Genesis 19:24

Brimstone and fire. The judgment announced by the angels came suddenly and unexpectedly (see Luke 17:28, 29). Though only Sodom and Gomorrah are mentioned here, it is clear that the other cities of the plain, Adamah and Zeboim, were also destroyed (see Deut. 29:23; Hosea 11:8; Jude 7). Only the little town of Bela, or Zoar, was spared, and that but briefly (see Gen. 19:30; PP 167).

The phrase “brimstone and fire” is a common Hebrew idiom for “burning brimstone,” sulphur. The miracles by which God has from time to time intervened in the ordinary process of nature generally consist in the use of existing natural forces and elements in an unusual manner. Even today the southern region of the Dead Sea is rich in asphalt (see on ch. 14:3, 10) from rock crevices in the area. Asphalt rising to the surface of the southern part of the Dead Sea gave to it the name Lake Asphaltitis in classical times. Massive lumps of asphalt floating on the surface are often of sufficient size to support several persons. Asphalt, sulphur, and other combustible materials have been reclaimed and exported from this region for years. Neighboring Arabs use the asphalt for protection against garden pests and for medicinal purposes. Whatever the means employed to set the cities afire, the holocaust was beyond question miraculous, for destruction came at the precise time appointed by God.

For centuries the seared landscape of this region remained a mute testimony to the great catastrophe that had turned its fertile plain into a scene of utter desolation. Moses referred to it as an example of what the land of Israel would become as the result of disobedience (Deut. 29:21-24). Classical writers eloquently describe the southern Dead Sea region as a burned-out land of rugged terrain, scorched rocks, and ashen soil. They mention also the ruined sites of ancient cities (Diodorus ii. 48. 7-9; Strabo Geography xvi. 2. 42-44; Josephus Wars iv. 8. 4; Tacitus Histories v. 6. 7). In Bible times, what is now the southern arm of the Dead Sea was dry land. In more recent years the level of the sea, which has no outlet, has risen and covered most of the region. Dead trees still protrude from this section of the sea like a ghost forest.

Some scholars have tried to identify the doomed cities with ruins discovered at Teleilat el-Ghassul on the northern shore of the Dead Sea. The weight of evidence, however, points to the southern reaches of the sea as the location of the great catastrophe. That awful event has lived on in the traditions of the region to the present day. It is reflected, for instance, in the Arabic name for the Dead Sea, Bahr Lut, “Lake of Lot,” and of the mountain range bordering on the southwestern shore of the Lake, Jehel Usdum, “Mount Sodom.”