“Gomorrah”

Alan C. Miner

The city of Gomorrah, according to one viewpoint, is thought to be one of the cities of the plain located north of the Dead Sea, where the Jordan Valley broadens into the "Circle" or "Plain" of the Jordan (Deuteronomy 34:3), the evidence being "that Abraham and Lot looked upon the cities from near Bethel (Genesis 13:10).

On the other hand, there is a view that Gomorrah lies buried beneath the shallow waters of the southern tip of the Dead Sea.

As Lot saw it, the Circle of the Jordan was supremely attractive from every material viewpoint (Genesis 13:10), but it was to become desolate. The efficient cause of this destruction of the cities was probably an earthquake, with an accompanying release and explosion of gaseous deposits. Biblically and fundamentally it was God's judgment, remembered again and again throughout the Bible (Deuteronomy 29:23; Isaiah 1:9; Jeremiah 49:18; etc.) [Tyndale House, The Illustrated Bible Dictionary , Vol. 3, p. 1237] [See the commentary on 2 Nephi 13:9]

“Babylon Shall Be As when God Overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah”

In 2 Nephi 23:19-22 we find a prophecy of the destruction of Babylon. According to Reynolds and Sjodahl, Babylon was one of the great cities of the ancient world, perhaps the greatest. Its walls were, for height and width, one of the wonders of the world. The temple of Bel, the terraced ("hanging") gardens, the immense copper gates, and the artificial lake were, up to that time, the greatest achievements of human skill and ingenuity. The fields and farms and flocks yielded almost incredible returns, and the wealth, luxury and power of the ruling classes were correspondingly great. If any city, or country, could be regarded as invincible, Babylonia and Babylon might be so considered. But centuries before their fall Isaiah predicted, with supernatural knowledge of the details, the destruction of the city and the overthrow of the government.

It was done by means of strategy. After a long siege, apparently without effect, Cyrus, who led the besieging Medes and Persians, decided to turn the Euphrates out of its course and enter on the dry river bed. That was a gigantic undertaking. The river was 1500 feet wide and 12 feet deep. However, the undertaking was successful. The invaders entered from two sides, the former inflow and outflow of the river, and so quietly did they take possession that most of the people did not know what was happening till it was too late to make resistance. Aristotle had been informed that some of the inhabitants did not know until three days afterwards that the city had fallen. When the king of Babylon learned that Cyrus was at the gate of the palace, he commanded that he be admitted. He was. The king and all the revelers surrounding him perished. Many Babylonian princes, at that time, ended their useless earthly lives in a drunken debauch. The kingdom was divided and given to the Medes and the Persians. [George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 1, p. 364]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

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