Gomorrah

by Wayne Blank

Gomorrah was the name of an ancient city in Judea that is always mentioned in the Holy Bible with Sodom. The English name Gomorrah is derived from the New Testament Greek name for the city, pronounced gom-or-rah-haw which itself was derived from the more ancient Old Testament Hebrew name for the city, pronounced am-oh-raw which meant a heap, from agricultural usage meaning a heap of grain or a heap of manure. Since other Scriptures describe Sodom and Gomorrah as "filthy" (2 Peter 6:6-8, see quote below) it's obvious that the name for the city applied not to a heap of grain. Gomorrah meant a heap of manure. The location of Gomorrah is thought by many to have been on a plain that is today submerged by the southern half of the Dead Sea (shown in the photo). Hence also that the Greek name for the city came to mean submerged.

"the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great ... their sin is very grievous"

Gomorrah was a very ancient city. It existed, along with Sodom, very early in recorded Bible History, in the tenth chapter of Genesis.

"And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha" (Genesis 10:19 KJV)

The Dead Sea Gomorrah became an ugly "manure pile" because of how the people there behaved, not how it looked. The city itself was "well watered every where ... even as the garden of The Lord":

"And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before The Lord [see YHVH, Adonai, Jehovah, LORD] destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of The Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar." (Genesis 13:10 KJV)

Gomorrah was politically allied with the cities around it:

"And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations; That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea." (Genesis 14:1-3 KJV)

The Lord destroyed Gomorrah because "their sin is very grievous":

"And The Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous" (Genesis 18:20 KJV)
"Then The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire [see Fire and Brimstone] from The Lord out of heaven; And He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground." (Genesis 19:24-25 KJV)

Gomorrah, along with Sodom, thereafter became an analogy for perversion and corruption - and of the lake of fire that awaits the unrepentant:

"And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds; The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished" (2 Peter 2:6-9 KJV)

Fact Finder: What is the prophetic meaning of "Sodom and Egypt"?
See Sodom and Egypt

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