The Ebla tablets mention the names of the five cities, including what has been interpreted as, Sodom and Gomorrah, naming one of their kings as" Birsha". According to the Archaeologist, Kitchen,
"A tremendous explosion took place, which carried burning sulphur, oil, and asphalt into the air above the cities. Mingled with salt, this brimstone and fire rained down upon the whole plain" Kitchen p.47,
Josephus in his "WARS OF THE JEWS", book IV, chapter VIII: " "Now this country is then so sadly burnt up, that nobody cares to come at it;... It was of old a most happy land, both for the fruits it bore and the riches of its cities, although it be now all burnt up. It is related how for the impiety of its inhabitants, it was burnt by lightning; in consequence of which THERE ARE STILL THE REMAINDERS OF THAT DIVINE FIRE; AND THE TRACES [OR SHADOWS] OF THE FIVE CITIES ARE STILL TO BE SEEN"
Professor Randall Yonker, director of the Horn Archaeological Museum in Ammon, Jordan reported that at least three of the cities have been excavated:
"All three were terminated before the end of the Early Bronze Age. At least one destroyed city was covered with ashes, suggesting it was destroyed by fire. At one city discovered in the plain of Sadam, it was discovered that a burial house had been destroyed by fire. After closer examination, it was apparent the fire had started on the roof, which collapsed and set fire to the interior of the burial. Chamber Conquerers would not have bothered with burning burial houses, which contained little, if any, treasury. Noone attempts to conquer a gravesite."
The only conclusion was that fire had rained down onto the buildings. Another interesting find was that of mounds and columns of salt scattered along the shore of the Dead Sea. If these pillars could be created by natural means, it is conceivable that Lot's wife, lagging behind, could have been completely covered with salt making Her appear as a pillar of salt. The Bible does not tell us how far behind the rest of the family she was, but she was apparently the only one who succumbed to the fallout. Anyone standing on a high enough spot, such as Abraham, could have seen the smoke, from miles away. The Bible does not say that Abraham saw the destruction, as critics have implied, only that when He arose the next morning He could see smoke rising into the air. The date given for the destruction is 1900 BCE. That is in harmony with the time archeologists give for Abraham being in Canaan. According to William F. Albright:
If one believes, as we do, in the validity of the historical memories of the Bible, and if one accepts as real flesh and blood human beings the personages reflected in the portrayals of the Biblical Patriachs then the Age of Abraham must be assigned to the MiddIe Bronze I period. Ending in the nineteenth century B.C... The only archaeological framework in which the person and period of Abraham in the Negeb can be placed is Middle Bronze I.’2
One of the earliest Bible critics, Theodor Noldeke, claimed that:
"The whole story of Sodom and Gomorrah is unhistorical and comparatively late in origin." J. Maxwell Miller of Emory University boldly claims, "These narratives of Sodom and Gomorrah are purely products of the storyteller's art, which of course raises serious questions about their usefulness for historical reconstruction."
There is no longer any doubt that it really happened. The date it happened fits neatly within the period of Abraham, which archeologists and theologians agree was in the early part of the 19th or late 18th century be. Bible chronology places His birth around 1988 bce Historians place it in 2000 bce. The fact that no evidence for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah has ever been found should come as no surprise. There is little doubt that anything within ten miles of the south shore would have either fallen into a crevice or was covered by water, or both. What makes the Dead Sea unique is that there is no outlet for the Jordan River. Silt picked up during the yearly flooding of the river cannot be carried beyond the southern end of the Dead Sea. The northern end of the Dead Sea is over a thousand feet deep while the southern end is barely thirty feet deep.
