The Vale of Sidim is simply one more geographical synonym for Yam ha Melach, the Salt Sea, or the Dead Sea, the cul-de-sac of the river Yarden (Jordan). It comes from the root Sed (שד), or Sidah (שדה), whence Sadeh (שדה) = "a field". The plural is Sadim (שדים) which ought to be linked to Sedom = Sodom, only Sodom has a Samech (ס - סדום), Sidim a Seen (ש - שדום). But these things happen so often in the Bible, an aural pun or at the very least a phonetic confusion must be presumed.
Sidim is usually called Emek Ha Sidim (עמק השדים) = Valley of the Plains, and describes that southern portion of the West Bank, three hundred feet below sea level, where the Cities of the Plain and the Dead Sea are located.
Genesis 14:3 states that Emek Sidim was the Salt Sea - can we assume that, at some point of tectonic movement or volcanic eruption, the land and the cities on it sank like Atlantis, and the Dead Sea was formed out of it? And if so, is that what is really being recalled in the destruction of the Cities of the Plain (Genesis 18:20-19:38)?
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