What was the Jordan Valley like before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah?
Before Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, the Jordan Valley was beautiful and well watered everywhere. Scripture describes it as like the garden of the LORD, an area close to the Garden of Eden. It was not the barren rock and desert it became after that destruction.
Les explains that Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan. Before Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, that beautiful Jordan Valley and the environs now occupied by the Dead Sea were a beautiful valley, not the barren rock and desert that exists now as a result of the destruction. The text says it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord. Les points out that if ever there was an area on earth close to the Garden of Eden, this Jordan Valley was. Lot looked at it and wanted it for himself.
And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.