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Sincerely,
Brian Anthony Bowen, Author
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Some Christians teach that in Genesis 18-19, that the sin of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar, was sodomy, not merely that they were inhospitable. They say God would never have rained fire and brimstone on entire cities simply because they were lacking in the social graces. Peter said that Lot was vexed every day with the Sodomites' "filthy conduct" (2Pet.2:6-8), not just on the day the two angels visited Lot. The Sodomites were, according to Peter, "ungodly" people who were performing "unlawful deeds.” This sin, according to the angel of the Lord who spoke with Abraham was "very grievous" (Gen.18:20). Abraham referred to the inhabitants of those cities as "the wicked" (Gen.18:23, 25). The perverseness had permeated the social structure of the city of Sodom so completely that both young and old surrounded Lot's house, demanding that they be allowed to sodomize the two angels of the Lord (Gen.19:5).
But I disagree with the supposition that the sins of these cities was homosexuality. God had judged them prior to the account of the attempted gang rape upon the angels. But during the account, we see that the men who perished included Lot's daughters' boyfriends, to whom they were engaged. This is why Lot's daughters had to procreate with their father:
30 And Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, for he feared to dwell in Zoar; and he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters.
31 The elder said to the younger, Our father is aging, and there is not a man on earth to live with us in the customary way.
32 Come, let us make our father drunk with wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring (our race) through our father.
33 And they made their father drunk with wine that night, and the older went in and lay with her father; and he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she arose.
34 Then the next day the firstborn said to the younger, See here, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drunk with wine tonight also, and then you go in and lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring (our race) through our father.
35 And they made their father drunk with wine again that night, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she arose.
36 Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. Genesis 19:30-36
Once more, this is proof that even though the account is clearly referencing same gendered expression, these men in Sodom were heterosexual and they were attempting to rape angels, not human men, making this the "strange" or "other" flesh Jude refers to, and making these men the "dogs" Revelation refers to:
12 And the [two] men asked Lot, Have you any others here--sons-in-law or your sons or your daughters? Whomever you have in the city, bring them out of this place,
13 For we will spoil and destroy [Sodom]; for the outcry and shriek against its people has grown great before the Lord, and He has sent us to destroy it.
14 And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, Up, get out of this place, for the Lord will spoil and destroy this city! But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be [only] joking.
15 When morning came, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, Arise, take your wife and two daughters who are here [and be off], lest you [too] be consumed and swept away in the iniquity and punishment of the city.
16 But while he lingered, the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, for the Lord was merciful to him; and they brought him forth and set him outside the city and left him there. Genesis 19:12- 16
They were heterosexual, and their sin was blasphemy against God as Abraham worshiped at Bethel, way back in Genesis 14. We have to also remember that although the rape of the angels was attempted, it was not accomplished. Therefore they never even got the chance to "sin" in this manner, proving this could *not* have been the "sin" that God destroyed the cities because of. Earlier, in Genesis 14, we see the judgment of God had come upon Sodom long before the account we read of in Genesis 19. As Abraham was building his altar at Bethel, the men of Sodom were "exceedingly wicked before the Lord." This was 5 chapters before the account of the angels at Sodom. This proves that God's judgment upon the men of Sodom came way before we hear about the accounts of attempted gang rape of the angels, meaning that God's judgment was not upon Sodom for homosexuality, but because they rejected God....just like in Romans 1.
1 IN THE days of the kings Amraphel of Shinar, Arioch of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer of Elam, and Tidal of Goiim,
2 They made war on the kings Bera of Sodom, Birsha of Gomorrah, Shinab of Admah, Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, [a]that is, Zoar.
3 The latter kings joined together [as allies] in the Valley of Siddim, which is [now] the [Dead] Sea of Salt.
4 Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5 And in the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him attacked and subdued the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,
6 And the Horites in their Mount Seir as far as El-paran, which is on the border of the wilderness.
7 Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat, which [now] is Kadesh, and subdued all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who dwelt in Hazazon-tamar.
