Lookahead: …Without getting inappropriate with specifics, a former American Financier, who hung himself because he was facing life in prison for child abuse, was back in the news cycle a couple of months ago;  the victims (perhaps numbering in the hundreds) are now going after one of his co-conspirators…A lot of people might be sweating bullets about whether the co-conspirator is going to start singing like a canary, and the horrific truth is all going to come out. But I think the real breakdown that has occurred here is that nobody was worried about God finding out the truth.

 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion.  They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.  Jude 1:7

There are 47 references to Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible, and probably thousands of sermons preached on the subject over as many years – to say nothing of many references in the Talmud.

What was Sodom’s sin? Coming from Ezekiel 16:49, one Jewish interpretation was that it was  ostracizing poor people:   

“The prophet’s description combined with what the Torah reveals to us gives us the following picture: the people of Sodom insisted on preserving their high quality of living to such an extent that they established a principle not to let the poor and homeless reside in their city. Consequently when a destitute person would come seeking help, they would revoke his right to any welfare–public or private! By doing this they figured they would preserve an elite upper class community who would monopolize the profits that the bountiful land offers without having to distribute any revenues to a ‘lower class’ of people.

“An opinion in the Mishnah in Avot 5:10 further strengthens this picture of moral depravity when it defines the Sodomite as one who says, ‘What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is yours.’ The Mishnah decries a man who wishes to remove himself from the social responsibility of welfare by closing himself and his wealth from others, even if he makes the claim that he is not taking away from anyone else…

“The Talmud also addresses the sexual perversion aspects—as they relate to mixed breeding:  Interestingly, the Sages of the Talmud did not merely draw attention to the relationship between the economic injustices of the generation of the flood and the social depravity of Sodom. The Torah narrative concerning Sodom reveals something deeper. They called out to Lot, ‘Where are the men that came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them!’ (Gen. 19:5) Indeed, the men demanded to relate to Lot’s male guests sexually. According to the Midrash in Genesis Rabbah 28:8, the destruction caused by the flood also shared a similar cause:

“Rabbi Azariyah said in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua son of Simon, every creature had been corrupted in the generation of the flood. The dog would mate with the wolf, the hen with the peacock. For it is written, ‘All flesh was corrupted.’”¹

An ancient Jewish historian named Josephus implied that Sodom and Gomorrah’s sin was multi-faceted.  

“About this time the Sodomites grew proud, on account of their riches and great wealth: they became unjust toward men, and impious toward God, insomuch that they did not call to mind the advantages they received from him: they hated strangers and abused themselves with Sodomitical practices…Now, when the Sodomites saw the young men to be of beautiful countenances, and this to an extraordinary degree, and that they took up their lodgings with Lot, they resolved themselves to enjoy these beautiful boys by force and violence.” The website with this reference attributed the primary sin to pride, and referred to it as the fountain of many sins:  “The Bible is not contradicting itself when it states that Sodom and Gomorrah’s sin was sexual immorality and pride (and its related lack of concern for others). The first was an outworking of the second.”²

Without getting inappropriate with specifics, a former American Financier, who hung himself because he was facing life in prison for child abuse, was back in the news cycle a couple of months ago;  the victims (perhaps numbering in the hundreds) are now going after one of his co-conspirators.  The financier started out as a math and music prodigy born into a lower middle class family, who was generally accepted and admired by peers during his formative/academic years.  What happened?  It is interesting that in the case of the financier, the victims characterized him as being a genius sociopath who was dirty and sick in his abuse of power.  A long-time friend who was kept in the dark for decades characterized the financier as an extremely sick person who had a screw loose—possibly afflicted with a pathology defined in a Kraft-Ebbing Psychology book.  

But the co-conspirator was universally characterized as being evil, tremendously evil, true evil, wicked, cruel, monstrous, an enabler of sick behavior, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, etc. 

So we could say that the financier’s pride opened the door for this truly evil influence—and BTW possibly the pride of others as well, i.e., people in the highest echelons of power in the world who thought they were above American legal justice.  A lot of people might be sweating bullets about whether the co-conspirator is going to start singing like a canary, and the horrific truth is all going to come out. But I think the real breakdown that has occurred here is that nobody is worried about God finding out the truth.  Maybe this is because they realize that He already knows everything—there can be no cover-up where He is concerned—He has seen it all.  Maybe they don’t know that He is Holy and can’t tolerate this filth?  Maybe they think they are above God’s legal justice system? Maybe they don’t believe in Sodom and Gomorrah, or hell?  Maybe, underneath it all, they think they are essentially good people who occasionally give into their vices? 

Or maybe they totally reject God and the concept of God. 

Regardless of the reasons, God knows where the true evil lies, and it will be dealt with.  These abusers have made a huge strategic error:  As Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28

“The Talmud states that Sodom, unlike other cities in the area, only existed for 52 years.  The ruins in Numeira (Sodom) indicate that the city lasted less than 100 years.”³

That means that the utter corruption of Sodom, to the extent that there was not one righteous person left, took less than a century to occur.  Career sinners exploited the prideful residents who sank deeper and deeper into corporate depravity.  Eventually, they all passed that point of no return.

Jude is letting us know that getting people to cross that line of no return is the enemy’s end game—and it can happen, in one human lifetime—from math prodigy to perverted predator. 

So how do we respond to the abusers? 

One time I had a co-worker whom I considered to be a genuine, Class A thorn in my side.  He was unprincipaled, foul-mouthed, obnoxious, and aggressively trying to smear my business reputation.  I was running out of reasons to forgive Him, so when I was in prayer, I asked the LORD to give me one.  I truly believe that the LORD, in return, responded that “his feet are close to the fire.” 🙂  After that, I had no problem forgiving the man.  Even though some people can be total thorns, at that time, I acknowledged that I didn’t want them to go to hell.  And neither does God.  (2 Peter 3:9 (God is) not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.)

BUT, I’m not a child abuse victim!  And I can’t say that I’ve known anyone so despicable that my prayers for them would have been completely wasted and useless. I can say that I have known someone who I believed had harmed me so badly that I was unable, on my own, to forgive them.  In dealing with this type of person, I believe that only God can walk us through the forgiveness process—but that’s for us, not the perpetrator—and is part of our own healing process.  If the perpetrator has unrepentantly crossed that line of no return, I’m not going to sugarcoat it—they will not escape God’s punishment. 

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¹My Jewish Learning Website: /article/the-sin-of-sodom-and-its-impact-on-creation/

²Answers in Genesis Website: /contradictions-in-the-bible/what-was-primary-sin-sodom-gomorrah/

³Aish Website:  /ci/sam/48931527.html