Joseph ben Isaac Bekhor Shor "tree of life" (Genesis ii. 9) as "tree of healing", explaining that the fruit of the tree possessed the virtue of healing the sick, without, however, bestowing eternal life. In regard to the transformation of Lot's wife into a pillar of salt (Gen. xix. 26) he explains that, disbelieving in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, she lingered on the road, and was overtaken by the rain of brimstone and fire, which are usually mixed with salt. Well acquainted with the Vulgate and Christian Biblical exegesis, Joseph, in commenting on Psalm ii., cites Jerome, whose explanation of the word he
Mount Sodom Mount Sodom Mount Sodom (, "Har Sedom") or Jebel Usdum (, "Jabal(u) 'ssudūm") is a hill along the southwestern part of the Dead Sea in Israel, part of the Judean Desert Nature Reserve. Mount Sodom began its rise hundreds of thousands of years ago and continues to grow taller at a rate of a year. Movements of the African rift system, along with the pressure generated by the slow accumulation of earth and rock, pressed down on the layers of salt, creating Mount Sodom. It is about 80 percent salt, high, capped by a layer of limestone, clay and conglomerate