March 19: Genesis 19

Today's reading.

This is a judgment passage, and therefore inherently controversial. In other times and places it would not be so; Sodom's injustice and depravity in this passage are grotesque enough for most anyone to be scandalized. But in our day, God's actions are what strike us as the most grotesque aspect of this chapter.

The text is pretty clear on the extent of Sodom's sin. When the angelic visitors enter Lot's house, "the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded" it (19:4). And if you understand the cultural situation in which men were understood to be the representative heads of their households, every man standing outside Lot's door meant that the entire city was standing there. Demanding. Yelling. Threatening Lot. Itching to gang rape two defenseless sojourners.

The text doesn't say why they wanted to gang rape the two angelic foreigners. But it seems like it's happened before. There is an urgency to Lot's plea that they stay with him (19:3). This instance of depravity is not the reason God sends judgment on Sodom. It is merely confirmation that judgment is required (18:20-21).

If you had the power to stop a defenseless person from being brutally raped and murdered, would you? If you had the authority to punish a person who had a pattern of committing such heinous crimes against humanity, would you? Would you do all in your power to ensure that that person could never again do such evil to the defenseless?

Frequently in the Psalms and elsewhere in the OT, the biblical authors rejoice in God's judgment. They don't do so because they are Neanderthal masochists who hate anyone who isn't them. They do so because it is divine judgment that stops evil and sets things right again in the world.

God's judgment isn't about mere punishment. It is about restoring justice to an unjust world. It is about rescuing a helpless world from the forces of sin and evil. God's people rejoice in his judgment because we "hunger and thirst for justice" (Matt. 5:6), and we know that God alone can exercise it.

And exercise it he did at the cross. God may have overthrown Sodom, but even Sodom did not bear the full brunt of God's judgment. Christ did. He stood in the place of rapists and (his own) murderers, and cried out for their forgiveness. He took justice on himself so that God's grace and mercy could be the inheritance of all sinners. Even the men of Sodom.

We can stand back and scoff, write off the idea of a God who judges. Or we can stand amazed at God's mercy to judge Jesus in our place. It's a choice between rebellion and obedience; between wallowing in the misery of a fallen world and being rescued; between calling rape and murder no big deal, and standing on the side of Justice. May God teach us to hunger and thirst for his justice.