(According to the Bible, Gnosis, and Ancient Cultures)

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is one of the most misunderstood events in Scripture. People feel torn between two pictures of God:

• the God who listens to Abraham’s compassion
• and the God who destroys a city despite Abraham’s plea

But the original text tells a far deeper story — one involving two different heavenly beings, two different voices, and a cosmic order older than Israel itself.

This post uncovers what actually happened at Sodom by:

• examining the Hebrew text
• identifying the two voices in Abraham’s encounter
• explaining the “destroyer” in biblical and ancient traditions
• showing how the True God acted with mercy
• and connecting parallels from Gnostic, Hermetic, and other ancient sources

1. Abraham Meets Two Very Different Heavenly Visitors

Genesis 18–19 describes two separate interactions:

• A gentle, peaceful visitor who speaks with Abraham, receives hospitality, and reveals mercy
• A destroying power who later executes judgment on Sodom

We often merge them into one “God figure,” but the text itself clearly distinguishes them.

The Merciful Visitor (Genesis 18)

• Eats with Abraham
• Laughs with Sarah
• Speaks gently
• Allows Abraham to argue for mercy

This is the First Voice — the messenger of the True God.

The Destroyer (Genesis 19)

• Does not eat
• Acts with urgency and cold judgment
• Speaks of “we will destroy this place”
• Operates with rigid legal authority

This is the Second Voice — a lower celestial ruler acting under delegated jurisdiction.

Understanding these two voices is the key to understanding everything that follows.

2. Abraham’s Plea Reveals Which One Was the True Voice

Abraham argues:

“Will You sweep away the righteous with the wicked?”
— Genesis 18:23

And the visitor answers again and again:

“If I find ten righteous, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

This is the voice of:

• compassion
• patience
• universal justice

This is not the destroyer’s voice. It is the First Voice, the messenger who reveals the nature of the Most High.

3. So Why Was Sodom Destroyed Anyway If the True Voice Agreed to Mercy?

Here is the part most people never notice:

The merciful visitor leaves after the conversation (Genesis 18:33).
The destroyer arrives in the next chapter (Genesis 19).

The destroyer was already on assignment.

This heavenly being operated under ancient delegated authority (Deuteronomy 32:8 in the Dead Sea Scrolls), meaning:

• certain celestial rulers governed specific territories
• Sodom’s ruler was corrupted
• judgment was already legally set in motion
• the destroyer executed that pre-established decree

And why didn’t the messenger of the True God override him?
Because the Most High never breaks His own decrees — not because He lacked power, but because His integrity is absolute.

Just like an ancient king who gives authority to a governor, He does not contradict His own word until the appointed time of judgment.

4. The Bible Calls This Being “the Destroyer” — A Specific Entity

Throughout Scripture, this same figure appears:

• “The Destroyer” of the firstborn (Exodus 12:23)
• The hand of the destroyer (2 Samuel 24:16)
• The angel who destroys (Psalm 78:49)

In Hebrew and related language, he is associated with:

• Mashchit — “the destroyer”
• Abaddon — “place of destruction”
• Apollyon — “the destroyer” (Revelation 9:11)

These texts show that destruction is not the work of the True Father, but of a legal agent operating in a world still governed by lesser powers.

5. Gnostic Writings Also Describe the Destroyer as a Lower Ruling Power

Several early Christian and Jewish Gnostic texts parallel the Sodom account.

The Apocryphon of John

This text describes a lower ruler (“Yaldabaoth”) who:

• thinks he is the supreme God
• issues harsh judgments
• operates in blindness

This closely parallels the destroyer and the second voice Abraham heard.

The Hypostasis of the Archons

This work speaks of rulers who:

• govern regions of the earth
• enforce destruction unjustly
• are unaware of the Most High above them

The Gospel of Philip

This gospel differentiates between:

• the true Father
• and the powers that “act in His name” but do not know Him

These sources affirm what the Genesis text already hints: the destroyer was a lower entity, not the Most High.

6. Hermetic and Near Eastern Texts Also Reference a Fire Judgment Like Sodom

Outside the Bible, we find parallel descriptions of the same kind of event.

The Erra Epic (Babylon)

In this Mesopotamian text:

• Erra (a warlike deity) unleashes destruction on cities
• a more merciful deity (Marduk) withdraws, unable to revoke the decree
• the destruction is tied to cosmic legal order, not random anger

This reflects:

• a harsh ruling power
• a merciful power
• a destruction carried out despite appeals

Ugaritic Texts

In Ugaritic tradition, Resheph is the destroyer who brings:

• fire
• plague
• judgment

He is often contrasted with El, the High God of mercy.

Islamic Tafsir

Islamic commentaries on the destruction of the “People of Lut” describe:

• angels of punishment who carry out the destruction
• and another angelic presence that warns and protects the righteous (Lut and his family)

Again we see: a destroyer and a protector — two different beings.

7. The True God Acted Through Mercy — But Did Not Override His Own Word

The Father sent His own messenger to Abraham in order to:

• warn
• protect Lot
• offer mercy

But He did not cancel the destroyer’s legal assignment because a king does not break His own decrees.

He allowed destruction:

• not because He desired it
• but because the cosmic order (delegated powers) had not yet been dismantled

Jesus later says:

“Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.”
— John 12:31

Meaning: only now, in His time, would that order be overturned.

8. Jesus Finally Reveals the Reality Behind Sodom

Jesus never blames the Father for Sodom.

Instead He says:

“The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”
— Luke 9:56

This means:

• destruction was never the Father’s nature
• the destroyer acted under old delegated authority
• Jesus came to end that entire system

This is why:

• Jesus corrects Moses
• Jesus rejects Elijah’s fire from heaven
• Jesus shows mercy instead of punishment

He reveals the Father who was always there — the same One who listened to Abraham that day.

9. What Really Happened at Sodom

✔ Abraham met two different heavenly beings
✔ One represented the true Father (mercy)
✔ The other was the destroyer with delegated legal authority
✔ The Father’s messenger agreed to mercy if ten righteous were found
✔ The destroyer completed the judgment pre-assigned to that territory
✔ The Father did not break His own decree, not for lack of power
✔ Ancient Gnostic, Hermetic, and Near Eastern texts describe the same pattern
✔ Jesus came to end the rule of such destroyers forever

This is the real story of Sodom — not a story of a violent God, but a story of:

• a merciful Father
• a corrupted ruler
• a destroyer fulfilling old legal authority
• a humanity not yet ready for full revelation
• a Messiah who came to dismantle the entire system