The story of Sodom and Gomorrah gets preached a lot in conservative churches (Genesis 18 & 19). The MAGA movement often proclaims that the libs are turning America into a modern Gomorrah by their acceptance of sodomites and other perverts. But in the 1990s, this scripture was the one that shifted my social conscience left-ward, until today I am a vocal supporter of LGBTQ rights. The real perverts of the Bible, as I now understand it, are the folk who beat up truth-telling prophets (or protestors) and refuse to let refugees shelter in our sanctuary cities (a concept drawn straight from the Old Testament).
In seminary my Old Testament professor butted heads with the more fundamentally inclined students over this ancient text, pointing out that neither Abraham, nor God, seem to be concerned about the rampant homosexuality of these Dead Sea valley communities. The social flaws that doomed them were their love of violence and reluctance to show hospitality to strangers. A thousand years before Christ, people often became refugees as famine and conflict forced families to flee. Borders were rarely guarded. It was customary to receive these huddled masses into your community, to feed them, provide shelter, and integrate them into your nation. Those who failed to show do what they could for others were considered to be irredeemably immoral.
And so, the Egyptians accepted into their land the children of Israel. The Moabites took in Bethlehem’s Naomi and her husband, allowing them even to marry their daughters. Ruth, the Moabitess, was in turn accepted by the wealthy Judaean landowner Boaz and allowed to glean the edges of his fields unmolested. Why? Because the law of Moses commanded it. Care for the stranger is applauded throughout the Old Testament. Israel considered itself to be a nation of immigrants, and was proud to consider the great-grandson of Ruth, a kindly shepherd named David, to be their greatest King.
So, the New Testament begins with the story of how Jesus, born in Bethlehem, must flee with his family to Egypt, where the Egyptians, being better people than today’s MAGA Christians, take them in. Thirty years later, returning to Nazareth, his home town, Jesus mocks the provincial nature of these rural folk who distrust immigrants from other nations, by quoting the story of Elijah and the Syrian widow. Using the same turning of the tables as in his later story of the good Samaritan, Jesus tells how the respected prophet Elijah, became a victim, pursued by a lawless king, and took refuge across the border in the village of Zarephath. There a despised pagan widow took him in, and shared her meager resources with him.
Back to the story of Abraham and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and why lately it’s been on my mind. The tale begins several chapters before the part quoted by conservatives and narrow-minded fundamentalists, when Abraham and his nephew Lot are both shepherds with large flocks. The dry Judaean hill country cannot support the both of them. Lot notices that the valley south of the Dead Sea is well watered and has two prosperous cities, Sodom and Gomorrah. Receiving Abraham’s blessing, he departs for this rich country. Selling his flocks, he and wife and two daughters take up residence in a gated community that is hostile to strangers. Even though he is living in a “safe” neighborhood, Abraham has to twice rescue Lot from his violent neighbors. The second time involves two angels who are sent to investigate Sodom before the Holy One passes judgement on the city.
First, though, the Lord-God visits Abraham. “Because we are friends, I want to be transparent about this investigation and any punishment that I dispense,” God says. Abraham’s grazing rights overlook Sodom, and he is well aware of all that is going on there. Further, there is this family matter. Lot has a condo in Sodom. Throughout the Bible, God is very aware of the love we have for our children and close relatives. Families on earth, the Bible reasons, are meant to be models of the heavenly family. We love our own, even when the stray from us and find themselves in trouble.
I have a son and a daughter about the same age as Alex Pretti and Renee Good. They were active in the No Kings demonstrations in their cities. I could easily imagine them caught up in the violence our government is inflicting. Caught up, is a euphemism. Abraham’s nephew Lot would have shared the same fate as his Sodomite neighbors if it weren’t for the Lord-God’s compassion for Abraham.
Abraham, however, is the hero of this story. He argues with God, saying that the king of the universe must set the example for us. God must exercise due diligence in following the law, being merciful where appropriate, and only dispensing justice to the convicted criminal. He says:
Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?
And the Lord-God agrees to spare Sodom and Gomorrah if there are but fifty good people among the thousands residing there. So, Abraham says, “What about forty-five?” Over the next four verses, Abraham dickers God down to ten. If there were ten non-violent and hospitable people in that valley, no one would have died.
So, I ask, what if among the three thousand ICE agents deployed to Minneapolis there had been ten good people willing to speak up and resist the cruelty of the Trump administration. The story, both in Genesis and in today’s news is a shocking tale concerning the depravity of groups, once they are permitted to express their lowest natures. A fish may rot from the head down, but the real danger lies in giving our individual souls to godless institutions and political parties.