Can you tell me about biblically-related volcanic eruptions?

rocky Daniela Buia

Dear Daniela,

I spent some time in the library using a concordance of the Bible. The word "volcano" was not in the concordance. There were some interesting verses under "brimstone" and "fire." Brimstone refers to a yellow crystalline solid (sulphur) that occurs in volcanic regions (like the Dead Sea). It can also refer to barren areas.

Some of the most interesting verses are Exodus, Chapter 13, verses 21 and 22:

21. The Lord preceded them, in the daytime by means of a column of clouds to show them the way, and at night by means of a column of fire to give them light. Thus they could travel both day and night. 22. Neither the column of cloud by day nor the column of fire by night ever left its place in front of the people.

>From my biased geologic perspective "column" sounds very much like the eruption column above a volcano. eruption column above a volcano.

The verses describing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah are in Genesis, Chapter 19, verses 23 and 24:

23. The sun was just rising over the earth as Lot arrived in Zoar. 24. At the same time the Lord rained down sulphurous fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah.

Again, from my biased geologic perspective "sulphurous fire" sounds like ash or cinder from a volcano. Zoar is in a rift valley,

There are volcanoes along the Dead Sea rift zone. The volcanoes have not erupted in the last 10,000 years. The rift system is associated with break up of the Arabian and Sinai plates. This is one of two rift systems (the Gulf of California is the other) where a mid-ocean ridge changes into a transform and runs into a continent.

A description of volcanic eruptions and religious beliefs is presented in Volcanic hazards by R.J. Blong.

Thanks for an interesting question.

Steve Mattox, University of North Dakota

Sources of Information:

The New American Bible, Catholic Publishers Inc., New York.

Strong, J., 1979, Strong's exhaustive concordence of the Bible: Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1218 p.

Blong, R.J., 1984, Volcanic hazards: A source book on the effects of eruptions: Academic Press, Orlando, Florida, 424 p.

Ben-Avraham, Z., Garfunkel, Z., Almagor, G., and Hall, J.K., 1979, Continental breakup by a leaky transform: The Gulf of Elat (Aqaba); Science, v. 206, p. 214-216. 

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