Why Sodom Matters – Genesis 13:1-12 – Dr. Steven Collins Time: 55:49 Date Sep 8, 2016
TeHEP is the Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project
Who is Dr. Steven Collins from the https://tallelhammam.com/ website:
Dr. Steven Collins
Dr. Collins is from Albuquerque, NM and is the TeHEP Co-Director; Chief Archaeologist and the Dean of the College of Archaeology, Veritas International University and Consulting Research Professor, Trinity Southwest University.
Who is Dr. Steven Collins from ChatGPT:
Who is Dr. Steven Collins from the TeHEP project:
Dr. Steven Collins is an American archaeologist and professor best known as the director of the Tall el‑Hammam Excavation Project (TeHEP) in Jordan. He has been leading excavations at this site since 2005, exploring what he and his team identify as the likely location of the biblical city of Sodom.
Work and Contributions
Work has been featured in documentaries and media outlets discussing the intersection of archaeology and the Bible.
Tall el‑Hammam Excavation Project (TeHEP):
Multi‑year archaeological dig at a massive Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley.
Findings include large defensive walls, destruction layers, and evidence of extreme heat events (melted pottery and brick).
Collins and collaborators argue this site corresponds to Sodom described in Genesis, based on geography and chronology.
Publications:
Author of several books and articles, including:
Discovering the City of Sodom (2013, co‑authored with Dr. Latayne C. Scott)
Numerous excavation reports and scholarly papers.
Public Engagement:
Frequently speaks at conferences, churches, and universities about biblical archaeology.
End of ChatGPT info.
BOA: List of Biblical verses referencing Sodom:
Genesis 10,13,14,18,19
Deuteronomy 29:23,32:32
Isaiah 1:9-10,3:9,13:19
Jeremiah 23:114,49:18,50:40
Lamentations 4:6
Ezekiel 16:46-56
Amos 4:11
Zephaniah 2:9
Matthew 10:15,11:23-24
Luke 10:12,17-29
Romans 9:29
2 Peter 2:6
Jude 1:7
Revelation 11:8
From Jesus:
Matthew 10:15 ESV
Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
BOA Question: How does this list and the verse content inform your understanding of the city of Sodom?
How does Jesus reference to Sodom affect your understanding of the city?
Notes from the video:
Why is Sodom important:
The existence of Sodom is a test case for the historical accuracy of the bible for 3 reasons
- Most scholars doubt that Sodom ever existed.
- Conservative Scholars, look for it in the wrong place, which fuels skepticism.
- If a legitimate, scientifically rigorous investigation into the whereabouts of these missing cities actually succeeded in finding them, it would be a huge confirmation of Biblical historicity.
Sodom becomes a metaphor for the wrath of God.
The reality of Sodom provides reason to take God and the Bible seriously.
Three things to consider to find a biblical location:
Right Place = Geography of the “Cities of the Plain”
Right Time
Right Stuff = artifacts/description that match the narrative
Genesis 13:1-12 provides the geography of Sodom
The word plain is kikkar = disk,circle
Size:
Jerusalem 10 acres
Sodom 62 acres
wall = 2.2 miles long, 18 feet thick, 40 feet high
built out of 60 to 100 million mud bricks
Cities in the area were wiped out and not inhabited for 7 centuries
Thrived for 2500 years prior.
1 meter to 1/2 meter thick ash layer
storage jar has similarities to trinitite from nuclear bomb explosions:
ChatGPT definition of Trinitite:
Trinitite is a type of natural glass formed during the first nuclear bomb test in history — the Trinity Test, conducted on July 16, 1945 at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Here’s an overview:
How It Formed
- When the atomic bomb detonated, the intense heat (estimated over 8,000°F / 4,400°C) melted the desert sand (mostly quartz and feldspar).
- The molten sand fused with bomb materials and was blasted into the air, raining back down as green, glassy droplets that cooled on the ground.
- These fused materials created a thin layer of glass across the desert floor, later called Trinitite (from “Trinity”).
The city was blown off of it’s foundations
The 3.7KYrBP Kikkar Event, meteoritic object that came out of the southwest and obliterated 500 square kilometers
mud brick blown off of the stone foundations
Reference websites listed in the video:
https://www.digsodom.com/
aka
https://tallelhammam.com/
Quote from Shea Houdmann Founder, President and CEO of Got Questions Ministries, who visited the site:
“In summary, it is a very interesting site. There is no way to definitively say that it was Sodom/Gomorrah, but the location is in the right area and the torched archaeological layer points to something unusual happening.”
What about the Southern Dead Sea sites, that are also considered to be Sodom?
Expedition Bible: Time 15:26 Jun 3, 2022
“The Bible describes burning sulfur and fire raining down from the sky which permanently destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24). Is there any evidence still left in the geological record that matches the Bible’s description of what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah?”
Huge ash layer, containing human bones (deformed by heat).
The city was never lived in again after the fire.
How does the presence of sulfur balls inform your understanding of this site?
Sulfur balls according to Grok:
“Sulfur balls, also known as native sulfur balls or elemental sulfur nodules, are rare geological formations of nearly pure sulfur (often 97-99% purity) that form through processes like volcanic activity, hydrothermal interactions, or microbial sulfate reduction in evaporite environments. They are distinct from typical sulfur crystals or crusts and are found in specific natural settings worldwide.”
“Key locations include:
– Hydrothermal fields offshore Taiwan: Such as the Kueishantao hydrothermal field in the northeast, where sulfur balls form from mixtures of seawater, hydrothermal fluids, and volcanic gases, shaped by currents.
– Near the Dead Sea in Israel/Jordan: Elemental sulfur nodules appear in the Lisan Formation and associated evaporite deposits, linked to microbial processes and geological events like earthquakes or ancient catastrophes in the Jordan Valley.
– Broader geological contexts: They occur in volcanic regions, seafloor hydrothermal vents, hydrocarbon basins with gypsum/anhydrite, and salt diapir caprocks, though specific ball-shaped deposits are less common outside the above sites.”
BOA Questions:
1. Do you find this video convincing concerning Sodom being an actual discovered historical city? If so, how does this inform your view of Biblical archaeology and historical reliability?
2. On a 1 to 10 scale, how confident are you that this site actually is the Biblical City of Sodom?
3. A part from the archaeological site, considering the many biblical verses referencing Sodom, do you have any doubt biblically that it was a real site?
4. Why are there ash layers at sites on both the North and South ends of the Dead Sea? The north to south length of the Dead Sea is 31 miles or 50 kilometers. “The Kikkar Event, was a meteorite object that came out of the southwest and obliterated 500 square kilometers.” Is this a possible solution to the two site dilemma? If the Kikkar event was 50 kilometers N/S by 10 kilometers E/W equaling 500 square kilometers, could the blast have affected both the North and South ends of the Dead Sea, and thus explain the two site dilemma?