Connect with us

Bible Dictionary

SODOM

Our Daily Devotional

Published

on

SODOM

One of the five cities of the Jordan plain (Gen. 13:10). Lot, separating from Abraham, decided to settle in Sodom, despite the terrible reputation of this city (Gen. 13:11-13).

Chedorlaomer sacked Sodom (Gen. 14:11), taking Lot captive along with his people. Abraham delivered them and recovered their property (Gen. 14:21-24).

Later, God destroyed Sodom and at least three other cities on the plain because of their wickedness. Divine judgment consumed Sodom under a rain of sulfur and fire that undoubtedly inflamed the many asphalt pits of that valley.

Lot and his two daughters escaped the cataclysm (Gen. 19:1-29; Deut. 29:23; Is. 1:9, 10; 3:9; 13:19; Jer. 49:18; 50:40; Lam. 4:6; Ez. 16:46-56; Am. 4:11; Zeph. 2:9; Mt. 10:15; 11:24; Luke 10:12; 17:29; Rom. 9:29 ; 2 Peter 2:6; Jude 7).

In Revelation the great sinful city is allegorically designated by the names of Sodom and Egypt.

Advertisement

The precise location of Sodom has not been determined. There are two arguments that can lead to the assumption that this city was at the northern end of the plain:

(a) From a place near Bethel, Abraham and Lot could see the entire Jordan plain (Gen. 13:3, cf. v. 10). However, caution should be used with the term “whole” in this passage.

(b) Chedorlaomer, who came from the south, defeated the Amorites of Hazezon-tamar, that is, En-gedi, before confronting the king of Sodom and his allies (Gen. 14:7, 8), which would seem indicate that they were found between En-gedi and the northern end of the sea.

But there are strong arguments that lead us to assume that Sodom was located south of the Dead Sea. On the one hand, bitumen or asphalt is only abundant in the southern end of the sea (cf. Gen. 14:10).

Furthermore, there is Josephus’ mention that one of the cities, Zoar, was at the southern end of the sea (Wars 4:8, 4).

W. F. Albright, along with other brilliant scholars, has spread the thesis that the five cities could be buried under the waters of the southern gulf, which had a depth of between 60 cm. and 6 m.

Advertisement

However, due to the diversion of water from the Jordan for agricultural purposes, and the decreased contribution to the Dead Sea, a large part of the southern basin was discovered in 1979, making its exploration possible.

The negative result of the examination of this area is combined, however, with the positive result of the explorations of Bab edh-Dhra, Numeira, Safi, Feifa and Khanazir, which are located on the eastern edge of the Lisan and Ghor plains.

Although excavations have only been carried out on the first two sites (1975-1979), from them, and from the examinations of the last three places, the archaeologists Rast and Schaub have managed to obtain reliable and solid data for their identification with the five cities. of the plain (cf. “Have Sodom and Gomorrah been found”, in Biblical Archeology Review, Sept./Oct. 1980, vol. VI, no. 5, PP. 26-36).

All of these cities show evidence of having ended in a fierce conflagration. All excavated and field evidence agrees with the biblical account, independently confirming that around the middle of the 21st century BC. A great cataclysm devastated the entire country (Gen. 19:28).

The entire valley is located on the great fault that follows the course of the Jordan, the Dead Sea and the Arabah. In this region, always subject to earthquakes, there is no doubt that geological phenomena contributed to the destruction of the cities, although the Bible only mentions the divine action that triggered it.

The salt and sulfur, abundant in a free state, apparently mixed in the course of a great convulsion of the earth, caused a violent explosion; Projected incandescent into the air, they literally rained down on the plain in a rain of fire and sulfur (Gen. 19:24, 28).

Advertisement

The story of Lot’s wife transformed into a pillar of salt has frequently been related to a large hill of salt 8 km long that runs from north to south along the southwest end of the Dead Sea.

