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New Defender's Study Bible Notes
14:3 Siddim. “Siddim” meant “cultivated fields,” and the vale of Siddim at this time was extremely fertile, supporting the five cities of the plain. The reference to “the salt sea” was probably a later editorial insertion by Moses. At the time of Abram, what is now the Dead Sea was still a freshwater remnant of the great Flood, and the whole region was “well watered every where” (Genesis 13:10). The exact location of Sodom and her four sister cities is uncertain, although most authorities believe their remains are now submerged beneath the waters of the shallow southern arm of the Dead Sea. There is also the possibility that the actual cities were located on higher elevations overlooking five ephemeral streams (“wadis”) emptying into the lake, with the inhabitants working the fields below during the daytime, then living in the cooler heights above at night.