Why was Sodom destroyed?

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What was the sin of Sodom? Why was destroyed? Many people assume it was due to homosexual activity. However, the Bible provides a different answer.

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

What was the sin of Sodom? Why was it destroyed?

Many people assume it was due to homosexual activity. However, the Bible itself provides a different answer.

The prophet Ezekiel reveals four reasons why the ancient city of Sodom was destroyed. It is summed up in this verse:

Ezekiel 16:49. Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She also didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

That verse reveals four reasons Sodom was destroyed:

 

REASON 1

pride

The people of Sodom were arrogant.

 

REASON 2

fullness of bread

The people of Sodom were overfed. That is, they enjoyed great abundance.

They were greedy.

 

REASON 3

prosperous ease

In their prosperity, the people of Sodom became complacent.

They only cared about themselves. They were self-centered.

 

REASON 4

neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy

The people of Sodom did nothing to help poor people.

 

JERUSALEM WAS EVEN WORSE

The sin of Sodom was that it had plenty and yet gave no help to the poor and needy.

In the Bible, that is an abominable crime.

Then in later centuries, Jerusalem itself became even worse than Sodom:

Lamentations 4:6. For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown as in a moment. No hands were laid on her.

 

IN OUR DAY

In our day, the United States is even worse.

It is the embodiment of those four abominable crimes:

  1. Arrogant. Many of us are prideful, expressing scorn for people of other faiths.
  2. overfed. On a global scale, we have massive abundance.
  3. unconcerned. Many Christians are deeply self-centered.
  4. did not help the poor and needy. Many of Christians express contempt for poor people.

 

BIBLE VERSES

 

Genesis 13:13. Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against the LORD.

Genesis 18:20. The LORD said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous,

Genesis 19:24. Then the LORD rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of the sky.

Psalm 11:6. On the wicked he will rain blazing coals; fire, sulfur, and scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.

Lamentations 4:6. For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown as in a moment. No hands were laid on her.

Ezekiel 16:49. Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She also didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

 

Wisdom 19:15. And not only so, but God will visit the men of Sodom after another sort, Since they received as enemies those who were aliens;

Sirach 16:8. He spared not those with whom Lot sojourned, Whom he abhorred for their pride.

3 Maccabees 2:5. It was you who made the Sodomites, those workers of exceedingly iniquity, men notorious for their vices, an example to later generations, when you covered them with fire and brimstone.

2 Esdras 7:106. I answered, “How do we now find that first Abraham prayed for the people of Sodom, and Moses for the ancestors who sinned in the wilderness,

 

Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.