In verse 17 the angels told Lot and his family to flee for their lives and not look back. Lot's wife can't resist looking behind her when destruction begins to rain down on the city. "But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt." (Genesis 19:26)
Why is she punished so harshly for disobeying the angels? Looking back seems a natural enough thing to do. Scientists and geologists believe a massive earthquake from the fault line in the region is likely what started the disaster. Tar pits and deposits of bitumen lay under the ground, and the earthquake would have forced these things, along with sulfuric vapors from the bitumen, into the air where they came in contact with the early morning cooking fires and lanterns that would have been burning all across the city. Explosions would have occurred, with fire and burning materials flying up into the air only to rain back down onto the thatched roofs of the structures, thus setting the entire city on fire from the top down and trapping the people inside the conflagration. If I were racing away from such a scene, I think I'd be tempted to at least glance into my rearview mirror.
But Lot's wife appears to have looked back for some other reason than to see what's happening or to make certain the fire wasn't catching up to her. The Lord Jesus refers to her behavior in a warning He gives in Luke 17:32. In this passage He is comparing her to those who reject salvation. He speaks of those who want to save their lives (who cling to the things of this world and who value their independence apart from God rather than acknowledging Him as Lord) and says that those who want to save their lives in this manner will lose them. He also says that those who lose their lives (who submit to Him as Lord and Savior, giving up their right to live however they please in favor of serving and obeying Him) will save their lives. It's their eternal souls He's referring to when He says they will either "save" or "lose" their lives. Into this discussion He interjects, "Remember Lot's wife!", indicating that she rejected salvation in favor of the world. Over the centuries, scholars have taken this to mean Lot's wife mourned the destruction of the prosperous and wicked city. She didn't want to leave. Perhaps she even loved her lifestyle in Sodom so much that she wished she'd perished with her fellow citizens. The Lord seems to be accusing her of being wrong in her heart toward Him, and He would know, so we must take His word for it.
Did she literally become salt? The region of Sodom and Gomorrah is the region of the Dead Sea, so I think at the very least she was covered in a thick deposit of salt. If you've ever seen photos or TV specials about the destruction of the ancient city of Pompeii, then you've seen the preserved bodies of its citizens covered in ash and other deposits that rained down on them within a matter of seconds when Mount Vesuvius erupted. I think something similar happened to Lot's wife. I think that as she hesitated and maybe fell behind her fleeing family, she was covered in falling material and met her demise, leaving her frozen in position and covered in white material which may have been partly or entirely made of up salt.
While all this is going on, Lot's uncle Abraham gets up early in the morning to see what's happening on the plain. He had asked the Lord not to destroy the city even if only ten righteous people could be found there. The Lord promised him He would not destroy it if ten righteous people could be found. "Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace." (Genesis 19:27-28)
His heart must have sunk when he saw the smoke. He knew the Lord hadn't been able to find ten righteous people. According to archaeologists, excavations of ancient cities in the Dead Sea area has revealed towns large enough to support populations of anywhere from 600 to 1,200 people. If the population of Sodom was 600 to 1,200 people, this means that out of so many souls, not even ten were right with the Lord. How sad this is! Not only that, but we can assume Gomorrah's population was similar, so the total number of those who lost their lives could have been anywhere from 1,200 to 2,400 people, not including any ungodly residents of any outlying "suburbs" that may also have been affected. Among all these, the Lord couldn't find anyone who wanted to know and follow Him. Not even Lot and his family really wanted to follow Him, and the Bible makes this clear by revealing to us for whose sake the Lord pulled Lot and his family out of Sodom in the first place. "So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived." (Genesis 19:29)
The Lord didn't rescue Lot for Lot's own sake. Lot was hesitant to leave Sodom. The angels literally had to take him by the hand and pull him outside the city gates. If they hadn't, he'd have still been inside when disaster struck. The Lord rescued Lot for Abraham's sake. Who might the Lord rescue for your sake and for my sake? There may be people who get to heaven because you and I kept praying for them to turn to the Lord. I know it's easy to become discouraged when we pray for years and years for someone who never seems to change. Just because we aren't seeing results doesn't mean we should quit. Abraham didn't see the angels rescue Lot from Sodom, but I think he was praying hard while it was happening. You and I may not even live to see the salvation of those we've prayed so hard for. For example, maybe some of your children or grandchildren are lost and are living in sin. It may seem like your prayers aren't producing any results. In fact, sometimes it seems like the harder we pray for someone, the more they resist the Lord and the deeper they fall into sin. Don't give up! That grandchild you're praying for may not come to the Lord during your lifetime, but that doesn't mean your prayers aren't going to pay off in their later years. Abraham wasn't there to see Lot make it out of Sodom, but he heard about it afterwards. You and I may not still be on the earth when some of the people we've prayed for finally get saved. They may resist the Lord for a long time before they submit their hearts to Him, and we may not see it take place, but that's no reason to stop praying.
If only Lot had been a praying man like his uncle Abraham! If only Lot had set a godly example for his family! His wife might not have perished in today's passage. His daughters might not have done what they will do in tomorrow's study.
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