We often come across the expression "Sodom and Gomorrah", but few people know about its meaning and origin. In fact, these are two cities about which the biblical legend tells. According to the story, they were burnt due to the sins of the people who lived there. What sins are we talking about? Did these cities really exist? We will try to give an answer to these and many other questions in this article. So, Sodom and Gomorrah: the meaning of phraseology, biblical legend and history ..
Bible legend
For the first time, Sodom and Gomorrah is mentioned as the southeastern tip of Canaan, located east of Gaza, while the land here is called the eastern bank of the Jordan River. Lot, the nephew of Abraham, came here. The Bible even says that Jerusalem borders Sodom on the south and south-east. The inhabitants of Sodom were called the Philistines or Hanakas in the Jewish manner, and the king of the city was a monarch named Ber.
According to the Bible, the time of the life of Abraham dates back to the war that took place between the army of Kedorlaomer and the army of Sodom, which was subsequently defeated, and Abraham's nephew Lot was captured by enemies. The biblical tales say that Sodom was a rich and developed city, but the Lord God decided to punish the inhabitants for being extremely sinful and evil, had many vices that righteous people would not accept. Tradition tells us that God shed sulfur and fire on these cities in order to destroy both the lands themselves and their inhabitants for their misconduct. In addition, according to the Bible, Adma and Seboim were destroyed, although to date there is no evidence that they actually existed. After the fire, the land of Sodom was inhabited by the descendants of Lot, the only ones who managed to avoid the fire, and it became known as Moab.
Attempts to find cities
Since Sodom and Gomorrah are widely known even to non-religious people, many times attempts have been made to find out more about their location and finally find evidence that they existed. So, not far from the Dead Sea, on its southwestern coast, there are mountains that consist mainly of rock salt and are called the Sodomites. It would seem that this should be somehow connected with the biblical city, but in reality there is no reliable data on why this name was chosen.
The interest in the biblical legend is so wide that in the period from 1965 to 1979, five attempts were made to find a city that died due to the sins of its inhabitants, but they were inconclusive. The history of Sodom and Gomorrah did not leave indifferent the Russian scientists who, together with the Jordanian, tried to discover what was left of the ancient city.
Michael Sanders Expedition
In 2000, the British scientist Michael Sanders became the leader of an archaeological expedition aimed at finding destroyed cities. Their work was based on images that were obtained from the American space shuttle. According to these images, the city could be located northeast of the Dead Sea, contrary to all the data from the Bible. Scientists believed that they were able to find the most accurate location of Sodom, the ruins of which, in their opinion, are at the bottom of the Dead Sea.
Jordan valley
Some scholars also believe that the ancient ruins located in Tell el Hammam in Jordan can be the biblical city of sinners. Therefore, it was decided to undertake research in this area in order to confirm or refute the hypothesis. Excavations led by Stephen Collins, an American scientist who relied on these books of Genesis, reinforce the assumption that Sodom was in the southern region of the Jordan Valley, which is surrounded on all sides by depressions.
“Sodom and Gomorrah”: the meaning of phraseology
This expression is widely interpreted, but most often it designates a place of debauchery, in which the moral principles of society are neglected. It also happens that this expression is used to describe an incredible mess. From the names of the city of Sodom, the term "sodomy" appeared in Russian, which most often means sexual relations between people of the same sex, that is, sodomy. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are most often remembered by people precisely in connection with this.
The meaning of phraseology can also imply any non-traditional sexual contacts that are considered immoral in modern society. Such acts include oral, anal sex or any perversions. The Lord, according to the legend, having destroyed the cities, punished the sinners in order to show the whole world that he expects those who resort to unconventional sexual practices and disobey him.
Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah
According to the text of the Bible, city dwellers were punished not only for sexual debauchery, but also for other sins, among which egoism, idleness, pride and others, but homosexuality was still recognized as the main one. Why this particular sin is recognized as the most terrible is not known for certain, but in the Bible it is called “an abomination” before the Lord, and the legend calls people “not to go to bed with a man like a woman”.
