The place homosexuality has in Christianity has been a controversial topic for generations, a debate amplified by the many different Christian denominations and various interpretations of the Bible. I come from an evangelical background; a movement which believes in the literal interpretation of scripture and relates closely to, although not exactly the same as, fundamentalism. I believe this take on such an old and influential book is ignorant to the significant finer details; disregarding the importance of historical context, author’s bias etc. Such a literal focus on the words of ancient men undoubtedly has had, and will continue to have, a considerable impact on the unanimity of modern humanity.
These posts attempt to summarise my research into a 'bite-size' pieces and show how important it is to look beyond words written over a millennia ago. Previously I looked at one of the most popular passages used to illustrate Biblical damnation of homosexuality; this post will look at one of the most popular passages exemplified as why homosexuality is detested by God and thus should be considered a sin.
The passage dwells on the punishment of the ancient Canaanite cities of Sodom and Gomorrah from verses 1-19, however due to the size of the passage the quote below focuses on verses that suggest homosexuality is condemned by God. In the previous verses (1-3) God sent two angels to Sodom who met Lot at the city gates, Lot then pressed them to stay at his house. All quotes below are from the English Standard Version.
“4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. 5 And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” 6 Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, 7 and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8 Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” 9 But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. 10 But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. 11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place.13 For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”14”
Conservative Christians use the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as a perfect example of God's condemnation of homosexuality, stating that the intention of the men of Sodom was to gang rape Lot’s visitors, angels who had the appearance of men. This is suggested by the mobs' cries to “know them”; as stated in the previous post the phrase ‘to know’ is synonymous with ‘to experience’ and is often used within the Bible to imply sexual intercourse. This story has since led to the labeling of homosexual intercourse as sodomy and homosexuals as sodomites by various religious groups. Indeed the fact that Lot was more willing to let his two virgin daughters be raped rather than the men indicates that Lot, nephew of Abraham - the patriarch of the Hebrew nation, thought that heterosexual gang-rape was more favourable than homosexual rape.
This would imply that it was not just the rape but also the homosexual intent of the mob that was wicked. This opinion is often backed up with passages from the New Testament; 2 Peter 2: 6-10 says “if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.”; whilst Jude 1:7 states “just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.”
These passages are often used to justify the condemnation of homosexual practices by Christianity due to their appearance in the New Testament; the second section of the Bible concerned with the teachings of Jesus and their application by Christians. These interpretations come from the use of phrases such as “defiling passion” and “unnatural desire”. However it is more likely that they are referencing the men’s desire to gang rape the angels; both passages begin with a description of how God did not spare rebellious angels (2 Peter 2:4 & Jude 1:6), before equating them with the men of Sodom. Indeed other Biblical translations suggest this much more clearly; the King James Version of Jude 7 states the men pursued “strange flesh” rather than “unnatural desire”.
It more likely that Gen 19: 4-14 deals with the issue of hospitality. Ancient Middle-Eastern tradition talks about a sacred bond between host and guest which must not be dishonoured at any cost. Hospitality is too a major theme throughout the Bible with Leviticus 19: 33-34 stating “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself...”
Whilst Lot respected this, even offering his daughters to uphold the law, the citizens of Sodom showed it utter disregard. It’s very likely that the mob were intent on humiliating strangers by treating them like women, i.e. the receiver, to show dominance. Such a compromising position would bring great shame, as suggested later by the laws set out by Leviticus 20:13 “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.”
Canaanite cities were often associated with debauchery and Ezekiel 16: 49-50 suggests that it was this nature that brought down God’s wrath; “Behold, 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. 50 They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.” Thus God seemed to test the citizens’ level of depravity with the important and sacred notion of hospitality, a test which they subsequently failed. In this sense Gen 19: 4-14 appears to be an example of how important hospitality towards strangers was and how flouting such tradition would bring divine punishment, rather than condemning the entire populace for homosexual intent.
The literary motifs present in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah also appear in other very similar passages later on in scripture. One of the most explicit re-use of Gen 19: 4-14’s motifs is in Judges 19: 1-30 & Judges 20: 1-48; a Levite and his concubine come to the city of Gibeah at nightfall where an old man from Ephraim sojourning in the city asks them to stay with him. The men of the city surround the house and demand that they are let into the house so that they may “know” the Levite. The Old Man implores that they “do not act so wickedly” and offers them his virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine. The men then abuse the concubine throughout the night. Upon hearing what the people of Gibeah did the people of Israel destroy the city.
Although the above paraphrase is very abridged the passage itself holds very similar motifs to that of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah; both identify the importance of hospitality with two strangers given shelter by the host in contrast to the inhospitable citizens; both use the example of hostile townspeople as a warning against ill treatment of the narrator’s wider community; the destruction of a city is used to show how flouting the laws of hospitality is a public affair; the sexual harassment of strangers leads to communal punishment; it is shown that the city is dangerous as opposed to the wilderness- both Lot’s family and the Levite find help from beyond the city walls; nightfall is used to show the coming of danger; whilst hospitality is always shown by people living on the fringe of society- Lot is a non-Canaanite from Abraham’s family while in Gibeah the old man is a farmer from Ephraim in a city belonging to the tribe of Benjamin.
Such motifs also appear in other stories; in Joshua 6: 1-27 Rahab hides two Israelite spies in her house, her and her family are then spared when the Israelites destroy her city of Jericho. Due to the propensity of Hebrew literature to interweave the report of events with their own abstract reflections, and the amount of times these motifs appear throughout the Bible, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is more likely the result of ancient Israelite society expressing their views through elaborate narrative.
This leads to the conclusion that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah was in fact Israelite society expressing their concerns on the subject of hospitality, an especially significant concept due to the fact the Israelite society as a whole was a maltreated sojourner in Canaan. This is probably why the motifs used by the narrator are reused in similar stories throughout the Bible as the Israelites were continually mistreated by Canaan and suppressed by Egypt and Babylon. Taking this into account it appears that Gen 19: 4-14 doesn't condemn homosexuality, rather it condemns the abuse of the sacred bond between host and guest.
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