23¶ The sun was risen upon brimstone and fire from the LORD the earth when Lot entered into out of heaven; Zoar. 24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah i Deut 29. 23. Is. 13. 19. Jer. 20. 16. & 50. 40. Ezek. 16. 49, 50. Hos. 11. 8. Amos 4. 11. Zeph. 29. Luke 17. 29. 2 Pet. 2. 6. Jude 7. forward to the acquisition of the same character. If we are prompted at all by the noble ambition of becoming benefactors of our race, let us seek to form ourselves on the models proposed in the Scriptures, and thus by being made eminently acceptable to God become in the highest degree useful to the communities in which we live. 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. k ch. 14. 3. Ps. 107. 34. tance by the hand of death. Let this consideration prepare us for a still greater event, in the solemnities of which we must all participate, and in reference to which our Saviour has taught us how we are to improve the narrative of the present awful scene, Luke 17. 28—30, brings with it the means of escape. When the day breaks upon us it scatters peace, and joy, and safety in its smiles. Alas! how little do we know where danger lurks, and when the dream of happiness shall be broken! Sodom escapes the perils of the night to fall by unexpected vengeance in the morning! As the destruction was un23. The sun was risen upon the earth expected, it was the more terrible; and when Lot entered into Zoar. Rather, as it was sudden it admitted of no esaccording to the Hebrew, 'The sun cape. The sons-in-law of Lot, who rose or went forth upon the earth, and had mocked his admonitions, are rousLot entered into Zoar.' The sun-lighted to a sense of their truth and imporof the last day which was ever to dawn upon ill-fated Sodom, had now appeared, and the inhabitants, unconscious, or rather incredulous of danger, gaze upon those early beams, which, as it respected them, were soon to be extinguished in eternal night. The opening of the day in its usual serenity probably confirm-'As it was in the days of Lot, they ed them in their insensibility to peril. The night for the most part is the season of alarm and danger. It was at night that the destroying angel passed through Egypt to slay the first-bornat night, that the sword of the Lord penetrated the camp of Assyria, and destroyed a hundred and eighty-five 24. The Lord rained—brimstone and thousand men-at night, that the shad-fire from the Lord out of heaven. Heb. ow of a hand wrote on the wall of Bel-brimstone and fire; shazzar's palace the departure of his that is, by a common idiom, ignited or kingdom and the close of his glories burning brimstone. Thus 1 Chron. and his life together. But the day has 22. 5, 'Of fame and of glory,' i. e. of ever been regarded as the season of se- glorious fame. Jer. 22. 3, 'Execute ye curity. The first ray of the morning judgment and righteousness,' i. e. righdispels the phantoms of the imagina- teous judgment. Jer. 29. 11, 'To give tion, and transfers us from scenes of an end and expectation,' i. e. an exfancied suffering to those of real enjoy-pected end. Acts, 14. 13, 'Brought ment. Light discovers actual peril and oxen and garlands,' i. e. oxen garland did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all: Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.' bow. The mountains which enclose the Ghor, or valley of the Jordan, open considerably at the northern extremity of the lake, and, encompassing it on the east and west sides, approach again at the southern extremity, leaving between them only a narrow plain which, under the names of El Ghor and El Araba, is continued southward to the eastern gulf of the Red Sea. The di ed, or having their heads adorned with fillets. As we are informed in a previous chapter that the vale of Siddim was full of bitumen pits, and the towns must have been situated on a mine, as it were, of that combustible matter, it does not perhaps detract from the supernatural character of the visitation to suppose that the Almighty saw fit to employ natural agencies in bringing it about. As then the phrase 'brim-mensions of the lake are very variousstone and fire' may with equal propriety be rendered 'burning brimstone;' and as sulphur is found in greater or less quantities in the neighbouring hills, it is conceivable that it may have been 'rained down from heaven' in consequence of being first thrown up by a volcanic eruption, of which there are striking indications at the present day pervading that whole region. But reserving this point for a fuller discussion in the sequel of the present note, it will be proper here to give a somewhat detailed account of that remarkable body of water which occupies the site of the devastated plain of Siddim. This, the reader is aware, is a heavy, sluggish, fetid, and unwholesome lake known by the various titles of the 'Salt Sea' (Numb. 34. 3. Deut. 3. 17. Josh. 15. 5); the 'Sea of the Plain' (Deut. 4. 39); and the 'East Sea' (Ezek. 47. 18. Joel, 2. 