SODOM and GOMORRAH
George Santayana has said: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Perhaps that is one reason we are told to study the Bible rather than merely read it. There are lessons revealed in that book which could leave us in great stead now if we would only learn from them.
Sodom and Gomorrah were wealthy cities on the Jordan River plain, a lush and fertile area. According to Ezekiel 16:49, this city fell because of pride, haughtiness, sufficient provisions but without regard for the poor and needy, in addition to its’ idleness, and resultant iniquity.
Hundreds of years before Christ, the Assyrians created a great empire, but internal strife and conflict, associated with riotous living, among other things, led to its downfall.
Likewise Babylon, an empire built under Nebuchadnezzar, became a wonder of its time. But it soon fell under King Belshazzar due in part to inattentiveness and iniquity.
If you follow the pages of history, the same fate in turn befell the Persians, the Greek, the Roman and others empires. Once discipline and a sense of purpose seemed to be lost, drifting and idleness developed and the nations seemed to become more interested in entertainment and games than in the ideals which created their success initially.
In Rome especially, as time went on the leaders spent more and more on games and sports and events in the colosseum, and became more self indulgent, concerned more with their own comfort than with the affairs of the country.
Even today, when countries become powerful and wealthy, and when the focus of these nations becomes lost, there is more self indulgence and people often request more freedom to do what they desire rather than what is proper. As it was said in Judges 21:25 “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”
When leaders become more concerned about their own positions rather than the people they govern, and when nations are more concerned with power and prestige rather than providing for their subjects, then it’s not hard to see the process beginning all over again. And when life overall is easy to the point that idleness is common and wants are magnified over needs, then as it was in the days of Sodom and as stated in Genesis 4:7 “if you do not do well, sin lies at the door.”
Leaders that are not all they should be, nations that promote power over purpose, and societies that feel self-indulgence and entertainment are more important than discipline and compassion; these are indications that not much has changed from the days of Sodom or of Rome.
Sin is always at the door.
It should make us all stop and think.
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