One day as I was reading Genesis 14, I ran across this verse:

“Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled to the hill country.” (Gen 14:10, ESV)

Maybe you know what bitumen is, or like me, you aren’t completely sure. It seems kind of silly that I didn’t really know for sure what a bitumen pit was, but I believe that it doesn’t hurt to ask questions.

So, I looked up bitumen on the Internet and found this definition on Britannica.com.

“a dense, highly viscous, petroleum-based hydrocarbon that is found in deposits such as oil sands and pitch lakes (natural bitumen) or is obtained as a residue of the distillation of crude oil (refined bitumen)”

“A tar pit,” I thought to myself. Like the Le Brea tar pits? I looked up Le Brea tar pits. Le brea is Spanish for tar, pitch, or bitumen. In the United States it is often called asphalt, but really, asphalt is refined tar mixed with gravel, sand and other fillers.

Bitumen Elsewhere in the Bible

A further query on Bible Gateway revealed that bitumen was mentioned in the building of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:3 where it was used for mortar.

“And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.” (Gen 11:3, ESV)

Bitument was also mentioned in Exodus 2:3 where Moses’ mother sealed the basket with bitumen and pitch in which she placed Moses so that it would be waterproof when she placed it into the Nile River.

“When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.” (Ex 2:3, ESV)

Tar Pits Today

I find it fascinating to imagine what the settings of these stories in the Bible might have looked like. Can you picture the black, oily tar pits in Genesis 14? It must have been an amazing sight to see. 

It must have been equally horrifying to fall into a bitumen pit and not be able to escape. Here is short video about the La Brea Tar Pit and the animals that have been found in it.