historical · Gen 13:1–18 · ✓ Approved

The plain of the Jordan, Sodom, and Mamre: places in Genesis 13

Says Lot “saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt”, “before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah” (Gen 13:10; כִּכַּר הַיַּרְדֵּן, kikkar hayyarden, “the circuit of the Jordan”). Abram settled “near the Oaks of Mamre at Hebron” (13:18; בְּאֵלֹנֵי מַמְרֵא, be’elone mamre).

Keil takes the plain as “the valley on both sides of the Jordan from the Lake of Gennesareth to what was then the vale of Siddim”, and holds that before the destruction “this whole country was well watered”. Josephus calls Sodom “then a fine city, but is now destroyed by the will and the wrath of God”. Pseudo-Jonathan glosses the plain as “a land admirable for trees, as the garden of the Lord”. Calvin thinks “the place where Adam resided at the beginning, is pointed out”. Keil finds the origin of the Perizzites “involved in obscurity”. For Mamre, Keil reads “the terebinth of the Amorite Mamre (chap. xiv. 13)”; Calvin “the oak, or valley of Mamre”; Augustine “the oak of Mamre, which was Hebron”; Pseudo-Jonathan “the vale of Mamre which is in Hebron”. These are their readings.

Uncertain The extent of the plain, the sites of Sodom and Zoar, and whether Mamre names a tree, a grove, a valley or its owner are open. No ancient Near Eastern text is cited or compared, and these identifications do not fix the meaning of Gen 13.

Claims

SaysGen 13:10, 18: Lot saw that the whole circuit of the Jordan as far as Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord and the land of Egypt, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; Abram came and settled by the oaks of Mamre at Hebron.
UncertainThe extent of the circuit of the Jordan, the sites of Sodom and Zoar, and whether Mamre names a tree, a grove, a valley or its owner are open; no ancient Near Eastern text is cited or compared, and the identifications do not fix the meaning.

Citations

BSB public domain Gen 13:10, 13:18
OSHB CC BY 4.0 Gen 13:10, 13:18
Keil–Delitzsch, Pentateuch 1 public domain Keil, Pentateuch vol. 1 (Clark, Martin trans., 1868), on Gen 13:7–18, p. 199 (leaf n202), p. 200 (leaf n203), p. 201 (leaf n204); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
Josephus (Whiston) public domain Ant. 1.8.3 = 1.169–170 (Whiston, 1817, vol. 1), p. 29 (leaf n38); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
Etheridge public domain Etheridge, vol. 1 (1862), Targum of Palestine (Pseudo-Jonathan) on Gen 13:10, 18, p. 195 (leaf n207), p. 196 (leaf n208); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
Calvin, Genesis (King) 1 public domain Calvin, Genesis 1 (King, CTS 1847), on Gen 13:10, 18, p. 373 (leaf n382), p. 377 (leaf n386); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
Augustine, City of God (NPNF1 vol. 2) public domain Civ. 16.22 (trans. Dods, NPNF¹ 2; CCEL npnf102.iv.XVI.22), p. 323 (leaf n346); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased

Sources BSB public domain OSHB CC BY 4.0 Keil–Delitzsch, Pentateuch 1 public domain Josephus (Whiston) public domain Etheridge public domain Calvin, Genesis (King) 1 public domain Augustine, City of God (NPNF1 vol. 2) public domain Bible Scholarship & Tool CC BY 4.0

2026-11-12

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