The prophets and Sodom: The prophetic use of the Sodom and Gomorrah theme

Abstract

The use made of the Sodom and Gomorrah theme by the pre-exilic prophets is investigated first in the book of Osiah, where most of the ‘Sodom passages’ occur, after which other eighth-century prophets as well (as later pre-exilic prophets) are in corporated into the investigation. Finally, the complex of prophetic motifs is related to the Sodom story in Genesis 18-19. It is argued that the narrative is a unit, dating from the seventh century BCE, about a crisis in social values and about punishment which does not jeopardise God ’s righteousness towards individuals. Far from being at variance with the prophetic perspective, its tru st is thoroughly compatible with the way in which th e prophets used the Sodom theme during the eighth and in subsequent centuries.