Ruins of destroyed cities could still be seen in NT times (Tacitus, History, 5:7; Josephus, Wars 4:4).

Mentions of the five cities of the plain have recently been found in ancient trade records kept in the archives of the Ebla empire (see MARDIKH [TELL]).

On these trade tablets the names of the cities of the plain are found in the same order as in Gen. 14:2.

Sodom is considered a city symbol of iniquity, guilty of a rampage in repugnant sins against nature (Jude 7). Isaiah calls the princes of Judah “princes of Sodom” (Is. 1:10; cf. Ez. 16:46-56; Rev. 11:8).

The Lord, to show the immense wickedness of rejecting Him after having heard His gracious words and having seen His powerful works, declared that the punishment applied to Sodom would be more tolerable on the day of Judgment than that of the cities that They had rejected him (Lk. 10:12).

Advertisement

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, both in the suddenness of the event and in its globality, is exposed as a warning to sinners of the coming judgments (Luke 17:29; Jude 7).

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Bible Dictionary

BETHEL

Our Daily Devotional

Published

on

BETHEL

is the name of a Canaanite city in the ancient region of Samaria, located in the center of the land of Canaan, northwest of Ai on the road to Shechem, 30 kilometers south of Shiloh and about 16 kilometers north of Jerusalem.

Bethel is the second most mentioned city in the Bible. Some identify it with the Palestinian village of Beitin and others with the Israeli settlement of Beit El.

Bethel was the place where Abraham built his altar when he first arrived in Canaan (Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:3). And at Bethel Jacob saw a vision of a ladder whose top touched heaven and the angels ascended and descended (Genesis 28:10-19).

For this reason Jacob was afraid, and said, “How terrible is this place! It is nothing other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven »and he called Bethel the place that was known as «Light» (Genesis 35-15).

Bethel was also a sanctuary in the days of the prophet Samuel, who judged the people there (1 Samuel 7:16; 1 Samuel 10:3). And it was the place where Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, was buried.

Advertisement

Bethel was the birthplace of Hiel, who sought to rebuild the city of Jericho (1 Kings 16:34).

When Bethel did not yet belong to the people of Israel, Joshua had to battle against the king of Bethel and other kings and defeated them (Joshua 12-16).

When the people of Israel had taken possession of the promised land, in the division by tribes it was assigned to the Tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18-22), but in later times it belonged to the Tribe of Judah (2 Chronicles 13:19).

It was one of the places where the Ark of the Covenant remained, a symbol of the presence of God.

In Bethel the prophet Samuel judged the people.

Then the prophet Elisha went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up the road, some boys came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him: “Go up, bald man; Come up, bald! When he looked back and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the forest and tore to pieces forty-two boys” (2 Kings 2:23).

Advertisement

After the division of the kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam I, king of Israel, had a golden calf raised at Bethel (1 Kings 21:29) which was destroyed by Josiah, king of Judah, many years later (2 Kings 23:15). .

Bethel was also a place where some of the Babylonian exiles who returned to Israel in 537 BC gathered. (Ezra 2:28).

The prophet Hosea, a century before Jeremiah, refers to Bethel by another name: “Bet-Aven” (Hosea 4:15; Hosea 5:8; Hosea 10:5-8), which means ‘House of Iniquity’, ‘House of Nothingness’, ‘House of Vanity’, ‘House of Nullity’, that is, of idols.

In Amos 7: 12-13 the priest Amaziah tells the prophet Amos that he flee to Judah and no longer prophesy in Bethel because it is the king’s sanctuary, and the head of the kingdom.

The prophet Jeremiah states that “the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel” (Jeremiah 48:13), because of their idolatry and, specifically, the worship of the golden calf.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Bible Dictionary

PUTEOLI

Our Daily Devotional

Published

on

PUTEOLI

(lat.: “small fountains”).
Two days after arriving in Rhegium, the ship carrying Paul arrived at Puteoli, which was then an important maritime city.