8 Then the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela, that is, Zoar, went out and [together] they joined battle [with those kings] in the Valley of Siddim,
9 With the kings Chedorlaomer of Elam, Tidal of Goiim, Amraphel of Shinar, and Arioch of Ellasar--four kings against five.
10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of slime or bitumen pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell (were overthrown) there and the remainder [of the kings] fled to the mountain.
11 [The victors] took all the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah and all the supply of provisions and departed.
12 And they also took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods away with them.
13 Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew [one from the other side], who was living by the oaks or terebinths of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshcol and of Aner--these were allies of Abram.
14 When Abram heard that [his nephew] had been captured, he armed (led forth) the 318 trained servants born in his own house and pursued the enemy as far as Dan.
15 He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and attacked and routed them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.
16 And he brought back all the goods and also brought back his kinsman Lot and his possessions, the women also and the people.
17 After his [Abram's] return from the defeat and slaying of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh, that is, the King's Valley.
18 Melchizedek king of Salem [later called Jerusalem] brought out bread and wine [for their nourishment]; he was the priest of God Most High,
19 And he blessed him and said, Blessed (favored with blessings, made blissful, joyful) be Abram by God Most High, Possessor and Maker of heaven and earth,
20 And blessed, praised, and glorified be God Most High, Who has given your foes into your hand! And [Abram] gave him a tenth of all [he had taken].(A)
21 And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the persons and keep the goods for yourself.
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand and sworn to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor and Maker of heaven and earth,
23 That I would not take a thread or a shoelace or anything that is yours, lest you should say, I have made Abram rich.
24 [Take all] except only what my young men have eaten and the share of the men [allies] who went with me--Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion. Genesis 14:1-24
Finally, we see that the angels themselves confirm that God's judgment had been passed long before the attempted gang rape:
For we will spoil and destroy [Sodom]; for the outcry and shriek against its people has grown great before the Lord, and He has sent us to destroy it. Genesis 19:13
And God Himself verifies His judgment had been passed prior to the attempted attack, back in Genesis 18:
20 And the Lord said, Because the shriek [of the sins] of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is exceedingly grievous,
21 I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether [as vilely and wickedly] as is the cry of it which has come to Me; and if not, I will know. Genesis 18:20-21.
But we do not hear of the attempted gang rape until Chapter 19. God had already passed judgment, meaning He must have passed judgment on something else. The only other information we have from the Genesis account itself is their rejection of God, and their participation in war and murder. This is confirmed with the "cry of it has come to Me."
The only other time a "cry went up to God" prior to this was when Abel's blood "cried up to God" when Cain had slain him: Genesis 4:9-10.
So again, the account of Sodom and Gomorrah would not be an applicable Scripture to use to condemn same gender expression between GLBT people, but of war, murder, unbelief, and a host of other sins. Let's look at what Ezekiel said the sins of Sodom were:
48As I live, says the Lord God, Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters.
49Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, overabundance of food, prosperous ease, and idleness were hers and her daughters'; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
50And they were haughty and committed abominable offenses before Me; therefore I removed them when I saw it and I saw fit. Ezekial 16:48-50
They were heterosexual men, once again affirming that the apparent widespread practice of sodomizing conquered armies was their "abomination", not because they were gay, but because they were violent and straight....and according to Jude, they were not "men" at all, but "fallen angels.”
Jude refers to the sins as "unnatural vice" because the men of Sodom were going after "other flesh" because the angels were "other than human." Additionally, Jude described them as "scoffing at the glorious ones.” Aside from that, there was much more than their sexual activity for which God judged them, such as "running riotously in the way of Cain" (murder). They are judged because of their warring nature, or for what Jude describes as "abandoned themselves for the sake of gain" (which is why Abraham refused the King of Sodom's gifts...they were ill-gotten gains
And then let's turn our attention to Jude and suddenly, what he was writing makes much more sense:
7 [The wicked are sentenced to suffer] just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the adjacent towns--which likewise gave themselves over to impurity and indulged in unnatural vice and sensual perversity--are laid out [in plain sight] as an exhibit of perpetual punishment [to warn] of everlasting fire.
