Zoar

Biblical Text

Zoar first appears in Genesis. When he parted from Abraham, Lot looked out over the region of the Jordan. Genesis 13:10 describes this land as "well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar." In Genesis 14, "Bela, which is Zoar" is listed alongside Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim. The kings of these five cities joined forces to fight an eastern coalition led by Chedorlaomer (Genesis 14:2, 8).

The central narrative appears in Genesis 19. The angels told Lot to flee to the mountain. Lot replied that he could not reach the mountain and asked to be allowed to escape to a nearby city, saying, "is it not a little one?" The angel granted his request and did not overthrow that city (19:18–22). Lot entered Zoar as the sun rose, after which brimstone and fire rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah (19:23–24). Lot, however, was afraid to dwell in Zoar and went up into the mountain with his two daughters, where they lived in a cave (19:30).

Thereafter Zoar appears as a place name marking a boundary. When Moses viewed the Promised Land from Mount Nebo, he saw "the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar" (Deuteronomy 34:3). In the prophecies concerning Moab in Isaiah 15:5 and Jeremiah 48:34, it appears as a place to which Moabite refugees flee.

Name and Location

Genesis 19:22 explains the origin of the name: "Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar." This connects with Lot's words, "is it not a little one?" (19:20). The name Zoar is understood to echo a Hebrew word meaning "to be small."

Traditionally, Zoar has been located southeast of the Dead Sea, near its southern end in present-day Jordan. The sixth-century Madaba Mosaic Map is also reported to mark it in this area. However, some scholars place Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other cities of the plain north of the Dead Sea, so the exact location remains unresolved.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

Zoar is a city that was spared in the midst of judgment. The text explains Lot's rescue by saying that "God remembered Abraham" (Genesis 19:29). For this reason, the account is read together with the scene in chapter 18 in which Abraham intercedes for Sodom.

The name Zoar does not appear in the New Testament, but the story of Lot's rescue is taken up there. Luke 17:28–32 uses the days of Lot as a warning about the end times and says, "Remember Lot's wife." In 2 Peter 2:6–8, Lot is called "just Lot" and is cited as an example of God delivering the godly.

Interpretation and Debate

Lot's request for Zoar instead of the mountain has been read in two ways.

• As a lack of faith: Lot is seen as placing his own judgment ahead of the command he was given.
• As divine accommodation: The episode is seen as revealing God's grace in granting even the request of a weak person.

The fact that Lot eventually left Zoar for the mountain (19:30) has also drawn attention. The narrative then recounts the birth of the ancestors of Moab and Ammon in the cave (19:31–38), and Zoar later appears in the prophetic books as a place name in the region of Moab.

Lot's wife became a pillar of salt (19:26) during the flight, but the text does not specify the exact location. The practice of calling a particular rock formation near the Dead Sea "Lot's wife" is a later folk tradition.