Day 9: Sodom & Gomorrah

 Today's reading: Genesis 18-19, Job 7-8, and Proverbs 2:1-5.

I. Well, today in Genesis we arrive at the famous incident in Sodom & Gomorrah, when both cities were destroyed by God for their sins. First, "three men" appeared before Abraham. This is one of the very first theophanies of God on earth to a man.

The Ignatius Bible states in the footnotes:

Identified in the context as Yahweh (18:1) and two of his angels (19:1). Following this encounter, the two angels are sent off to inspect Sodom (18:22; 19:13), while Abraham is left to haggle with the Lord over the fate of the city (18:22-23). Christian tradition often saw the three visitors as an image of the Trinity. Abraham saw three figures but worshipped only one, for there is one God, one Lord, and one Spirit. There is oneness of honor because there is oneness of power (St. Ambrose, The Holy Spirit, 2, 4). (p. 80)

The scene with Abraham haggling with God over the fate of these cities for the sake of potential righteous men is amazing. Pretty bold of him, and it shows how loving God is that He allowed this. In His mercy, God had sent two angels to rescue Lot as well as check on Sodom & Gomorrah. Whether Lot recognized them as angelic beings or not, he invites them into his home to stay the night out of fear of what could happen to them. 

Then there is an odd episode. All the men of Sodom, "both young and old" (19:4), came to Lot's house to demand these visitors be given to them so that they could "know them" (19:5). All of them? That seems a bit excessive. I have to wonder if there is some kind of exaggeration here, akin to how some ancient writers inflated numbers to signify "a lot". Regardless, the angels strike them all blind and warn Lot to flee with his family, for they were going to destroy the place (19:11-13). Lot does, the angels destroy the cities, but his wife perishes when she looks back (19:26). The reason this happens is generally seen as because she not only disobeyed a direct command of God (19:17), but she probably still had an attachment and longing for the sinful city. One thing that should be clear from this story, homosexual relations do seem to be one of the causes of the destruction, contrary to what some have claimed. The element of rape may factor in, but given the rest of Scripture, it seems more likely that the relations themselves were seen as sinful, worthy of destruction.

Today's reading closes with a really weird episode. Afraid of staying in Zoar, Lot and his daughters fled to a cave nearby. No doubt they were terrified after what had happened to Sodom. The daughters did an incredible sin, giving the excuse of fearing that no man would ever give them children, so they got Lot drunk and then had sex with him (19:36). The children of their diabolical incest are said to be the ancestors of some of Israel's later enemies: the Moabites and Ammonites (19:37-38).  

The BIY Companion, Vol 1, gives some interesting commentary on this:

Lot's moral compass fails, though, when his obedience to the custom of hospitality outweighs even his natural concern for his own daughters. He thinks it better to offer them to the perverse men of Sodom than his guests. This is a glimpse into a very ancient and primitive way of thinking. The disregard he shows for the welfare of his daughters comes back to haunt him when he is in flight with them and essentially at their mercy. (p. 25)

II. Job speaks of his suffering, despairing of ever recovering, and believes he has been targeted by God for a reason unknown to him. The verse in 7:17 is interesting, as the Ignatius Bible notes:

What is man: The Psalter uses these words to marvel at the dignity conferred upon man by God (Ps 8:5), and this despite the shortness of his life... Job, on the other hand, has allowed suffering to warp his perspective on divine beneficence, as if God looks after man only to pounce on his every act of wrongdoing (7:18-20). (p. 796)

Job's despair here almost sounds like something from "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". God's wrath is just, but ordered toward healing in Catholic teaching, which this Puritan sermon differs from greatly.

Another friend of Job's, Bildad, gives a speech like the earlier one from Eliphaz. He is somewhat harsher, though, and certainly less compassionate. With friends like these...

III. Finally, in Proverbs, we get more advice from the father to his son in verses 1-5. Basically, he advises to "receive my words" and make "your ear attentive to wisdom". All good advice again, but I'm still at the mercy of "the process" since we're only given 5 verses out of 22 here.

That's it for today.