Sodom and Gomorrah - Where are they now?

One of the most intriguing stories of the Old Testament is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah - two cities which were so sinful that the bible tells us they were destroyed by "brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven" (Genesis 19:24-25) What interests me most about this story is that if such a cataclysmic event actually happened there should be some kind of archaeological evidence to confirm it. Right?

That's what prompted me to begin researching the subject. I've read countless articles on the history of the cities and about a dozen opinions on where they are now. From what I've found there are three differing opinions about the location of these ancient cities:

• They never existed
• They are under the Dead Sea
• They've been found southeast of the Dead Sea

Let's start with the first one. Some people claim that the cities are simply used as illustrations to make little boys and girls be good. You wouldn't want to end up like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, now would you? And the truth is, there is no good way to prove that the cities ever actually did exist. However we do have two largely credible sources indicating that the cities did exist and were filled with extreme wickedness: The Bible (Genesis 18-19) and Josephus. Around 194-195 AD Josephus wrote:

Now, about this time the Sodomites, overwhelmingly proud of their numbers and the extent of their wealth, showed themselves insolent to men and impious to the divinity, insomuch that they no more remembered the benefits that they had received from him, hated foreigners and avoided any contact with others. Indignant at this conduct, God accordingly resolved to chastise them for their arrogance, and not only to uproot their city, but to blast their land so completely that it should yield neither plant nor fruit whatsoever from that time forward.

Josephus is largely viewed as a credible Romano-Jewish historian.

Still others insist that the cities are located under the Southern most portions of the Dead Sea. In 1924 an Expedition found five Oases at the southeast corder of the Dad Sea, all made by fresh water streams. Also in the area, on a plain 500 feet above the level of the Dad Sea, they found the remains of a great fortified enclosure, evidently a high place for religious festivals. Just downstream from this site is thought to be the locations of Sodom and Gomorrah. However another quote from Josephus said "The traces or shadows of the ...cities are still to be seen", and the level of the Dead Sea has actually dropped since Josephus' time. So, one could reason, that if Josephus could see the ruins of the cities, we should be able to as well.

The most interesting theory I found is that the two cities are above ground and easily researched. And I have to admit, they have some pretty convincing evidence.

In areas just to the South/Southwest of the Dead Sea are rock structures which have an amazing resemblance to man made structures. The walls of a city, standalone buildings, even some sort of a sphinx formation which may have been an ancient place of worship. Many of the cuts in the rock are perfect 90 degree angles and symmetrical - which rarely happens in the wild.

The Bible says "Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah..." and wouldn't you know it, they've found sulfur (brimstone) balls. Lots of them. Some of them are actually embedded in the walls (see right) which would seem to indicate that they were moving at an incredible rate of speed.

And just in case that's not convincing enough they've also found limestone rocks that show signs of being melted, a cache of burned gold, burned bones, burned jars and burned tile. Now that's a lot of burning.

While I doubt we'll ever know for sure, and I won't try to sell my opinion to you, I have to say that option #3 is what I would go with if I were a gambling man, which I'm not. But all of the things I mentioned above do make for a pretty convincing argument that at one time there were cities - and they were burned.

Until next time.