Sodom (Shochoh) and Gomorrah (Gomorrah) are regions used in the Bible as bywords for fallen cities. Their exact location is unknown, but they were two of five towns located on the fertile plains of the Jordan River basin, famous for their fertility. (The five towns were: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, Bela or Zoar). Lot, Abraham's nephew, settled in this area.
Genesis 13:11Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom.Genesis 13:12Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh.Genesis 13:13Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, “Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward,
Genesis 14:1they made war with Bera, king of Sodom; Birsha, king of Gomorrah; Shinab, king of Admah; Shemeber, king of Zeboiim; and the king of Bela (also called Zoar).Genesis 14:2All these joined together in the valley of Siddim (also called the Salt Sea).Genesis 14:3They served Chedorlaomer for twelve years, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.Genesis 14:4In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer came, and the kings who were with him, and struck the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim,Genesis 14:5and the Horites in their Mount Seir, to El Paran, which is by the wilderness.
Genesis 18:20I will go down now, and see whether their deeds are as bad as the reports which have come to me. If not, I will know.”
이 곳 사람들의 죄과 너무 커 하나님이 직접 심판을 하셨다. '남성간의 동성애'를 뜻하는 영어에 소도미즘(sodomism)이 있을 정도로 성적으로 타락한 곳이었다.
결국 하나님이 하늘로부터 유황불을 내려보내 멸망 하게 하였고, 천사들을 보호하려 했던 롯과 그 가족은 구원을 받았다. 그러나 도망을 치는 중에 롯의 아내는 뒤를 돌아보았기에 소금기둥이 되었다.
Genesis 19:24He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground.Genesis 19:25But Lot’s wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.Genesis 19:26Abraham went up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yahweh.Genesis 19:27He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.Genesis 19:28When God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot) out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.