20,) from its situation relatively to Judea. By Josephus and other Greek writers it was called the 'Lake Asphaltites,' that is, 'the Bituininous Lake,' from the abundance of asphaltum or bitumen found in it and around it; while by the Arabs it is termed 'Bahar Loth' Sea of Lot, and by the Turks 'Ula Deguisi.' Its usual appellation among Europeans is the 'Dead Sea.' It is situated in the south of Palestine, and is of an irregular oblong figure, extending generally from north to south, but with a leaning of the northern portion eastward, which gives to the whole figure an appearance which has been compared to that of a ly stated. The account most usually followed is that of Josephus, which seems to make it 72 miles long by 18 broad; but it would appear that this must be taken as a large estimate, for many modern observers have been disposed to reduce it by one-third, or even one-half. It is probable that the dimensions of the lake have become more contracted than in former times; but nothing more determinate than ocular impressions has hitherto been offered on this subject. The epithets 'Dead,' and 'Salt,' which are applied to this great lake, may respectively form the points on which a short account of it may turn; the former denoting its general appearance, and the latter the quality of its waters. The name 'Dead Sea' is supposed to have been given to the lake in consequence of the desolate appearance of all things around, and the absence of animal and vegetable life; for the waters being intensely salt, and the soil around deeply impregnated with saline matter, no plants or trees will grow there, and the saturation of the air with saline particles and sulphureous and bituminous vapours is also unfavourable to vegetable life. It is a necessary consequence of this, that no wild animals resort thither for food or drink, nor are flocks or herds led to its shores. The absence of fish also in its waters prevents even the resort of those water-fowl whose presence gives some animation to lakes less peculiarly circumstanced; and, altogether, the general aspect of nature phens says that almost at the moment of his turning from the Jordan to the Dead Sea, notwithstanding the long credited accounts that no bird could fly over without dropping dead upon its surface, he saw a flock of gulls floating quietly on its bosom; and when roused with a stone, they flew down the lake, skimming its surface until they had carried themselves out of sight. As to the absence of fish, there is no good reason to doubt it. We do not recollect that any European travellers discovered any, although some heard of fish from the natives; but we know how little reliance in general is to be placed on the reports of the Orientals on such subjects. The few shells of fish, always unoc in this blighted region is dull, cheerless, and depressing. The unusual stillness of so large a body of water is quite in unison with the general desolation, to which it not a little contributes. This is doubtless owing in a great degree to the shelter of the mountains which enclose it, and shut out the strong winds; but part of the effect may perhaps be attributed to the heaviness of the water. 'It was nearly dark,' says Mr. Stephens (Incid. of Trav., vol. 2. p. 212), when we reached the top of the mountain, and I sat down for a moment to take a last look at the Dead Sea. From this distance its aspect fully justified its name. It was calm, motionless, and seemingly dead; there was no wave or ripple on its surface, nor was it hurrying on, like other wa-cupied, which have occasionally been ters, to pay its tribute to the ocean; the mountains around it were also dead; no trees or shrubs, not a blade of grass grew on their naked sides; and, as in the days of Moses, 'Brimstone and salt; it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth thereon.'' Where the waters occasionally overflow their usual limit, a saline crust is left upon the surface of the soil resembling hoarfrost, or snow. The lake, and the lake only, being at certain seasons covered with a dense mist which is dissipated by the rays of the sun, it came to be said that black and sulphureous exhalations, destructive to animal life, were constantly arising; and it was added, that these exhalations struck dead any birds that attempted to fly across. The rare appearance of birds in consequence of the saltness of the water and the absence of fish, probably occasioned this report, which is now known to be incorrect. It is not uncommon to see swallows dipping for the water necessary to build their nests. Maundrell saw several birds flying about, and skimming the surface without any visible harm. The same fact is attested by Volney; and Mr. Ste found on the shores by Maundrell and beyond any thing I ever tasted. My | It was an exertion even for my lank clothes were wet by the waves, and as Arabs to keep themselves under. When they dried, I found them covered with I struck out in swimming, it was exsalt.' Another traveller says, 'I went ceedingly awkward; for my legs were till up to the knee into the sea, and constantly rising to the surface, and