Sin of Sodom was NOT Homosexuality #GDOT08 #GDTalkingPoints

In Lesson 8 of the Old Testament Gospel Doctrine Manual, titled "Living Righteously in a Wicked World," we cover chapters on Sodom and Gomorrah. I was glad to see the lesson does not specifically address "homosexuality," but we can be sure that that will be the focus of the lesson in many Gospel Doctrine classes around the world.

Interestingly, the current online version of the LDS scriptures has the following footnote 5a connected to the word "know":

“Know” is used in both Hebrew and English in this kind of context as a euphemism in place of a sexual word. Judg. 19:22 (22–28); Isa. 3:9. TG Homosexual Behavior.

The old version of the scriptures used to have "TG Homosexuality" rather than the newer "TG Homosexual Behavior."

 Let me first provide the relevant passage for this blog post, Genesis 19.4-11 (emphasis mine):

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 ablindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

"Men of Sodom"

"Men of Sodom" does not actually only men. This statement in gender inclusive and means "men and women." Just as is done in other languages, like Spanish and Portuguese, the masculine noun dominates such that, for example, a group consisting of 1,000,000 girl (niñas) and only 1 boy (niño) is called a group of "niños."

This is true just from knowledge of the Hebrew language. Verse 4 makes this even more clear by:

• The use of the merism "young and old" means a totality, or everyone
• Clarification at the end of the verse that "all the people from every quarter" came to the house

"Bring Them Out Unto Us, That We May Know Them"

First, it should be clear that the men in house aren't going out on their own accord. They don't want to participate in or be subject to whatever the crowd wants to do.

Second, the crowd means when they say they want to "know them" is that they want to have sex with them. Since it is not consensual, as mentioned above, the crowd wants to rape them. This "knowing" is the same "knowing" we've seen before in the bible:

• Genesis 4.1: "And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord."
• Genesis 4.17: "And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch."
• Gensis 4.25: "And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew."

A parallel version of this story occurs in Judges 19-20. See Judges 19.22-25:

22 ¶ Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. 

23 And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly. 

24 Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. 

25 But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.

So, was rape the Sin of Sodom? 

Actually, the Bible itself, in Ezekiel 16.49, tells us what the "sin of Sodom" was (emphasis mine):

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.

Just so it is clear, I will provide the same scripture as translated in the NRSV, for clarity:

49 This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. 

50 They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it. 

So, here were the sins of Sodom:

1. Pride
2. Excess of food
3. Prosperous ease 
4. Not giving aid to the poor and needy
5. Haughtiness
6. Committing abominations

Giving Aid to the Poor and Needy

Does this sound familiar? Caring for the poor and needy was added as the fourth mission/purpose of the church by President Monson in 2009. In my opinion, this may have been the most prophetic act that President Monson did. Unfortunately, many still seem unaware we now have four missions/purposes of the church and some have dubbed this as the "Fourthgotten" mission of the Church.

Who are among the poor and needy? Certainly immigrants and resident aliens which would describe the two men in the story in Genesis 19. See Genesis 19.9:

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. 

Robert Alter makes this clear in his translation and commentary:

The verb “to sojourn” is the one technically used for resident aliens.

So, they were resident aliens who Lot showed hospitality to while no one else would, see Genesis 19.1-3. We know this because without his hospitality they would be sleeping in the street:

2 And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and awash 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.

 Abominations=Homosexuality?

But, you might say, Ezekiel 16.50 also says the committed abominations. That must be referring to homosexuality, right?

No.

Yes, it is true that male prostitution and/or other male homosexual acts were called an abomination in the Old Testament (see Leviticus 18.22, Leviticus 18.27-30, Leviticus 20.13), but so was oppressing for the poor and needy, Ezekiel 18.10-13 (note that this is the same book Ezekiel):

10 ¶ If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that doeth the like to any one of these things, 

11 And that doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour’s wife, 

12 Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination, 

13 Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.

Do you know what else were considered abominations in the Old Testament?

• idolatry or idols (Deuteronomy 7.25, Deuteronomy 13.14, Isaiah 44.19) 
• illicit sex (e.g prostitution, adultery, incest) (Ezekiel 16.22,58, Ezekiel 22.11, Ezekiel 33.26) 
• illicit marriage (Deuteronomy 24.2-4) 
• male prostitution and/or other male homosexual acts (Leviticus 18.22, Leviticus 18.27-30, Leviticus 20.13) 
• temple prostitution (1 Kings 14.24) 
• offerings from the above (Deuteronomy 23.18) 
• child sacrifice to Molech (Jeremiah 32.35) 
• cross-dressing (Deuteronomy 22.5) 
• cheating in the market by using rigged weights (Deuteronomy 25.13-19, Proverbs 11.1) 
• dishonesty (Proverbs 12.22) 
• dietary violations (Deuteronomy 14.3) 
• stealing, murder, and adultery, breaking covenants (Jeremiah 7.9,10) 
• usury, violent robbery, murder, oppressing the poor and needy, etc. (Ezekiel 18.10-13) 

Concluding "abominations" must be homosexuality is just a projection of your desired meaning on the text.

Further Learning

• Blog Post: "Lesson 8: Living Righteously in a Wicked World #BCCSundaySchool2018" (BCC)
• Blog Post: "Was the Sin of Sodom Multi-Level Marketing?" (BCC)
• Blog Post: "A Holiday Visit to Sodom and Gomorrah" (BCC)
• AuthorCast #89: Gospel Doctrine Lesson 8 with David Bokovoy (LINK)
• "The Old Testament Does Not Prohibit Homosexuality" (Rational Faiths)
• "Sodom and Gomorrah: Arrogant, Overfed and Unconcerned" (No More Strangers)
• "Why Doesn’t the Book of Mormon Say Anything About Homosexuality?" (Ploni Almoni)
• "What was Sodom's Sin?" (Light of Torah)