Today’s reading, about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the Plain, tells us that not only are individuals meant to follow God’s law,  but cities and nations are too. There’s a public morality as well as a private morality. God holds cities and countries and communities accountable.

Lot seems to be the only one open to help strangers in Sodom.  The whole city is against him. Commentators say that Lot is the first example in the Bible of the lone person seeking justice pitted against a whole city and community  

The cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, the cities on the Plain existed south of the Dead Sea and were destroyed by a major earthquake, archeologists say.  The Bible sees them destroyed because they ignored God’s law. Not even ten people can be found in them who can be called just.

Lot, his wife and two daughters escape, thanks to an angel and the prayers of Abraham. Lot chose to live in Sodom because it presented good economic possibilities, it seems.   Lot’s wife, who looks back, is turned into a pillar of salt. Why did she look back? Like so many other  scripture stories, we are left to answer that question ourselves.

There are no signs of repentance in Sodom and Gomorrah, unlike in Nineveh, the city Jonas preached to. 

Yet, God does not condemn cities, or human plans or human achievements. We are living in a time when cities face enormous challenge. In so many parts of the world today people are moving to the cities. They’re meant to be places of justice and mercy and human flourishing, not destruction. They are called to be cities of God.