Rich and Powerful, the new Sodom and Gomorrah
Inhospitality to the point of harming strangers, the poor and needy was commonplace in Sodom and Gomorrah.
God explains that the sin of Sodom was that "She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me." (Ezekiel 16:48-50)
The following information is of Jewish origin where the word Sodomites means nothing more than people who are from Sodom.
Rabbinic writings affirm that the Sodomites also committed economic crimes, blasphemy and bloodshed. One of these was to give money or even gold ingots to beggars, but the giver would inscribe their name on the money. No one in the community would accept money that had a name on it. The unfortunate stranger would end up starving and after death, the people who gave the money would reclaim it (since it had their name on it).
Sodomites believed that "what is mine is mine, and what is yours is yours", which is interpreted as a lack of compassion.
Here’s a biblical story from the time of Sodom. Eliezer, Abraham's servant, went to visit Lot in Sodom and got into a dispute with a Sodomite over a beggar, and was hit in the forehead with a stone, making him bleed. The Sodomite demanded Eliezer pay him for the service of bloodletting, and a Sodomite judge sided with the Sodomite. Eliezer then struck the judge in the forehead with a stone and asked the judge to pay the Sodomite.
The Talmud and the book of Jasher also tell of two young girls (one of them was Lot's daughter Paltith) who gave some bread to a poor man who had entered the city. When the townspeople discovered their acts of kindness, they burned Paltith and smeared the other girl's body with honey and hung her from the city wall until she was eaten by bees.
Today our world governments are cutting services to the poor and needy because of rich and powerful inhospitality, just like Sodom and Gomorrah!
www.QueerPublicRadio.com a 24/7 LGBTQIA Independent Internet Radio Station. Visit, Listen, Support and become involved.
God explains that the sin of Sodom was that "She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me." (Ezekiel 16:48-50)
The following information is of Jewish origin where the word Sodomites means nothing more than people who are from Sodom.
Rabbinic writings affirm that the Sodomites also committed economic crimes, blasphemy and bloodshed. One of these was to give money or even gold ingots to beggars, but the giver would inscribe their name on the money. No one in the community would accept money that had a name on it. The unfortunate stranger would end up starving and after death, the people who gave the money would reclaim it (since it had their name on it).
Sodomites believed that "what is mine is mine, and what is yours is yours", which is interpreted as a lack of compassion.
Here’s a biblical story from the time of Sodom. Eliezer, Abraham's servant, went to visit Lot in Sodom and got into a dispute with a Sodomite over a beggar, and was hit in the forehead with a stone, making him bleed. The Sodomite demanded Eliezer pay him for the service of bloodletting, and a Sodomite judge sided with the Sodomite. Eliezer then struck the judge in the forehead with a stone and asked the judge to pay the Sodomite.
The Talmud and the book of Jasher also tell of two young girls (one of them was Lot's daughter Paltith) who gave some bread to a poor man who had entered the city. When the townspeople discovered their acts of kindness, they burned Paltith and smeared the other girl's body with honey and hung her from the city wall until she was eaten by bees.
Today our world governments are cutting services to the poor and needy because of rich and powerful inhospitality, just like Sodom and Gomorrah!
www.QueerPublicRadio.com a 24/7 LGBTQIA Independent Internet Radio Station. Visit, Listen, Support and become involved.
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