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References to the sin of Sodom in Jewish writings
Summary: Of Jewish texts before the Common Era (CE, or AD), only C1 BCE texts directly point to homoerotic behaviour as a sin of Sodom; the other texts that clearly identify a sin point to the attitudes of arrogance and injustice, or unspecified sexual immorality or heterosexual behaviour. It is therefore incorrect to conclude that homoerotic behaviour is the sin for which Sodom was destroyed or even notorious.
A. Biblical references In two of the four references in the rest of the Hebrew Bible, Sodom’s sin is unspecified (Gen 13.13, 18.20).
Jeremiah 23:14
But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a more shocking thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from their wickedness; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah. (NRSV)
Ezekiel 16:48-50
As I live, says the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. (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. (NRSV)
B. Second Temple texts 1. Sirach (Ben Sira, or Ecclesiasticus) -written in Hebrew at Jerusalem in about 190 BCE, and translated into Greek by Ben Sira’s grandson in Egypt in 132BCE.
He did not spare the neighbours of Lot, whom he loathed on account of their arrogance. (16:8)(NRSV)
2. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs These writings are regarded as dating from mid 2nd century to mid 1st century BCE. The consensus among scholars is that they were originally Jewish documents, with Christian interpolations added later.
a. Testament of Levi 14:6 is part of Levi’s prediction of the future of his descendants:
You teach the Lord’s commands out of greed for gain; married women you profane; you have intercourse with whores and adulteresses. You take gentile women for your wives and your sexual relations will become like Sodom and Gomorrah. (OTP I)
There is no mention of homosexual acts; every act cited relates to male/female intercourse.
b. Testament of Naphtali 3:4, 5; 4.1
3.4 In the firmament, in the earth, and in the sea, in all the products of his workmanship discern the Lord who made all things, so that you do not become like Sodom, which departed from the order of nature. 3.5 Likewise the watchers departed from nature’s order; the Lord pronounced a curse on them at the Flood. On their account he ordered that the earth be without dweller or produce. 4.1 I say these things, my children, because I have read in the writing of holy Enoch that you also will stray from the Lord, living in accordance with every wickedness of the gentiles and committing every lawlessness of Sodom. (OTP I)
These verses should be read in the context of chapters 4-5. The theme of these chapters is the choice of people to depart from God’s will. The Law of God represents order, and the choice of many is to disobey that law and choose disorder.
Verse 3 gives an example of this “change of order” - the gentiles have forsaken the Lord and have “devoted themselves to sticks and stones.” Sodom’s departure from the order of nature, rather than being sexual, takes the form of idolatry. Naphtali’s listeners are exhorted to look to creation to discern God, rather than become like Sodom.
It should be noted that 3:5 mentions the departure of the Watchers from nature’s order; this may be a reference to sexual sin (cf Gen 6:4, which refers to male/female intercourse). However in the context of the whole passage it is the sin of turning from the way of the Lord which is the focus; 3:5 merely demonstrates that this sin is manifested in a variety of ways.
c. Testament of Asher 7.1
Do not become like Sodom, which did not recognise the Lord’s angels and perished forever. (OTP I)
d. Testament of Benjamin 9.1 A major theme of the book is the way of the good man, in which the Lord dwells in him (6:4, cf 8:3). If his mind is pure, he will not look on a woman with lust (8:2). Then Benjamin says:
From the words of Enoch the righteous I tell you that you will be sexually promiscuous like the promiscuity of the Sodomites and will perish, with few exceptions. You shall resume your actions with loose women, and the kingdom of the Lord will not be among you, for he will take it away forthwith. (OTP I)
In both chapters 8 and 9 there is only mention of male/female intercourse. The sin of Sodom in this case is heterosexual promiscuity. From this position of sexual excess it is easy to posit a crossing over to homoerotic behaviour, however this is not implicit in the passage.
3. Jubilees A re-writing and expansion of the book of Genesis, Jubilees was most likely written c100BCE by a Jew living in Palestine. Two important themes of the book, sexual immorality and injustice (cf 7:20-21) are reflected in the Sodom references (with the exception of 13:17, which does not specify a sin.)
