:23 mentions the first four cities (all but Zoar) as a group, as does Genesis 10:19. Only in Genesis 14 — often considered to be a late addition — and in later extra-biblical writings like the Wisdom of Solomon do all five cities appear by name.

Some scholars propose, then, that “Sodom and Gomorrah” and “Admah and Zeboiim” originated as separate traditions in Judah and Samaria, respectively. In most of the prophetic passages that invoke them, they seem to be paradigmatic examples of wickedness and divine punishment. Eventually, these traditions were merged, and all four names came to be associated with the desolate plains along the Dead Sea. Even later, a fifth city, Zoar, was added, and the idea of a “pentapolis” was born.

Whether any of these cities actually existed historically is difficult to say. No archaeological site has been linked to them with any certainty. Some Bible scholars assume that there must have been real places by those names that experienced some kind of ecological devastation. Others, however, posit that these cities (at least as portrayed in Genesis) are purely literary or folklore inventions. The story itself is generally seen as an aetiology to explain the ecological wasteland of the plains near the Dead Sea. It is widely noted that the story has more in common with the mythological tales of the “Primeval History” (the first eleven chapters of Genesis) than it does with the patriarchal narrative into which it has been placed.

“Lot leaving Sodom”, Woodcut from the Nuremberg Chronicle

Other Literary Parallels

In an earlier article about an allusion to Ovid’s Metamorphoses in the book of Acts, I mentioned some remarkable parallels that exist between the stories of Abraham and Lot in Genesis 18–19 and two separate but similar stories by the Roman poet Ovid — one in found in book eight of Metamorphoses, and one in book five of Fasti. Though ignored by many of commentaries and monographs that I read while researching this article, these parallels are very instructive in showing us how the story was created and what it means in a moral sense.

Both stories by Ovid (which undoubtedly have older roots) are concerned chiefly with hospitality. In each, the protagonists encounter traveling strangers and offer them food and shelter. Unbeknownst to them, the strangers are gods in disguise. As a result of the protagonists’ hospitality, they are rewarded; and in Metamorphoses, the people of the surrounding region who did not show hospitality are destroyed for their wickedness. Almost every major plot point in Genesis 18 (Abraham’s encounter with three strangers) and Genesis 19 is paralleled in these texts. Although Ovid wrote much too late to have influenced the writing of Genesis, it is very likely that both drew upon the same literary motif — conceivably even a now-lost literary work. The most obvious parallels are shown below. Ovid’s story about Hyrieus (from Fasti) is in green text, and his story about Baucis and Philemon (from Metamorphoses) is in purple.

Genesis 18–19	Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Fasti
Three divine beings (Yahweh and two angels) travelling through the countryside arrive at Abraham’s tent.	Three divine beings (Jupiter, Neptune, and Mercury) travelling through the countryside arrive at the cottage of Hyrieus.
The place is distinctive for its sacred oak trees.	The place is distinctive for its sacred trees, including an oak.
The visitors’ divine identities are a secret.	The visitors’ divine identities are a secret.
Abraham, an old man, offers them hospitality.	Hyrieus, an old man, offers them hospitality.
Abraham and Sarah prepare a feast for the visitors, including a slaughtered calf.	Hyrieus prepares a feast for the visitors, including a slaughtered ox.
Yahweh reveals his identity.	Jupiter reveals his identity.
Abraham and Sarah desire a child, but Sarah is barren and old.	Hyrieus desires a child, but his wife is deceased.
Yahweh promises that Sarah will have a child.	Jupiter performs a miracle so that Hyrieus will have a child.
A set time later, Isaac is born.	Ten months later, Orion is born.
Two divine beings (angels) arrive at Sodom.	Two divine beings (Jupiter and Mercury) arrive at a region of Phrygia.
Their divine identities are a secret.	Their divine identities are a secret.
They receive hospitality and shelter only from Lot.	They receive hospitality and shelter only from Baucis and Philemon.
Lot prepares a feast for the visitors.	Baucis and Philemon prepare a feast for the visitors.
The visitors reveal their superhuman status by performing a miracle (causing blindness).	The visitors reveal their superhuman status by performing a miracle (replenishing the wine).
The visitors pronounce judgment on the rest of Sodom for its wickedness.	The visitors pronounce judgment on the rest of the region for its wickedness.
Lot and his family are granted immunity.	Baucis and Philemon are granted immunity.
Lot and his family are told to flee to the hills.	Baucis and Philemon are told to flee to a mountain.
The plain is destroyed in natural disaster (a rain of fire).	The plain is destroyed in a natural disaster (a flood).
Lot’s wife looks back to watch.	Baucis and Philemon look back to watch.
Lot’s wife undergoes metamorphosis (into a pillar of salt).	Baucis and Philemon undergo metamorphosis (into trees).

