Bible Encyclopedia: Siddim

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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

SIDDIM, VALE OF

sid'-im, (`emeq ha-siddim; Septuagint he pharangx (or koilas) he haluke): The place mentioned in Genesis 14:3-8 as being the scene of encounter between Chedorlaomer and his allies with the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Zoar. In 14:3 it is identified with the Salt Sea, and in 14:10 it is said to have been full of slime pits ("bitumen").

According to the traditional view, the Vale of Siddim was at the southern end of the Dead Sea. But in recent years a number of eminent authorities have maintained that it was at the northern end of the Dead Sea, in the vicinity of Jericho. Their argument has mainly been drawn from incidental references in the scene (Genesis 13:1-13) describing the parting of Lot and Abram, and again in the account of Moses' vision from Pisgah (Deuteronomy 34:3).

In the account of Abram and Lot, it is said that from Bethel they saw "all the Plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah." The word here translated "plain" means "circle," and well describes the view which one has of the plain about Jericho from Bethel as he looks down the valley past Ai. But it seems to go beyond the text to assume that the Vale of Siddim was within that circle of vision, for it is said in Genesis 13:12 simply that Lot dwelt "in the cities of the Plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom." In the vision of Moses, likewise, we have a very general and condensed description, in which it is said that he was shown "the Plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm-trees, unto Zoar," which, as we learn from Genesis 19:22, was not far from the Vale of Siddim. It is true that from the traditional site of Pisgah the south end of the Dead Sea could not be seen. But we are by no means sure that the traditional site of Pisgah is the true one, or that the import of this language should be restricted to the points which are actually within range of vision.

The tendency at the present time is to return to the traditional view that the Vale of Siddim was at the south end of the Dead Sea. This is supported by the fact that Jebel Usdum, the salt mountain at the southwest corner of the Dead Sea, still bears the name of Sodom, Usdum being simply another form of the word. A still stronger argument, however, is drawn from the general topographical and geological conditions. In the first place, Zoar, to which Lot is said to have fled, was not far away. The most natural site for it is near the mouth of the Wady Kerak, which comes down from Moab into the southern end of the Dead Sea (see ZOAR); and this city was ever afterward spoken of as a Moabite city, which would not have been the case if it had been at the north end of the sea. It is notable in Joshua 13:15-21, where the cities given to Reuben are enumerated, that, though the slopes of Pisgah are mentioned, Zoar is not mentioned.

In Genesis 14, where the battle between Amraphel and his allies with Sodom and the other cities of the plain is described, the south end of the Dead Sea comes in logical order in the progress of their campaign, and special mention is made of the slime or bitumen pits which occurred in the valley, and evidently played an important part in the outcome of the battle.

At the south end of the Dead Sea there is an extensive circle or plain which is better supplied with water for irrigation than is the region about Jericho, and which, on the supposition of slight geological changes, may have been extremely fertile in ancient times; while there are many indications of such fertility in the ruins that have been described by travelers about the mouth of the Kerak and other localities nearby. The description, therefore, of the fertility of the region in the Vale of Siddim may well have applied to this region at the time of Lot's entrance into it.

There are very persistent traditions that great topographical changes took place around the south end of the Dead Sea in connection with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, while the opinion has been universally prevalent among the earlier historical writers that the site of Sodom and Gomorrah is beneath the waters of the Dead Sea.

Geological investigations, so far from disproving these traditions, render them altogether possible and credible. There is a remarkable contrast between the depths of the north end of the Dead Sea and of the south end. Near the north end the depth descends to 1,300 ft., whereas for many miles out from the south end it is very shallow, so that at low water a ford exists, and is occasionally used, from the north end of the salt mountain across to el-Lisan.

The precipitous salt cliffs of Jebel Usdum which border the southwest corner of the Dead Sea would indicate that, in comparatively recent times, there had been abrupt subsidence of a good many feet in the bottom of the Dead Sea at that end.

Such subsidences of limited areas and in connection with earthquakes are by no means uncommon. In 1819 an area of 2,000 square miles about the delta of the Indus sank beneath the level of the sea, so that the tops of the houses were barely seen above the water. A smaller area in the delta of the Selenga River sank during the last century beneath the waters of Lake Baikal. Professor R.S. Tarr of Cornell University has recently described the effect of an earthquake on the shores of Alaska, in which there was a change of level of 47 ft.

More probably (see ARABAH; DEAD SEA) there has been a rise in the waters of the Dead Sea since Abraham's time, caused by the encroachment upon the original area of evaporation by the deltas which have been pushed into the main part of the depression by the Jordan, and various smaller streams descending from the highlands on either side. In consequence of these encroachments, the equilibrium between precipitation and evaporation could be maintained only by a rise in the water causing it to spread over the shallow shelf at the south end, thus covering a large part of the Vale of Siddim with the shoal water now found between el-Lisan and Jebel Usdum.

