1 Kings 14:24

1Ki 14:24 And there were also sodomites in the land: [and] they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.

Ver. 24. And there were also sodomites in the land.] Meritorii, male harlots, unnaturally filthy. The word here used signifieth holy ones: either by antiphrasis in a contrary meaning, or because such abomination was committed under a pretext of religion. These abandoned their bodies to suffer abominable lust. This is common in Turkey, and under the Papacy.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ki 14:24. There were also sodomites in the land — The kind of wickedness here referred to often attended idolatry, 1Ki 15:12; 2Ki 23:7; for among the heathen the most filthy things were practised in these shady, dark places, their groves: and such wickedness, it appears from the passages now quoted, existed at this time among the Israelites, who, out of devotion to some false god or other, prostituted their bodies, contrary to nature, to be abused in honour of those gods, in direct opposition to the law, Deu 23:17. They did according to all the abominations of the nations, &c. — They dishonoured God by the sin of idolatry, and therefore God left them to dishonour their own bodies in this abominable manner.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Where idolatry reigneth, all horrible vices are committed, till at length God’s just judgment destroy them utterly.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 24. There were also sodomites in the land] קדשים kedeshim, consecrated persons; persons who had devoted themselves, in practices of the greatest impurity, to the service of the most impure idols.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(24) Sodomites.—See 1Ki_15:12; 2Ki_23:7. There is a horrible significance in the derivation of this word, which is properly “consecrated,” or “devoted;” for it indicates the license, and even the sanction, of unnatural lusts in those consecrated to the abominations of Nature-worship. The appearance of such in the land, whether Canaanites or apostate Israelites, is evidently noted as the climax of the infinite corruption which had set in, rivalling—and, if rivalling, exceeding in depth of wickedness—the abominations of the old inhabitants of the land. That such horrors are not incompatible with advance in knowledge and material civilisation, history tells us but too plainly. To find them sanctioned under cover of religious ritual marks, however, a lower depth still.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. which the Lord cast (R.V. drave) out] The change of R.V. brings the expression into harmony with nearly all the rest of the places where this verb occurs. The same alteration is needed in 1Ki_21:26; 2Ki_16:3; 2Ki_17:8; 2Ki_21:2, but has not been made in R.V.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And it came to pass in the fifth year of King Rehoboam,.... Two years after he and his people fell into the above wicked practices:

that Shishak, king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; of whom see Kg1 11:40, this was suffered as a chastisement from the Lord for their abominations.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Sodomites - literally, ” (men) consecrated.” The men in question were in fact “consecrated” to the mother of the gods, the famous “Dea Syra,” whose priests, or rather devotees, they were considered to be. The nature of the ancient idolatries is best understood by recollecting that persons of this degraded class practiced their abominable trade under a religious sanction.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The effeminate. Catamites, or men addicted to unnatural lust. (Challoner) --- This crime had been punished in the Sodomites, and in the people of Chanaan, and of Benjamin. Yet they continued prevalent in the country, chap. xv. 12., and 4 Kings xxiii. 7., and Isaias ii. 6., and 2 Machabees iv. 12. (Calmet) --- These were perpetrated in honour of Venus, Priapus, &c. (Menochius) See Deuteronomy xxiii. 17. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Sodomites, i.e. males, who prostituted their bodies to the filthy lusts of others; of whom See Poole "Deu 23:17"; who also did this in the worship and to the honour of their idols as also the women did, Num 25:1,2. And this might be one occasion of so great a spreading of idolatry among the lustful Israelites. And, on the other side, God doth frequently punish idolatry with corporeal uncleanness, Rom 1:21,28. See 1Ki 15:12; 22:46; 2Ki 23:7.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

24. Sodomites — The consecrated ones; that is, persons (male prostitutes) consecrated to the practice of lewdness as a religious rite. The English word implies that this was the abominable crime against nature from which the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah have derived their lasting infamy. This abominable consecration to unnatural lust was practised among many of the ancient nations, and even, as appears from this verse, infected the chosen people.

In the land — Guilty before God must have been those Israelites who would tolerate sodomy among them. It is not said that any of the Israelites themselves practised sodomy, though, perhaps, this was in some instances the case; but the nation that tolerated such abominations, even in the heathen dwelling in their land, was virtually a partaker of their sins.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And there were also Sodomites vdeq; a collective noun = (1Ki_15:12) = consecrated persons or devotees, because they were set apart to the service of Astarte, the Dea Syria. It is clear from Deu_23:18 (Heb.) that male prostitutes are here spoken of, the name of the female being hvdeq. The former is described in ver. 19, 20. c. as a dog, the latter as a whore in the land cf. 1Ki_15:12. It is highly probable that these infamous persons were of Canaanite or Phoenician origin (this being a Phoenician superstition, Movers, "Phoniz." 1:671), but it is somewhat precarious to found an assertion to that effect on these last words (as Bahr), and Heb. omits and they did according to all the abominations of the nations (see Lev_18:20.; Deu_18:9-12) which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. "Here we see a reason for God"s command, requiring the extirpation of the Canaanites" (Wordsworth).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Abomination - They dishonoured God by one sin, and then God left them to dishonour themselves by another.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Prostitution. Prostitution.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.