Sodom’s Sin Today
I will go down and see if they have at all done according to the cry coming to me Genesis 18:21
Cry – As in the days of Noah, the days of Ezekiel and the days of Jonah, a cry went up to the Lord. He heard it and decided to bring judgment upon the earth. But unlike our mistaken ideas about Sodom’s sin, the cry God heard was not about sexual immorality. Our Sunday school stories do not teach the real sin of Sodom. It was not homosexuality, lasciviousness, lust or any of the other sexual perversions. It was far greater. And it’s all wrapped up in the Hebrew word tse’aqah and its companion ze’aqah. The first word is found in this verse (cry) and the second in the previous verse (cry), but as you can see, there are two different words in Hebrew. Nevertheless, the impact of these two words melds into a single offense so great that God brings wrath upon those who embrace them.
What does tse’aqah and ze’aqah mean? Sarna says that these two words describe “the anguished cry of the oppressed, the agonizing plea of the victim for help in some great injustice.” This is moral outrage at the total disregard for human compassion and civility. This is the very opposite of what any human being would consider justice. This is not simply dishonoring God. This is dishonoring our own kind, a wanton display of human insensitivity toward other human beings. If you want to see what this looks like, you do not have to descend into the brothels or the porn shops. You can watch the news about “racial cleansing” across the globe. You can recall the history of the Holocaust or the actions of Pol Pot. You can realize that we live in the most brutal, most inhuman, most despicable century that the world has ever known. And there is no evidence that things will improve. The potential genocide in the name of Allah that lurks on the horizon has the possibility of making all other acts of cruelty pale by comparison. The destruction of human beings in the name of religion, politics and economics makes us all look as though we not only live in Sodom, but that we have also expanded its city limits to the edge of the globe.
Do we really think that God will not repeat His expunging wrath on a world gone mad with the lust for power, possession and personal gain? Do we really believe that God can find one righteous man among us? It is a very frightening thing to contemplate. How long God’s mercy will outweigh His judgment is a gambling bet no man should ever want to take.
So, push aside the idea that Sodom was about sex. Sexual perversion was only one of the symptoms of a culture that cared nothing for those who could be used and abused. Ezekiel lays the blame right where we need to hear it:
“Behold, this is the guilt of your sister, Sodom. She and her daughters had pride, were more than full of food, and prosperous case, but did not aid the poor and the needy. They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them, when I saw it.” Ezekiel 16:49-50
What does God see today? What are you going to do about it before He comes down to see if the cry is great?
Topical Index: Sodom, cry, tse’aqah, ze’aqah, moral outrage, Genesis 18:21, Ezekiel 16:49-50
This makes me shiver! I went back and re-read the chapter and what horror I see. When I first surrendered to the Lord, I stayed away from the OT. I couldn’t quite reconcile what I was being taught as a newborn babe in Christ. As the LORD began to lead me in the reading of the Scriptures, I began to see the horror of a people carrying the name of “chosen/elect beloved/called/equipped/empowered/blessed” and how the sweet-smelling aroma turned into a stench in the nostrils of God and how those He loved turned away from Him and His eternal purpose…”in Him we live and move and have our BEING”. Pray, children, PRAY! BE, children, BE!
Mercy and Grace, Father. REPENT and be IMMERSED in the Spirit of God.
Yes sister!!! And CRY for those no longer able to cry for themselves, like the crying babies of this country being thrown out of the window of cars.
I am awestruck at the useage of the term “sister”. Is this in reference to the totality of being in the “family” of mankind as humans, or the close proximity of the hearts of those far away from God who commit such sins and those who have not fully committed their way to Him?
One of these days, we will have to investigate, won’t we?
Skip
Skip, I am currently reading Richard Stearns “The Hole in our Gospel” and he is saying the same as the message being portrayed here. The sin of the culture is flagrant disregard for the oppressed and the poor and needy! Believers being indifferent having no compassion. I am facing my sixth month of unemployment and my circle of friends say…so sorry to hear after I reach out to them. They are not soliciting me with even a prayer, not a cup of tea, not $5.00 for milk. How can the believers eye then see those living in utter depravity far greater than I? Even in this hour I have far more than most in the world. Yet intimate believers cannot find it in themselves to help a dear sister. How will they ever help those thousands of miles away let alone a shelter down the street?
We are quick to take the teaching of Sodom and use it to point the finger at sexual sin…thank you for helping discern the truth of the word.
Blessings in Christ Jesus.