May the mumbling commence!
Hospitality was essential to desert
living. If you withheld hospitality, it
could mean the death of the traveler.
The traveling person, foreign to the land, would we extremely vulnerable. And the Lord always asks us to protect the
vulnerable. Read about Lot and Sodom
from Peterson’s The Message:
The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening. Lot was sitting at the city gate.
He saw them and got up to welcome them, bowing
before them and said, “Please, my friends,
come to my house and stay the night. Wash up. You can rise early and be on your way
refreshed.”
They
said, “No, we’ll sleep in the street.”
But he
insisted, wouldn’t take no for an answer;
and they relented and went home with him. Lot fixed a hot meal
for them and they ate.
Before
they went to bed men from all over the city of Sodom, young and old, descended on the house from all sides and boxed them in. They yelled to Lot, “Where are
the men who are staying with you for the night? Bring them out so
we can have our sport with them!”
Lot went
out, barring the
door behind him, and said, “Brothers, please,
don’t be vile! Look, I have two daughters, virgins; let me bring them
out; you can take your pleasure with them, but don’t touch
these men – they’re my guests.”
They
said, “Get lost! You drop in from
nowhere and now you’re going to tell us
how to run our lives. We’ll treat you worse than them!” And they charged past
Lot to break down the door.
But the
two men reached out and pulled Lot inside the house, locking the door.
Then they struck blind the men who were trying to break down the door, both leaders and followers,
leaving them groping in the dark. (Genesis 19:1-11)
Now read the same passage from the
NIV translation:
The 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. "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."
But 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. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from
every part of the city of Sodom – both young and old – surrounded the house.
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."
Lot went outside to
meet them and shut the door behind him and
said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked
thing. Look,
I have two daughters who have never slept with a
man. Let me bring them out to you, and you
can do what you like with them. But don't
do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof."
"Get out of our way," they replied. And they said, "This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to
play the judge! We'll treat you worse than
them." They kept bringing pressure on Lot
and moved forward to break down the
door.
But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into
the house and shut the door. Then they struck
the men who were at the door of the house, young
and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door. (Genesis 19:1-11)
Sometimes, we can get caught up in
the relatively minor details of a passage because of the separation of many
generations and a different culture.
Nowadays, some people focus on the homosexuality. I find it interesting that Peterson takes a
different tact by saying having their “sport” with the men rather than the “sex”
of the NIV. Peterson emphasizes the
power play of forced sex – rape.
Yes there are other sins that are
completely missed because of our undue focus on homosexuality. Rape is only one of them. There’s also the refusal to provide safe
harbor to the vulnerable in their midst.
The people of Sodom would rather take advantage of the vulnerable. Lot provided that protection.
There’s the refusal to listen to
godly counsel (“Don’t tell us how to run our lives.” – from Peterson). The people of Sodom did not recognize their
sins as evil, and they did not want to change.
Overall, I like the work that Peterson did with this passage.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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