The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

Mark Hempsell, a researcher from Bristol University, has announced that a clay tablet containing cuneiform symbols may explain the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. According to the researcher, the clay tablet provides an eyewitness account of an asteroid that crashed into the Austrian Alps and is behind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

According to the researchers, the tablet was found in the remains of the library in the royal palace at Nineveh in the mid-19th century and it “is thought to be a 700 B.C. copy of notes made by a Sumerian astronomer watching the night sky.”

Read the news report by clicking here.

This theory has created much enthusiasm among people who want to prove that the Bible is true. The proposed theory is attractive but it is difficult to prove that the asteroid described in the tablet was the cause for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. One fact that militates against the theory is the date proposed for the asteroid. According to the researchers, the asteroid hit the earth on June 29, 3123 B.C. This date would put Abraham at 1120 B.C., a date that contradicts the chronology for the patriarchal age. The age of the patriarchs is generally dated in the Middle Bronze Age, between 1950-1800 B.C.

Good try!

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Abraham, Gomorrah, Sodom