Some scholars have used this phrase as evidence Sodom and Gomorrah are still visible today, as a warning to all who pass. Though no site can be validated with absolute certainty, the evidence gleamed from all of the sites taken as a whole is tantalizing.
These Articles are Written by the Publishers of The Amazing Bible Timeline with World History Some clues that aid in the search: Sodom and Gomorrah formed the Pentapolis of the Cities of the Plain (Genesis 14:2) of the Jordan Valley which included Admah, Zeboim, and Zoar (Bela). It was there that decided to settle with his family after a dispute between his herdsmen and over the land on which their herds and flocks grazed; meanwhile, Abraham remained and settled in the territory of “Peter Paul Rubens, Lot fleeing Sodom” Sodom and Gomorrah were famous for the wickedness of its people as shown in Genesis 13:13 and by Genesis 19, it was doomed by to be completely destroyed. Lot was warned about this destruction by the two angels he protected from the men of the city. He was told to take his family and find refuge in the mountains. Another clue: Lot pleaded for the angels to spare a little village called Zoar so they could find shelter there. This was granted and according to Genesis 19:24-25, the Lord “rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah. He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation.” The destruction was so great that Abraham saw it as he stood in Mamre (modern Hebron), far off west of the Jordan Valley.
Lot and his daughters left Zoar later and temporarily lived in a cave in the mountains. Zoar: The Key to Sodom and Gomorrah For creation geologist Dr. Steve Austin, Biblical archaeologist Dr. Wood, and other scholars, Zoar was the key to finding the doomed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. To pinpoint Zoar (and possibly Sodom and Gomorrah), they first needed to locate the region where the cities were built. The search for Zoar took them to the southern region of the Dead Sea where the Jordan Valley is located, near the modern city of Safi in Jordan. They looked for the cave where Lot and his daughters supposedly lived in when they escaped Zoar and found the remains of an ancient church named the Sanctuary of St.
Lot with a cave near it. It overlooked the modern town of Safi, which made it possible that the town once known as Zoar is now named as-Safi. Zoar (Safi) is the only town that is still in existence after thousands of years since the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Historical records show that it was involved in commercial trade as recently as the 10th century. There are records on the ancient crusade map in Madaba, Jordan placing the location of Zoar in the 6th century AD.
According to According to and (15:5 and 48:34-35 respectively), Zoar was located in. The Jewish historian stated that Zoar was located south of the Dead Sea. Zoar was also described by the tribes that lived there as “As-Safiyah”. These point to the location of Safi as former Zoar making it was the perfect jump-off point for finding the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Bab edh-Dhra and Numeira: Ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah?
The angels of the Lord gave Lot and his family enough time to escape the destruction. According to Dr.
Steve Austin, they probably traveled for six hours to Zoar by foot. He and other Biblical scholars that support this theory retraced the steps of Lot and came to the conclusion that the ruins of Bab edh-Dhra and Numeira in Jordan are the possible candidates for the sites of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah. Safi could be reached within six hours from Bab edh-Dhra by foot, and it was one of the biggest sites in the area that was settled by the time of Abraham (Early Bronze Age). The destruction that happened at the site was perhaps visible from Mamre (modern Hebron) in Canaan, and its location was an excellent sister city site. The remains of Bab edh-Dhra is now just a mound (tell) with a cemetery right beside it. Geologists discovered that Bab edh-Dhra is located near an enormous fault zone, and the site experienced massive changes in geology over the years.
It was once a fortified city with a 21-ft wide defensive wall (now collapsed) and contained a temple of an unknown god. Wadi Numeira, the remains of an ancient city near the ruins of Bab edh-Dhar, is said to be the city of Gomorrah. Numeira, just like Bab edh-Dhra, had a collapsed fortification, border fault, and evidence of widespread destruction caused by fire (burn deposits). Pieces of charcoal (from burned timber, possibly house beams) were found when the sites were excavated and in Numeira itself. Two human skeletons who died from trauma (burns and collapse of a structure) were found buried on site. Both places were destroyed during the Early Bronze Age by ignition and collapse of structures, consistent with the “fire and burning sulfur” destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In addition, both sites were located near enormous border fault lines which contained a combination of combustible bitumen, petroleum, and natural gas.
It is possible that what destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah was a super-earthquake that spewed these destructive materials forced up by earth’s movement. Evidence Against This Being the Site of Sodom and Gomorrah Most archaeologists place the destruction of the two proposed cities during Early Bronze Age III which puts them about 400 years before the Biblical dates for their destruction. So does this mean these aren’t the infamous Biblical cities?
Bryant Wood of the Biblical Archaeological Society writes “ In reality, the archaeological date for the end of the EB III period cannot be determined with any degree of certainty. Dating for the Bronze Age in Palestine is dependent upon synchronisms with the known history of Egypt. To date, we have no such synchronisms for the EB III (Early Bronze Age III) period. To date, we have no such synchronisms for the EB III period.
There are a few correlations for the previous EB II period, suggesting that it was approximately contemporary with the Archaic Period (First and Second Dynasties) in Egypt, ca. 3100–2700 BC“ What do you think? Have they been found? Tell us below!
