Genesis 19:1-5; 12-14
1The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2“My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.” 3But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. 5They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”
12The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.” 14So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in- law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
Introduction
Genesis 19 shows us two different groups of people who had a serious disagreement about how they treat people. In the story, Lot and his family had company, and they invited them into his house and provided a room and hot meal. It was a proper way of hospitality for Lot because his Uncle Abraham always did it that way. But on the other hand, the residents of the city practiced the opposite way. They wanted to call out and interrogate them among the people. It is what they believed was the right way to do it. It was the reason why they confronted each other with a wall in between. However, this story is full of suggestions for Christians on how we maintain our Christian spirituality in the society that we live in, an extremely polarized world by what we hear and believe.
Detail observations
In the story, I can see two different places. The first one is the house of Lot, and the other location is the outside of the house. In Lot’s house, there were at least six individuals to stay or live, Lot, his wife, two daughters, and two angels who were coming from heaven to destroy the city. On the other hand, the outside of the house, “there were all the men from every part of the city of Sodom.”
You can use your imagination. There were obvious contrasts between the inside of the house and the outside of the house. The first one is a visual difference. The inside of the house would have a light to shine, but the outside of the house would be dark because it was night time, and the street had no streetlamps. Second, the moral standard was different. People who stayed outside of the house seemed physically abusive, including sexual assault to other people, especially outsiders. This was apparently a common behavior. But the people who stayed inside the house thought that it was “wicked things.”
The hidden historical background
Let’s go back to the passages! In verse 5, “They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.” It is one of the incomprehensible stories. We cannot understand how that kind of criminal activity could happen in a public square. Before we talk about their sexual abuse to outsiders, we need to check their historical and religious background to know who they were. However, I believe that the story in Genesis 19 is not the story to talk about a person’s sexual orientation, but is the story of how a society brainwashes people and lets them allow this criminal behavior as usual. These are the main points to think about in these passages.
Historically, it is clear that Sodomites did not worship God (Yahweh), the God of Abraham, but they possibly worshiped the god or goddess of the ancient Middle Eastern countries. In the Canaanite society, Baal and Asherah were honored as the fertility god and goddess. People worshiped in various ways, including practicing obscene public prostitution. This practice possibly developed as one of legitimizing the public sexual offense of the outsider.
These false teachings and their wrong behaviors and practices came out from their false religions. I can imagine that so many mobs gathered, kidnapped visitors, and sexually harassed people in the public square while other mobs were watching, laughing at it. All of them engaged in an orgy, including sexual activity. It could be their tradition that people did it without guilt feelings. It seems they are confused about what is right behavior and wrong because they were morally upside-down. For example, Roman Emperor made an event to hire a gladiator to kill people to watch it for fun because he could earn a lot of advantage from it. The single event grew as multiple events and eventually became one of the most prevalent traditions that accompanied the major religious festivals that everyone enjoyed.
The Dangers of Flying Upside-Down
Today’s title is “The Dangers of Flying Upside-Down.” Upside-down means that something is turned upside-down, which means “the upper and the lower parts are reversed in position.” In The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard explains the danger of jet fighter upside-down maneuvers. He said that when a jet fighter pilot was “practicing high-speed maneuvers in a jet fighter,” the pilot turned the control to a steep ascent because she believed that she was flying right-side up. Unfortunately, the jet flew straight into the ground because she was unaware that she had been flying upside-down. This is the danger of being unaware of being upside-down.
Is it what Willard means?
Willard used the story of the danger of jet flying upside-down as an example to warn people about their spiritual upside-down. He tried to speak for all Christians today. Do not be boastful yourselves but humble yourself before God. Do you believe that you were always blameless and upright before God like what Job did? If you do not know, it would be better to follow God’s Word because it is the truth and guides us in the right direction. However, the truth is not what the majority of people say is true; it is not the norm and tradition of society, but the absolute truth is what God said through the Bible.
Conclusion
People who lived in the city of Sodom did detestable acts in the public square because they stayed outside of God Almighty and followed false gods and false teachings instead.
Where do you belong? Do you belong to the inside of Jesus Christ or outside of Jesus?
If you believe that you belong to Jesus, the teachings of Jesus are your priority to keep you in
your Christian life.
If you are prioritizing to listen to others rather than Jesus, such as a voice of society, it indicates
that your flying is upside-down. It causes you to have consequences.
When you hear the promises of God in the Bible and you feel that it is joking, the promise of
God will pass by you. This is the spiritual meaning of the danger of flying upside-down.
