06/16/2026
Is this describing America today??
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The Sins of S***m and Gomorrah Were Worse Than You Imagine |
How a Society Decays
When you hear the name S***m, the first thing that comes to mind is sexual sin, right? But what if I told you that, according to the biblical prophets themselves, that was not the only reason, and perhaps not even the main one, for fire to fall from heaven? Today, you are going to dive into the list of crimes of a society that had everything but chose to lose it all. And you will discover that S***m’s greatest sin is something happening very close to us right now.
Ezekiel chapter 16, verse 49. The prophet is speaking directly to Jerusalem, and he compares the holy city to S***m. But notice carefully what he says: "Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister S***m, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness. And she did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." Did you read that right? Pride, abundance, idleness, oppression of the poor. Not a single word about sexual immorality. The first sin on the list is pride. The same sin that cast Lucifer down from heaven. But pride in what? Where did such arrogance come from?
Let’s go back in time to the year 2000 before Christ, in the Jordan Valley, south of what is today Jordan. Imagine a green plain, naturally irrigated by the river cutting through the land like a vein of life. Fields of golden wheat swaying in the wind, laden fig trees, generous date palms, crystal clear water flowing through channels. The book of Genesis describes this place with a phrase that makes you stop and think. Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. Comparing a land to Eden and the Nile was the highest praise possible. And it was there that the Canaanites, descendants of Ham, built S***m.
In the year 2005 after Christ, archaeologists began excavating a site in Jordan called Tall el-Hammam. And what they found left the scientific world in shock. Walls four meters thick, stone palaces, administrative buildings on an elevated acropolis—a metropolis with a capacity for up to 40,000 inhabitants. This wasn’t a simple biblical village. It was a supercity of the ancient world. S***m controlled trade routes between Mesopotamia and Egypt. Whoever passed through paid taxes. Gold circulated. Silver gleamed on merchants' tables. Elite houses had two stories, inner courtyards, and polished stone floors. The poor? They lived in adobe shacks without foundations, sharing cramped spaces. The difference between rich and poor wasn't just economic; it was visual. It was a daily declaration: "Your life isn't worth as much as mine."
But here is the point: S***m wasn't poor and violent; S***m was rich and violent. Prosperity didn't generate gratitude; it generated self-sufficiency. It generated the mentality that they didn't need God because they had everything. And when you think you are superior to others, you are one step away from the second sin. Pride always brings a companion, and that companion transforms arrogance into cruelty. S***m had laws—written laws, laws that judges applied at the city gates. But these laws didn't protect the weak; they protected the powerful. And one of these laws, you will not believe it existed: the law stated that it was forbidden to give food to strangers, forbidden to offer shelter, and forbidden to help in any way. The punishment? Death. It wasn't just indifference; it was a system.
Ezekiel wasn't exaggerating when he said S***m did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. In the ancient world, the city gate was where justice happened. Elders sat there; judges heard cases. Laws were applied. It was the open-air tribunal. And in S***m, this sacred place had been corrupted. Isaiah compares Jerusalem to S***m and says something devastating: "Your hands are full of blood. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the orphan." The core of the problem was exposed. The weakest were exploited.
The Babylonian Talmud records ancient traditions about S***m’s laws, and some are disturbing. At the gates, there were female judges whose very names were declarations: Liar, Forger, Perverter of Justice. One law said the following: if a man wounded his neighbor and drew blood, the wounded one should pay the aggressor. Why? Because the aggressor had performed a "medicinal bloodletting." The law became a joke. Justice became a maze where only the powerful knew how to navigate. And this law didn't stay just on paper. The Talmud records the case of a young woman who gave bread to a beggar. When they discovered it, they covered her body with honey and placed her on top of the wall. The bees came, and she died slowly in agony. Her scream, according to tradition, was what reached God’s ears.
Now, think with me. S***m had everything: water, fertile land, commerce, wealth. But it turned abundance into a weapon. It used law to protect the strong and crush the weak. And this wasn't an accident. It was a choice. Exodus chapter 22: God gives Israel a law that was the exact opposite of S***m. "You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If they cry out to me at all, I will surely hear. And my wrath will be kindled." God takes this seriously, because oppressing the weak isn't just social injustice. It is a direct attack on God's heart. S***m did exactly what God forbade, and thought it was safe within its four-meter-thick walls. But there was a third sin growing, a sin born when you have everything and don't need to fight for anything. A sin that transforms free time into a search for increasingly extreme pleasures.
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From Holly Peterson
