The Land Vomits!

The land vomits!  What?  Well, that’s what it says…

“Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.”  Lev 18:25

And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.  Lev 18:28

Keep all my decrees and laws and follow them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out.  Lev. 20:22

Does the land literally vomit?  Does it figuratively do so?  And what does it mean?

From what I can gather, it could be similar to when a person grows nauseous from the contents of his stomach and wants to vomit the contents out.  Strange as it sounds, the land grows nauseous of its inhabitants and wants to vomit them out.

Some would say that an example of the land vomiting out its inhabitants was when fire and brimstone rained down upon Sodom (Gen 19:24).  Had the land become nauseous?  Based on this description, it could very well be:  “Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.” (Gen 13:13).   When asked about Sodom, the Lord said: “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous…” (Gen 18:20).  

A passage in Deuteronomy references Sodom and notes the following:  “The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom… (Deut 19:23).  That kind of sounds like some serious vomiting had occurred!

But note that the verses above in Leviticus 18 refer to the Canaanites, a nation known for perverse sexual sins and idolatry.  Their sins were so great that the land itself had become defiled.  So God drove them out.  It could be said that God had a dual purpose in all this.  Not only did He drive the Canaanites out so the land could be rid of them, but He did so to allow the Israelites to inherit the land.

So while it does appear that the land can grow nauseas of the inhabitants, as illustrated by the cases of Sodom and Canaan, perhaps the land vomiting can more broadly include when a nation is invaded or occupied and its people are killed or escape.  It could also include people being taken out of the land as captives or slaves or prisoners.  In addition, there could be a mass exodus of people due to natural disasters, economic collapse or widespread disease. 

In Leviticus 20, God reminded Israel that the nations which He was driving out before them had defiled the land and the land had vomited out its inhabitants.  In this same reminder, He warned them to not follow in those same defilements or the land might also vomit them out.

I recently read some comments on this topic and some have even suggested that the current phenomena of climate change and increased natural disasters are a modern version of the land beginning to vomit out its inhabitants as a result of sin and disobedience.

While I’m not all that willing to subscribe to such positions, it does appear from the Scriptures that when a nation has reached a level of immorality that God deems as too excessive, such a nation could experience disasters at the hand of the Lord.  Whether our nation or even our global community has reached that point is anyone’s guess but I wouldn’t be too surprised if we are getting close!