The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah #24

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is the account in Genesis 18 and 19 of God’s judgment on two cities in the plain of the Jordan. After Abraham pleaded for the righteous who might live there, God sent two angels to bring Lot’s family out, then rained sulfur and fire on the cities. The event became a standing example of divine judgment throughout the Bible.

Biblical Account

Three visitors came to Abraham at Mamre, and one of them, identified as the LORD, told him that the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah was great and that he would go down to see (Genesis 18:20-21). Abraham interceded. He asked whether God would sweep away the righteous with the wicked, and bargained from fifty righteous people down to ten, each time hearing that the city would be spared for their sake (Genesis 18:23-32).

Two angels reached Sodom in the evening, where Abraham’s nephew Lot, who lived there, insisted they stay in his house. The men of the city surrounded the house and demanded that the visitors be brought out, and the angels struck the crowd with blindness (Genesis 19:1-11). The angels urged Lot to take his family and flee, and they led them out by the hand when he hesitated (Genesis 19:12-16). Lot was allowed to escape to the small town of Zoar (Genesis 19:17-23).

Then “the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven” (Genesis 19:24). Lot’s wife looked back and became a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26). The next morning Abraham looked down and saw smoke rising from the plain like the smoke of a furnace (Genesis 19:27-28).

Theological Significance

Later Scripture recalls Sodom often. Ezekiel names her sins in social terms: she was arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned, and “neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy” (Ezekiel 16:49-50). Jesus compared the days of the Son of Man to the days of Lot, and warned his hearers to remember Lot’s wife (Luke 17:28-32). Peter says God rescued righteous Lot and made the cities an example of what is coming to the ungodly (2 Peter 2:6-8). Traditions differ over how much weight to place on the sexual, inhospitable, or social aspects of the city’s sin, and the biblical writers name several.

The account also shows God’s justice tempered by mercy. Abraham’s bargaining assumes that God will not act unjustly, and God rescues Lot for Abraham’s sake (Genesis 19:29).

Historical and Archaeological Notes

The location of the cities is debated. Some scholars look to the southern end of the Dead Sea, where early Bronze Age sites such as Bab edh-Dhra and Numeira have been excavated. Others propose Tall el-Hammam northeast of the Dead Sea. No proposal has won general agreement, and the biblical text places the cities in the “plain of Jordan” (Genesis 13:10-12).