Sodom and Gomorrah were settlements south of the Dead Sea, believed on the Jordan side. It is thought that residents there were mining salt from the nearby Mount Sodom, which was one of the most valuable commodities in those times - and from which we derive the words 'salary' 'soldier' and others.
Apparently destroyed by earthquakes, endemic to the area. Given the hostile environment where few would want to live, as well as probable lack of pastimes or female partners, it had a reputation for homosexuality - hence the word 'sodomy'. Naturally after it was destroyed, religious attributions implied their sexual behaviour caused their destruction.
In response to what has been posted below, nobody claimed that the salt was a result of earthquakes. Being situated at the lowest place on earth, the Dead Sea, the resulting evaporation of sea water is the cause for the salt. Since salt enabled the society to progress from hunter/gatherer, enabling the user to preserve meat instead of daily hunting, and permitted humans to begin developing agriculture, and later - iPhones, it is understandable why it was such a valuable commodity.
Even today the surrounding area is relatively fruitful, thanks to underground springs, and surrounding settlements take advantage of it. But it is still located in an extreme desert, as it was a few thousand years ago. The reason for the earthquakes is because the area is situated on the Israel/Jordan Rift Valley, with the Jordanian side relatively moving northward at a rate of 2-2.5mm per year. There has been an estimated 100km movement since it first started at least 50 million years ago.
Answer:From the Ebla Tablets, as well as from pollen-layer analyses, it is clear that the Sodom area was once fruitful. Earthquakes would not explain the arrival of so much salt.When the Torah (Genesis ch.19) describes how God brought down a massive amount of chemical-salts meteorites, it is reminding us that such "natural, rational" events are indeed supervised and directed by God. In this particular case, the Torah also reveals a reason: the overweening pride and the wickedness of the local Canaanites. Despite their being aware of Abraham's teachings (he was active at the time), they followed their own very different pattern of behavior; and God decided to give us an object-lesson.
There are at least a few archaeologists who believe that they have found evidence.
ANS: Sodom and Gomorrah were settlements south of the Dead Sea, believed on the Jordan side. It is thought that residents there were mining salt from the nearby Mount Sodom, which was one of the most valuable commodities in those times - and from which we derive the words 'salary' 'soldier' and others.
Apparently destroyed by earthquakes, endemic to the area. Given the hostile environment where few would want to live, as well as probable lack of pastimes or female partners, it had a reputation for homosexuality - hence the word 'sodomy'. Naturally after it was destroyed, religious attributions implied their sexual behaviour caused their destruction.
Being situated at the lowest place on earth, the Dead Sea, the resulting evaporation of sea water is the cause for the salt. Since salt enabled the society to progress from hunter/gatherer, enabling the user to preserve meat instead of daily hunting, and permitted humans to begin developing agriculture, and later - iPhones, it is understandable why it was such a valuable commodity.
Even today the surrounding area is relatively fruitful, thanks to underground springs, and surrounding settlements take advantage of it. But it is still located in an extreme desert, as it was a few thousand years ago. The reason for the earthquakes is because the area is situated on the Israel/Jordan Rift Valley, with the Jordanian side relatively moving northward at a rate of 2-2.5mm per year. There has been an estimated 100km movement since it first started at least 50 million years ago.
ANS:From the Ebla Tablets, as well as from pollen-layer analyses, it is clear that the Sodom area was once fruitful.
When the Torah (Genesis ch.19) describes how God brought down a massive amount of chemical-salts meteorites, it is reminding us that such "natural, rational" events are indeed supervised and directed by God. In this particular case, the Torah also reveals a reason: the overweening pride and the wickedness of the local Canaanites. Despite their being aware of Abraham's teachings (he was active at the time), they followed their own very different pattern of behavior; and God decided to give us an object-lesson.
Archaeologists and historians have found no evidence that Sodom and Gomorrah ever existed and even the biblical story seems mythical. Most who accept the biblical story as based on fact, believe that the two legendary cities were probably somewhere in the barren landscape to the east of the Dead Sea.
Steven Collins, a professor of Archaeology at the (unaccredited) Trinity Southwest University has discovered a city in the southern Jordan valley, that he claims to match The Bible’s Sodom, but this claim is based on minimal pottery evidence and the fact that the city was abandoned at the end of the Bronze Age. Other Levantine cities appear to have been abandoned towards the end of the Bronze Age, so this is of no evidential value. Other cities may be proposed in the future, but the real answer is that there was no biblical Sodom or Gomorrah.
West coast of what is now the dead sea, towards the south.
Uh,....Sodom and Gomorrah were cities in the Bible, not books. Not sure what the question is?
Jewish tradition states that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed in April.
It is possible that there were homosexuals before the time of Sodom and Gomorrah. But it had increased to much higher level at Sodom and Gomorrah times.
The two cities that God burned because of their sinfulness are Sodom and Gomorrah, as described in the Bible in the book of Genesis. God destroyed these cities with fire and brimstone due to their great wickedness and immoral behavior.
Some biblical scholars believe that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed around 1892 B.C.
Sodom and Gomorrah is the first mention of homosexuality in the Bible, but it is likely that it existed before then.
Sodom and Gomorrah Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens.
The story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is in Genesis Chapter 19.
An angel
Yes, of course he does.
Abraham
Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt for looking back at Sodom and Gomorrah against the angels' warning.