George Frederick Wright

Strong's Hebrew

7708. Siddim -- a valley near the Dead Sea
... 7707, 7708. Siddim. 7709 . a valley near the Dead Sea. Transliteration:
Siddim Phonetic Spelling: (sid-deem') Short Definition: Siddim. ...
/hebrew/7708.htm - 6k

Library

Chapter xiv
... 370 b). 3. All these allied themselves for an expedition to the valley
of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). Though the construction ...
//christianbookshelf.org/leupold/exposition of genesis volume 1/chapter xiv.htm

"Above the Sun. "
... He who in the sandy desert looks for springs to quench his thirst Finds his fountains
are but slime-pits such as Siddim's vale accursed; He who hopes to still ...
//christianbookshelf.org/jennings/old groans and new songs/above the sun.htm

Abram the Hebrew
... from the far East. They had swept down upon the fertile valley of Siddim,
and there had inflicted devastation. Amongst the captives ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture k/abram the hebrew.htm

Babylonia and Assyria
... from "Madga in the mountains of the river Gurruda," in which some scholars have
seen the name of the Jordan, and the naphtha springs of the vale of Siddim. ...
/.../early israel and the surrounding nations/chapter vi babylonia and assyria.htm

The First Chaldaean Empire and the Hyksos in Egypt
History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 4. <. ...
/.../chapter ithe first chaldaean empire.htm

The Prophet Joel.
... ie, Paradise) the land is before him," has an obvious reference to Genesis, not
only to Genesis 2:8, but also to xiii.10, where the vale of Siddim, before the ...
/.../hengstenberg/christology of the old testament/the prophet joel.htm

Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary

Siddim

the tilled field

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Siddim

(field, plain), The vale of, a place named only in one passage of Genesis-- (Genesis 14:3,8,10) It was one of that class of valleys which the Hebrews designated by the word emek . This term appears to have been assigned to a broad, flattish tract, sometimes of considerable width, enclosed on each side by a definite range of hills. It has so far a suitable spot for the combat between the four and five kings, ver. 8; but it contained a multitude of bitumen-pits sufficient materially to affect the issue of the battle. In this valley the kings of the five allied cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim and Bela seem to, have awaited the approach of the invaders. It is therefore probable that it was in the neighborhood of the "plain or circle of Jordan" in which those cities stood. If we could venture, as some have done, to interpret the latter clause of ver. 3 "which is near," or "which is at, or by, the Salt Sea," then we might agree with Dr. Robinson and others in identifying the valley of Siddim with the enclosed plain which intervenes between the south end of the lake and the range of heights which terminate the Ghor and commence the Wady Arabah . But the original of the passage seems to imply that the Salt Sea covers the actual space formerly occupied by the vale of Siddim. [SEA, THE SALT, THE SALT]

ATS Bible Dictionary

Siddim

See SEA3

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Siddim, Vale of

Valley of the broad plains, "which is the salt sea" (Genesis 14:3, 8, 10), between Engedi and the cities of the plain, at the south end of the Dead Sea. It was "full of slime-pits" (R.V., "bitumen pits"). Here Chedorlaomer and the confederate kings overthrew the kings of Sodom and the cities of the plain. God afterwards, on account of their wickedness, "overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities;" and the smoke of their destruction "went up as the smoke of a furnace" (19:24-28), and was visible from Mamre, where Abraham dwelt.

Some, however, contend that the "cities of the plain" were somewhere at the north of the Dead Sea. (see SODOM.)

Thesaurus

Siddim (3 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary Siddim, Vale of. Valley of the ... (see SODOM.). Int.
Standard Bible Encyclopedia. SIDDIM, VALE OF. sid'-im, (`emeq ...
/s/siddim.htm - 14k

Zoar (12 Occurrences)
... The location of Zoar has much to do with that of the cities of the Plain
or Valley of Siddim, with which it is always connected. ...
/z/zoar.htm - 14k

Slime (6 Occurrences)
... The vale of Siddim was full of slime pits (14:10). ... Diodorus Siculus calls the Dead
Sea limne asphalstitis, "lake of asphalt." See SIDDIM; CITIES OF THE PLAIN. ...
/s/slime.htm - 11k

Zeboiim (7 Occurrences)
... ze-boi'-im (tsebhoyim; the Septuagint uniformly Sebo(e)im; the King James Version,
Zeboim): One of the cities in the Vale of Siddim, destroyed with Sodom and ...
/z/zeboiim.htm - 9k

Vale (20 Occurrences)
... W. Ewing. SIDDIM, VALE OF. sid ... bitumen"). According to the traditional view,
the Vale of Siddim was at the southern end of the Dead Sea. ...
/v/vale.htm - 29k

Gomorrah (25 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary Submersion, one of the five cities of the plain of Siddim
(qv) which were destroyed by fire (Genesis 10:19; 13:10; 19:24, 28). ...
/g/gomorrah.htm - 17k

Pits (13 Occurrences)
... word "slime" occurs in the following passages: "And they had brick for stone, and
slime had they for mortar" (Genesis 11:3); "Now the vale of Siddim was full ...
/p/pits.htm - 13k

Admah (6 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary Earth, one of the five cities of the vale of Siddim
(Genesis 10:19). ... See VALE OF SIDDIM. Multi-Version Concordance ...
/a/admah.htm - 10k

Sodom (49 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary Burning; the walled, a city in the vale of Siddim
(Genesis 13:10; 14:1-16). The wickedness of its inhabitants ...
/s/sodom.htm - 28k

Gomor'rah (23 Occurrences)
... king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela--the same is Zoar;
and they set the battle in array against them in the vale of Siddim; (See RSV). ...
/g/gomor'rah.htm - 13k

Bible Concordance

Siddim (3 Occurrences)

Genesis 14:3 All these joined together in the valley of Siddim (the same is the Salt Sea).
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Genesis 14:8 The king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar) went out; and they set the battle in array against them in the valley of Siddim;
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Genesis 14:10 Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and those who remained fled to the hills.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Subtopics

Siddim

Siddim: Scene of the Defeat of the King of Sodom

Related Terms

Zoar (12 Occurrences)

Slime (6 Occurrences)

Zeboiim (7 Occurrences)

Vale (20 Occurrences)

Gomorrah (25 Occurrences)

Pits (13 Occurrences)

Admah (6 Occurrences)

Sodom (49 Occurrences)