I thought that I'd like to see what those tar pits look like now, or see if there was evidence of them ever existing. Since I believe the Bible to be accurate in every aspect, I figured it would be easy to find. And it was!
Here's what I discovered. The Valley of Siddim is no longer an empty valley...it is now the Dead Sea (also called the Salt Sea). Not only that, but it still has it's tar pits! Here's some of the info and photos I found. I'm so grateful that I not only have a Bible that I accept as truth on faith, but that has proven itself as truth again and again.
The Dead Sea is a lake bordering Jordan to the east and Israel to the west. It lies over 1,000 feet below sea level, and is the Earth's lowest elevation on land. At 1,237 ft. deep, it is the largest hypersaline lake in the world! It has a salinity of 33.7%, and is 8.6 times saltier than the ocean. It is called the "Dead Sea" because animals cannot flourish in it's environment because of the salinity. It is 42 miles long, and 11 miles wide.
The Dead Sea's salt has been used in cosmetics and herbal sachets, and the Dead Sea has been the supplier of a wide range of products from balms used in Egyptian Mummification, to fertilizer. It was also a site of refuge for biblical King David.
My friend in Christ, I had the exact thought as soon as I got to the tar pits in the valley of Siddim again! I immediately went to Google to see if they had been explored and found your site. Thank you for confirming the truth! Blessings, Brett
ReplyDeleteAfter studying Genesis 14 , I was moved to google this topic in order to find pictures of what I already know to be true . Thanks for the insight... Praise God in Jesus name!
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ReplyDeleteCorrection. Excellent post sister! Check out my latest blog entry. I think you might enjoy it.
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ReplyDeleteI am interested in your help. There is a reference in scripture that talks about a time where God is going to have a hole in the ground where the saints will pilgrimage there to look deeply into the depths of hell and hear the screams, smell the scent and to be reminded of God's righteous judgment forever and ever. My question is how many of these holes are there beside that which be found in Babylon. Seems to me there are two but perhaps three. Any ideas?
ReplyDeletePlease post reference.
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DeleteI found the first reference, I hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteIsa 34:6-10 6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. note note
8 For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.
9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
Here is a further example of Bozrah: "I swear by myself," declares the Lord, " that Bozrah will become a ruin and a curse, an object of horror and reproach; and all its towns will be in ruin forever." (Jeremiah 49:13)
ReplyDeleteI'll need to read the original hebrew to get a better grasp on its context.
ReplyDeleteThis story has also fascinated me for a few years now! I peach a sermon from this story (vss. 1-16). 1. There is a thief. 2. There is a place of bondage. And 3. There is a Deliverer! Thanks for your research!
ReplyDelete*preach*
Delete*preach*
DeleteI found your post because I was reading Gen 14 this morning and my science nerd mind wondered the same thing! Have they found the remains of those lost in the tar pits. So cool. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I also have a blog. It's new but feel free to visit. I have upcoming posts on faith planned.
DeleteRandomMama.com
Type in 'list of tar pits' on Google. The Dead Sea is not there. Look at pictures of the Dead Sea: sink holes but not tar pits. They are not the same thing. If they were, why is the Dead Sea not listed as an example of a tar pit?
ReplyDeleteNo worries. This just proves that the Bible was written by fallible people inspired by God.
Thanks for your comment!
DeleteYes, there are absolutely sinkholes at the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea does also cover some tar pits, that pre date the sea. If you have a moment, look up “bitumen in the Dead Sea”, and see what you can find. Bitumen is defined as: a black viscous mixture of hydrocarbons obtained naturally or as a residue from petroleum distillation. It is used for road surfacing and roofing. The La Brea tar pits (as an example) also contain this same bitumen. So if that material is arising from something other than a tar pit...what is it?
I hope you’ll continue spending time in God’s infallible word...miraculously written for Him by fallible people. :)
No surprise that google would not publish something that supports the bible. There is a battle going on for your soul brother.
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DeleteDon't make things up.
ReplyDeleteWhen I type in 'tar pits the dead sea' (IN GOOGLE) the majority of the results refer to biblical sources, in fact, nearly every single source refers to the bible.
Now that I know you like to make things up it only makes sense to dismiss your claims about an ongoing battle for my soul.
Edit: I had to delete my original response since it had a spelling mistake.
check wikipedia and perhaps the reason many sources point to the Bible is because it is a remarkable and rich source of ancient history. From a nonreligious perspective, it is a well-preserved book that many refer to, and for Christians this authenticity only ensures the accuracy of the rest of the Bible and its contents.
DeletePart of what you say is true. Scholars do praise the Bible for its insight on ancient cultures and their beliefs. It is seen as invaluable for reasons related to that. It is not seen as a history book though. More like an artistic take on it.
