†. Gen 18:16 . .The men set out from there and looked down toward Sodom, Abraham
walking with them to see them off.
Many of us just see our visitors out the front door. But, you know, it wouldn't hurt to see them
out to their cars too. Maybe even carry a few things for them.
The site of Sodom has never been found. Some believe it was at the south end of the Dead Sea;
but that's really only a guess. The destruction was so severe and so complete that it's just
impossible now to tell where it was.
†. Gen 18:17 . . Now the Lord had said: Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,
Now there's a pretty good yardstick of your standing with God. Do you know what's on His
agenda for tomorrow? Me neither. God doesn't confide in me for the slightest thing. I don't
even know what brand of toothpaste He uses in the morning let alone His daily schedule.
†. Gen 18:18 . . since Abraham is to become a great and populous nation and all the
nations of the earth are to bless themselves by him?
Divine purposes for Abraham elevated him to a very high degree of importance above ordinary
human beings; and God regarded the old boy not as a servant, but as a member of Yhvh's inner
circle of confidants. That is amazing.
†. Gen 18:19 . . For I have singled him out, that he may instruct his children and his
progeny to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is just and right, in order that the
Lord may bring about for Abraham what He has promised him.
Some kids measure the value of their inheritance in dollars and property. God measured
Abraham's value by the quality of the religion he would impart to his offspring.
Abraham's usefulness to his progeny extended only until Moses came along and introduced the
covenanted law. Prior to that, there really wasn't all that much to pass down. There was no doubt
the knowledge that the universe is the result of intelligent design, the knowledge of the garden of
Eden, the knowledge of the Flood, the knowledge of Noah's covenant, the knowledge of the
Tower of Babel, the knowledge of Abraham's covenant, the story of Hagar and Ishmael, the
knowledge of the covenant of circumcision, the offering of Isaac, the death of Sarah; and
whatever else Abraham may have recorded in his own personal journals, if perchance he had
any. It became Abraham's duty, as it was the duty of patriarchs before him, to keep the
knowledge of God alive in the world; either by word of mouth, or by written record.
If mankind were left to itself, it wouldn't be long before the knowledge of God would soon
disappear from the earth. The new nation, that God would make of Abraham and Sarah, was a
necessary expedient to prevent mankind from plunging itself into perpetual darkness, and into
utter world wide rebellion against its Creator again, like as at Babel.
†. Rom 3:1-2 . .What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in
circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of
God.
The world owes a huge debt of gratitude to Abraham's progeny for collecting, compiling, and
distributing information about the One True God.
†. Gen 18:20 . .Then the Lord said: The outrage of Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and
their sin so grave!
The people of Sodom weren't just your every-day, average garden variety of sinners. According
to Gen 13:13, they were very wicked sinners; and not only were they very wicked sinners, but
very wicked sinners against the Lord; in other words: they were trespassers.
Webster's defines "trespassing" as: unwarranted infringement; viz: unlawful acts committed on
the person, property, or rights of another. That's an interesting perspective. Trespassing implies
that God has some rights, and the Sodomites were deliberately violating them.
The Sodomites knew that their conduct was crossing boundaries; but weren't concerned at all
how God might feel about it. They were insolent; flaunting their lawlessness to a hateful degree.
Like an impudent adolescent; they could look God right in the eye, lift their haughty little chins,
and with a defiant attitude proclaim: You don't like it? Wellll . . . ain't that just toooo bad.
Some passages, written to shame the people of Israel, shed additional light on the degree of
Sodom's wickedness.
†. Isa 3:8-9 . . Ah, Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because by word and deed
they insult the Lord, defying His majestic glance. Their partiality in judgment accuses them; they
avow their sins like Sodom, they do not conceal them.
†. Jer 23:14 . . What I see in the prophets of Jerusalem is something horrifying: adultery and
false dealing. They encourage evildoers, so that no one turns back from his wickedness. To Me
they are all like Sodom, and [all] its inhabitants like Gomorrah.
†. Ezk 16:49-50 . . Only this was the sin of your sister Sodom: arrogance! She and her daughters
had plenty of bread and untroubled tranquility; yet she did not support the poor and the needy. In
their haughtiness, they committed abomination before Me; and so I removed them, as you saw.
Sodom is widely reputed for its sexual sins. But as you can see from those passages above, they
practiced a whole lot more sins than that. One of the most interesting of their sins was that they
did nothing to discourage wickedness. They actually applauded evildoers and encouraged them
to keep it up. Added to that was arrogance, and a lack of charity-- indifference to the plight of the
poor --and haughtiness, adultery, dishonesty, favoritism in judgment, insulting the glory and
dignity of God, bragging about their sins, and idolatry. The New Testament has somewhat to say
of such people.
Since God had not yet proclaimed any official laws specifically prohibiting the Sodomites'
conduct, then He really couldn't prosecute them in that respect. So then, what was His
justification for nailing them? It was for the very same attitude that nails everybody; both
pre-Flood and post-Flood.
†. John 3:18-21 . .This is the condemnation: that the light has come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil
hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
So then, the Sodomites were not only indifferent to God's wishes; but they deliberately avoided
knowing them just as Yhvh's people did themselves in later years to come.
†. Zech 7:11-12 . . But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their
ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should
hear the law and the words which The Lord of hosts hath sent in His spirit by the former prophets:
therefore came a great wrath from The Lord of hosts.