16:5-6 And in that month the Lord executed the judgement of Sodom and Gomorrah and Zeboim and all of the district of the Jordan. And he burned them with fire and sulphur and he annihilated them till this day just as (he said), Behold, I have made known to you all of their deed that (they were) cruel and great sinners and they were polluting themselves and they were fornicating in their flesh and they were causing pollution upon the earth. (6) And thus the Lord will execute judgement like the judgement of Sodom on places where they act according to the pollution of Sodom. (OTP II)
This passage specifies the categories of acts for which judgement was executed on Sodom. They are in general terms only: “cruel and great sinners”, “polluting themselves”, “fornicating in their flesh”, “causing pollution upon the earth”; no specific deeds, attitudes or behaviours are cited.
Jubilees 16:7-9 notes the sin of Lot and his daughters: “the man lay with his daughters”. The following judgement is recorded:
(9) And behold it is commanded and it is engraved concerning all of his seed in the heavenly tablets that he will remove them and uproot them and execute their judgement just like the judgement of Sodom and so that he will not leave seed of man for him on the earth in the day of judgement. (OTP II)
The use of the phrase “the judgement of Sodom” (cf 16:6) in this context suggests a judgement for Sodom based on a wider range of disobedient acts than homosexual acts, or it would not be applicable to Lot and his daughters, of whom it is recorded nowhere that they participated in such behaviour.
In the Jubilees version of Abraham’s farewell discourse he warns against fornication as having brought been the reason for the destruction of the giants as well as Sodom:
20:5-6 And on account of their fornication and impurity and the corruption among themselves with fornication they died. (OTP II)
The sins listed here are the general term ”fornication”, leading to impurity. In this the passage reflects 16:5-6, and adds no further information.
4. 3 Maccabees This romance was probably written c100 BCE in Alexandria.
2:5 You consumed with fire and sulfur the people of Sodom who acted arrogantly, who were notorious for (or secret in) their vices; and you made them an example to those who should come afterward. (NRSV)
Again the sin of Sodom is presented as arrogance towards the Lord. The high priest Simon prays in response to the attempts of Ptolemy IV Philopator to enter the temple at Jerusalem. Simon praises the Lord for his punishment of those who were arrogant towards him in the past: the giants (v4), Sodom (v5), the Pharoah of the Exodus (vv6-7). The text mentions Sodom’s vices; these are not specified.
5. Wisdom of Solomon This work was written in Greek, probably in Alexandria, in the late 1st century BCE and possibly in the first decades of the next. A continuing theme is the folly of ignoring the way of Wisdom, the way one should go. This is reflected in the Sodom references.
10.8 For because they passed wisdom by, they not only were hindered from recognizing the good, but also left for humankind a reminder of their folly, so that their failures could never go unnoticed. (NRSV)
Sodom’s sin is that they “passed wisdom by”, and therefore could not recognise the good. In this regard the sin of Sodom is here described in a similar way to T.Naph. 3:4-4:1.
Sodom is not specifically mentioned in 19:13-17, but this is in keeping with the author’s practice of not using proper names. The passage describes Egypt’s punishment for having mistreated a people first received as guests, Israel. Egypt is compared with the unnamed Sodom, who is described as “having received strangers with hostility” (v15). This passage tells us only of Sodom’s inhospitality, saying nothing of sexual sin. Because Egypt turned against her guest she will receive greater punishment than Sodom, who was hostile from the beginning.
6. 2 Enoch (Slavonic) In the J or longer recension of the Slavonic version, Enoch is taken to the “northern region” between the third and fourth heavens, a place of torture and torment:
10:4 And I said, “Woe, woe! How very frightful this place is!” And those men said to me, “This place, Enoch, has been prepared for those who do not glorify God, who practice on earth the sin | which is against nature, which is child corruption in the anus in the manner of Sodom |, of witchcraft, enchantments, divinations, trafficking with demons, who boast about their evil deeds - |stealing, lying, insulting, coveting, resentment, fornication, murder | -… (OTP I)
This is a description of pederasty, in the sense of adult/child intercourse rather than the pedagogic Greek model.
