A city's downfall often begins not with a sudden act of violence, but with a slow rot of arrogance. The destruction of Sodom serves as a timeless warning of how extreme pride and selfishness can pave the way to ultimate moral collapse. The primary approach among commentators is that the focus is on Sodom and her surrounding satellite towns, conceptually viewed as her dependent cities [רש"י, שטיינזלץ, אברבנאל]. While another perspective suggests the account might also be addressing both Sodom and Samaria, the main focus remains firmly on Sodom and her neighbors [רד"ק].
The root of Sodom's deep-seated haughtiness and pride was their immense wealth [מצודת ציון]. Driven by a selfish desire to hoard their riches, the people instituted a cruel and unwelcoming policy that strictly forbade travelers from entering their land, ensuring no outsiders could benefit from their prosperity [רש"י]. This extreme pride caused them to cast off the yoke of God's commandments, setting the stage for even darker behavior [מצודת דוד].
Freed from any sense of divine accountability, the people of Sodom descended into severe moral corruption. Their actions primarily involved shameful sexual immorality and incest [מצודת דוד, אברבנאל]. This depravity reached its absolute peak when God sent His angels to the city, and the local inhabitants formed a mob, demanding to carry out their wicked intentions upon the divine messengers [מלבי"ם]. Yet, despite the sheer gravity of Sodom's failures, which included pride, a refusal to give charity, and sexual immorality, Jerusalem's eventual guilt was considered even heavier. Jerusalem took these exact same sins and compounded them by adding idolatry and bloodshed [אברבנאל].
Because of these terrible deeds, a final and absolute punishment was decreed. God completely destroyed the people and uprooted their cities from the very foundation, wiping them off the face of the earth so that no settlement remained [רד"ק, מלבי"ם, אברבנאל, מצודת דוד]. According to the perspective that includes Samaria in this account, Samaria's removal took the form of being exiled from the land [רד"ק].
The divine response to this corruption is understood in two complementary ways. The first connects directly to the original events in Genesis, where God declared His intention to go down and observe the city's actions. God thoroughly examined their wicked path and the specific crimes they attempted against His angels, acting precisely upon what He witnessed firsthand [רש"י, רד"ק, מלבי"ם, שטיינזלץ]. The second approach explains that God punished and removed these cities exactly as He deemed appropriate, delivering a perfectly measured and just consequence for their actions [מצודת דוד, רד"ק, אברבנאל].