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THE DEAD SEA & LOT’S CAVE
The Dead Sea is one of the most dramatic places on earth,
with its stunning natural environment equally matched by its
powerful spiritual symbolism. The Bible variously calls it the
“Sea of Arabah”, the “Salt Sea”, or the “Eastern Sea”. Mediaeval
texts refer to it as “the Devil’s Sea”, but the Arab people have
always known it as Bahr Lut (Lot’s Sea).
The infamous Sodom and Gomorrah and other cities of the
Dead Sea plain were the subjects of some of the most dramatic
and enduring Old Testament stories. Soon after Abraham and
his nephew, Lot, arrived in the Dead Sea Plain, they separated
their herds and people and went their own ways (Genesis
13:1-13). God said he would destroy the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah because of the inhabitant’s wicked and arrogant
ways but Abraham successfully argued with God that Lot
and any other righteous people should be spared. As they
were leaving the burning city of Sodom, Lot’s wife disobeyed
God’s order not to look back and was turned into a pillar of
salt. (Genesis 19:26). Lot and his two daughters survived
and fled to a cave near the small town of Zoar (modern-day
Safi). The Bible says Lot’s daughters gave birth to sons whose
descendents would become the Ammonite and Moabite
people, whose kingdoms were in what is now central Jordan.
The New Testament describes the destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah as an example in undergoing the punishment of
eternal fire (Jude 1:7). When speaking about human behaviour,
Jesus himself recalled the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
and specifically warned “Remember Lot’s wife” and said that “it
would be the same on the day the Son of Man is revealed”, meaning
every person’s fate would depend on whether he or she chose
material possessions or God’s
Kingdom (Luke 17:28-32).
Although not confirmed, the
sites of the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah are believed to
be the remains of the ancient
walled towns of Bab ed-Dhra’
and Numeira, in the southeastern
Dead Sea central plain.
They both still show evidence of
destruction by fire, which took
place in the Early Bronze Age,
after which they were never reinhabited.
The three other Cities of the Plain were “Admah,
Zeboiim and Bela, that is Zoah” (Genesis 14:2). The remains of
these places are still buried somewhere around the Dead Sea.
Remains of other Early Bronze Age towns, including massive
burial sites with thousands of graves, have been identified
along the haunting Dead Sea plain, at places such as Feifeh,
Safi, Khneizirah, and others.
The events in the lives of Abraham and Lot probably took
place during the Early or Middle Bronze Age (around 2500-
1500 BC).
By the 6th century AD in the early Christian era more than
2000 years after the Genesis events relating to Sodom and
Gomorrah, Lot and his daughters, the land of Jordan was
dotted with Christian monasteries and churches.
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