8 Nevertheless in like manner, these dreamers also corrupt the body, scorn and reject authority and government, and revile and libel and scoff at [heavenly] glories (the glorious ones).
9 But when [even] the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, judicially argued (disputed) about the body of Moses, he dared not [presume to] bring an abusive condemnation against him, but [simply] said, The Lord rebuke you!
10 But these men revile (scoff and sneer at) anything they do not happen to be acquainted with and do not understand; and whatever they do understand physically [that which they know by mere instinct], like irrational beasts--by these they corrupt themselves and are destroyed (perish).
11 Woe to them! For they have run riotously in the way of Cain, and have abandoned themselves for the sake of gain [it offers them, following] the error of Balaam, and have perished in rebellion [like that] of Korah!
12 These are hidden reefs (elements of danger) in your love feasts, where they boldly feast sumptuously [carousing together in your midst], without scruples providing for themselves [alone]. They are clouds without water, swept along by the winds; trees, without fruit at the late autumn gathering time--twice (doubly) dead, [lifeless and] plucked up by the roots;
13 Wild waves of the sea, flinging up the foam of their own shame and disgrace; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of eternal darkness has been reserved forever. Jude 7-13
Notice that Jude refers to many other sins, and calls them "wandering stars", or what Genesis calls "fallen angels."
Notice Jude says these are for whom "the gloom of eternal darkness has been reserved forever." But we have to consider that "hell has been reserved for Satan and his angels":
Then He will say to those at His left hand, Begone from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels! Matthew 25:41
This tells me that the inhabitants of Sodom were possibly not even human men at all, but "fallen angels", and God destroyed them in this way because as Jude says,
And angels who did not keep (care for, guard, and hold to) their own first place of power but abandoned their proper dwelling place--these He has reserved in custody in eternal chains (bonds) under the thick gloom of utter darkness until the judgment and doom of the great day. (Jude 6)
So most likely, these men of Sodom were most likely the offspring of the "sons of God" who took the "daughters of men", known as the Nephillum. And we read in Genesis 6, all mankind had been corrupted by these beings, and God destroyed all humanity with the flood, save Noah and his family, eight souls in all:
1 When men began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them,
2 The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair, and they took wives of all they desired and chose.
3 Then the Lord said, My Spirit shall not forever dwell and strive with man, for he also is flesh; but his days shall yet be 120 years.
4 There were giants on the earth in those days--and also afterward--when the sons of God lived with the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually.
6 And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved at heart.
7 So the Lord said, I will destroy, blot out, and wipe away mankind, whom I have created from the face of the ground--not only man, [but] the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air--for it grieves Me and makes Me regretful that I have made them.
8 But Noah found grace (favor) in the eyes of the Lord.
9 This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a just and righteous man, blameless in his [evil] generation; Noah walked [in habitual fellowship] with God.
10 And Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 The earth was depraved and putrid in God's sight, and the land was filled with violence (desecration, infringement, outrage, assault, and lust for power).
12 And God looked upon the world and saw how degenerate, debased, and vicious it was, for all humanity had corrupted their way upon the earth and lost their true direction.
13 God said to Noah, I intend to make an end of all flesh, for through men the land is filled with violence; and behold, I will destroy them and the land. Genesis 6:1-13.
The only problem with this supposition is that the flood is recorded prior to the Sodom account. However, theologians have found that Genesis is not necessarily chronologically accurate, but is moreso a collection of revelations, that may not be in successive order.
