Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SODOM

(Heb. sĕḏōm)

A legendary city in the vicinity of the Dead Sea. The term may have arisen from the word “field,” or “burning,” or “enclosed space,” though there is little scholarly agreement on this point.

According to an ancient tradition for which there is little archaeological evidence, Sodom was one of five cities of the plain (Gen. 14:2) forming a so-called Pentapolis. The other cities were Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar. This tradition is based upon the single reference in Genesis, though there are other references to some of the cities. Sodom’s inhabitants joined with various other neighbors in fighting the marauding Chedorlaomer, king of Elam (Gen. 14:1). Lot, Abraham’s nephew, chose Sodom for his residence (Gen. 13:8-13).

Of the 44 references to Sodom in the Bible, 23 include a reference to Gomorrah; however, of the two, Sodom is the more significant. Sodom is remembered as such an excessively evil city that the wrath of God came upon it. Genesis reflects both sexual perversity and gross inhospitality (Gen. 19:1-11) at Sodom. Some writers equate Sodom with a warning (Deut. 29:17-29[MT 16-28]) and sometimes as an accusation against the covenant people (Amos 4:11; Isa. 1:9-11). The same idea is found in the NT (Matt. 10:15 = Luke 10:12; Rom. 9:29; 2 Pet. 2:6; Jude 7).

The precise location for the ancient city is not known, though most conjecture centers around the Dead Sea. Although there is no creditable evidence, some early 20th-century researchers suggested that Sodom together with other cities of the valley was situated under what is now the southern end of the Dead Sea. These theories pointed to settlement within the 2nd millennium b.c.e. More recent archaeological discoveries have pointed to urban areas just east and south of the Dead Sea during the 3rd and early 2nd millennium. On the basis of excavations at Bab ed-Dhra (located on the tongue of land extending into the Dead Sea from its eastern shore) and at Numeira (further south on the eastern shore), some have proposed that to these two sites belong the valley cities mentioned in the Genesis narrative.

Watson E. Mills

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SODOM

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)