A Look Back at Lot's Wife

     Thousands of times, children have sat in small chairs in stuffy Sunday School rooms with coffee cans full of broken crayons and listened to the tale of the woman turned into a pillar of salt.  They have seen the illustration, whether it was flannel graph or a print on a page.  Like me, they wondered at the woman frozen in place, whose gaze, fearful and deliberate, would be the testament she would choose to leave.  Standing outside the place of destruction.  Delivered.  But unwilling to relinquish what God had destroyed.  Lot, a man of wealth, and possibly powerful in the city of Sodom had unfortunately become so acclimated to its evil, that the ten righteous God sought in order to spare it could not be found in his family or sphere of influence.  In mercy, God sends two angels to lead Lot and his family out of Sodom before its destruction, but his sons in law mock him and stay behind.  We can never take for granted the potential influence we hold as families, organizations, and individuals.  Every decision, priority, conversation...each one is piecing together the memorial we will leave behind.  Earlier in Genesis, (19:29) we see that Lot's family had already been delivered from captivity for the sake of Abraham's righteousness, and now they would be delivered as a result of his intercessory prayer, but Lot and his wife would leave a very different legacy.
        In Luke 17:32, while discussing his second coming with some Pharisees and disciples, Jesus tells them to "Remember Lot's wife."  To understand what He means, we must study the context.  (What did Jesus say before and after this verse?)  In verse 31, Jesus says a man may be on the housetop and his possessions will be in the house, but he is not to come down to take it.  He adds, "and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back."  Then he says, "Remember Lot's wife."  The implication of the context is that the primary reason Lot's wife looked back was material.  While she stood safely outside the city of Zoar, having escaped total destruction and judgment, her mind and heart were not thinking on the mercy and deliverance of God.  The English word "look" used to describe the actions of Lot's wife in Genesis 19:26 comes from the Hebrew word "nabat" which means "to look intently at in a favorable manner."  We, as mothers, grandmothers, aunts, etc. may want to come to her defense, because, after all, she most likely left behind children, grandchildren, and other family members.  However, we can never forget that anything we hold in regard over the will of God is sin.  Jesus says in Luke 14:26 "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, his own life also, he cannot be my disciple."  (Hate in this verse does not mean disdain, but that they must be second in priority to God.)  If we could pause the scene and look into her heart before she was turned to a pillar of salt, our spiritual search would not only reveal a mother's heart, but a mother's heart that was hardened by the sin of disregard to God and what He demanded of her.  We, too, must beware letting our love for ourselves, parents, siblings, spouse, children, etc. misplace our priorities and responsibilities as children of God.  Stood against friends, services, and responsibilities, family comes first, but nothing comes before Jesus.  He bought the right to the very best of me with His own blood.
     I mentioned hearing this story in Sunday School, but lest we categorize this as a legend or fairy tale...or in case you have trouble using the Bible as a credible source, consider other written records of Lot's wife having been turned into a pillar of salt.  In the first century AD, Josephus records that Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt and adds, "for I have seen it, and it remains at this day."  Another, Clement of Rome, writing at the same time, mentions that this pillar was still standing in his day.  Irenaeus, writing in second century AD, stated that the pillar still stood.  (Jewish Antiquities, Book 1, Chapter 11.4:  The Complete Works of Josephus)  Obviously, we cannot know for sure, and it seems improbable it would still be standing after thousands of years, but there is a salt formation near the Dead Sea said to be Lot's wife, preserved as a memorial to sin. It is pictured at the bottom of this post.  (For fun, you can read more about it here:  https://www.deadsea.com/explore/historical-sites/biblical-sites/mount-sodom-lots-wife/http:/ or /desitraveler.com/lots-wife-pillar-of-salt/ )  Many believe it is now bigger than an average human because of salt deposits through the centuries.  Whether the physical monument remains or not, what must remain is the truth that it is never enough to leave a place of sin, physically.  Our hearts must leave, also.
     While preparing to share this lesson on Lot's wife with our ladies' Sunday School class, I came across an article by Jen Wilkin where she remembers Lot's wife and her fate.  (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/lessons-from-a-pillar-of-salt/)  The image that comes to mind of Lot's wife frozen in place can cause us to question God's extreme measures in her case.  What if God had shown mercy to Lot's wife and she had been allowed to flee Sodom harboring in her heart a love for her past and its sin?  Doubtless, the memory of Sodom would be cherished rather than serve as the warning of God's sure judgment of sin, and "the virus of Sodom's wickedness would have gone with her to her new home, preserved deep within her, waiting its chance to emerge and infect other lives."  It begs us ask the question of ourselves:  "If your spiritual gaze were frozen at this instant, on what would it be fixed?" 
     Finally, we'll look back to Luke 17 where Jesus advises us to remember Lot's wife.  Again considering the context, let's look at the following verse (17:33).  "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it."  What has God allowed to be destroyed in your life that still has your heart?  Like Lot's wife, you're turning to see something that is already gone...something you cannot save.  What has God delivered you from that still sparks something in your heart and turns your head?  Surrender it to Christ.  Lose every part of your life to the only One who can save it.  Live as a testimony to His mercy, and leave a monument to His grace.