In our Summer 1974 issue we published the first definitive report on one of the most significant finds of recent years\u2014the discovery of five sites southeast of the Dead Sea which appear to be the Cities of the Plain mentioned in Genesis chapters 13, 14, and 19. The most famous of these five cities were Sodom and Gomorrah, so often mentioned in the Bible as examples of God\u2019s judgment on sin.<\/p>\n
Our Summer 1974 report was based on a very preliminary announcement of the discovery issued by the scholars involved, Walter E. Rast of Valparaiso University and R. Thomas Schaub of Pennsylvania State University. Since that time, further details on the discovery, made in the summer of 1973, have been published. A very brief report of work done during May and June, 1975 has also been released. Plans call for further work to be carried out at the sites in the summers of 1977, 1979, 1981 and 1983.<\/p>\n
In the report of the 1973 discovery of the sites, one is struck by the evidence of widespread burning which the archaelogists found at these ancient cities (See Genesis 19). At Bab edh-Dhra, the northernmost of the five sites (see the map on page 24), Rast and Schaub reported that there is \u201cevidence of severe burning on many of the stones.\u201d (page 8 of Reference 1). At the next site to the south, Numeirah, the archaeologists found the following: \u201cThe site as a whole is covered with ashy soil, suggesting that it was not utilized after the destruction which appears to be so evident on the surface. On the north side especially, the soil is spongy ash, and can be picked up in handfulls.\u201d (page 9 of Reference 1)<\/p>\n
During the 1975 campaign, Rast and Schaub again visited the site of Numeirah. Since their last visit in 1973, they found that some illegal digging had taken place. To the amazement of the two scholars, the pit that had been dug cut through a layer of dark ash almost seven feet thick! In this layer of ash they saw a wooden beam and pottery sherds from the same period as the final occupation of the fortified town at Bab edh-Dhra. Rast and Schaub hope to begin excavation at Numeirah during the 1977 season. (Reference 2)<\/p>\n
At Feifeh, further evidence of burning was found: \u201cA surface feature worthy of attention was the thick spongy charcoal across <\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 6:1 (Winter 1977) p. 26<\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 6:1 (Winter 1977) p. 27<\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 6:1 (Winter 1977) p. 28<\/p>\n
much of the site. Feifeh is much like Numeirah in this regard, the destruction dating probably to the end of the Early Bronze settlement.\u201d (page 12 of Reference 1)<\/p>\n
In May and June, 1975, excavations were carried out at Bab edh-Dhra. It was found that the fortified town was destroyed at the end of the period archaeologists refer to as Early Bronze (EB) III (ca. 2600-2300 B.C.). During the EB IV period (ca. 2300-2150 B.C.) there was a settlement outside the walls, but the fortified town lay in ruins.<\/p>\n
The town wall was found to have been constructed in a very unique manner as reported by Rast and Schaub: \u201cThe EB people built their first town in the hilly area above the wadi [Wadi Kerak]. They laid up a hefty wall around the site, using an unusual construction technique which we have designated \u2018segment construction\u2019. They built the stone foundations of the defense wall in segments, averaging between 15\u201325 m. in length [49-82 feet]. We were able to determine that the wall was built in a clockwise direction. The <\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 6:1 (Winter 1977) p. 29<\/p>\n
builders laid a face perpendicular to the main wall and then worked *** counter-clockwise from that face to the next segment. After completing this, the builders moved some 15\u201325 m. [49-82 feet] head in a clockwise direction and then again moved backwards. This *** of construction, unprecedented in the ancient Near East, could have resisted serious damage from earthquakes (quite common in his region) more successfully than a solid wall with interlaced portions.\u201d (page 2 of Reference 3) The wall was found to be at least 23 feet thick (Reference 2).<\/p>\n
Their report continues: \u201cOutside the town walls and to the south we found dwellings made of mud brick that were contemporary with the last phase of the walled settlement (EB III). This might have been one of the suburbs of Bab edh-Dhra….<\/p>\n
\u201cSurface exploration revealed several towers that abutted the own wall. We excavated the \u2018Northeast Tower\u2019 and found 13 courses of mud brick superstructure lying on a stone foundation. The interior if the tower contained a room filled with debris and pottery.<\/p>\n
