Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom:  she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.  Ezekiel 16:49

The Sister’s Sin

Did Not Help – What was the sin of Sodom?  Did you say sexual immorality?  Did you mention homosexuality?  Yes, that’s all true.  But Ezekiel tells us something else; something that should send chills up your spine.  Sodom sinned because it had everything and yet it did not help the poor.

Lot chose the plains of Sodom because the land was fertile.  It was the ancient Near East version of America the beautiful.  Amber waves of grain, purple mountain’s majesty, and all that.  We have it all.  Wealth, abundance and ease.  And, oh yes, arrogance, callousness and self-preoccupation.  We have the sister’s sin.  In spades!

“Did not help” is the Hebrew phrase lo he’heziykah.  Literally, “did not strengthen or empower.”  Did you think God was only interested in your charity donations?  Did you think your hand-outs and your feeding programs were enough?  Shame and guilt upon you, you who live in blessed abundance and ease.  When did you seek to empower the poor?  When did you stretch out your arm to give them your abilities, your resources and your strength?  It is not enough to share some tidbit of your wealth.  You are called to teach, train, enable and underwrite those in need so that they are no longer needy.  Only then is your obligation fulfilled.

What an appalling view of charity we have today.  We think that because we give some of our money and time to worthy causes, we are morally superior people.  But God sees something quite different.  If all my efforts do not result in a substantial change in the classification of “poor” for those in need, I have done nothing except repeat the sin of my sister, Sodom.  God draws our attention to the poor (ana – the oppressed) and the needy (ebyon – those who lack material resources).  Sodom gave from its wealth, but it never lifted the poor and needy from the class of oppressed and desperate.  It ran welfare programs that kept people right where they were.  And God judged them for their real lack of compassion because they were unwilling to lift others up to their state. 

Why do we say that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer?  Because the rich (you and me) are not willing to become less than rich in order to remove one person from the category of the poor.  Wake up, sister of Sodom, before your inheritance is nothing but salt!