The Scriptural Account Of The Destruction Of Sodom And Gomorrah

At the end of the meal the three guests accompanied by Abraham set out towards Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities, at no great distance away in the valley of Siddim, which by their dissolute morals were regarded as the symbol of depravity. As they went along the account depicts YAHWEH conversing with Abraham as with a friend (EI-Khalil) and telling him that he intended to destroy these cities and the Canaanite territory where such abominations took place. With marked deference, but also with a certain persistence, Abraham interceded for them, asking for mercy; he tried to show YAHWEH that by systematically destroying these places he might punish the righteous dwelling in them, and emphasized that men who had not shared in the sin did not deserve to be put to death. In characteristic eastern fashion they now began to haggle over the conditions under which mercy could be shown; in this can be clearly seen the emerging notion of love of neighbour and there is revealed also the efficacious role of the saints in protecting the world. The reader must refer to this passage in the Scriptures; it is too long to be reproduced in full here and too fine to be summarized (Bereshith 18:16-33).

YAHWEH then went away and Abraham returned to his camp at Hebron; meanwhile the two 'malakim' of YAHWEH continued on their way and entered Sodom where Lot, Abraham's nephew, had settled after the division of their flocks. The malakim received hospitality for the young Hebrew chieftain. During the night frenzied men of the town surrounded Lot's house demanding loudly that the two new arrivals should be surrendered to them: Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so that we may abuse them (Bereshith 19:5). Lot tried to reason with them but the situation began to look ugly. Miraculously, the attackers were struck blind, thus enabling the besieged to leave the house at once. Whereupon the malakim warned Lot of the imminent punishment hanging over the city. 'We are about to destroy this place,' they explained to Lot, 'for there is a great outcry against them, and it has reached YAHWEH. And YAHWEH has sent us to destroy them' (Bereshith 19:13). This was because there had not been found the ten righteous men who would have enabled Abraham to obtain a general pardon for the place. When dawn broke the malakim insisted once more on Lot leaving the city quickly: 'Come, take your wife and these two daughters of yours, or you will be overwhelmed in the punishment of the town. And as he hesitated the men took him by the hand, and his wife and two daughters, because of the pity YAHWEH felt for him. They led him out and left him outside the town.' Lot was instructed to run for his life. 'Neither look behind you nor stop anywhere on the plain. Make for the hills if you would not be overwhelmed.' But the hills were some way off; Lot therefore requested that he should be allowed to go to a small city nearer at hand. This was granted, and although the city had been condemned it was spared for Lot's sake, since he had taken refuge there.

The sun had scarcely risen when YAHWEH rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire. HE overthrew these towns and the whole plain, with all the inhabitants of the towns, and everything that grew there. At that moment Lot was entering Zoar; he was safe from the catastrophe.

One of the malakim had urged on Lot and his family not to tarry in their flight and not to look behind them. Lot's wife in the scramble did not obey the order; at one moment she stopped and could not prevent herself glancing back over the burning city. At once she was turned into a pillar of salt.

The whole story, full of dramatic detail, must have enchanted the Hebrew audience when a practiced storyteller, faithful to an unchangeable oral tradition, narrated the vicissitudes of this 'moral' tale, with the destruction of the wicked cities, the disappearance beneath a rain of fire of the whole of this accursed valley of Siddim close to the southern section of the Dead Sea.

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