The issue of the townsmen's intentions centers on the word "know" in Gen. 19:5:"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."

     In Hebrew the word for "to know" (yada' ) can mean "to engage in sexual coitus." An inspection of two Hebrew lexicons shows that, of the many entries for the word yada' and its derivatives ( 62+ counted), one lexicon mentions "sexual intercourse with," the other makes an oblique inference to sexual coitus, "+ lie by man," which is hardly conclusive. All the rest deal with the word "know" in the sense of ascertaining by seeing (used in a wide variety of meanings); e.g. observation, recognition, acknowledge, acquaintance with, advise. (Cf. the Hebrew "shakab" which makes reference to coitus or cohabitation.)

    The word "know" in Gen. 19:5 may have meant nothing more than to "get acquainted with."

    Yet Gen.19:5 has given rise to the use of the term "sodomy," under the supposedly bad intentions of the men of Sodom.

    Therein lies the true moral of the story: the inhospitality shown by the townsmen toward Lot's guests, not the destruction of the men of Sodom by God for trying to "know" the guests. Let us recall the story of Abraham in Gen. 18: 1-5 about Abraham's welcoming behavior toward angelic strangers who approached his tent. Abraham was very hospitable toward the three men.

    The townsmen of Sodom were Canaanites, whose customs the Israelite priests (as we have seen) frequently characterized as corrupt: these men may have been simply concerned about two strangers who were welcomed by Lot, who himself was a foreigner in their midst. In any event they were inhospitable toward strangers and violated a custom common to the people of the region.

The shame of this story is Lot's willingness to surrender his daughters instead of the male guests to the townsmen. Read Gen. 19:8 where Lot says:

         "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."

    The meaning of know in this context must remain in the eye of the beholder. As the Order of the Garter reads: Honni soit qui mal y pense ( Shame on him who thinks ill of this). Wouldn't the feminists of today have a field day with this!

    The "sin of Sodom" is discussed or alluded to elsewhere in the Old Testament, and has a different meaning. In Ezekiel 16:49-50, the sin is three-fold, pride, greed, haughtiness:

        "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 the needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good."

    In Ecclesiasticus (The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach) 16:8 of the Apocrypha, the sin of Sodom is pride: "Neither spared he the place where Lot sojourned, but abhorred them for their pride."

    In the Wisdom of Solomon 10:6-8 of the Apocrypha, the sin of Sodom is wickedness:

       "Of whose wickedness even to this day the waste land that smoketh is a testimony, and plants bearing fruit never come to ripeness: and a standing pillar of salt is a monument of an unbelieving soul."

    Also in the same book verses 13-14 of Chapter 19, the sin of Sodom is wickedness and inhospitality:

        "And punishments came upon the sinners not without former signs by the force of thunders: for they suffered justly according to their own wickedness, insomuch as they used a more hard and hateful behavior toward strangers. For the Sodomites did not receive those, whom they knew not when they came: but these brought friends into bondage, that had well deserved of them."

    Returning to the Bible, there are other references to Sodom and Gomorrah after the story in Genesis 19:4-11; none make reference to homosexuality per se. Rather the name of Sodom is linked to other specific sins: Isaiah 1:10-11 speak of vain, unwanted sacrifices by Yahweh; Jeremiah 23:14 speaks of adultery and lies. Others make only oblique references to Sodom, e.g. Isaiah 13:19: "And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah."

    For the sake of completeness, references to Sodom and Gomorrah are found in The New Testament of the Bible. In Mark 6: 8-12 Jesus spoke to his disciples as they prepared to set out on their mission. His advice on how to react to any inhospitable reception by strangers ( Mark 6:11) was:

        "And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city."

    Clearly the reference to the sin of Sodom was inhospitality.

    Again in Luke 17:29 Jesus' makes an oblique reference to Sodom in the context of his comments to his disciples regarding the Pharisees' question as to when the kingdom of God should come (cf. Luke 17:20-30 ). The day that the son of Man is revealed shall be like the day when Lot left Sodom: it "rained fire and brimstone from heaven." No reference to homosexuality here!

    Most intriguing, however, is Jesus' remark in Luke 17:34 concerning who shall be saved on the day that the son of Man is revealed: " I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left." He goes on to give two other scenarios, one of two women grinding together, and one of two men in the field, working presumably. Jesus seems not to have batted an eyelash over describing "two men in one bed"; in fact in the four Gospels at least Jesus never said one word about homosexuality, one way or the other.

    Only two disciples, Peter and Jude (probably a brother of Jesus), linked Sodom and Gomorrah to sexual activity - adultery to be specific - to explain the fate of those who sin. Peter relates what happened to fallen angels who committed adultery with humans and to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. In his second epistle Peter says in 2 Pet. 2: 4,6:

        " For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and deliver them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

        "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."

    Jude, like Peter, spoke of fallen angels and the sexual conduct of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, with an additional probable allusion to homosexuality ("strange flesh") in the general epistle of Jude verses 6-7:

        "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."

    The consensus of Biblical and Apocryphal writers who made reference to the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah gave reasons other than homosexual behavior: inhospitality, pride, greed, haughtiness, denying help to the poor and the needy, and wickedness. The demise of Sodom and Gomorrah by the lord God, in the opinion of the majority of Biblical and Apocryphal writers, was not for homosexual conduct on the part of the inhabitants.

Scholars today are inclined to look upon the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as a natural disaster, i.e. an earthquake coupled with release of  sulfurous gases with consuming fires. The story of the two towns has been repeated in other cultures of the time to explain the destruction of other towns from unknown causes.

The subject of Chapter 9 will be the apostle Paul on homosexual behavior.