Gomorrah
“Submersion”
Summary
One of the cities of the plain destroyed by fire from heaven for its grievous wickedness, whose name became a perpetual byword for divine judgment against sin.
☩The Cities of the Plain
Gomorrah was one of the five cities that lay in the fertile vale of Siddim near the southern end of what is now the Dead Sea. Together with Sodom, Admah, Zeboim, and Zoar (Bela), these cities formed a confederation whose kings were defeated by Chedorlaomer and his allies. Gomorrah appears second in importance after Sodom, and these two are usually mentioned together as types of extreme wickedness.
☩The Judgment by Fire
The cry against Sodom and Gomorrah was so great that the Lord came down to investigate. When not even ten righteous persons could be found, God rained fire and brimstone upon them from heaven, overthrowing those cities and all the plain. Abraham, rising early in the morning, looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace. The site is generally believed to lie beneath the shallow southern end of the Dead Sea.
☩A Warning for All Ages
Throughout Scripture, Gomorrah stands as a warning against grievous sin. The prophets used Sodom and Gomorrah as precedents when prophesying the destruction of Babylon, Edom, and Moab. Jerusalem herself was called Sodom and her people Gomorrah for their corruptions. In the New Testament, Peter holds their fate as 'an example unto those that after should live ungodly.' Yet Jesus declared that those cities which rejected His apostles would face a worse judgment than even Sodom and Gomorrah.
Related Verses23 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Gomorrah," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. III (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Gomorrah," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).
- 3.James Orr (ed.), "Gomorrah," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. II (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Gomorrah," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).
- 5.James Hastings (ed.), "Gomorrah," in Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, vol. I (T. & T. Clark, 1906–1908).