SIDDIM, LOW PLAIN OF

(Sidʹdim).

A valley linked in Scripture with the Salt (Dead) Sea. (Ge 14:3) There, in Abraham’s day, the rebellious kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar battled with Elamite King Chedorlaomer and his three allies. Defeated, the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, only to have some of their troops fall into the “pits upon pits of bitumen” that filled the area.​—Ge 14:4, 8-10.

Some believe that the Low Plain of Siddim is the baylike section of the Dead Sea S of the Lisan Peninsula. They believe that it once was a fertile valley and was apparently later submerged, perhaps because of earthquake activity or because of topographical changes resulting from God’s destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, and the entire District. (Ge 19:24, 25) From time to time, pieces of bituminous matter still rise to the surface of the shallow waters there.​—See SALT SEA.