Sodom and Gomorrah

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December 7 1998

After Terah lived seventy years he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran fathered Lot, but died before Terah. Abram married Sarai. Nahor married Milcah the daughter of Milcah and sister of Iscah. Sarai was unable to conceive children.

Terah took Abram and Sarai and Lot his grandson from Ur of the Chaldees to live in Haran in the land of Canaan. When he was two hundred and five years old he died there.

After Terah died the LORD told Abram to leave Haran, leave the house his father had built, and leave the relatives, and to go instead to a different place. The LORD also told Abram that he would be the ancestor of a large and blessed family known throughout the world, and that his offspring would be welcomed by all because their existence would be a blessing to all the world. Furthermore, anyone who badmouthed his offspring would be cursed.

Abram was seventy five when he, Sarai, and Lot left Haran. They took with them all their belongings and everyone who lived in their settlement, including their slaves. They crossed through Canaan to Sichem in the plain of Moreh. At Sichem the LORD appeared to Abram to tell him that Canaan would someday belong to his descendants. Abram built an altar to the LORD, then he and his group traveled to a mountain east of Bethel and west of Hai, set up camp, and he built another altar to the LORD.

Abram and his group left the mountain and traveled further south because there was a severe famine. They went to Egypt. As they approached Egypt, he told his wife Sarai that because she was beautiful, Egyptian men were bound to want her and would kill him to get her, "so if anyone asks, tell them you're my sister."

The princes of the Pharaoh's house saw Sarai, told the Pharaoh about her, and she was taken to his palace, along with Abram and the rest of the group. Because the Pharaoh liked Sarai so well, he let Abram have sheep, oxen, donkeys, camels, and servants.

The LORD set great plagues on Pharaoh and his house because of he'd taken another man's wife. When the Pharaoh found out that Sarai and Abram were married, he got quite upset and demanded to know why he'd been told they were siblings, then kicked them out of the palace. The guards escorted them out, but let Abram keep all the wealth he had acquired while they lived there. By this time Abram was very rich.

When they left Egypt they traveled to the south. Eventually they went back north to the mountain between Bethel and Hai. At his old altar Abram worshipped the LORD.

While in Egypt Lot had also acquired flocks, herds, and tents. The area where they lived was too small to share with each other and the nearby Canaanites and Perizzites. The herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle fought with each other, and Abram proposed that they separate. "If you go to the left, I'll go to the right, and vice versa."

Lot looked out at the plain of Jordan with its plentiful water and green hills that reminded him of the verdant delta of the Nile in Egypt. He chose the plain and he and his group travelled east near Zoar, which at that time was called Bela. Eventually they settled between Zoar and Sodom. Sodom was a wicked city, but Lot didn't know it yet.

After this separation the LORD spoke again to Abram, reminding him that the land of Canaan would someday belong to him and his descendants forever. "Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth, in other words, so numerous that no one will ever be able to count them all. So travel around and get some idea of the extent of this land that I've promised to you." Abram and his group travelled to Hebron and arrived at the plain of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and Aner. There he built another altar to the LORD.

Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is now Zoar, had served the Elamite king Chedorlaomer for twelve years but in the thirteenth year they rebelled against him. In the fourteenth year Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations marched in from their countries in the east. They sacked Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzims in Ham, the Emins in Shaveh Kiriathaim, the Horites in their mount Seir, marching as far as Elparan, which is by the wilderness. They went to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and pillaged the country of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazezontamar.

The kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela mustered their armies in the valley of Siddim which is now the Dead Sea. The eastern kings met them in battle and drove them from the field. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fell into some of the slimepits that were common in the area and died. The rest of the survivors of the defeated armies reached the mountain.

The victorious invaders took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, all their stored food, and forced Lot and his group to march east with all their property. One of Lot's household had escaped to the plain of Mamre, who was allied with Abram. Abram armed three hundred and eighteen of his trained servants and travelled to Dan in an attempt to free his relatives.

The eastern kings had superior numbers but Abram and his servants attacked them every night in a form of guerrila warfare. By the time they had reached Hobah which is on the left side of Damascus, Abram and his servants had slaughtered Chedorlaomer and the other eastern kings, freeing Lot and all of his people and property.

The king of Sodom went out to meet the victorious Hebrews at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale. Melchizedek who was king of Salem and priest of the most high God arrived and served bread and wine. "Abram is blessed because he serves the most high God who possesses the heaven and earth. Bless the most high God who delivered our enemies into your hands." Melchizedek gave Abram one tenth of the spoils that the eastern kings had carried away from Sodom and Abram had brought back.

The king of Sodom told Abram that if he wanted the goods to give back the citizens and servants that had been carried off by the eastern kings. Abram replied, "as God is my witness, I wouldn't take anything that belongs to you, because then you'd tell the whole world that the wealth I have used to belong to you. All I want from you is the food which the men with me have eaten and a fair reward for my allies."

