8/19/2023 0 Comments Sodom of gylt![]() ![]() I observed to David that after defeating Sodom and capturing Lot, the invaders would not have ascended to the Canaanite highlands (as shown in his blog post map) because there is no record of them conquering any Cisjordan nations, unlike in the Transjordan where their conquest of the indigenous nations of the plateau is listed by nation and capital (Gen. Having conquered all peoples in their path on both the Transjordanian and Negev sides of the Rift Valley, presumably to isolate Sodom from its neighbors, the allied army emerged on the southwestern side of the Dead Sea basin, ominously facing the cities of the Plain across the Siddim Valley. The spies then continued northward along the length of the Hill Country to Lebanon (v.21).Īccording to Barrett’s new route, the four northern kings of Abram’s time bypassed Hebron, continuing northeastward over the Dead Sea escarpment and down to Hazazon-tamar at En-gedi. This was the same route later taken by the twelve Israelite spies from Kadesh towards Hebron at Moses’ direction (Num. His suggested route from Kadesh (Ein Qudeirat) to Hazazon-tamar (at En-gedi) enters and passes the length of the Northern Negev (the Beersheba and Arad basins) from southwest to northeast following the eastern section of the Way of Shur. īarrett’s map represents a very new understanding of the event, as compared to the map he created for the 2010 Crossway ESV Bible Atlas placing Hazazon-tamar at one of the northern Arabah locations suggested for Classical Thamara. He explained how he took a whole new look at Genesis 14 after reading that the entire south basin of the Dead Sea was likely dry during this period. I communicated to him that I would be glad to not have to explain how the four kings traveling north through the Arabah could have arrived at En-gedi before attacking the five kings to the south of the Dead Sea. – 2 Chronicles 20:2īarrett’s suggestion that the invaders approached from the west through the Northern Negev directly to En-gedi made better sense. Messengers came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea already they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, En-gedi). Moreover, the need for the king of Sodom to come out to battle if the invaders had already passed him by seems doubtful. Approaching from the south, En-gedi on the western side of the Dead Sea lies well past the traditional locations for the cities of the Plain, so that the invaders would have to turn back in order to do battle with the five kings. If, instead, Hazazon-tamar is En-gedi according to 2 Chronicles 20:2, there is a logical problem with the campaign sequence. In line with the northern kings’ route from Kadesh to the Dead Sea, Hazazon-tamar is often identified further north at Ein Tamar (Ain el-Aros, “spring of the palm tree”) in the alluvial fan of Nahal Zin at the edge of the Sedom salt marsh. Ein Hazeva (Ain Husb) in the northern Arabah, sometimes identified as Classical Thamara, is an awkward match for biblical Hazazon-Tamar because it lies some 15 km south of Nahal Zin’s entrance into the Arabah. The Zin road was an ancient highway, lately called in Arabic the Darb es-Sultan, so this route seemed most likely. Until seeing Barrett’s map, I had accepted Aharoni’s view that the four northern kings, having conquered the Amalekites at Kadesh, took the road ENE through Nahal Zin to the northern Arabah and thence northward to engage the king of Sodom and his allies in the Ghor (“sunken plain”) south of the Dead Sea. Map of The Battle at the Valley of Sittim created by David Barrett with Bible Mapper (). Both stories help to fill out the ‘dossier’ on Sodom’s location and must be taken fully into account along with the details of the destruction.ĭavid Barrett of the Bible Mapper blog recently posted about “The Battle at the Valley of Siddim.” His map came just in time for me to correct a section of my dissertation on the geographical regions of the Israelite journeys for which I had to consider the Genesis 14 campaign amongst other biblical data. The record is rich in geographical data, as is the account of Israel’s crossing the southern Jordan Valley on their way into Canaan some four hundred years later. Some years before their fiery overthrow, the five cities of the Plain were conquered by an alliance of four northern kings led by Chedorlaomer of Elam who were in turn pursued and defeated near Damascus by Abram and his own private army. ![]() Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. Summary: Was Sodom in the Jordan Valley, and was this site destroyed by a cosmic airburst? In Part 2 of this 2-part series we consider evidence from inside and outside the Bible to close in on the true location of Sodom’s spectacular destruction.
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