Dec 16, 2010

Russians Already Digging at Sodom!

Dead Sea near Bab edh-Dha
It appears that the Russians in conjunction with the Jordanian government are searching for Sodom and Gomorrah under the Dead Sea. News Clip However, we have had the Russians (Irina N and others) digging with us for the past two years so we beat them to it :-) and besides Tall el-Hammam is most likely Sodom which is not even mentioned in the article. Disappointing that the Jordanian Department of Antiquities (DOA)  has not even mentioned Tall el-Hammam in the article. Tall el-Hammam is at least a possible candidate for Sodom and may even have more archaeological support than Bab edh-Dhra but the article focuses on Bab edh-Dhra instead. That is the news for you half the truth and misinformed.

Interesting that they reference Wicked Pedia (Wikipedia) for their information about Bab edh-Dhra but do not mention Tall el-Hammam however the first External Link listed in Wikipedia is to my article where I do mention Dr. Collins and the work being done at Tall el-Hammam along with Bab edh-Dhra.

The debris at the bottom of the Dead Sea may be some other ancient site or just debris but in my opinion it is very unlikely to be Sodom. Still it will be good to see what is under the Dead Sea. I hope they don't jump to conclusion that just because they have found ancient artifact at the bottom of the Dead Sea that it must be Sodom. Sadly it appears this is what they have done. Come on people one needs more evidence than that. Like right time, right place and so on. The cities of the plain must be visible from the Israelis side around Bethel and Ai.



2 comments:

Chris McKinny said...

Why must the "cities of the plain" be visible from Bethel and Ai? If that assumption is made on Gen. 13:10ff. - I would argue that the passage is talking about a region - not the cities per say. As in Lot wanted to go to the well-watered region of the eastern Jordan Valley and not specifically to the cities of the plain. Is there another passage that I am missing?

Dr. David E. Graves said...

Genesis 13:10-12 "Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom." The text here implies that the cities of the plain which include Sodom and Gomorrah are located in the plain (Kikkar = round petta bread) of the Jordan. Abraham and Lot were between Bethel and Ai (verse 3 general region) when they looked across the Jordan valley and choose the place they wanted to live. The place that Lot choose was the well watered Jordan valley and pitched his tent near Sodom among the cities of the plain before moving in to the city state of Sodom. The southern region of the Dead Sea is not visible from the region of Bethal and Ai as it is blocked by the hills around Jerusalem.