{"id":2856,"date":"2015-08-05T19:39:05","date_gmt":"2015-08-05T19:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/?p=2856"},"modified":"2015-08-05T19:40:32","modified_gmt":"2015-08-05T19:40:32","slug":"sodom-revisited-warning-signs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/sodom-revisited-warning-signs\/","title":{"rendered":"Sodom Revisited. Warning Signs"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Tom Brennan<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Destruction Of Sodom And Gomorrah<\/p><\/div>I have just read (actually, devoured is a better term) an extremely readable book<\/a> about archaeology in Biblical Lands. Dr. Stephen Collins<\/a> is President of Trinity Southwest University in Albuquerque, NM. He has a background in several academic areas and is quite a gentleman and author. Discovering the City of Sodom is a unique approach to a topic often dismissed by critics of the Bible as a legend, a fable or exaggeration. It is none of these. Many archaeologists and authors located the \u201cCities of the Plain\u201d where Abraham\u2019s nephew Lot chose to locate his herds and flocks when they settled in Canaan. Theorists placed the cities at the southern end of the Dead Sea for various reasons. Several \u201ctells\u201d or remains of ruined cities in mounds were considered to be the Sodom and Gomorrah sites. Dr. Collins details why he and others consider Tall el-Hamman at the north border of the Dead Sea to be the sites. In clear but not remotely tedious detail he presents evidence why this site fits the description of the city from the perspective of Abraham, Lot, Moses and others who passed that way and knew its fate.<\/p>\n

For several seasons a team from TSU<\/a> has excavated the site and made astounding discoveries. Perhaps the one that made the most impression on me are these in particular. Sodom was not a bunch of mud huts surrounded by a primitive stone wall. It was more on the scale of Troy, huge acreage, thick walls with assault proof slanted surfaces, a place of power that as a city-state dominated the neighboring cities. Its size is comparable to cities in Egypt, Ur and Mycenae, its contemporaries. It had sophisticated homes, pottery and all the accoutrements of a Bronze Age civilization. It also was totally corrupt. Lot chose to transit from the life of a patriarch living in tents with his clan to that of a city dweller, even being a politician and sitting at the gate to officiate over civil matters. He lost touch with his roots.<\/p>\n

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