However, a section in the middle of the story (19:4–11) deviates from the plot of Ovid’s tale about Philemon and Baucis. This section constitutes a sub-plot that is nearly identical to the story of the traveling Levite and his concubine in Judges 19:

The visitors to the Sodom intend to spend the night in the square.	A Levite traveling with his concubine prepares to spend a night in the square in Gibeah.
Lot, a foreigner residing in Sodom, puts them up in his house.	A foreigner residing in Gibeah puts them up in his house.
A violent mob consisting of all the city’s men surrounds the house and demands that the visitors be handed over (“so that we might know them”).	A violent mob of the city’s men surrounds the house and demands that the visitors be handed over (“so that we might know them”).
Lot offers to hand over his virgin daughters instead.	The master of the house offers to hand over his virgin daughter and the concubine instead.
The mob refuses.	The mob refuses.
(no parallel)	The Levite’s concubine is handed over to the mob, and she is raped and killed.

It’s quite obvious that one of these passages copied from the other. Although it doesn’t matter much either way, I wonder if the author of Genesis crafted the Sodom and Gomorrah story by combining the (Hellenistic?) motif of showing hospitality to “gods in disguise” with the biblical Gibeah story and the Sodom traditions in the prophets.

Genesis 19 continues with a sub-plot about the city of Zoar that feels a little clumsy. Lot convinces the angels to spare Zoar from destruction so he can seek refuge there instead of the hills. But he leaves Zoar anyway, and goes up to the hills to live in a cave. Then we are told there is “not a man on earth” for Lot’s two daughters to procreate with (not even in Zoar?), so they get Lot drunk and rape him. The incestuous offspring that are born as a result become the eponymous ancestors of the Moabites and the Ammonites.

Bible scholar Thomas Römer (2011, see bibliography below) suggests that the verses about Zoar are a later insertion into the story. Without them, the story reads more naturally: Lot and his daughters escape to the hills as instructed; and with all the cities destroyed, there is no one left to marry his daughters. (I would also observe that as the story reads now, Lot’s wife looks back once they are in Zoar, which makes little sense.) Römer suggests that Zoar — a city mentioned elsewhere in the Bible with no connection to Sodom and Gomorrah — might have been a habitable oasis in an otherwise desolate region. By inserting Zoar into the story here, the redactor provided an interesting origin legend for the city as well as an aetiology for its name (meaning “little”, because Lot asks the angels to spare one “little” city).

According to the apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon 10:8, all five cities were destroyed with fire. Is it possible that the author was working from a copy of Genesis in which Zoar was not spared?

Fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1860

What Was the Sin of Sodom?

Determining what the sin Sodom and Gomorrah were judged for in the Bible is a difficult task, as there are at least three stages of tradition to consider: (1) Sodom as described in the prophets, (2) Sodom as portrayed in Genesis 19, and (3) the interpretation of Genesis 19 in later biblical writings, particularly the New Testament. We may also note how other early authors understood the passage.

