“Bible & Homosexuality”
HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE OLD TESTAMENT INVESTIGATION
The Bible has not even the slightest hint of ambiguity about what is permitted or forbidden in this aspect of sexual conduct. The men of Sodom were anxious to interrogate the strangers to find out if they were spies. Therefore, he argues, the story does not refer to homosexuality at all. The sin involved was not homosexuality, but gang rape. Lot had angered these residents by receiving foreigners whose credentials had not been examined. The men were angered by this omission, and were showing extreme discourtesy to these visitors by demanding to know their credentials. Bailey a Christian scholar and writer argues that the demand of the men of Sodom to know the strangers in Lot’s house meant nothing more than their desire to get acquainted with them. The problem, argues Bailey, was nothing more than inhospitality
1. Scholars’ View:
The Biblical story demonstrates the seriousness with which these early Eastern people took the important customs of Oriental hospitality. It appears that, if necessary, they would even allow their own daughters to undergo abuse in order to protect guests. The sexual aspect of the story is simply the vehicle in which the subject of demanded hospitality is conveyed. It is clearly interpreted in Ezekiel 16:49: “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, surfeit of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.”
2. Did Sodom Practice Homosexuality?
The Hebrew word for “know” (yada), can be translated “to get acquainted with” or “to have knowledge of” or “to have intercourse with.” The word “yada” appears over 943 times