Why were Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed?
Upvote:8
I believe the reason people remember Sodom & Gomorrah for the sexual immorality may be due to:
The account in Genesis 19 where the men of the town wanted to have relations with the two angels that were spending the night at Lot's house.
The word sodomy creates a huge link to Sodom & Gomorrah.
So yes, the traditional interpretation as you say is focused on the sexual immorality, but Ezekiel reminds us of what the Lord tells Abraham in Genesis 18:20-21
20 So the Lord told Abraham, "I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant. 21 I am going down to see if their actions are as wicked as I have heard. If not, I want to know." (NKJV)
A few verses later God concedes to Abraham and says, "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it," which leads us to believe that not only were the people so wicked in Sodom, but not even 10 were found to be righteous.
Upvote:8
That's a very good question, and the answer is, we really don't know. We have a single reference in Genesis to widespread practice of sexual immorality, but remember that this is based on one single event that took place after God had already decided to destroy it. What we do know is that not even ten righteous people could be found in the entire region.
It's clear that Ezekiel had some source to draw on that's not available today. And as Judah is being compared here not only with Sodom but also with Samaria (capital of the kingdom of the northern Ten Tribes before they were carried away captive into Assyria) in this chapter, it's being phrased as a reminder and a comparison to things that the reader should already be familiar with. Apparently in Ezekiel's day, more detailed records about the Cities of the Plain and their culture were in circulation than we have available today.
As for the title of your question, why were the cities destroyed? Because there were no righteous people left in them. (Even ten righteous would have been enough to save them, but ten were not found.) Just like the Flood a few generations earlier, but on a smaller scale. When there is no righteousness left among a people, the Lord will destroy them, if for no other reason than that it would not be justifiable to allow them to bring any more new children into the world, into a scenario in which they would have zero chance of finding salvation.
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