Sodom and Gomorrah in the Prophets

In Isaiah 1, Judah is compared to Sodom and Gomorrah, whose sins are not actually described but can be inferred from the writer’s description of Jerusalem as a city of murderers and thieves who love bribes and ignore the plights of widows and orphans (vv. 21–23).

Similarly, in Jeremiah (23:14), Jerusalem is compared to Sodom and Gomorrah for “committing adultery, walking in lies, and strengthening the hands of evildoers”.

Ezekiel condemns Jerusalem as committing sins worse than those of Sodom, which he describes thusly:

This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; (16:49–50a)

Interestingly, Ezekiel predicts the restoration of Sodom a few verses later!

I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters… As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state. (16:53a, 55a)

Whatever tradition Ezekiel has in mind, it is clearly not the story of Genesis 19. However, he is very clear about the nature of Sodom’s sin, which might be described as social injustice and pride.

Taking these allusions together, it seems that Sodom and Gomorrah function as examples for whatever type of wrongdoing the biblical author is accusing Judah or Israel of. The only hint of sexual immorality is the reference to adultery in Jeremiah.

Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19

The story of Lot and the angels in Genesis 19 is clearly patterned, above all, after the motif of showing hospitality to strangers. It seems likely, then, that inhospitality is supposed to typify the wickedness for which the cities of the plain are destroyed.

The inclusion of the violent mob sub-plot complicates this somewhat. The idea that rape is involved hangs almost entirely on what is meant by the word “know” in the mob’s demand: “Bring [the men] out to us, so that we may know them” (v. 5).

It is widely assumed, not unreasonably, that this is a euphemism for sexual intercourse, as it occasionally is in other passages, and that the mob is intent on raping the two visitors. Some scholars, however, point out the use of juridical terminology in the story, and insist that a meaning of “interrogate” is more likely correct (see Morschauser 2003). And it goes without saying that such an interrogation would involve physical violence.

It makes little difference either way. The point is not at all that Sodom (and the other cities, which don’t even figure in the story) is somehow populated entirely with gay men who can’t control their urges. The author’s intent is to highlight their unjust treatment of strangers in contrast with Lot; mob violence and rape are simply an example of how out-of-hand things have gotten. As Robert S. Kawashima (see bibliography) puts it:

The entire episode centers on the theme of hospitality, the very foundation of civilization, which, one might say, begins the moment one can seek food and shelter in a stranger’s home. Lot in effect wins his family’s salvation by protecting the strangers who have come under his roof, even at grave risk to his household—arguably outdoing his uncle’s hospitality in the previous scene (Gen 18). If Lot thus maintains the sanctity of the guest-host relationship, the men of Sodom subvert it instead, seeking to rape the strangers who have entered their city’s gates. (Kawashima p. 92)

Sodom and Gomorrah in the Deuterocanon

The Wisdom of Solomon, drawing upon the Genesis account, describes the Sodomites as wicked and impious in ch. 10. In ch. 19, Egypt is compared to them for its inhospitality and abuse of the Jews.

According to 3 Maccabees, the people of Sodom were “arrogant” and notorious for their vices. For Ben Sira as well, the sin of Lot’s neighbours was pride (16.8).

Sodom and Gomorrah in the New Testament

In Luke 10:10–12, after instructing the disciples to be entirely reliant upon the hospitality offered to them during mission trips, Jesus makes a comparison between the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah and the punishment that awaits the cities that do not welcome them. The theme of punishment for inhospitality is clearly present here.

Matthew, in the passages parallel to Luke’s (10:15 and 11:20–24), is more vague about the connection between Sodom and the other cities he condemns, but he does not specify any other sin.

Jude 7, a verse often interpreted as a condemnation of homosexuality, actually draws a comparison between the Sodomites’ unnatural lust for angels and the lust of angels for human women found in 1 Enoch and Jubilees. (See this article for more on that.) 2 Peter, which generally follows the outline of Jude, omits the link between Sodom and sexual perversion.