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Sodom and Gomorrah were part of the 5 cities of the Jordan Plain! The Jordan is at the N end of the Dead Sea, not the S end! Zoar, formerly called Bela (Lot said it was small/insignificant = Zoar) still remains where the above scholars pin-point it. All the other geographical markers mentioned in Genesis point to the N end of the Dead Sea! Check out the dig of Dr.
Steven Collins, Tall el-Hammam, and you will find amazing evidence there! Check out the geography with Genesis 12 + 13!
God bless, Kurt Schafli. According to me i do not believe that it is hard to locate the sites of the destroyed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, especially considering that when the family of Lot were fleeing, the LORD had strictly commanded that no one should look back till they reached Zoar. However, it is recorded that Lot’s wife disobeyed God and looked back and the LORD punished her by turning her into a pillar of salt which is supposed to be standing in the very spot to date. If that is the case then, why cant those studying to locate the cities find it easy then by just studying the pillar of salt? Or so I thought. I stand corrected.
Here are four signs that a nation is becoming like or is already like Sodom and Gomorrah. Compromising with Sin The Bible says long before Sodom and Gomorrah were going to be destroyed by fire that “the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord” (Gen 13:13), but since the land was well watered, Lot chose to plant his family near to Sodom. What happened was Lot started compromising, and instead of avoiding the sinful city/state of Sodom, “Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom” (Gen 13:12), or right next to it. Before you know it, Lot’s sitting at the city gate, where the cities leaders and business men met (Gen 10:1), so now Lot’s not only in Sodom, Sodom’s in Lot! Lot was compromising with sin and if not for the two angels taking him by force, he and his whole family would have died in the coming fire (Gen 19:16). Declining Morality If you look back at TV shows just 10 or 20 years ago, you can notice that people were a lot more courteous, there is hardly any profanity, and there is even less sexually explicit images. Now, go back another 10 or 20 years ago.
How has society changed since “Andy Griffith’s” life in Mayberry? What was Andy’s society like when you compare it to todays? Is it betteror, as you might suspect, growing more wicked every day? Like the frog in the pot, our nation doesn’t seem to notice that evil is growing day by day, and the heat keeps going up while the frog sits happily in the water, not knowing it’s soon to be soup. Is it any wonder that so many of our children are addicted to pornography? Pray for our nation to repent and trust in Christ, before we too follow the ways of Sodom and Gomorrah, which today no longer exist. Corrupt Leadership Since Sodom and Gomorrah were such evil nations, you would expect that their business practices were as well.
It’s very possible that their political leaders would have been bribed by special interest groups. It was probably a lot like it is today in many of the political spheres in passing legislation through Congress, inserting “pork belly” pet projects just for their own district, almost assuring their reelection.
Also, the way some corporations do business is deplorable, outsourcing jobs just to make a little bit more profit, leaving unemployed skilled and experienced workers behind. Some businesses intentionally take losses for certain things just to reduce their taxes. One company was recently found guilty of burning their own warehouse down in order to collect on insurance and build a newer, better one. When these kinds of business and political practices prevail in any nation, then that (or any) nation is becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah.
What’s Good is Evil When the two angels came to rescue Lot, they wanted to spend the night in the town square (Gen 19:2), but Lot knew it was too dangerous, but “the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house” (Gen 19:4), and these men angrily cried out, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them” (Gen 19:5), which clearly means they wanted to have homosexual relationships with the men (who were actually angels), but Lot told them no. The men didn’t take no for an answer and so “they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down” (Gen 19:9). What used to be called evil is called good, and what used to be good is now evil. When this happens (and I believe it has), the nation is becoming very much like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Bonus Content Sexual Immorality There is a Bible reference that indicates what society can become like over time. It says that they forgot how to blush, meaning, they so flaunted their sexuality that they had no shame and were not embarrassed about anything anymore. It’s as if anything goes these days. Sex sells, but the payday is horrific. For those who are involved in sexual immorality, including the unmarried and those involved in sex outside of marriage (adultery), God gives them no assurance that they are going to be saved. When a nation grows so evil that sex is brazenly posted and advertised, then that’s a sign that the nation is becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah, and we all know what happened to them. No Fear of God When a person or nation does not fear God, they have zero chance of having biblical wisdom, because the very beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Prov 9:10).
What seems right to us is often contrary to the will and Word of God, but when any nation no longer fears God, then that nation is headed for God’s judgment, just as surely as Sodom and Gomorrah had. The fear that the Bible speaks about is not a fear of being struck dead or of God being angry at you.
The fear of God is a deep, holy, abiding respect and reverence for God and His Word. Here is why it’s a good thing to fear God: “The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom” (Prov 15:33a), and “The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm” (Prov 19:23). When a nation no longer fears God, they had better fear God even more, but fear His holy righteous wrath. Conclusion Our society today puts up with so much more violence, filthy language, and nudity, that if our great grandparents or grandparents could see it, they’d probably throw up. It would make them sick to their stomach.
Today, many nations compromise with sin, this causes morality to slide downward, and this corruption enters the business and political sphere, until everyone things evil is okay and what is good is now evil. These are clear signs that a nation is headed toward the same fate as Sodom and Gomorrah. Remember, these nations were wiped from off the face of the earthforever.
May God richly bless you, Pastor Jack Wellman.