Similarities Between Genesis And Robert Gruse

The first book of the bible, Genesis, tells a story of Sodom. Immersed in adultery, lust, and just about any other sin existent to man, this city is doomed to a fiery death. God sends down two angels to examine the city and see if there is any innocence whatsoever. If these messengers manage to find forty-five innocent people, God will spare the city from destruction (Genesis 18). However, the messengers only find Lot and his family to be deserving of salvation. During their stay with Lot, the people of Sodom make attempts to break into Lot’s home and rape the visitors. That night, the messengers tell Lot and his family of Sodom’s fate. While Lot and his family are guided from Sodom with the assistance of the messengers, the city is burned to oblivion (Genesis 19: 1-28).

Conservative preachers and theologians believe that this story’s intention rests in condemning homosexual acts with the ultimate punishment for this “sin” to be the fiery death that consumes Sodom.

However, more progressive theologians believe otherwise. Robert K. Gruse analyzes the events of Genesis 19 in contrast with the events of Judges 19. In both stories, travelers are taken into the homes of fellow outsiders. There is a clear indication among the masses that the men of either city wish to rape the travelers. Therefore, the host offers the ravenous men the chance to do whatever they wish with two virgin women (Lot’s daughters in the story of Sodom). However, the men refuse, and take offense at the host’s offer because they wish to rape the strangers, probably to interject a sense of power over them (Gruse 2015,

71).
Both of these stories have the same general idea, but one contains heterosexual acts (Judges) whereas the other contains homosexual acts (Genesis). If Genesis condemns homosexuality, then Judges condemns heterosexuality (Gruse 2015, 72). Gruse mentions the argument that some believe that, in Judges, even though the men “initially sought to rape a man, [they] settled for a woman.” Homosexual men cannot suddenly become heterosexual. Even if this were the case, this rules out the possibility that the common factor in both stories revolve around homosexuality. These men, homosexual or not, target both men and women to rape them as a display of power. Gruse uses the offense of the men after Lot accuses them for simply trying to please their sexual desires as evidence to further demonstrate this claim as they only “wish[ed] to demonstrate their power over the strangers” (Gruse 2015, 73).