What Is Sodom and Gomorrah?

Sodom and Gomorrah were cities of the plain, located near the Dead Sea, infamous for their extreme wickedness. When Lot chose the Jordan plain, he 'pitched his tent toward Sodom.' Abraham later rescued Lot from enemy kings who had captured Sodom. But the city's sin cried out to heaven. Two angels visited Lot in Sodom, and the men of the city surrounded the house, demanding to have sexual relations with the visitors. The angels struck them with blindness and urged Lot to flee with his family before dawn. When Lot hesitated, the angels took them by the hand and led them out. Then 'the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven.' Abraham looked toward the plain and saw the smoke rising like the smoke of a furnace. Lot's wife looked back and became a pillar of salt. The New Testament uses Sodom and Gomorrah as a warning: '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.' The destruction demonstrates that God judges sin but also that He rescues the righteous.