Steven Collins - Discovering the City of Sodom: The Fascinating, True Account of the Discovery of the Old Testament’s Most Infamous City

Praise for Discovering the City of Sodom

Dr. Collins is a meticulous archaeologist who isnt afraid to challenge traditional assumptions about the location and fate of the Bibles most mysterious citySodom. This riveting account of Dr. Collinss fascinating journey and discovery has contributed a unique body of knowledge that surpasses anything published on the subject. I dont know of a more convincing case for Sodoms long-awaited identification.

Joseph M. Holden, Ph.D., president of Veritas Evangelical Seminary and coauthor of The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible

Welcome to Sodom signs are absentso has Steven Collins found the place? Latayne Scott imaginatively tells how Collins concludes it is Tall el-Hammam, east of the Jordan River, arguing vigorously from biblical texts, geography, and his discoveries at this large site. Archaeologys slow processes come to life in this vivid narrative.

Alan Millard, Emeritus Rankin Professor of Hebrew and Ancient Semitic Languages, The University of Liverpool

This lively volume provides the compelling story of the (re)discovery and excavation of an important biblical-period site, combining personal experiences, archaeological evidence, and discussion of biblical texts. Even if one does not see eye to eye with the authors interpretations on the identity of the site and relationship to specific parts of the biblical narrative, the enthusiastic description of the story of the study of this site and related issues makes it a great read!

Aren Maeir, professor, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, and director of the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project

Discovering the City of Sodom is sure to create discussion, conversation, controversy, and enjoyment among lay and scholarly communities alike. Collins carries the reader on a journey through the Bibles ancestral tales of sacred obedience, decadent lust, and apocalyptic destruction, uncovering impressive archaeological remains of a sprawling metropolis possibly used by the biblical writers as their geographic setting. This is a book not to be missed in the debate over the Bibles role in archaeological studies.

David C. Maltsberger, Ph.D., professor of religion, Wayland Baptist University

In this book, Collins provides the most complete discussion to date of all of the relevant biblical texts. The most compelling part of the book is Dr. Collinss argument for locating Sodom northeast of the Dead Sea, rather than farther to the south as many have assumed. Much of the skepticism about the historicity of Sodom over the years has been conducted in an archaeological vacuum. Now, with the excavations of Tell el-Hammam and Collinss extensive presentation of the historical, geographical, and archaeological data, we now have a better material basis for further discussion.

Robert A. Mullins, Ph.D., professor of archaeology and Old Testament, Azusa Pacific University

The intrigue and biblical/historical detective work in this book thoroughly captivated me.

Chris Fabry, author of ECPA Best Fiction winner Almost Heaven

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DR. COLLINS:

For Danette, the love of my life

DR. SCOTT:

I dedicate this book to the servant-hearted people of the Mountainside Church of Christ in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I signed the contract on this book when my husband, Dan, had been hospitalized and lay unconscious with a profoundly severe case of Guillain-Barr syndrome in the intensive care unit for four weeks. During the following four months of his hospitalization at Presbyterian Hospital, Specialty Hospital, and Health South Hospital, he received extraordinary care from the dedicated medical and management personnel at those fine facilities. Throughout those long months and the subsequent period of his recuperation at home, the Mountainside congregation, along with family and other friends across the country, provided everythinghousing, transportation, funds, food, encouragement, and respiteto hold up my arms so that I could write this book. Without them, and the inestimable support of son Ryan Scott and daughter Celeste Green and their families, the writing of this book would have been impossible.

T he destruction of the Cities of the PlainSodom , Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiimis proverbial. The events described in Genesis 19 are so well known that anyone with minimal knowledge of the Bible is familiar with the dreadful destruction by fire and brimstone that God brought on these sin cities. Paintings have been made of Sodoms overthrow, books written, and movies made.

When, in 2009, Dr. Steven Collins asked me to help him with the recording of the architectural remains of a site that he believed to be Sodom, I was very skeptical about the possibility of finding any vestiges of this city of infamy. A key verse in the New Testament, Jude 7, indicated that the destruction of the Cities of the Plain was an example of annihilation by eternal fire. Somy reasoning wenthow could one expect to find any traces of them?

There was no shortage of theories as to the location of these cities, but in my view, none of them held water, particularly the one that associated their destruction with the formation of the Dead Sea! It is clear from the text of Genesis 14, where slime pits or sinkholes are mentioned, that the Dead Sea already existed before the destruction of these cities that was witnessed by Abraham from afar. Such sinkholes appear when the water level of the Dead Sea is very low, as it is today. These areas, where the ground has collapsed, were seen for the first time in 2009 and they are getting larger every year. Geological research has shown that todays low level of the Dead Sea is comparable to what it was at the time of Abraham. Most of these sinkholes are found in the area of Qumran, the likely location of the Valley of Siddim. It was in similar sinkholes that the kings of the Cities of the Plain fell.

Much of nineteenth-century scholarship put these cities to the northeast of the Dead Sea, whereas later researchers proposed a southern or eastern location. Bab edh-Dhra and Numeira are sites on the east side of the Dead Sea that have tentatively been identified with Sodom and Gomorrah, although the communities that lived in these sites, excavated in the 1960s and 1970s, never existed simultaneously. And the search goes on. Even as recently as 2011, a Russian-Jordanian team mooted a proposal to search the bottom of the Dead Sea with a submarine for these doomed cities.

Hearing Professor Collinss explanation of Genesis 13:112 and visiting the site of Tall el-Hammam forced me to rethink the whole question of the location of Sodom and Gomorrah. These verses make it quite clear that the Cities of the Plain, the Cities of the Kikkarthe vast circular expanse at the southern end of the Jordan Rivermust have been located east of Bethel/Ai, that is, northeast of the Dead Sea. The eastern part of the Kikkar can clearly be seen from this location. Having worked at the site of Khirbet el-Maqatir, which has been identified as Ai, for seven seasons, I can vouch for this. Even today, the eastern Kikkar is a well-watered plain with agricultural crops growing abundantly in the middle of winter. There can be no doubt that this region corresponds to the description of the area that Lot gazed on from Bethel/Ai and to which he was fatefully lured.