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. – Genesis 19:1

Today's Scripture Reading (September 30, 2024): Genesis 19

The Poppy Family, a band made up of Terry and Susan Jacks, sang about it in the early 1970s. It was one of those songs that sounded sweet, but something much darker lurked amid the sweetness. The lyrics of the chorus inform the listener that -

Evil grows in the dark

Where the sun, it never shines

Evil grows in cracks and holes

And lives in people's minds

Evil grew, it's part of you

And now it seems to be

That every time I look at you

Evil grows in me

Whether the song is about something relatively innocuous or speaking about a more profound struggle is left up to the listener. Still, the song makes it clear that evil is something that spreads from person to person. And often, evil spreads because it can be made to seem so normal.

The story behind the evil that lurked in Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as the other Cities of the Plains lying at the south end of the Dead Sea, began with the idea that they were the greatest. And when you live in the greatest place, you start to believe that anything that comes from outside is less than and, therefore, needs to be kept away. That was the philosophy of these cities. Sodom has become a place which is known for its homosexuality, but that isn't really the story. A city that was made up of only homosexual people doesn't make any sense. I don't know of any such city in the history of this world. This story is not about homosexuality but about homosexual rape. And rape of any kind is always evil.

The men of this town had decided that by raping visitors, they could send a message that visitors were not welcome and would not be honored. What better way to keep people away than to let it be known that you will be harmed if you come here? Lot had apparently developed a practice of sitting at the city gates. It was a common practice in most cities, but in Sodom, it had a purpose other than a meeting of the men of the town. Evil had grown in Sodom, but it doesn't appear to have spread to Lot. As Lot sees the men approach, he hatches a plan to save them from the evil of the town, an evil that had begun to seem normal in Sodom. Lot would immediately take the strangers home, hopefully before anyone even knows they are there.

What Lot doesn't know is that the evil of these cities has reached heaven and that God has come down to judge the cities. Lot's effort to save the angels saves his family, but Sodom, where evil has grown, is beyond salvation. As a result, the cities would be destroyed.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Genesis 20