The Vale of Siddim

2023-02-13

All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea. (Genesis 14:3)

The Vale of Siddim is the location of the battle of Chedorlaomer and his allies versus the king of Sodom and his allies. This was the general vicinity where Sodom and the surrounding cities were located. There were many slime pits (bitumen) there originally.

Genesis 14:3 tells us that this vale is the salt sea, or the Dead Sea, now the deepest point on the surface of Earth. This strange sea was the result after the destruction of Sodom and the surrounding area detailed in Genesis 19:23-29. Salt was a part of this destruction because Lot’s “wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt” (Genesis 19:26).

Some of this is conjecture on my part. However, the Scriptures tell us that this vale of Siddim is the Dead Sea. The Scriptures seem to point that Sodom’s massive destruction from the Lord greatly altered the landscape. The adjacent plain was once “as the garden of the LORD” (Genesis 13:10), but now the area became a scorched crater of salt that water filled in the subsequent times. Divers have discovered water springs under the Dead Sea. The vale is not mentioned after Genesis 14:10.