Themes in Genesis: Why God Destroys Cities, Nations and the World in Genesis

FACT: GOD DESTROYS GROUPS OF PEOPLE

In Genesis 6 - 9, God was disappointed with the earth and regretted that he made people, so he sent a flood on the earth to destroy everyone, including animals, except Noah, his family and 2 of each animal (7 each of the clean animals). Several chapters later (chapter 19), he destroyed a city with fire and brimstone (probably a volcano). Finally, in chapter 15 God promised Abraham that he would give him land that was then inhabited.  But God let Abraham know that he could not take the land until God was ready to destroy another group of people.  But to destroy them there was a certain prerequisite that had to be met - a prerequisite that was tied into the other two destructions. 

So in Genesis, we see that God destroyed the entire world, regreted destroying it, so narrowed down his destructive energies to a couple of cities and then to several tribes of people.

QUESTION: WHY DOES GOD DESTROY GROUPS OF PEOPLE?

When God Destroyed the Entire World:

1. Genesis 6:5: "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." From this we can say that God destroyed the world for two reasons:
a. Humanity was very wicked, not just wicked, but very wicked.
b. Humanity in heart and in intent was filled with evil.

2. Genesis 6:12: "So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth." Corrupt in the Hebrew language is "sachath," which means "rotten, spoiled, ruined, corrupted."

The author of Genesis played with this word "corruption/ destroy (sachath)." In 3 verses he says, The earth was corrupted (sachath), people corrupted (sachath) their ways on the earth, so God said, "I will destroy (sachath) the earth."

Throughout the Old Testament, the word sachath defines the destruction of cities and land by the hand of God or the corruption of people's hearts and ways done by themselves. To be specific, what corrupts humaninty in the OT is most often idolatry, but sachath is also the result of adultery, laziness, pride, and giving God inferior sacrifices. But in the days of Noah it was something else that corrupted humankind.

3. Genesis 6:11 and 13: "Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence. So God said to Noah, 'I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence. Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth!'"

God destroyed the world because people corrupted themselves with violence.

When God Destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah

Contrary to popular opinion, homosexuality is not the major sin of Sodom.  Ezekiel tells us that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was pride, economic injustice, and an undefined abomination which many attribute to homosexuality.  I would rather define the abomination as homosexual rape, because:

1.  That is what Sodom intended to do to the angels.
2.  It fits the context of the book of Genesis where God destroyed the entire world, not because of sexual sins, but because of its violence.

I conclude that according to Genesis, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of its violence which was sexual in nature.  But remember, that one act of sexual violence was not why the angels went into the city to see if it should be destoyed.  The city was doomed for destruction before the men wanted to rape the visiting angels. 

Perhaps this is where we fit Ezekiel's judgment into the situation, "Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.  She was proud and committed detestable sins, so I wiped her out, as you have seen."  Economic injustice and pride preceded the homosexual rape.  Economic injustice and pride sent the angels down to investigate.  The violence of homosexual rape simply simply sealed their doom.

When God Destroyed the Ammorites

As God promised to give land to Abraham and his descendents, he told Abraham that he could not yet take the land ... (Genesis 16:15).   "After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction."

In part, the prediction is that the Ammorites would reach a level of sin that would warrent their destruction.  The "sins of the Ammorites" are to the best of my knowledge undefined.  There is some discussion about who the Ammorites were;  if they were the Canaanites who inhabited the land when the Israelites entered after 400 years, or if they were driven out of the land shortly before the Israelites came, or whatever.  So it is difficult to say what the sin was that warrented total genocide.  Some have suggested idolatry, child sacrifice and other sins that were practiced by the Canaanites, but this is yet to be proven.

The main point is this:  God waited to destroy a people until they had reached their full potential for sin.