The story of Sodom and Gomorrah was much more violent and disturbing than my preconceived exposure to this story. In class we talked about a few strange sentences that are in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah: these were that Lot would give up his daughters to save his guests, several men of Sodom came to Lot’s house with the intent of gang-rape, and that Abraham appeared to be more merciful than God. Abraham pleas with God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah if he could find at least 10 righteous men. The Lord told Abraham the purpose of his journey to Sodom and Gomorrah was, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous.” To me, this implies that others have witnessed the crimes that we read about later in Genesis 19, which also means that there are righteous men within or around Sodom and Gomorrah crying out to spiritual authority. This story is something that I didn’t expect to find in the Bible, nor did I expect there to be a similar story in Judges 19. The second half of Judges 19 reads much like Genesis 19.
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