The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah and the three other cities of the
plain were sinful and godless. In their country there was an extensive
vale, where they foregathered annually with their wives and their
children and all belonging to them, to celebrate a feast lasting
several days and consisting of the most revolting orgies. If a stranger
merchant passed through their territory, he was besieged by them all,
big and little alike, and robbed of whatever he possessed. Each one
appropriated a bagatelle, until the traveller was stripped bare. If the
victim ventured to remonstrate with one or another, he would show him
that he had taken a mere trifle, not worth talking about. And the end
was that they hounded him from the city.
Once upon a time it happened that a man journeying from Elam arrived in
Sodom toward evening. No one could be found to grant him shelter for
the night. Finally a sly fox named Hedor invited him cordially to
follow him to his house. The Sodomite had been attracted by a rarely
magnificent carpet, strapped to the stranger's ass by means of a rope.
He meant to secure it for himself. The friendly persuasions of Hedor
induced the stranger to remain with him two days, though he had
expected to stay only overnight. When the time came for him to continue
on his journey, he asked his host for the carpet and the rope. Hedor
said: "Thou hast dreamed a dream, and this is the interpretation of thy
dream: the rope signifies that thou wilt have a long life, as long as a
rope; the varicolored carpet indicates that thou wilt own an orchard
wherein thou wilt plant all sorts of fruit trees." The stranger
insisted that his carpet was a reality, not a dream fancy, and he
continued to demand its return. Not only did Hedor deny having taken
anything from his guest, he even insisted upon pay for having
interpreted his dream to him. His usual price for such services, he
said, was four silver pieces, but in view of the fact that he was his
guest, he would, as a favor to him, content himself with three pieces
of silver.
After much wrangling, they put their case before one of the judges of
Sodom, Sherek by name, and he said to the plaintiff, "Hedor is known in
this city as a trustworthy interpreter of dreams, and what he tells
thee is true." The stranger declared himself not satisfied with the
verdict, and continued to urge his side of the case. Then Sherek drove
both the plaintiff and the defendant from the court room. Seeing this,
the inhabitants gathered together and chased the stranger from the
city, and lamenting the loss of his carpet, he had to pursue his way.
As Sodom had a judge worthy of itself, so also had the other
cities—Sharkar in Gomorrah, Zabnak in Admah, and Manon in Zeboiim.
Eliezer, the bondman of Abraham, made slight changes in the names of
these judges, in accordance with the nature of what they did: the first
he called Shakkara, Liar; the second Shakrura, Arch-deceiver; the third
Kazban, Falsifier; and the fourth, Mazle-Din, Perverter of Judgment. At
the suggestion of these judges, the cities set up beds on their
commons. When a stranger arrived, three men seized him by his head, and
three by his feet, and they forced him upon one of the beds. If he was
too short to fit into it exactly, his six attendants pulled and
wrenched his limbs until he filled it out; if he was too long for; it,
they tried to jam him in with all their combined strength, until the
victim was on the verge of death. Hit outcrles were met with the words,
"Thus will be done to any man that comes into our land."
After a while travellers avoided these cities, but if some poor devil
was betrayed occasionally into entering them, they would give him gold
and silver, but never any bread, so that he was bound to die of
starvation. Once he was dead, the residents of the city came and took
back the marked gold and silver which they had given him, and they
would quarrel about the distribution of his clothes, for they would
bury him naked.
Once Eliezer, the bondman of Abraham, went to Sodom, at the bidding of
Sarah, to inquire after the welfare of Lot. He happened to enter the
city at the moment when the people were robbing a stranger of his
garments. Eliezer espoused the cause of the poor wretch, and the
Sodomites turned against him; one threw a stone at his forehead and
caused considerable loss of blood. Instantly, the assailant, seeing the
blood gush forth, demanded payment for having performed the operation
of cupping. Eliezer refused to pay for the infliction of a wound upon
him, and he was haled before the judge Shakkara. The decision went
against him, for the law of the land gave the assailant the right to
demand payment. Eliezer quickly picked up a stone and threw it at the
judge's forehead. When he saw that the blood was flowing profusely, he
said to the judge, "Pay my debt to the man and give me the balance."
The cause of their cruelty was their exceeding great wealth. Their soil
was gold, and in their miserliness and their greed for more and more
gold, they wanted to prevent strangers from enjoying aught of their
riches. Accordingly, they flooded the highways with streams of water,
so that the roads to their city were obliterated, and none could find
the way thither. They were as heartless toward beasts as toward men.
They begrudged the birds what they ate, and therefore extirpated
them.[155] They behaved impiously toward one another, too, not
shrinking back from murder to gain possession of more gold. If they
observed that a man owned great riches, two of them would conspire
against him. They would beguile him to the vicinity of ruins, and while
the one kept him on the spot by pleasant converse, the other would
undermine the wall near which he stood, until it suddenly crashed down
upon him and killed him. Then the two plotters would divide his wealth
between them.
Another method of enriching themselves with the property of others was
in vogue among them. They were adroit thieves. When they made up their
minds to commit theft, they would first ask their victim to take care
of a sum of money for them, which they smeared with strongly scented
oil before handing it over to him. The following night they would break
into his house, and rob him of his secret treasures, led to the place
of concealment by the smell of the oil.
Their laws were calculated to do injury to the poor. The richer a man,
the more was he favored before the law. The owner of two oxen was
obliged to render one day's shepherd service, but if he had but one ox,
he had to give two days' service. A poor orphan, who was thus forced to
tend the flocks a longer time than those who were blessed with large
herds, killed all the cattle entrusted to him in order to take revenge
upon his oppressors, and he insisted, when the skins were assigned,
that the owner of two head of cattle should have but one skin, but the
owner of one head should receive two skins, in correspondence to the
method pursued in assigning the work. For the use of the ferry, a
traveller had to pay four zuz, but if he waded through the water, he
had to pay eight zuz.[156]
The cruelty of the Sodomites went still further. Lot had a daughter,
Paltit, so named because she had been born to him shortly after he
escaped captivity through the help of Abraham. Paltit lived in Sodom,
where she had married. Once a beggar came to town, and the court issued
a proclamation that none should give him anything to eat, in order that
he might die of starvation. But Paltit had pity upon the unfortunate
wretch, and every day when she went to the well to draw water, she
supplied him with a piece of bread, which she hid in her water pitcher.
The inhabitants of the two sinful cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, could not
understand why the beggar did not perish, and they suspected that some
one was giving him food in secret. Three men concealed themselves near
the beggar, and caught Paltit in the act of giving him something to
eat. She had to pay for her humanity with death; she was burnt upon a
pyre.
The people of Admah were no better than those of Sodom. Once a stranger
came to Admah, intending to stay overnight and continue his journey the
next morning. The daughter of a rich man met the stranger, and gave him
water to drink and bread to eat at his request. When the people of
Admah heard of this infraction of the law of the land, they seized the
girl and arraigned her before the judge, who condemned her to death.
The people smeared her with honey from top to toe, and exposed her
where bees would be attracted to her. The insects stung her to death,
and the callous people paid no heed to her heartrending cries. Then it
was that God resolved upon the destruction of these sinners.[157]