Years later, after Abram had changed his name to Abraham, he accompanied three men who were on their way home to Sodom, the LORD appeared to Abraham and said, "the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah are rumored far and wide, and I'm going to find out how much of what I heard is true. If it is, I'm going to destroy those cities." The three Sodomites fled from the LORD, running back home as fast as they could. Abraham asked, "will you destroy everyone there, regardless of whether they are wicked or righteous? For example, if there were fifty righteous people there, would you destroy them along with the rest? Since you are the Judge of all the earth, won't you let them live?"

The LORD replied, "If I find fifty righteous within the city in Sodom, then I will spare everyone."

Abraham asked, "it's not really my place to question you, but what if there were only forty five?"

The LORD replied, "I'll spare the city for the sake of forty five righteous people."

Abraham asked, "what if there were only forty?"

The LORD replied, "I'll spare the city for the sake of forty righteous people."

Abraham asked, "I don't mean to anger you, but what if there were only thirty?"

The LORD replied, "Okay, I'll spare the city for the sake of thirty righteous people."

Abraham asked, "I know that I'm way out of line here, but what if there were only twenty?"

The LORD replied, "Twenty would be enough for me to spare the city."

Abraham asked, "this is the last time I'll ask, but what if there were only ten?"

The LORD replied, "I'll spare the city for the sake of ten," then left Abraham there. Abraham returned home.

Early the next morning Abraham was at the altar of the LORD. He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and the land of the plain, and saw what looked like the smoke of a furnace. He headed south, dwelling between Kadesh and Shur, and visited Gerar.

The evening the LORD had spoken to Abraham, he sent two angels to Sodom. Lot was sitting in the gate of the city, saw the angels approach, and bowed in greeting. "Won't you stay at my house, rest there and wash your feet, so that you can get an early start in the morning?"

At first the angels declined Lot's hospitality, intending to walk through the streets during the night. As the three of them walked and talked, they finally accepted his offer and Lot served them a feast which included unleavened bread. After the meal the men of Sodom surrounded the house and told Lot, "we want to have sex with the two men who are staying with you." Lot went outside and wouldn't let the Sodomites inside. "These men are guests in my house and do not have your lifestyle. Besides, wouldn't you rather date my two virgin daughters?"

The Sodomites said, "step aside or we'll rape you instead," then they tried to break down the door to Lot's house. Hearing the trouble, the angels used hypnosis to convince the angry crowd that they were blind, then pulled Lot back inside. Eventually the crowd wandered away in a daze.

The angels proceeded to ask Lot whether he had any other family in the city. "We were sent by the LORD to destroy this place because of its wickedness. Get your belongings and all your family and get out of town tonight." Lot went over to his sons in law to tell them that "the LORD will destroy this city." His sons in law didn't believe him, so his older daughters remained in the city.

In the morning the angels tried to hurry Lot and his wife and daughters. Eventually the angels took hold of the four of them and physically removed them from Sodom. Once they were outside the walls the angels said, "Run for it! Get to the mountain because Sodom and all the plain will be consumed this morning! And don't look behind you at the destruction!"

Lot prayed: "Oh LORD, you've been merciful and spared my life, but I'm afraid that I won't survive out in the open. The city of Bela is on the mountain, and it is so small that it isn't worth destroying. I would rather take shelter there." The LORD replied, "I'll spare that city, but hurry up and get there so I can destroy the others." This is how Bela came to be called Zoar, which means "little".

The sun had risen by the time Lot entered Zoar. The LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and all the plant life. Lot's wife had fallen behind the others and was buried in the rain of brimstone.

After the destruction Lot was afraid to live in Zoar, so he and his daughters left Zoar to in a cave higher up on the mountain. It seemed they were the only survivors of the wrath of the LORD. The firstborn daughter, not knowing about the lands outside the plain, said to the younger, "We will not find husbands now. Let's give our father wine, then mate with him." The older daughter did this the first night, and the younger the next night. Both became pregnant. The older had a son named Moab, who became the ancestor of the Moabites. The younger had a son named Benammi, who became the ancestor of the children of Ammon.
The preceding paraphrase of the story of the Cities of the Plain is the first (and possibly only) installment of what I plan to call "The Prose Vernacular Bible". Clues as to the locations of the five cities are given elsewhere, and none of them appear to point to the southern end of the Dead Sea: The possibility that the term sanverim was meant as hypnosis was first suggested by Immanuel Velikovsky. See also his previously unpublished (and little known) first volume of Worlds In Collision in particular these excerpts: Here are a few more links:
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Copyright 1998-2001 all rights reserved. Previous update April 10 1999. Last updated Thursday, December 20, 2001.