So many speak, preach, and write of Sodom as though the story found in Genesis 19 stood alone in the canon of Scripture. This is not true. The Bible teaches us that "line upon line, precept upon precept. Here a little, there a little." (Isaiah 28:13)  This is why Paul admonished Timothy by saying, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth." (II Timothy 2:15)  We cannot take a verse or portion of Scripture all alone and expect to be privy to every detail of that story. That is why God has established the divine rule, "Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." (Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15)

   Other Biblical writers spoke of the sins of Sodom and her sister cities. And frequently the writers were writing under a prophetic anointing so that the words they penned were in reality attributed to the very throne of God. Knowing this, we now can understand that the Scriptures provide us with plenty of additional references to Sodom and her sins. All we need do to better and further understand the sinful nature of Sodom is look at the various other Biblical passages, which speak directly of or allude to her and her sins.

   Ezekiel 16:49-50
    "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, committed abomination before me; therefore I took them away as I saw good."

   Now mind you, in the passage above, God Himself is speaking through His prophet Ezekiel. His purpose is to warn Israel of falling into the same level of degradation and godless heathenism that Sodom was infamous for. Many have the nerve to preach that the sin of Sodom was homosexuality, at least primarily, and yet in this passage, God Himself is saying, "Here is a list of the sins of Sodom."

   PRIDE. The God of Israel detests pride. A proud and haughty spirit is an offense to God. Did not Lucifer himself fall from heaven because he was overcome by pride? The people of Sodom were convinced that in all their evil conduct they were a people unlike any other. If you have ever lived in Texas, you will know what I mean when I say, Texas folks are a proud people. People in and from Texas act as though nobody has ever done it like a Texan does it. Pride can be a very positive thing when it is properly channeled and based upon positive and constructive virtues. For instance, if one holds to the notion that Texas is the end all and be all of all fifty states in the union because the people of this state are the kindest, gentlest, most compassionate, friendliest, and hospitable people in the world; that is one thing. But if one holds to the notion that there is nowhere in the world like Texas because folks here will happily blow your brains out if you do them dirty, or they make sure that white folks stay on one side of the tracks (so to speak) and black folks on the other, or that Texans can out-drink anybody from anywhere and still be able to get behind the wheel of their car and drive home, that is entirely something different.  Sodom was a proud city, but her pride was based upon her godless reputation of violence, greed, and lack of concern for anyone but themselves. That, my friend, was the wrong kind of pride before the Lord.

   FULNESS OF BREAD. Sodom was well fed. The people were generally prosperous and well to do.  Within the law that God gave Moses, prosperous people were obligated to be generous, hospitable, and helpful to those less fortunate or passing through. To be "full of bread" meant that  they gorged themselves on their abundance, but did not share or distribute to the needy.

   ABUNDANCE OF IDLENESS. God had long instructed His people that a man who didn't work should not eat. Laziness and slothfulness often lead to many negative, if not criminal, behaviors. Sodom was full of men who had no desire to work for a living, but they were more than happy to pilfer and steal their way through life, taking advantage of strangers who passed through their city as they journeyed to even more distant lands.

   SHE DID NOT STRENGTHEN THE HAND OF THE POOR & NEEDY. God's law called for His people to make very specific provisions for the poor and needy amongst them. According to God's law, which He gave to Moses at Mount Sinai, when an individual harvested his crops, he was to leave something on the vine or stalk that could be later gleaned by the widows and orphans or poor within the community. They'd have to work for their provisions by going into the fields after the harvest to glean what they could, but at least the law mandated that something be left so they would not starve. Sodom could have cared less about the less fortunate among them. They made no provisions for the needy, but instead lived out their daily existence with a "what's in it for me" mentality. Great cities in America, like New York City for example, are full of many extremely wealthy people. Many could care less about the poor and unfortunate. Many, on the other hand, use their social status or celebrity to raise money to provide services for those less fortunate. 

   New York City has historically always had a very liberal government, whether the leadership is Democrat or Republican. Why? Because the people in general are concerned about the poor and misfortunate among them, and for this reason they demand that their government provide for those who have difficulty providing for themselves. New York City is an unusual city in that you may walk down any average street and find a public supported housing project on the same block as multi-million dollar housing for wealthy tenants. I used to know a gal who attended my church in New York. Her mom lived in a project, public housing tenement, and had a Manhattan location and a view of the city that developers would gladly have paid MILLIONS for. On the flip side of the coin, there are great cities in this country like Atlanta Georgia, which are far too similar in nature and spirit to Sodom for me to be comfortable. I lived in Atlanta for six months and could not wait to get out! This city could care less about it's poor. Entire sections of the city are nothing but crime ridden, falling down shanty villages. The government of that city makes no effort to provide for the poor, destitute, homeless, or HIV infected. Drunkenness,, addictions (drugs, alcohol, sex, etc), and promiscuity are rampant in this city.So you see, there are cities even today that share the spirit of Sodom in not caring about or tending to the needs of the poor and needy.

   HAUGHTY. Have you ever met someone who was so full of pride and arrogance that they could not be instructed? There again is Sodom. The people of this city were so pleased within themselves and the way that they conducted their lives that they weren't at all interested in being instructed in the way of righteousness.

   COMMITTED ABOMINATION ("ABOMINATION" - See video at bottom of this page) BEFORE ME. Generally speaking, when the Scripture speaks of anyone committing abomination before the Lord, it is clearly implying that they engaged in blatant idolatry, which thing God detests. The Bible says that our God is a jealous God. Idolatry and worship of false gods is an abomination before the Lord. The original Hebrew clearly bears this point out by the writer's use of the word, "tow'ebah," which means idolaters.

   The NIV translates the sins of Sodom in this way…

Ezekiel 16:49
"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen."


   The Lord compares the nation of Israel to the city of Sodom in Deuteronomy 32. In one particular verse, we clearly see the idolatry confirmed.

   Deuteronomy 32:17 KJV
"They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; and to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not."

   Peter writes of the fate of Sodom in his second epistle.

II Peter 2:5-6
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;

   Notice how that Peter used the IDENTICAL same term to describe those destroyed during the great flood as he uses to describe those destroyed in the city of Sodom. Peter simply used the term, "ungodly."  The NIV translates it very much the same way.

II Peter 2:5-6                     
5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;

  The original Greek makes the definition of the term, "ungodly" perfectly clear. The term literally means, "impious or wicked, coming from a word meaning irreverent." In plain English what Peter was saying is that those who live without true worship of the living God will be slated for destruction as were the people in Noah's time and the people of Sodom. Again, idolatry being alluded to by his reference to their being without true worship of the living God.

  So my friend, I hope you can plainly see, the sins of Sodom are very plainly and clearly laid out for us in Scripture. There needn't be any speculation on the part of anyone. NOWHERE is homosexuality plainly declared or even eluded to. So the next time someone wants to throw Sodom at you, just remember that as long as you honor and the worship the true God of heaven, He will honor you. Your faith and service are never in vain, so long as they are firmly established in the work of Christ on the cross of Calvary!
Article #2 - Let's Visit Sodom...
The Actual Sins Of Sodom
By: Rev. Charles Burnett-Morrow
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