\u201cInside the town wall in the southwest sector many buildings made of mud bricks, some fired, others sun-dried, were excavated. Probably these buildings belonged either to domestic quarters or to in industrial area. Various types of mortars and grinding stones were scattered over the floors. This sector of the town was destroyed by Fire. The foundations of the buildings were buried under tons of burnt bricks.\u201d<\/i> (pages 2 and 3 of Reference 3, italics ours)<\/p>\n
An additional shaft tomb from the late third millennium was excavated in 1975. The bones in the tomb indicated that some of the ancient inhabitants of the area reached heights of six feet four inches, which is extremely tall for this early period.<\/p>\n
As additional archaeological evidence is accumulated, it tends to support the hypothesis that these sites are the Cities of the Plain that were so violently overthrown as described in Genesis 19.<\/p>\n
In our initial report, we suggested that Sodom might have been located at the southernmost site of Khanazir and Gomorrah at Feifa. In looking at the plans of the five sites, however, it is evident that the northernmost site, Bab edh-Dhra was the most prominent of the five cities. Since Sodom was the most well known of the five cities, it was probably the largest and therefore can possibly be identified with Bab edh-Dhra. Since Sodom and Gomorrah are always mentioned together in the Bible, we would expect Gomorrah to be located next to Sodom, or at the site of Numeira. In comparing the surviving Arabic name of the site with the ancient biblical name, there seems to be a relationship. In Bible times, Hebrew was written without vowels, so we need to compare only the consonants of the two names. <\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 6:1 (Winter 1977) p. 30<\/p>\n
The Hebrew consonants of Gomorrah are ʿMR, ʿ being the symbol for the Hebrew laryngal ayin<\/i>. The consonants of Numeira, on the other hand, are NMR. Initial laryngals like the ayin<\/i> in ʿMR were commonly lost or transformed in the process of time or when they came over into other languages or dialects. In this case, it is possible that nasalization took place so that ayin<\/i> in Hebrew ʿMR became the N in Arabic NMR.<\/p>\n
Another surprise relative to the Cities of the Plain has recently come to light. We have previously reported on the remarkable archive found at Tell Mardikh in northern Syria, the site of ancient Ebla (Bible and Spade,<\/i> Summer, 1976, pages 83\u201389). Ebla was a thriving commercial center during the period of the Early Bronze Age when the Cities of the Plain were in existence. When in the U.S. last fall lecturing on their extraordinary discovery, the University of Rome excavators, Giovanni Pettinato and Paolo Matthiae, reported that one of the tablets records a trade list which includes the Cities of the Plain; and the names of the Cities of the Plain are spelled in exactly the same way as they are in the Old Testament! This shows how accurately our biblical documents have been transmitted to us down through the centuries, as well as demonstrating beyond question that these were actual cities just as the Bible describes them. In commenting on the mention of the Cities of the Plain in the Ebla tablet, Prof. David N. Freedman, a noted biblical scholar at the University of Michigan, stated, \u201cApparently this was, as the biblical tradition maintains, a flourishing region before the great catastrophy. … This record preceeds the great catastrophy which many scholars, especially of more recent vintage, have regarded as entirely fictional. … There is no reason to doubt, now, either their existence or their prosperity and success.\u201d (Reference 4)<\/p>\n
References:<\/p>\n
1. Rast, Walter E. and Schaub, R. Thomas, \u201cSurvey of the Southeastern Plain of the Dead Sea, 1973\u201d, Annual of the Department of Antiquities, Jordan,<\/i> XIX, 1974, pages 5\u201353.<\/p>\n
2. Schaub, R. Thomas, \u201c1975 Excavations at Bab edh-Dhra,\u201d (unpublished oral report), SBL\/ASOR Convention, Chicago, November 1, 1975.<\/p>\n
3. Rast, Walter E. and Schaub, R. Thomas, \u201cExpedition to the Dead Sea,\u201d American Schools of Oriental Research Newsletter Nos 3\u20134,<\/i> October – November 1975, pages 1\u20133.<\/p>\n
4. Lecture on the Ebla Archive given at the University of Michigan, November 2, 1976.<\/p>\n
Bible and Spade 6:2 (Spring 1977)<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In our Summer 1974 issue we published the first definitive report on one of the most significant finds of recent years\u2014the discovery of five sites southeast of the Dead Sea which appear to be the Cities of the Plain mentioned in Genesis chapters 13, 14, and 19. The most famous of these five cities were … Continue reading “SODOM
\nAND GOMORRAH UPDATE”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14895\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}