These were the original inhabitants of the Promised Land, whose territory “extended from Sidon, in the direction of Gerar, as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha”. Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other cities of the Plain, are first mentioned in the Bible in the description of the Canaanites and their territories. Francis Xavier University and a biblical archaeologist specializing in the archaeology of Jordan, established a view that Sodom and Gomorrah are stories of an “actual natural catastrophe to which were added Israelite and non-Israelite traditions and the authors’ perspectives on punishment and God’s Justice”. However, following the descriptions by several key scholars, Burton MacDonald, Professor Emeritus in the Religious Studies department of Canada’s St. Some associated their location and the Biblical story with the now-wasteland regions along the Dead Sea shore, while others characterized the tale as “purely mythical”. Over time scholarly and public views on these cities diverged.
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The only town to be spared from such fate was Zoar (Bela), thanks to Abraham and Lot - whose story is well known from the Bible. So it was, that Zeboiim, Admah, Sodom and Gomorrah, were all decimated for their sinfulness - apparently in a “rain of fire”. Lot’s wife was said to have been turned into a pillar of salt for looking back to see the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as she and her family were fleeing. ‘ Lot’s wife’ – According to legend, this rock salt column on Mount Sodom, on the coast of the Dead Sea in Israel, is believed to be the petrified wife of Lot. The cities are generally associated with the Dead Sea region, but sadly, their precise locations were never truly pinpointed. And for that, they had to suffer the wrath of the heavens. Mentioned in the New Testament, the Hebrew Bible, the Hadith, the Quran, and deuterocanonical books, these cities were always associated with sin, depravity, rape, egoism, and all out decadent behavior. Along with Sodom and Gomorrah, these five towns were likely situated in the south of the land of Canaan. In Genesis 13:12, they are mentioned as two of the five “cities of the Plain”, which were named in Genesis 14:2, as being the towns of Zeboiim, Admah, and Bela (known as Zoar). As far as biblical sites go, both Sodom and Gomorrah are possibly the most famous of all.
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The Bible’s Book of Genesis paints a stark picture about the fate of these two fabled cities. The Facts We Know About Sodom and Gomorrah Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities - and also the vegetation in the land.” - Genesis 19:23-25 Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah - from the Lord out of the heavens. “By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land.
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But did they really exist? It’s time to put the biblical traditions aside, and to search the lands by the Dead Sea and discover the remnants of these ancient cities. Supposedly obliterated in a rain of fire, these two cities are reported to have suffered the wrath of God for their sins, debauchery, and egoism.
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Sodom and Gomorrah are two famous cities mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament, and there are few who haven’t heard of them at one point in their life.