took some water into my mouth. It even above the water. I could have was impossible to keep it there. Its lain there and read with perfect ease. saltness is even greater than that of In fact, I could have slept, and it would the ocean, and it produces a sensation have been a much easier bed than the on the lips similar to that from a strong bushes at Jericho. It was ludicrous to solution of alum. My boots were see one of the horses. As soon as his scarcely dry, when they were already body touched the water he was afloat, covered with salt; our clothes, hats, and turned over on his side; he strughands, faces, were impregnated by this gled with all his force to preserve his mineral in less than two hours.' But equilibrium, but the moment he stopthis wonderful saltness is not its only ped moving he turned over on his side peculiarity. One of the most remark- again, and almost on his back, kicking able characters of this lake is the his feet out of water, and snorting with buoyancy of its waters. Josephus re- terror. The worst of my bath was, lates that the most weighty things after it was over, my skin was covered thrown into it will not sink; and that with a thick, glutinous substance, the Emperor Vespasian, to try its which it required another ablution to strength, caused certain men who get rid of; and after I had wiped mycould not swim to be thrown in with self dry, my body burnt and smarted their hands tied behind them, and they as if I had been turned round before a floated on the surface. 'From my roasting fire. My face and ears were own experience,' says Mr. Stephens, 'I incrusted with salt; my hairs stood can almost corroborate the most ex- out, each particular hair on end;' and travagant accounts of the ancients. my eyes were irritated and inflamed, Before I left Jerusalem, I had resolved so that I felt the effects of it for several not to bathe in it, on account of my days. In spite of all this, however, rehealth; and I had sustained my resolu-vived and refreshed by my bath, I tion during the whole of my day's ride mounted my horse a new man.' Mr. along its shores; but, on the point of Madden, however, was less fortunate. turning up among the mountains, I'About six in the morning,' says he, could resist no longer. My clothes 'I reached the shore, and much seemed to come off of their own ac- against the advice of my excellent cord; and, before Paul had time to ask guide, I resolved on having a bath. I me what I was going to do, I was was desirous of ascertaining the truth floating on its waters. Paul and the of the assertion, that nothing sinks Arabs followed; and, after splashing in the Dead Sea.' I swam a considerabout for a while, we lay like a parcel able distance from the shore; and of corks upon its surface. I know, in about four yards from the beach I was reference to my own specific gravity, beyond my depth: the water was the that in the Atlantic or Mediterranean I coldest I ever felt, and the taste of it cannot float without some little move- most detestable; it was that of a soment of the hands; and even then my lution of nitre, mixed with an infusion body is almost totally submerged; but of quassia. Its buoyancy I found to here, when I threw myself upon my be far greater than that of any sea I back, my body was half out of water. ever swam in, not excepting the Eux ་ ( Dead S credited fly over its surfac floating when ro down the until the of sight. there is We do. travelle some but w gener ports The спр in this blighted region is dull, cheerless, phens say and depressing. The unusual stillness, of his t of so large a body of water is quite în unison with the general desolation, to which it not a little contributes. This is doubtless owing in a great degree to the shelter of the mountains wh.ch enclose it, and shut out the strong winds; but part of the effect may perhaps be attributed to the heaviness of the water. 'It was nearly dark,' says Mr. Stephens (Incid. of Trav., vol. 2. p. 212), when we reached the top of the mountain, and I sat down for a moment to take a last look at the Dead Sea. From this distance its aspect fully justified its name. It was calm, motionless, and seemingly dead; there was no wave or ripple on its surface, nor was it hurrying on, like other waters, to pay its tribute to the ocean; the mountains around it were also dead; no trees or shrubs, not a blade of grass grew on their naked sides; and, as in the days of Moses, 'Brimstone and V salt; it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth thereon.'' Where the waters occasionally overflow their usual limit, a saline crust is left upon the surface of the soil resembling hoarfrost, or snow. The lake, and the lake only, being at certain seasons covered with a dense mist which is dissipated by the rays of the sun, it came to he said that black and sulphureous exha lations, destructive to animal life, we constantly arising; and it was add that these exhalations struck dead birds that attempted to fly B The rare appearance of birds in sequence of the j fo Ot an |