34:0 J | God convicts the persons who are idol worshippers and sodomite fornicators, and for this reason he brings down the flood upon them. 34:2 J And all the world will be reduced to confusion by iniquities and wickednesses and | abominable | fornications | that is, friend with friend in the anus, and every other kind of wicked uncleanness which it is disgusting to report |, and the worship of (the) evil (one). (OTP I)
The author here describes adult sodomy.
While it is clear that these texts refer directly to male/male anal intercourse, they are not helpful for our discussion. Scholars cannot decide if it the book of Jewish or Christian origin; and there is no consensus on a date of origin, suggestions including Alexandria in 1st century BCE and Byzantium in 9th century CE. To further complicate the issue, these references to Sodom are found only in a single manuscript, P, which can be no older than the 14th century CE. In the absence of older manuscripts it is impossible to verify if P’s interpolations have a precedent.
7. Philo (c10BCE to 55CE) a. Quaestiones Et Solutiones in Genesin Philo discusses the events of Sodom in detail, however we will look here only at the passages which directly reflect on the nature of the sin of Sodom.
4:37, 38 37. (Gen. xix. 5) What is the meaning of the words, “Bring them out to us that we may know them”? The literal meaning indicates servile. Lawless and unseemly pederasty. [Lit. “unseemly and male pederasty”] 38. (Gen. xix. 7-8) Why does lot say to them…? The literal text very clearly shows that the Sodomites were pederasts…
Philo clearly interprets the sin of Sodom as homoerotic behaviour in the form of pederasty. He views pederasty through two contrasts: purity versus impurity, and masculine versus feminine.
b. De Abraham 26:134-6 This paragraph comments on the geography and agriculture of Sodom and surrounds as they relate to Sodom’s sinfulness. It is possible that Philo was influenced in this by Ezekiel 16:48-50 (see above).
Philo introduces the discussion of Sodom’s sin in words suggesting excess and enormity: the land is “brimful of innumerable iniquities”, especially arising from gluttony and lewdness. (133) They “threw off from their necks the law of nature” and resorted to “forbidden forms of intercourse”: not only with married women, but “men mounted males without the respect for the sex nature which the active partner shares with the passive” (135).
Philo specifically identifies one of the sins of Sodom with homoerotic behaviour, defining it in terms of active/passive roles. He specifically states it in gender terms: “little by little as they accustomed those who were by nature men to submit to play the part of women, they saddled them with the formidable curse of a female disease” (136).
Philo suggests that this behaviour is caused by the inability to remain satisfied in bountiful conditions. He places it further along the continuum of iniquity than intercourse with married women.. But by placing it in the same category Philo sees it only as behaviour, not as the result of orientation. It is an example of sexual excess.
8. Josephus a. Jewish Antiquities (completed 93-94CE)
I.9.1 (194-5) Now about this time the Sodomites, overweeningly proud of their numbers and the extent of their wealth, showed themselves insolent to men and impious to the Divinity, insomuch that they no more remembered the benefits that they had received from Him, hated foreigners and declined all intercourse with others. Indignant at this conduct, God accordingly resolved to chastise them for their arrogance, and not only to uproot their city, but to blast their land so completely that it should yield neither plant nor fruit whatsoever from that time forward.
Josephus does not comment on any sexual component of the sin of Sodom, but focusses only on arrogance. They show pride (hybristai) towards men and impiety (asebeiv) towards God. This is reflected in their attitude towards foreigners (194), a reference to the story of Genesis 19.
C. Conclusion It would appear that even in biblical times, and certainly by c100 BCE, Sodom was a byword for God’s response to widescale arrogance and disobedience.
Of the above texts only Philo and 2 Enoch directly point to homoerotic behaviour as a sin of Sodom; of the other texts that clearly identify a sin, half point to the attitudes of arrogance and injustice, and half to unspecified fornication or heterosexual behaviour. An analysis of the sins by location of composition reveals no pattern.
We can conclude that homoerotic acts were not a major factor in descriptions of the sin of Sodom. It is incorrect to use the word “sodomy” to describe homoerotic acts, and to do so betrays a preoccupation with one aspect only of the sin of Sodom. |