The Bible, Homosexuality, and a Christian Response - Part 3

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, John Martin 1852

Sodom and Sodomites

For hundreds of years, the term sodomite has been understood to mean "homosexual" and the term "sodomy" has meant homosexual conduct, especially in very conservative churches.

Legally, because of the Church's weird preoccupation with and attempted micromanagement of bedroom activities, sodomy has also often referred to any sexual conduct outside of heterosexual coitus. As a result, many of America's sodomy laws have outlawed any kind of sexual conduct outside of heterosexual coitus, even when enjoyed by husband and wife.

Unfortunately, the term sodomite has been greatly misused. Because so many Christians think that homosexual conduct was the only sin for which Sodom was punished, they automatically correlate homosexual conduct with the King James English word “sodomite” thinking it means homosexual.

In this article, I want to address the story of Sodom and the use of the word “sodomite” in hope that it will discourage Christians from using the story of Sodom to defend their position on homosexuality and to stop using the word “sodomite” in reference to homosexuals.

Genesis

¹ And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; ² and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. ³ And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

⁴ But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: ⁵ and they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. ⁶ And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, ⁷ and said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. ⁸ Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. ⁹ And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. ¹⁰ But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. ¹¹ And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

— Genesis 19:1-11

I almost decided not to use this passage in these series of articles because while this passage implies homosexual behavior, it isn’t the type of homosexual behavior that homosexual activists are trying to gain approval of. Gay and lesbian activists are trying to get the culture to approve of loving, intimate relationships between two consenting people. That’s not what’s going on in this passage.

Genesis records that when the men of Sodom found out about the strangers staying with Lot, that they all gathered together to gang rape the strangers. They said, “Bring them out unto us, that we may know them.” Many translators have carried over through dynamic equivalency, the actual meaning of the euphemism “to know them.” They were saying, in plain terms, “Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them.”

Again, that’s not what homosexuals are pressing for acceptance of. This is describing a crime by any standard, ancient or modern. In addition, sexual assault and rape is only one crime for which Sodom was punished. Ezekiel tells us that Sodom was punished for quite a bit more than just homosexual conduct.

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

— Ezekiel 16:49-50

Ezekiel puts abomination at the end of the list which is like a catch-all for anything that God doesn’t like. These verses also tell us that they were prideful, lazy, gluttonous, and selfish. The old English saying, “Idle hands are the devil’s tools” would be applicable here.

Homosexuality was obviously one thing that was going on, but in the Genesis narrative, it is criminal sexual assault. Ultimately, the activities for which Sodom was punished were just symptoms of a much larger problem — rampant, unchecked sin. Sodom had become a year around Mardi Gras. It was chaos and anarchy, and nobody cared about anybody but themselves and their own desires.

My conclusion on this particular passage is that it has no real place in the debate.

Sodomites

Just as the story of Sodom has no real place in the debate, the word “sodomite” should not be used either.

¹⁷ There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a Sodomite of the sons of Israel.

— Deuteronomy 23:17

The word “sodomite” appears 5 times in the King James Version. It is translated from the word qadesh which actually appears six times in reference to a person or people. It appears twice in Deuteronomy 23:17 alone. Notice I said the word appears twice in this verse, but also notice the word “sodomite” only appears once in the English translation. That’s because the first time it appears, it is qedesha (feminine) and the second time it appears it is qadesh (masculine).

The term Sodomite also appears in 1 Kings 14:24 referring to one of the failures of king Rehoboam.

It appears in 1 Kings 15:12 describing the positive things that king Asa did during his reign. In this passage, Asa ordered all the sodomites to be exiled from Judah.

1 Kings 22:46 is the next verse where we see the term sodomite. In this verse, King Jehoshaphat exiles the sodomites that were still hiding out in Judah. Evidently, some of the sodomites decided to ignore king Asa’s order.

Finally, 2 Kings 23:7 talks about the achievements of king Josiah and that he tore down the houses of the sodomites.

So what were sodomites? Essentially, they were temple prostitutes. They may or may not have been involved in homosexuality. History tells us that there were Greek temple prostitutes that were involved in homosexuality. But the prohibition against qadeshim isn’t speaking specifically against homosexuality, rather, it is speaking against pagan temple practices. That’s why in Deuteronomy 23:17, it specifically refers to both female qadeshim (qedesha) and male qadeshim (qadesh).

Because of tradition and a lack of understanding of the historical and literary context of the word, people are misusing the term sodomite. I sat in a church service one time where an evangelist used the references in 1 Kings 15 and 22 to justify a homosexual holocaust. He interpreted those verses to mean that the listed kings actually put all the sodomites to death and that’s just not the case. And again, the word “sodomite” in the bible doesn’t refer to homosexuals.

I'm not advocating for political correctness and I totally support the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. So, if you want to continue using the story of Sodom and the term “sodomite” go right ahead. The real problem with the word “sodomite” is that I have never heard it used in a loving manner. It is always in the form of hatred, fear, or condemnation. Even in good churches with good people who I know do not fear or hate homosexuals, I still hear the word “sodomite” used in a spirit of meanness.

To me, it is a matter of the Golden Rule. Jesus said, "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets" (Matthew 7:12).

Treat people the way you want to be treated. A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down. You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. I have more...

We should make an effort to treat others the way we want to be treated. If I go to a doctor because I have cancer, I want him to tell me the truth, but I don't want him to be mean. People may not want to hear the biblical truth about anything, but being nice will make it a lot easier to hear.

What I am advocating for is biblical correctness. The bible doesn’t use the word “sodomite” to mean homosexuals, so neither should we.