Cont.
/
walking with them to see them off.
Many of us just see our visitors out the front door. But, you know, it wouldn't hurt to see them
out to their cars too. Maybe even carry a few things for them.
The site of Sodom has never been found. Some believe it was at the south end of the Dead Sea;
but that's really only a guess. The destruction was so severe and so complete that it's just
impossible now to tell where it was.
†. Gen 18:17 . . Now the Lord had said: Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,
Now there's a pretty good yardstick of your standing with God. Do you know what's on His
agenda for tomorrow? Me neither. God doesn't confide in me for the slightest thing. I don't
even know what brand of toothpaste He uses in the morning let alone His daily schedule.
†. Gen 18:18 . . since Abraham is to become a great and populous nation and all the
nations of the earth are to bless themselves by him?
Divine purposes for Abraham elevated him to a very high degree of importance above ordinary
human beings; and God regarded the old boy not as a servant, but as a member of Yhvh's inner
circle of confidants. That is amazing.
†. Gen 18:19 . . For I have singled him out, that he may instruct his children and his
progeny to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is just and right, in order that the
Lord may bring about for Abraham what He has promised him.
Some kids measure the value of their inheritance in dollars and property. God measured
Abraham's value by the quality of the religion he would impart to his offspring.
Abraham's usefulness to his progeny extended only until Moses came along and introduced the
covenanted law. Prior to that, there really wasn't all that much to pass down. There was no doubt
the knowledge that the universe is the result of intelligent design, the knowledge of the garden of
Eden, the knowledge of the Flood, the knowledge of Noah's covenant, the knowledge of the
Tower of Babel, the knowledge of Abraham's covenant, the story of Hagar and Ishmael, the
knowledge of the covenant of circumcision, the offering of Isaac, the death of Sarah; and
whatever else Abraham may have recorded in his own personal journals, if perchance he had
any. It became Abraham's duty, as it was the duty of patriarchs before him, to keep the
knowledge of God alive in the world; either by word of mouth, or by written record.
If mankind were left to itself, it wouldn't be long before the knowledge of God would soon
disappear from the earth. The new nation, that God would make of Abraham and Sarah, was a
necessary expedient to prevent mankind from plunging itself into perpetual darkness, and into
utter world wide rebellion against its Creator again, like as at Babel.
†. Rom 3:1-2 . .What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in
circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of
God.
The world owes a huge debt of gratitude to Abraham's progeny for collecting, compiling, and
distributing information about the One True God.
†. Gen 18:20 . .Then the Lord said: The outrage of Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and
their sin so grave!
The people of Sodom weren't just your every-day, average garden variety of sinners. According
to Gen 13:13, they were very wicked sinners; and not only were they very wicked sinners, but
very wicked sinners against the Lord; in other words: they were trespassers.
Webster's defines "trespassing" as: unwarranted infringement; viz: unlawful acts committed on
the person, property, or rights of another. That's an interesting perspective. Trespassing implies
that God has some rights, and the Sodomites were deliberately violating them.
The Sodomites knew that their conduct was crossing boundaries; but weren't concerned at all
how God might feel about it. They were insolent; flaunting their lawlessness to a hateful degree.
Like an impudent adolescent; they could look God right in the eye, lift their haughty little chins,
and with a defiant attitude proclaim: You don't like it? Wellll . . . ain't that just toooo bad.
Some passages, written to shame the people of Israel, shed additional light on the degree of
Sodom's wickedness.
†. Isa 3:8-9 . . Ah, Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because by word and deed
they insult the Lord, defying His majestic glance. Their partiality in judgment accuses them; they
avow their sins like Sodom, they do not conceal them.
†. Jer 23:14 . . What I see in the prophets of Jerusalem is something horrifying: adultery and
false dealing. They encourage evildoers, so that no one turns back from his wickedness. To Me
they are all like Sodom, and [all] its inhabitants like Gomorrah.
†. Ezk 16:49-50 . . Only this was the sin of your sister Sodom: arrogance! She and her daughters
had plenty of bread and untroubled tranquility; yet she did not support the poor and the needy. In
their haughtiness, they committed abomination before Me; and so I removed them, as you saw.
Sodom is widely reputed for its sexual sins. But as you can see from those passages above, they
practiced a whole lot more sins than that. One of the most interesting of their sins was that they
did nothing to discourage wickedness. They actually applauded evildoers and encouraged them
to keep it up. Added to that was arrogance, and a lack of charity-- indifference to the plight of the
poor --and haughtiness, adultery, dishonesty, favoritism in judgment, insulting the glory and
dignity of God, bragging about their sins, and idolatry. The New Testament has somewhat to say
of such people.
Since God had not yet proclaimed any official laws specifically prohibiting the Sodomites'
conduct, then He really couldn't prosecute them in that respect. So then, what was His
justification for nailing them? It was for the very same attitude that nails everybody; both
pre-Flood and post-Flood.
†. John 3:18-21 . .This is the condemnation: that the light has come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil
hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
So then, the Sodomites were not only indifferent to God's wishes; but they deliberately avoided
knowing them just as Yhvh's people did themselves in later years to come.
†. Zech 7:11-12 . . But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their
ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should
hear the law and the words which The Lord of hosts hath sent in His spirit by the former prophets:
therefore came a great wrath from The Lord of hosts.
Cont.
/
