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Zoar - location profile

Location and Setting

• Although the exact location of Zoar is not known, it is commonly placed at the southeastern end of the Dead Sea, at the foot of the mountains of Moab. The site is near the edge of the plain called the Sebkha, five miles up the River Zered from where it flows into the Dead Sea.
• In Abraham’s time, Zoar was a member of a Pentapolis, one of five city-states, each having its own king. The other Pentapolis cities were Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim.

Historical and Biblical Significance

• When two angels came to warn Lot, Abraham’s nephew, of the Lord’s imminent judgment upon the sinful inhabitants of Sodom, he pled for permission to flee to a small city nearby. The city was named Zoar, which means "little," because of Lot’s petition to the angels. Apparently he thought that God might spare the city since it was smaller and therefore had presumably committed less sin. Fire and brimstone from heaven destroyed the other Pentapolis city-states, but Zoar escaped (Gen 19:1-29).

Bibliography

1. Culver, R.D. "Zoar" The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.
2. Lockyer, Sr., Herbert, ed. Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986.
3. Smith, William. The New Smith’s Bible Dictionary. Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1966.