Day 29 Devotion – Five Cities of the Plain

And the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and joined together in battle in the Valley of Siddim against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. Now the Valley of Siddim was full of asphalt pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled; some fell there, and the remainder fled to the mountains. Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. They also took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. Genesis 14:8-12

Picture: The map shows the five cities that archaeologists have uncovered on the southeast side of the Dead Sea. They are identified with the red dots.

In this story we are told that four kings from the east in Mesopotamia come west and attack the five cities in the plains on the southeastern side of the Dead Sea. At one time, scholars thought that Amraphel king of Shinar was the famous Hammurabi who wrote the famous Babylonian law code. More modern archaeological finds have shown this was not him and actually this is too early. Hammurabi is more of a contemporary with Moses. Scholars also doubted the truth of this story because they felt there was no way that there were five cities in this region. The southeast side of the Dead Sea is harsh country. The climate is extremely dry with hardly any fresh water for drinking. The area is salty and would not be good for growing crops. There was petroleum here and asphalt actually floated on top of the Dead Sea here. Geology confirms the existence of the asphalt pits that the Bible refers to here. When Alexander the Great came through here they took him to show him the flammable liquid that came out of the ground. He used it as a weapon to throw flaming balls at his enemy and it became known as Greek Fire. Archaeology has also confirmed that precisely five cities existed here exactly as the Bible says. Even today, nomads live in this area. These skeptics ignored modern evidence and came up with their conclusion without reason. As our story continues we will see that two of these five cities are Sodom and Gomorrah and that two archaeological digs match up with them quite nicely.