Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

LOT’S LAST DAYS 19: 1-38
heavenly foundations, choosing for the present time without
colicern for eternity (I 3 : 5-1 8 ). Lot’s misfortime
should be a warning for all” (HSB, 3 1).
4. The Iniquity af Sodow avd Gonzorrab
The iniquity of the Cities of the Plain included certain
corollary practices, such as (I) lack of social justice (Isa.
1:9-17), (2) reveling in the indulgence of all kinds of
vice openly (Isa. 3:4-12: note tendency in our day to assume
that there is a certain virtue in “unblushing openness”
in the practice of vice-a sophisticated kind of hypocrisy;
(3 ) priestly (ecclesiastical) heresy and moral corruption
(Jer. 23: 14-1 5) ; complete disregard of the poor, in an
affluent society: poverty in the midst of plenty (Ezek.
16:49) ; preoccupation with things of the secular wmld
(Luke 17:26-32); obsession with sex (Jude 7: note the
phrase, “gone after strange flesh,” that is, a departure from
the order of nature in the corruptions practised). (In our
day the ancient Cult of Fertility has been superseded by
the by-products of libidinal psychology) . I
It was the city’s sexuul depravity, however, that pro-
vided the basic reason for its utter destruction. On. this
fact the consensus is practically universal. E.g., ‘ “The sin
of Sodom was unnatural vice” (IB, 627), as is evident
from the fact that Lot knew all too well what‘ remaining
in the street all night would have meant to his visitors.
“The unnatural vice that takes its name from this incident
was an abomination to tlie Israelites, Lev. 18:22, and was
punished with death, Lev. 20:13; but it was rife among
their neighbors, Lev. 20:23; cf. Judg. 19:22ff” (JB, 35).
The unnatural vice alluded to here was, undoubtedly bomo-
sexuality, in all likelihood accompanied by all forms of sex
perversion. (It should be noted that bestiality is also
specifically mentioned in the Scripture references: cf. Lev.
18:22, 23; 20:13-16.) Lesbjaizism (female homosexual-
ity) was probably common also: the name derives from the
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