God Cries Out for Victims of Abuse of Power
“We’re going to destroy this place. The outcries of victims here to God are deafening; we’ve been sent to blast this place into oblivion.”” (Genesis 19:13, The Message)
Scholars describe this announcement by God as an “anthropomorphism.” God is described as having human characteristics. This means that God is going to act against the people of Sodom because He cares. Cries will come up to God and He will be deaf by the screams.
What if this is an actual account of what happened? What about the victims? Were there more people who were sexually abused? Just as the angels were demanded as sexual slaves, were there other victims of this type of abuse?
Reasons for the Wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah
The Bible does not explain if that is true. However, there are many references to Sodom and Gomorrah as a place where people were wicked. They were wicked for various reasons.
“God continued, “The cries of the victims in Sodom and Gomorrah are deafening; the sin of those cities is immense.” (Genesis 18:20, The Message)
They are a sex-driven culture.
“And the Jerusalem prophets are even worse—horrible!— sex-driven, living a lie, Subsidizing a culture of wickedness, and never giving it a second thought. They’re as bad as those wretches in old Sodom, the degenerates of old Gomorrah.”” (Jeremiah 23:14, The Message)
They ignore the oppressed and the poor.
““ ‘The sin of your sister Sodom was this: She lived with her daughters in the lap of luxury—proud, gluttonous, and lazy. They ignored the oppressed and the poor.” (Ezekiel 16:49, The Message)
“for we are about to destroy this place because the outcry against its people is so great before the Lord, that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”” (Genesis 19:13, HCSB)
In both of these acts, the story of Sodom is about power. Sexual power used against the weak. Economic power used to gratify the self and ignore others. Dangerous powers which people still use today.
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