Vale of Siddim was full of slime-pits, &c.— Pits of (חמר see Genesis 11:3.) bitumen, which abounded much in that country. The Dead-sea, as we have observed before, contained a great quantity of this matter, and was thence called the Lake of Asphaltus, or Bitumen. See note on Genesis 11:2. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, in their flight, fell into some of these pits, whence one of them at least, the king of Sodom, was preserved, as we read of him again, Genesis 11:17.
Related Commentaries of Genesis 14:10
Genesis 14:10
10 And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.