DeleteWhen, how, and who put the Bible together. You'll find a different answer depending on the version of the bible and the religion of the scholar, which is not good. Bias shouldn't interfere.
The bible is great, but people make it more than it is. It is not specific on how to live your life or proof of a creator. Bringing your own biases and morality into the picture is why christianity moves forward, not because they actually read and use their bible.
So yeah, you are part right.
What's so amazing to me is that in the beginning B.C. many years ago this was written and we are still studying B.C. and A.D. (anno domini) We are all born A.D. Seems that the whole world recognizes that Jesus is Lord by dating things B.C. and A.D. An individual cannot change their Birthday but they can deny what they don't understand, keep digging and you will know the truth. I hope the Greatest of Wisdom and Knowledge for you as well.
ReplyDeleteThis is unrelated to why I fail to find information that proves the Dead Sea is actually the Valley of Siddim. So many times Christians make archaeological claims but the evidence is sketchy or not even there. This blog uses sketchy reasoning. There are some places that do exist and are mentioned in the Bible, but comic books mention real places too so does that mean there are superheroes? Obviously not. Concrete evidence is better than obscure references.
DeleteAn example of obscure is to say the whole world recognizes that Jesus is lord because we use B.C. and A.D. Is one version of a many calendars really the thing you base your belief off of? Are you going to ignore that Western Colonial Expansion and dominance has a huge part in this? Again, what an obscure reason to stand behind.
You guys have the right to believe what you want, I respect your religious freedom, but you lack when it comes to proof. I have no reason to care/worry about Christianity just because a lot of people want it to be true. I have no problems with Christians until they start making factual claims using obscure bible references to fit their narrative, like this blog. That is so irresponsible and just makes you guys look desperate.
More about B.C. and A.D. You're right, all I had to do was dig to find a better explanation to what you said:
http://time.com/4462775/bc-ad-dating-history/
Again, I have no problem with Christians. Just adopt a rigorous attitude if you want to try to prove things. Otherwise don't play along, it wastes time.
This is from a travel site
ReplyDeletehttp://www.netours.com/content/view/66/29/
I could be wrong but I think you are reaaaaaching
Talking to @steve
DeleteSo as lovely as it is that you brought a source that seems to go in depth, the problem with it is that it is a biased one. A tourist agency geared towards christians would publish something like that. Tourist agencies in general embellish the facts to attract customers. How do I know that it is geared toward Bible believers? Their about us page.
Deletehttp://netours.com/netours/?page_id=12
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11457-015-9135-2
ReplyDeletehttps://www.fromthegrapevine.com/nature/intriguing-things-you-didnt-know-about-dead-sea
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223684490_The_floating_asphalt_blocks_of_the_Dead_Sea
https://www.persee.fr/doc/paleo_0153-9345_1984_num_10_1_4357
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1475-4754.2012.00713.x
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0079194679900983
https://www.thoughtco.com/bitumen-history-of-black-goo-170085
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0375674279900013
links above for @Lilith Steve
ReplyDeleteI read your links. It sheds more light on bitumen and the Dead Sea, and that is very interesting, but the theme of this blog post and our previous conversations are not related to them. So why did you post them?
DeleteI was listening to Genesis 14 tonight and the 'asphalt pits' intrigued me also. (I've read Genesis many times and it's the first time I seemed to notice this!) Thanks so much for your post along with photos. Greatly appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the bitumen in small quantities said to be found in the Dead Sea, qualifies it as the lake Asphaltis. The Dead Sea is more of a salt sea. Which is why the attempt to equate salt with tar here.
ReplyDeleteSatan deceived us in ways you can't fathom... he flipped the map on us.
ReplyDeleteBible occurrences happened in North America.. we not only had camels but they originated here, we had elephants and a huge lion that's extinct now (hint, they killed these animals off like they nearly killed the wild ox/ bison to extinction then they must have had wild camels that they needed a cover for as they couldn't kill them all so they brought in camels for army as the cover for any seen in wild).
We had/ have EVERY tree, plant, mineral, rivers, mts, animals that are in the Bible.
Would anyone think of that fake Isreal run by fake zionists jews to be the land of milk and honey without walls so cattle could roam?!
Rev 2:9. 3:9.
Pic a pie plate, this is how God describes the earth he made... like a seal in clay (this would never make a ball! But it does make walls which are used to hold the waters in) firmament/ dome.. like banged out looking glass.. sun and moon are local we live in enclosed earth that we can't leave... he describes all of this.. earth is stationary it shall not be moved.
Earth here first then he made the sun and moon and hung them in the firmament. Wake up time.
He said we would forget who we are he also said because we don't believe him of earthly things why would he tell us if heavenly ones.
Satan deceived in ways we couldn't imagine.
