The Sodomite Is Not Gay

*Genesis 18:20, 21; 19:1-17*

*The Sodomite is Not Gay*

“The Lord said, ‘Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.’

“The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, ‘My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.’ They said, ‘No; we will spend the night in the town square.’ But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

“But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.’ Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, and said, ‘I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.’ But they said, ‘Stand back!’ And they said, ‘This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.’ Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.

“Then the men said to Lot, ‘Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.’ So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, ‘Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.’ But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

“As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.’ But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. And as they brought them out, one said, ‘Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.’”[1]

"Gay.” This is a word whose meaning likely will never be recovered in our lifetime. Only within the past several decades has the word been transformed from one meaning to another. The root of the word can be traced to the Old High German in the 12th Century. Its root meant “sudden or fast.” In the 13th Century, the word had evolved to mean “merry” or “lively” in the Old French tongue.[2]

It is interesting to note that the word has had a sexual connotation since at least the 17th Century when a “gay” woman was a prostitute and a “gay” man a womaniser. In the early 20th Century, the word began to be used by homosexuals when they referred to themselves. In a master’s dissertation by Ken Cage at Rand Afrikaans University, he writes, “gay people throughout the Western world have, for a long time, used a secret form of language to communicate among themselves.”[3]

Therefore, the term, “gay,” became common within the homosexual community, used by homosexuals to refer to themselves long before the word came into common usage in that context. In 1938, a very public use of the word occurred in a movie starring Cary Grant. In this movie he was dressed in a woman’s lace nightgown. He was asked if he always dressed this way. His reply was, “No, I’ve just gone gay all of a sudden.” In 1941, the term “gay” was used as a slang term for a homosexual in a book entitled, “Sexual Variations.” In 1969, New York City police raided a bar at Greenwich Village that was frequented by homosexuals. As result of that ordeal and the ensuing protests, the word, “gay,” took on its modern usage in our world.[4]