“I tell you: Sodom will be easier on that day than that city.”
Sodom was the most important city of Pentapol, that is, a group of five cities: Sodom, Gomorrah, Zoar, Admai Seboim. Although Sodom is mentioned many times in the Bible, it is difficult today to determine its exact location. It is known that it was located in the Jordan Valley. It is most likely located today on the bottom of the Dead Sea or in its northern part – there were discovered traces of a city of high culture, whose history suddenly ended in the 20th century BC, or in the southern part, where there is still a lot of tar and asphalt today.
The city and its inhabitants are the heroes of the Book of Genesis, which depicts the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Adma and Seboim: the entire neighborhood, including all city dwellers, as well as the vegetation have perished, shrouded in “thick smoke, as if from a furnace in which they melt metal” (Genesis 19:28) At the root of the catastrophe – according to the inspired author – lay the sinful lives of the inhabitants: they were “evil because they had committed grave trespasses against the Lord” (Genesis 13:13). Only Zoar survived, where Lot, Abraham’s nephew, had fled. Only he and his two daughters survived the catastrophe, and Lot’s wife, who turned towards the city against the prohibition, turned into a pillar of salt.
The story of the destruction of the cities of Pentapol was easily assimilated in the chosen nation, because it explained why the area around the Dead Sea is so sparsely populated. The Dead Sea itself, a drain-less lake, located at the lowest point of the earth (approx. 400 m above sea level), with a very high salinity (approx. 25%), which means that there is almost completely no organic life.
As for the prophets, also for Jesus, the sin of Sodom is the peak of perversity. The reference to a lighter judgment on Sodom shows how great a sin it is not to accept Jesus’ teaching despite the signs He is doing.