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. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me... (Ez 16,49-50)

Sodom clearly experienced an economic boom after the war, in which it was conquered by a coalition of four kings. The war must have caused it many losses, but it quickly recovered and within a few years it became once again a kind of "Las Vegas" of the ancient Middle East. To what can this be attributed? Civilizations flourish when certain moral values accompanied by discipline and work prevail. Such a society maintains a vision of the future with a consciousness of elemental justice, and the actions of its individuals then directly and indirectly benefit the whole. In a certain way, the lives of all are gradually improved. But if a society is immoral, injustice breeds, strife escalates, and decay comes. Only a few become significantly richer, but the right declines (this can be seen even today in dictatorships or oligarchic regimes). Almost every philosopher, looking at the history of the world, has not failed to point out that the reason for the collapse of previously developed cultures was primarily internal, with the loss of morality, of a common vision, followed by the decline of discipline and general decay. Which coincides exactly with what God kept saying to the Israelites throughout the Old Testament: seek me and keep law and justice, give shelter to the weak... then you will do well, then you will stand. If you lose your inner compass, the result will be injustice and decline.

Sodom, however, experienced development and prosperity that was not backed by a growth in morality, quite the opposite. It apparently prospered so well that it ended up in a form of gluttony, a search for pleasure of all kinds. Today we cannot assess what actually caused its initial success, but it was probably non-human influences, such as fertile soil, mineral resources, or perhaps also environmental slave labour. As always, property too easily acquired is not beneficial if it is not supported by the growth of the personality of the man; it is bound to cause degradation to its owner, though sometimes after a long time, perhaps as when a frivolous man wins the lottery or makes his fortune by speculation.

When Lot came to Sodom and surveyed it, the pros of the place outweighed the cons for him. The streets were not yet so dangerous, and there were no hordes roaming about ready to rape any stranger. He would hardly have chosen such an environment for his family otherwise. He liked what Sodom had to offer that was not available elsewhere: the wealth, the standard of living, the vibrant entertainment. But gradually, life here became more and more dangerous, and with each new instance of violence he had to convince himself that it still wasn't so bad after all. What happened to him was what the famous fable about how to boil a frog describes. When it is thrown into hot water, he knows it immediately and jumps out in shock. But when it is thrown into lukewarm water and the water is slowly heated, it doesn't realise until it's too late.