According to the Bible, Bera ( he, בֶּ֫רַע ''Beraʿ'' ) (possibly meaning "gift") was the king of the wicked city of Sodom, spoken of in
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
14:2, "... ''that'' they made war with Bera king of Sodom."
Scholars are divided on Genesis 14. According to Frances Anderson, "Opinions range from identifying Genesis 14 as a piece of late fiction" to scholars who believe there may be "some historical foundation" behind the narrative it relates.
In the narrative, Bera joins four other
Canaan
Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...
ite city kings in rebelling against
Chedorlaomer
Chedorlaomer, also spelled Kedorlaomer (; Hebrew: כְּדָרְלָעֹמֶר, Tiberian: ''Kəḏorlā'ōmer''; Vat. Χοδολλογομορ), is a king of Elam mentioned in Genesis 14. Genesis portrays him as allied with three other kings, ca ...
, an Elamite king and his allies who rule a vast area. In the Battle of the Vale of Siddim, the combined imperial forces plunder Sodom and nearby cities, taking many people captive and also much plunder. Bera and the king of Gomorrah, Birsha, flee the battle and fall into one of Siddim's many tarpits while other survivors escape into the mountains (14:10).
In popular culture
In the Israel film Zohi Sdom, roughly based upon the Biblical tale of Sodom and Gomorrah, King Bera is portrayed by actor