I want to address how Sodom and Gomorrah is interpreted. The explanation people have most often
been given about Sodom was that they were judged for their homosexuality and
gay pride parades, or something like that. But, neither the text nor scripture’s
“inner-textual” interpreters ever say as such. Following the midrashic wisdom, I
advise looking to Abraham to set the standard for the antithetical parallel
that Sodom comes to present.
Prior
to God visiting Sodom, there is a scene with Abraham standing under his tent’s
entrance to avoid the sun, and in some emblematic sense waiting for God’s
promise to come to fruition. Now years before this God made a covenant with Abraham
accompanied by the symbolic gestures of giving him a new name (Abram to
Abraham: father of lofty to father of many), and the promise of children that
will make the name change true. This is then followed by the Ancient Near
Eastern act of circumcision which was a serious gesture of commitment by the
one believing such a promise (Gen. 17-18 and ouch).
In
the years waiting Abraham apparently grows in humility and excessive
hospitality. As three strangers come to his tent Abraham’s reflexive action is
to run out and greet them in obeisance and asks them to rest, have water and
stay for a meal. Then he goes to great lengths by having Sarah get that ready.
Okay, he did slaughter a calf for them. Anyway, the three divine messengers oblige
him and while conversing one of them tells Abraham that he and Sarah will have
a son. If there was doubt about these strangers being divine messengers, the
promise of God reiterated should clue us and Abraham in. It is at this that God
reveals that Sodom’s and Gomorrah’s injustice was crying out against them which
leads to Abraham being in a position to interact with God and tries to barter for
not letting their deafness and injustice destroy them ( Gen.18).
But,
what is their injustice? The divine messengers walk down to Sodom and are met
by Abraham’s nephew Lot who offers them similar hospitality, but he insists on
doing it secretly and sending them on their way as soon as possible. The divine
messengers said, no, we want to stay in the square, to which Lot strongly
insists that coming to his house is the better option. We see why when all
males of the city descend onto Lot’s front door. They tell Lot to send the
visitors out so that they may “know them” (which in this context is an innuendo
for rape) (Gen 19). According
to Ezekiel this is not because Sodom was a bunch of sexual deviants, but
because they were prideful, full of wealth, food and prosperity, and still
neglected the stranger, poor and disadvantaged (Ezek. 16:49). Joseph
Blenkinsopp adds that “according to one midrash the people of Sodom even
covered the trees to prevent the birds from eating the berries.”[1] The lack of
hospitality was their sin; welcoming the stranger was always central to Jewish faithfulness
for following the Creator (Deut. 10:19; Lev. 19:34).
Wes
Howard-Brook’s book, Come out my People, adds to this as well. He draws
out the two competing religions within the Biblical narrative: YHWH’s “religion
of creation” entangled with the rival “religion of empire”, which really took
form when Cain builds the first city. Thus, Howard-Brook sees the dynamic at
work here with Abraham’s hospitality rooted in peace contrasted with Sodom’s
“inhospitable and violent stance deemed ‘normal’ by ancient city dwellers.”[2]
Nevertheless,
the crowd was not threatening homosexual supremacy on anyone as if to say “we’re
here, we’re queer and it’s contagious!” Though this is how fundamentalists can
impose their culture wars onto a text. Rather, the innuendo is threatening rape
and rape is always an act (and symbol) of domination. This is the condemnation
of the counterfeit society producing the hostile violent fruit bore by ideologies
of superiority and self-preservation. Systems like this have nothing to offer
the stranger or the vulnerable but pain, suffering and death.
In
my mind this interpretation and teaching has so much more to offer us than the faulty
reading that has flooded Sunday-schools and sermons. In essence, the reality of Sodom was that they instituted policies and slogans to put Sodom first, built a wall and vetted
the stranger so to make Sodom and Sodom's name great again. But, the way of Abraham, which is
the way of YHWH, offers us a way out of such engineered cycles through hospitality and shalom for doing life together. And that will bear a much different fruit.
[1]
Joseph Blenkinsopp. Ezekiel: Interpretation (Louisville, KY: John Knox
Press, 1990), 79.
[2] Wes
Howard-Brook. Come Out My People: God’s Call out of Empire in the Bible and
Beyond. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2010), 61. He also points out that Jesus interprets
Sodom and Gomorrah the same way when the cities inhospitably reject his disciples
(Matt. 10:15; Lk. 10:12).