Oddly enough, in such an ancient nation as the Philistines, homosexuality was a common phenomenon, and no one condemned it. This probably happened because their ancestors were pagan tribes and peoples living in Canaan, far from the monotheistic religion. According to legend, the Lord, fearing that the Jewish people could also switch to such a sinful way of life, sent them to the promised land, and therefore ordered them to destroy the cities so that their inhabitants would not spread around the globe. In Genesis, there are even lines in which it is said that debauchery is so widespread in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah that it crossed all borders, and therefore they had to be destroyed.
Reflection in art
Like many other myths and legends, the story of the two cities of sinners is embodied in art. This biblical story was reflected in the work of the great Russian writer Anna Andreevna Akhmatova, who wrote the poem "Lot's wife." In 1962, a film was even made, which, in fact, is a fairly free interpretation of the biblical legend about the city of the fallen. So, Marcel Proust, in his famous cycle “In Search of Lost Time”, has a novel of the same name, which tells of a morally descending bourgeoisie, “Sodom and Gomorrah”.
Paintings depicting debauchery and other sins, also often remind of the inhabitants of these cities, which the Lord himself decided to burn. There are at least a dozen paintings depicting Abraham's nephew, Lot, and his daughters, with whom, according to legend, he had sexual relations. Oddly enough, according to the legend, the incest was initiated by the daughters themselves, left without husbands who wanted to continue the clan.
Lot, Abraham's nephew
The oldest surviving canvas is the work of Albrecht Durer, which is called "Flight of Lot." Here is an old man who is accompanied by two daughters, and in the distance his wife is visible, and everything looks pretty decent. However, in later works by masters of various eras and currents, a radically different interpretation can be found. So, for example, the work of Simon Vouet entitled “Lot and his daughters” shows us an already elderly man, amusing himself with his half-naked daughters. Similar paintings are also found in such artists as Hendrik Goltzius, Francesco Furini, Lucas Cranach, Domenico Maroli and several others.
Interpretation of the biblical legend
According to Genesis, Sodom and Gomorrah are cities that the Lord punished for disobedience and non-observance of everyday laws. How is the legend interpreted now? What do scientists think about the causes of the death of these sinful cities? Now, some scholars who are somehow connected with religion believe that in reality our modern world is mired in vice and debauchery, but we are so used to it that we no longer notice it. They believe that modern people are so used to being disgusted with the Lord that all these perversions and vices have become familiar. They believe that we are actually on the path to death, accepting everything that happens around. For example, one of the Russian scientists, Doctor of Technical Sciences V. Plykin writes in his book that, not knowing the laws of the Universe, modern people have created their own laws, which, in fact, are artificial and, not being a righteous life, lead society to death .
The same scientist believes that scientific and technological progress, which only exacerbates everything and brings people closer to the world of vice, negatively affects the moral principles of mankind. What is Sodom and Gomorrah in the modern world? Some also believe that due to the fact that people care only about how to take everything from life without worrying about the consequences, humanity produces negative energy. Believe it or not, this approach is, of course, everyone’s business. Maybe it’s not worth shifting ancient laws to modern society.
True or fiction?
The biblical story of the cities of sinners is known throughout the world. Vices such as sodomy, idleness, pride, selfishness caused the deaths of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The legend tells of the people of the Philistines who were so mired in sin that they became unworthy to walk on the earth of the Lord God.
Now, so many centuries after the events described, it is impossible to say whether these cities existed in reality, and whether they were burned with "rain of sulfur and fire" for the misconduct of their inhabitants. A huge number of attempts were made to find the remains of these settlements, but in reality not one of them was successful.
Conclusion
According to legend, when two angels came to the city to find at least ten righteous people, they saw only vice and debauchery there. And then the Lord, angry, decided to burn the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. That this happened in this way is written in the book of Genesis, but the legend remains a legend, and archaeological evidence that could prove this has not been found. However, whether this actually happened or this, like many other ancient legends, is an absolute fiction, it is not so important. The most important thing here is to be able to draw a lesson from this story so that modern people are not mired in the same vice and debauchery and are not punished in the same way as the ancient Philistines, which caused the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities overflowing with sinners.