The apostle found Christians there, and enjoyed their hospitality (Acts 28:13).

It was located on the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples, near the site of present-day Pouzzoles.

The entire surrounding region is volcanic, and the Solfatare crater rises behind the city.

Continue Reading

Bible Dictionary

PUT (Nation)

Our Daily Devotional

Published

on

PUT

Name of a nation related to the Egyptians and neighbors of their country (Gen. 10:6).

Put is mentioned with Egypt and other African countries, especially Libya (Nah. 3:9) and Lud (Ez. 27:10; Is. 66:19 in the LXX. Put appears between Cush and Lud in Jer. 46:9; Ez. 30:5).

In the LXX he is translated as Libyans in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Josephus also identifies it with Libya (Ant. 1:6, 2), but in Nah. 3.9 is distinguished from the Libyans.

Current opinion is divided between Somalia, Eastern Arabia and Southern Arabia (Perfume Coast).

Continue Reading

Bible Dictionary

PURPLE

Our Daily Devotional

Published

on

PURPLE

A coloring substance that is extracted from various species of mollusks. The ancient Tyrians used two types of them: the “Murex trunculus”, from which the bluish purple was extracted, and the “Murex brandaris”, which gave the red.

The ink of its coloring matter varies in color depending on the region in which it is fished.

Piles of murex shells, artificially opened, have been discovered in Minet el-Beida, port of ancient Ugarit (Ras Shamra), which gives evidence of the great antiquity of the use of this purple dye (see UGARIT).

Due to its high price, only the rich and magistrates wore purple (Est. 8:15, cf. the exaltation of Mordecai, v. 2, Pr. 31:22; Dan. 5:7; 1 Mac. 10 :20, 62, 64; 2 Mac. 4:38; cf. v 31; Luke 16:19; Rev. 17:4).

The rulers adorned themselves in purple, even those of Midian (Judg. 8:26). Jesus was mocked with a purple robe (Mark 15:17).

Advertisement

Great use had been made of purple-dyed fabrics for the Tabernacle (Ex. 25:4; 26:1, 31, 36) and for the high priest’s vestments (Ex. 28:5, 6, 15, 33; 39: 29). The Jews gave symbolic value to purple (Wars 5:5, 4).

Continue Reading

Bible Dictionary

PURIM

Our Daily Devotional

Published

on

PURIM

(Heb., plural of “luck”).
Haman cast lots to determine a day of good omen for the destruction of the Jews.

As Haman’s designs were undone, the liberation of the Jews was marked by an annual festival (Est. 3:7; 9:24-32) on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar.

This festival is not mentioned by name in the NT, although there are exegetes who assume that it is the one referred to in Jn. 5:1.

This festival continues to be celebrated within Judaism: the book of Esther is read, and curses are pronounced on Haman and his wife, blessings are pronounced on Mordecai and the eunuch Harbonah (Est. 1:10; 7: 9).

Continue Reading

Bible Dictionary

PURIFICATION, PURITY

Our Daily Devotional

Published

on

PURIFICATION, PURITY

In the Mosaic Law four ways to purify oneself from contamination were indicated:

(a) Purification of contamination contracted by touching a dead person (Num. 19; cf. Num. 5:2, 3),

(b) Purification from impurity due to bodily emissions (Lev. 15; cf. Num. 5:2, 3).

(c) Purification of the woman in labor (Lev. 12:1-8; Luke 2:21-24).

(d) Purification of the leper (Lev. 14).

Advertisement

To this, the scribes and Pharisees added many other purifications, such as washing hands before eating, washing vessels and dishes, showing great zeal in these things, while inside they were full of extortion and iniquity (Mark 7: 2-8).

In Christianity the necessary purification extends:

to the heart (Acts 15:9; James 4:8),
to the soul (1 Pet. 1:22), and
to the conscience through the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:14).

Continue Reading

Trending