STRANGE FLESH:
"Strange flesh" refers to "angels", not men. The angels in the Sodom and Gomorrah account appeared in the likeness of human "men"....they were indeed physical bodies, and not just simply spiritual. Abraham could see them with his natural eyes. They even ate lunch with Abraham (and Abraham even brought them water so they could wash their feet) before going off to Sodom to find Lot and warn him of the city's destruction:
1 Now the Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks or terebinths of Mamre; as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day,
2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men stood at a little distance from him. He ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the ground
3 And said, My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant, I beg of you.
4 Let a little water be brought, and you may wash your feet and recline and rest yourselves under the tree.
5 And I will bring a morsel (mouthful) of bread to refresh and sustain your hearts before you go on further--for that is why you have come to your servant. And they replied, Do as you have said.
6 So Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah and said, Quickly get ready three measures of fine meal, knead it, and bake cakes.
7 And Abraham ran to the herd and brought a calf tender and good and gave it to the young man [to butcher]; then he [Abraham] hastened to prepare it.
8 And he took curds and milk and the calf which he had made ready, and set it before [the men]; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. Genesis 18:1-8
Upon arriving at Sodom, Lot also brought water so they could wash their feet, and prepared dinner for them and they ate:
1 It was evening when the two angels came to Sodom. Lot was sitting at Sodom's [city] gate. Seeing them, Lot rose up to meet them and bowed to the ground.
2 And he said, My lords, turn aside, I beg of you, into your servant's house and spend the night and bathe your feet. Then you can arise early and go on your way. But they said, No, we will spend the night in the square.
3 [Lot] entreated and urged them greatly until they yielded and [with him] entered his house. And he made them a dinner [with drinking] and had unleavened bread which he baked, and they ate. Genesis 19:1-3
They "pulled Lot from outside and pulled him into the house and shut the door", indicating they were able to touch another human being and physical items (like the door) without causing harm. They even got dirt on their feet, indicating they could interact with earthly elements aside from man and man-made constructs:
10 But the men [the angels] reached out and pulled Lot into the house to them and shut the door after him. Genesis 19:10
Finally, they "seized Lot and his wife and two daughters “by the hand:"
16 But while he lingered, the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, for the Lord was merciful to him; and they brought him forth and set him outside the city and left him there. Genesis 19:16
So, we see these angels did have flesh...angel flesh....that appeared human, and had physical attributes.
Flesh is pronounced SARX in the Greek. It literally means "Flesh." Strange in the Greek text is pronounced het'-er-os. It means "other, altered, different, strange." And "strange flesh" together means "other, altered, different, strange flesh" such as the angels must have had in order to appear as human men even though they were actually spiritual beings. Angels took on flesh many times as God sent them to declare His messages to humanity. This is also why God says:
Do not forget or neglect or refuse to extend hospitality to strangers [in the brotherhood--being friendly, cordial, and gracious, sharing the comforts of your home and doing your part generously], for through it some have entertained angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13:2
Again God calls them "strangers" and says we can entertain them without knowing it....that means that when angels appear as men, there is no way for a human being to discern the difference. Yet to a human being, they are still "strange" or "other" flesh and humans are forbidden from sexual relations with them, just as Jude accurately describes. According to the account, they never got the chance to rape the angels.
The men that tried to gang rape the angels weren't homosexual, they were heterosexual...that's why even Lot's daughters' heterosexual fiancées' perished along with "all the men, both young and old and from every corner" in the Sodom account. No, these angels were "different" and "strange" from homo sapiens. That doesn't make them "different" and "strange" from God's natural order, because angels are a part of God's natural order. He created them. They are still however, "different" and "strange" flesh compared to human flesh.
So even though the men "wanted to rape the angels, the fact remains that "wanting" and "getting" are two different things! There is no way the sin of Sodom that got them destroyed was about homosexual expression. God's judgment had come upon them long before He showed up to execute His punishment, and as we clearly have seen now that we have re-examined the account, the men never got a chance to rape the angels, or anyone else, for that matter.