Sodom and Gomorrah in Other Writings

Philo of Alexandria (in On Abraham) was possibly the first biblical exegete to imply that same-sex attraction was one of the sins for which Sodom was punished. However, early Christian writers (e.g. Origen and Tertullian) continued to associate Sodom with arrogance and excess. It was not until John Chrysostom (late fourth century) that Christian theologians began to replace inhospitality with homosexuality as the main sin of Sodom (see Carden, 2004, p. 154).

James Tissot, The Daughters of Lot

Conclusions

To summarize the main points made in this article:

1. In earlier biblical traditions found in the prophets, Sodom and Gomorrah function as metaphors for wickedness and divine punishment. Two different cities, Admah and Zeboiim, perform the same function in variant tradition found in Hosea.
2. The historical and geographical reality of these places is disputed.
3. These four cities were eventually combined into a tetrapolis, and then with Zoar into a pentapolis.
4. The story of Abraham, Lot, and the divine visitors (Gen 18–19) combines these earlier biblical traditions with the story of Gibeah in Judges 19 and a motif about showing hospitality toward gods in disguise that is paralleled in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Fausti.
5. The vices most commonly attributed to Sodom in all these traditions are inhospitality, arrogance, and excess. Homosexuality is not the focus of any biblical Sodom traditions, and it does not feature in Christian interpretation of these passages until the fourth century CE.

The presidents of major Bible seminaries are supposed to know this stuff. But when was the last time you heard a preacher compare society to Sodom and Gomorrah for failing to show hospitality to foreign immigrants?

Just One More Thing…

It has nothing to do with the analysis above, but I present this for your amusement. The biblical Sodom and Gomorrah story is invoked in a Greek pagan love spell discovered among the Magical Papyri. The person performing the spell is supposed to recite the following incantation while burning lumps of sulphur:

The heavens of heavens opened, and the angels of God descended and overturned the five cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Segor. A woman who heard the voice became a pillar of salt. You are the sulphur which God rained down on the middle of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim and Segor; you are the sulphur which served God—so also serve me in regards to her, and do not allow her to go to bed or to find sleep until she comes and fulfills the mystery rite of Aphrodite. (PGM XXXVI. 295–311)

Recommended viewing

Thomas Römer has a lecture online at Youtube where he discusses Greek influences in the Old Testament, including the story of Lot and the angels: Greek Mythology—Some Case Studies.

Update (January 8, 2022)

I now have a video of my own on this topic with some new material (link).

Footnotes

1. See the quotation of Mohler by Peter Lumpkins, “Al Mohler, homosexuality, and continued moral confusion (part I), http://peterlumpkins.typepad.com/peter_lumpkins/2011/07/al-mohler-homosexuality-and-moral-confusion-part-i-by-peter-lumpkins.html, downloaded May 8, 2015. See also Mohler, Ed., God and the Gay Christian? A Response to Matthew Vines, SBTS Press, 2014.
2. Vines, God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships, Convergent Books, 2014.

Bibliography

• Thomas Römer, “Quand les dieux rendent visite aux hommes (Gn 18-19): Abraham, Lot et la mythologie grecque et proche-orientale”, in Prescendi Francesca, Volokhine Youri (eds.) Dans le laboratoire de l’historien des religions. Mélanges offerts à Philippe Borgeaud. Religions en perspectives, 24, Genève: Labor et Fides, pp. 615-626, 2011.
• Thomas Römer, “The Horns of Moses. Setting the Bible in its Historical Context”, inaugural lecture delivered on February 5, 2009, at Collège de France.
• Thomas L. Brodie, Genesis as Dialogue: A Literary, Historical & Theological Commentary, 2001.
• Scott Morschauser, “’Hospitality’, Hostiles and Hostages. On the Legal Background to Genesis 19.1-9”, JSOT 27/4, 2003.
• Robert S. Kawashima, The Book of Genesis: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation (SVT 152), Brill, 2012.
• Michael Carden, Sodomy: A History of a Christian Biblical Myth, Equinox Publishing, 2004.