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Sodom and Gomorrah are two well known places in the Bible. Sodom was the
place where Lot, Abraham's brother, initially choose to dwell. Regarding the area,
Genesis 13:10 tells us that it was «well watered everywhere ......... like the garden of
the Lord». Evidently, it was a very rich and fertile land. Its people were probably
wealthy and their welfare level was high relative to other areas. They didn't have food
or water shortages as their land was fertile and well watered. It was these characteristics
that attracted Lot and made him to choose this place to dwell. As Genesis 13:10 tells us:
Lot «lifted his eyes and saw», making his choice according to what he saw. However,
what we may see by «lifting our eyes», though may look excellent, it may not be what
the Lord sees with His own eyes (I Samuel 16:7). And really, what Lot saw, was greatly
different of what the Lord saw by looking into the hearts. Really, in Genesis 13:13 we
read:
Genesis 13:13
«But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord»
Though what the Lot saw was an excessively fertile land, what the Lord saw was
an excessively dirty heart. As He says in Genesis 18:20:
Genesis 18:20
«Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very
grave»
At the end, after the Lord saved Lot, He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. When
Lot was leaving Sodom, the advice of the Lord was the exact opposite of what he had
done in the beginning:
Genesis 19:17
«so it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he [the angel of the Lord]
said, «Escape for your life! DO NOT LOOK BEHIND...»
When Lot choose Sodom as his dwelling place, he made his choice after he
«lifted his eyes and saw». Now he was to flee and «never look behind». After Lot left,
the Lord destroyed the area.
However, what was the sin of Sodom? Ezekiel 16:49-50 tells us what the Lord saw:
Ezekiel 16:49-50
«Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: she and her daughter HAD PRIDE,
FULNESS OF FOOD, AND ABUNDANCE OF IDLENESS; neither did she
strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed
abomination before me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit»
Tassos Kioulachoglou