We have dead sea/ salt sea in Utah... most everything occurred in Bible in our west and mid west areas and spread out.
ReplyDeleteNotice how every town in the Bible is also here but we are told that's because European Christians came here and named them... nope, Indians tan and blk, tribes of Isreal were here first.. that's why they were enslaved, killed... in just 1-2 generations we of slavery we forgot whom we are.
This is why the Bible doesn't actually fit in middle east.
Utah also has huge copper mine.
And ppl think only the Nile runs backwards.... NOT TRUE more rivers run backwards than north to south.
On a ball earth this couldn't be possible.
Look on your maps Google..
See America go down and follow around.. they try to tell you that's south pole, south pole doesn't exist.. notice how you'll see an ice wall surrounding the world but if you look up south pole they show you nothing and there is a weird thing they show you of a mobile home and no snow/ ice.
But if you start on maps just put in any land like England... but follow the map to the bottom and around. You'll see ice.
The Antarctica is really a 200+ ft ice wall that keeps the waters in and surrounds the entire earth. We aren't allowed but to a few tour areas for a reason.
Airline flights make sense on the real earth flat map.
Flat does not mean flat,God said it's like a garment, seal in clay, raised areas and flat.
The point is that until you realize the true shape of the earth is round, circular like a pie plate with north pole in the center... you'll never understand the Bible until you understand this.
God opened the windows of heaven to flood the world.
ReplyDeleteWe can't get through the firmament/dome/ vault only God can open it and if we did the world would flood.
Over 200 verses starting in Genesis tells us that the earth is not a moving ball in the universe flying 66,600 miles an hr.
Look up 666/ earth rotation and you'll be shocked that everything they told us about the ball earth makes a 666.
Oh how God must hurt, we HURT him by not believing his truth and falling for Satan lies.
As Christians we believe that we use discernment and can't be fooled... this is ego a sin to think that you can't be fooled..God even said that he would help Satan fool us die to our sins.
Mars was done on Devon Island.
ReplyDeleteMoon was done in I believe it's Nevada..I haven't looked it up in a while but I believe it was Nevada.
Search Devon Island and you'll see the background they used for Mars.
Nasa did in fact mean deceiver but they have hidden this in searches, old Bibles/translations show it though.
How could they call the president from the moon when you today can't even get reception in areas around your home and city.
They use fish eye lens as well.
If you look up the scale of earth curvature you'll see that it's 8in squared per mile.
We CAN SEE lasers and lights and places further then we would be able to as they would be beyond the curvature.
Operation paperclip brought over 1000 nazi scientists here and they went to cia and formed and went to nasa.
There are no politics... each side are the same.
They play us against one another... think it's coincidence that all presidents are blood related to the same grandpa?
These ppl running the world Satan has seeded the bloodlines for thousands of years... he has so many tentacles and all are one beast.
Jesus did not deny whom Satan is at all... he said he is a prince and the god of this world.
We as good ppl and Christians do not understand real evil.
You must be evil to understand evil.
When I finally had the veil from all the spells they use against us, lifted from my eyes and heart...I was shocked at how he really does control every nation, out thoughts in politics and everything.
The left believe they are fighting the good fight , the right believe they are.
I thought all democrats were just plain evil... until I worked for many.
This helped me immensely to understand what Satan has really done to us.. keeping us divided.
The challenger didn't kill anyone, they used the escape tunnel on it so nobody saw them get off.
All are alive save one that has since died.
They all have prestigious jobs and didn't even change their names... the teacher used her middle name on challenger she uses her real first name now and has lush job at Yale.
2 say they are their twin brothers.
It got to where ppl wanted to go to the moon.
So they had to do a false flag event to scare ppl from wanting to go.
They use ff events all the time to take away our rights.
Control and scare us into wanting more gov to have more power. Obama made it so that the military exercises could be shown on TV as real.. that's why you saw all these school shootings.
Crisis actors and the same ones are used in many ff events.
Cnn puts on crisis actors as real doctors to push the agenda.
Why did I go this way out from the topic... because it's ALL connected.
They are faking everything and allowed to make us believe it's all real.
TV is still legally entertainment "
Tel a vision.
Hollywood/Holly tree wands.
Programs/programing.
Channels, channeling.
www = 666 in hebrew and yes it's a web over the world.
So when you are looking to find a small dot of something that is suppose to be in middle east in Bible.
This is WHY you must search.
Cause it didn't occur over there at all.
Antelope we also have but they tell us they are only a cousin. Yet we have antelope place in the west.
Moab, Memphis, Cairo, Philadelphia, Lebanon, etc etc all in America... look up every land in Bible then/ America.
They did do something else sneaky and named many places the same name.
Wow. I'm still getting emails from this blog from nearly 10 years ago...
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