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One of many naturally formed salt pillars around the Dead Sea
which have become known as Lot's wife. This pillar is on the
Jordanian side of the Dead Sea north of the Lisan.
Photo by Dan Galissini. |
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Graves, David E. “Sodom
And Salt in Their Ancient Near Eastern Cultural Context.” Near Eastern
Archaeology Society Bulletin, 61 (2016), 15–32. The PDF is available here: https://www.academia.edu/31054109/Sodom_And_Salt_in_Their_Ancient_Near_Eastern_Cultural_Context
In 1993 Flanagan, McCreery, and Yassine
coined the phrase “a Late Bronze gap” (1994: 207) speculating that “the 500
year gap of occupation from ca. 1500 to 1000 B.C. [Late Bronze/Iron Age I in the Jordan
valley and Tall Nimrin] must be due to significant sociopolitical and/or
environmental phenomena that remain to be explained” (1994: 219; 1996: 286).
A clue to the phenomena of the “Late
Bronze gap” can be found in the reference to Lot’s wife being turned into a
pillar of salt in Genesis 19:26. In a forthcoming article (Graves 2016), I
argue that one possible explanation for the Late Bronze gap in the Jordan
valley north of the Dead Sea is the catastrophic destruction of the Cities of the Plain which affected the entire Jordan valley and prevented settlers from
repopulating the area. Recent soil analysis of the region indicated abnormally
high levels of saline and sulfate compounds in the destruction level above the
Middle Bronze layer that made the soil toxic and incapable of supporting life (Silvia
2015: 111–13, 141-42, 155). The fact that the narrative of Genesis 19:26
describes Lot’s wife being turned into a pillar of salt, and not some other
substance, is also consistent with the use of salt in the violation of a
covenant and its associated curse (ban, Heb. ḥêrem)
in the ancient Near East (Judg 9:45, see also 1:17; Destruction and curse of Taidu by Adad-nārārī I (1307-1275 B.C.), Arinu by Shalmaneser I (1265-1235 B.C.), Troy by Agamemnon (ca. 1194–1184 B.C.), Hunuša by Tiglath-pileser I (ca. 1114-1076 B.C.), Arpad by Bar-ga’yah (ca. 782-773 B.C.), etc.), and with the well documented practice of throwing salt on property
that symbolized infertility and barrenness (Fensham 1962: 50; Gevirtz 1963: 60).
Lots’ wife, in being turned into a pillar of salt, was seen through ancient Near Eastern eyes as
now being infertile and barren and under the covenant curse.
The text now makes sense, with theology
and archaeology converging to help explain the cryptic comment of the “pillar
of salt” in the Hebrew text and help explain why there is a “late Bronze Gap.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fensham, F. C.
1962 “Salt
as a Curse in the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East.” The Biblical
Archaeologist 25(1): 48–50.
Flanagan, J. W.; McCreery, D. W.; and Yassine, K. N.
1994 Tell
Nimrin: Preliminary Report on the 1993 Season. Annual of the Department of
Antiquities of Jordan 38: 205–244.
1996 Tall
Nimrin: Preliminary Report on the 1995 Excavation and Geological Survey. Annual of the
Department of Antiquities of Jordan 40: 271–292.
Gevirtz, S.
1963 “Jericho
and Shechem: A Religio-Literary Aspect of City Destruction.” Vetus
Testamentum 13 Fasc. 1: 52–62.
Graves, David E.
2016 “Sodom
And Salt in Their Ancient Near Eastern Cultural Context.” Near Eastern
Archaeology Society Bulletin, 61, 15–32.
Silvia, Phil J.
2015 The
Middle Bronze Age Civilization-Ending Destruction of the Middle Ghor. Ph. D.
diss., Trinity Southwest University.
See also the importance of Salt in the ANE in this recent article http://www.asor.org/anetoday/2019/02/Salt-in-Mesopotamia
