Isaiah 1:10-20
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“Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of
Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose
is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the
burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beast; and I delight not in the
blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before
me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain
oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the
calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn
meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble
unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will
hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your
hands are full of blood. Wash you, make your clean; put away the evil of your
doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek
judgment, relive the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come
now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red as crimson, they
shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the
land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the
mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”
a. One of the arguments used by homosexual
sympathizers is the false teaching that homosexuality was not at all a factor
in God’s decision to destroy Sodom; that it was other sins that caused such a
reaction from heaven. To bolster this false theory, advocates for homosexuality
say that of all the references to Sodom in the Bible, only the passage in
Genesis 19 specifically mentions any form of homosexuality. All the other
passages they say, point to other
sins.
b. As
I began to study these other Scriptures, I have found that although these
Scriptures do mention ‘other’ sins that Sodom was guilty of; these ‘other’ sins
are also characteristics of the contemporary homosexual movement. In their
effort to do away with the Scriptures that condemn homosexuality, these
preachers of sodomology have inadvertently strengthened
the indictment that God condemns homosexual behavior in every time period. When we study these ‘other’ sins of Sodom we see
that the homosexuality of 21st century America is no different than
that of 20th century B.C. Sodom or of 7th century B.C.
Israel or of 1st century A.D. Corinth. This is one of the most
intriguing parts of this study.
c. In
the Bible whenever there is a resurgence of homosexuality within a culture, no
matter what century, there are certain characteristics linked to the homosexual
culture that manifest. No doubt the most bizarre is the religious
characteristic. In their effort to shift the sins of Sodom away from
homosexuality, these devil’s advocates have recklessly pointed us toward a
previously hidden but now revealed glimpse of the homosexual movement in
ancient Sodom. Their effort has also provided us with a glimpse of what the
homosexual movement will do in the future.
d. This link is one of the most fascinating
of all, it is the religious one. In the passage from Isaiah we see that Sodom
and Gomorrah had “a multitude” of sacrifices. They had their “solemn meeting”,
their “calling of assemblies”, and they said “many prayers”. But all their
religious ceremonies were in God’s eyes and in his words, “abomination” and
“iniquity”. Yet with all the condemnation from the Lord for their behavior, the
only sins listed are in verse 17, “Learn to do well; seek judgment; relieve the
oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow”, and verse 15, with the phrase, “your hands are full of blood”. Except for
the mention of blood on their hands, in verse 15, which is not explained, it
appears these sins do not justify the reaction of wiping these cities off the
map; but when we look at the whole indictment against Sodom shown in all the
passages that mention Sodom, we see the justification of God’s judgment. This
passage in Isaiah is only one piece of the picture that shows its vain
religious ceremony. Another piece is given in Jude 7 in the New Testament. “ 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 Greek word for
“going”, according to Zodiates Word Study Dictionary, is aperchomai and it means “to go after someone, to follow as
companions or disciples.”[i]
The Greek word for “after”, from the same source is opiso and it means “following as a disciple or otherwise.”[ii]
We can see that Jude was using the same terminology. The “cities of the plain”
were religious disciples of perversion.
e. Looking forward into our contemporary
circumstance, it seems incredible that anyone would accept that Christianity
and homosexuality are compatible, but many do. They are grossly deceived, but
they still believe it. In this incredible scenario I am reminded of
Ecclesiastes 1:9. “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be, and the
thing which is done is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under
the sun.”
f. Just as there was a religious element to
Sodom’s homosexuality and a religious element to the contemporary movement,
there was a religious element to ancient Israel’s homosexual movement. In
Deuteronomy 23:17, 18 God warned Israel. “There shall be no whore of the
daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. Thou shalt not bring
the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God
for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.”
Unger’s Bible Dictionary says of the term “sodomite” “They were not inhabitants
of Sodom or their descendants; but men consecrated to the unnatural vice of
Sodom as a religious rite.”[iii]
But this is not the only scriptural evidence of a religious element to
homosexuality in ancient Israel. In fact the same Hebrew word for sodomite used
in Deuteronomy 23 is used in at least two more occasions. One is 1 Kings 14:24:
“And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the
abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of
Israel.” The time this was occurring was about 930 B.C., during the beginning
of Rehoboam’s reign as King of Judah. This verse gives us a couple facts, these
homosexuals were not only in the land of Israel but they also engaged in every
behavior the Canaanites engaged in previous to the LORD kicking them out, which
implies a religious element to Canaanite homosexuality.
g. About 300 years later Josiah became King
of Judah. Josiah was no doubt the greatest King of Judah. During his reign he
implemented godly reforms, one of which was he destroyed the places where
homosexuals engaged in their behavior. 2 Kings 23:7 says, “And he brake down
the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the
women wove hangings for the grove.” 300 years previous they were just “in the
land”, now they “were by the house of the LORD”. In fact the New American
Standard Version says of this verse, they “were IN the house of the LORD”.
These “houses” according to Gesenius Hebrew Lexicon were nothing more than “a
moveable house, a tent”.[iv]
If they were in the temple or next to the temple is open to debate, but a
couple facts remain, there was a religious element to ancient Israel’s
homosexuality, and in the 300 years between Rehoboam and Josiah, Judah’s
spiritual culture had degenerated to the degree they allowed homosexuality to
infiltrate the temple worship. Just as it was a gradual change in Judah’s
spiritual culture, and ours, I believe it was a gradual change in Sodom’s
culture as well.
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