GOMORRAH
921
GOMORRAH
xliv, 42 ; Justin, xxiv, 8 ; xxxviii, 3, 4) ; and the probability is that the Cimbri were Celtic, and of the same tribe as the Cjnnry of Britain (Prichurd, Eastern Orifjin of the Celtic Nations, by Latham, p. 142 ; Lath- am, Germmua of Tacitus, Epilegoni. p. clxv sq.). By the ancients the Cimmerii and the Cimbri were held to be one people ; the abodes of the latter were fixed during the Konnin empire in the nortli and west of Europe, particularly in the Cimbric Chersonese (Den- mark), on the coast between the Elbe and Khine, and in Belgium, whence they had crossed to Britain, and occupied at one period tiie whole of the British isles, but were ultimately driven back to the western and northern districts, which their descendants still oc- cupy in two great divisions, the Gael in Ireland and Scotland, the Cymry in Wales. The latter name pre- serves a greater similarity to the original Gomer than either of the classical forms, the consonants being identical. The link to connect "Cymry" with "Cim- bri" is furnished by the forms Cambiia and Cumber- land. The whole Celtic race may therefore be regard- ed as descended from Gomer, and thus the opinion of Josephus (Ant. i, 6, 1), that the Galatians were sprung from him, may be reconciled with the view propound- ed (Michaelis, Supplem. p. 335 scj.). From the place Gomer occupies in the roll of nations in Genesis, it may be presumed that the people descended from him was one of the oldest, and this would fall in with the half-mythic character of the Cimmerii as they appear in Homer. It is plain also from Ezek. xxxviii, 6 that the race of Gomer Avas rciiarded bj"^ the Hebrews as living to the fiir north of Palestine, and this accords exactly with the site assigned to the Cimmerii by He-- rodotup, who places them on the Caucasus, and repre- sents them as skirting the Euxine and coming down on Asia Minor by way of Colchis, and across the river Halys. If the Cimmerii and the Cimbri are identi- fied, and the latter be regarded as a Celtic-speaking people, the statement of Jerome that the Galataj spoke a language not greatly difl'ering from that of the Tre- veri (Prole;/. Lib. ii, ad Ej). ad Galatas) maj' have an important bearing on the subject of the migrations of the original Gomerian stock. — Smith, s. v. ; Kitto, s. V. See Ethnology.
2. The name of the daughter of Diblaim, a harlot who became the wife or concubine (according to some, in vision only) of the prophet llosea (Hos. i, 3). B.C. cir. 725.
Gomor'rah (Heb. Amorah', t\'~\^V_, prob. submer- sion; Sept. i) or Tu T6f.wppa, N. T. " Goniorrha"), one of the four cities in or near the vale of Siddim (Gen. X, 19 ; xiii, 10), apparently overwhelmed bj' the destruction which caused the Dead Sea (Gen. xix, 24, 28). B.C. 20G4. See Siddim. Its king, Birsha, was one of those that joined battle with the forces of Che- dorlaomer, and in the rout Lot's family became in- volved until rescued hy Abraham (Gen. xiv, 2, 8-11). B.C. cir. 2080. The allusions in Scripture to the "cit- ies of the plain" appear to indicate tliat they stood close together (Gen. xiii, 10; xiv, 8-11), and that thej' lay near the southern extremity of the present lake, for Abraham, on going to the brow of the mountain near Hebron, "looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and all the plain" (Gen. xix, 28), and this he could not have done had they been situated further north. Tlic battle between the eastern kings and the people of the plain took place "in the vale of Siddim, which is the Salt Sea" (Gen. xiv, 3). The phrase, however, is not quite decisive as to the precise position ; for, as Keland observes (Paleest. p. 254), it is not stated that the five cities stood in tiie vale of Siddim, although this perliaps may be inferred, and seems to bo implied in the name of Gomorrah. This city appears to have been next in importance to Sodom, as it is always mentioned second, and often these two of the four cit- ies alone are named, as types of impiety and wicked- i
ness (Gen. xviii, 20 ; Eom. ix, 29). What that atroc- ity was may be gathered from Gen. xix, 4-8. Their miserable fate is held up as a warning to the children of Israel (Deut. xxix, 23) ; as a precedent for the de- struction of Babjdon (Isa. xiii, 19, and Jer. 1, 40), of Edom (Jer. xlix, 18), of Moab (Zeph. ii, 9), and even of Israel (Amos iv, 11). By Peter in tlie K. T., and by Jude (2 Pet. ii, 6; Jude ver. 4-7), it is made "an ensample unto those that after should live ungodlj'," or "deny Christ." Similarlj', their wickednets rings as a proverb throughout the prophecies (see Deut. xxxii, 32 ; Isa. i, 9, 10 ; Jer. xxiii, 14). Jerusalem herself is there unequivocally called Sodom, and her I people Gomorrah, for their enormities ; just in the same way that the corruptions of the Church of Home I have caused her to be called Babylon. On the other i hand, according to the N. T., there is a sin which ex- j ceeds even that of Sodom and Gomorrlia, that, namely, of which Tyre and Sidon, Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida, were guilty when the}' "repented not," in spite of "the mighty works" which they had witness- ed (Matt. X, 15) ; and INIark has ranged under the same categoiy all those who would not receive the preach- ing of the apostles (vi, 11). See Sodom.