Meaning of LIFE OF SODOM

It is only mentioned in the Bible in Deut. 32:32, a most probably symbolic passage. Josephus speaks of a plant that grew near Sodom and whose fruit, despite its beautiful appearance, turned into ashes when touched (Wars 4:8, 4; cf. Tacitus, Natural History 5, 6).

But this strange fruit does not correspond to the description in Deut. 32:32. An attempt has been made to identify this Sodom plant with:

(A) a milkweed ("Calotropis gigantea", or "procera"), which the Arabs call "'ushar"; grows near En-gedi and in other tropical regions of the Dead Sea basin; However, it is a very straight shrub, which does not resemble a vine at all.

(B) Coloquinth ("Citrullus colocynthus"), a creeping plant, whose fruit is pleasant to the eye, but bitter, and can only be used as a strong purgative.

However, the most plausible thing seems to be to consider as a poetic image both this "poisonous grape of Sodom", as well as the "wine" of Deut. 32:33, which is compared to the poison of serpents and the cruel poison of the asps.

These comparisons are very much within the line of Hebrew poetry (cf. Is. 1:9-10; Jer. 2:21; 23:14).