It would have been easy to skip over Lots’ wife. We know very little about her, and she barely gets given a few verses. Of those she does, we are once again called to tut a little and raise our eyebrows at her inability to follow the simplest of God’s commands. BUT… Lots wife is the only person Jesus tells us to remember, so there has to be more to the story than yet another sinner.
Let’s get some context for her. We don’t know her name, when she met Lot or when they married, but it’s thought maybe around the time they fled to Egypt. She must have experienced being kidnapped by the kings and the subsequent rescue by Abraham. They had two daughters, or perhaps four, as the Midrash suggests—two married and two betrothed. They are living in Sodom, a place known for wickedness and immorality. We can get too fixed on homosexual sins (Ezekial 16), but historical texts tell us mostly about oppression, inhospitality, fraudulent practices, and bad treatment of the poor. Debauchery and excess were the norm, it seems. We are told there was not one good person remaining; it was rotten to the core.
I can’t imagine for one moment that Lot and his family were saints in amongst all this, but the good in them is enough for the Lord to call them out before the destruction. Maybe it was the intercession of Abraham.
Through the angels, He gives them just one command: “Don’t look back.” Lot negotiates—God says run to those hills over there. Lot says, “Oooh, that’s a bit far that, Lord. How about those ones a bit nearer?” I have to wonder if his heart was as divided as his wife’s. I have to wonder if he had been resolute, she would have found the strength to be, too. We first meet Lot and the angels sitting outside the gate of Sodom, maybe a hint that he’s kind of half out/ half in… This state of being ‘half out/half in’ is what scripture would call ‘lukewarm ‘, at a crossroads of going one way or the other spiritually. But that aside, as they start to run, Lots’ wife does that one thing: She turns and looks back and turns into a pillar of salt.
So, what’s really so bad about this? Is it just curiosity killing the cat? Is it merely the disobedience? The favoured reason is that although she was offered salvation, her heart remained chained to life among the trappings of sin and debauchery. We are told she looked back longingly. God wanted to make her new; she wasn’t sure she wanted “new”. Three points come out to me here
- I think Jesus warns us because he sees that holding onto the past, whether it’s past glories, hurts, wounds, or victories, can lead us to be stuck. This attachment to the past can prevent us from looking forward and embracing the new opportunities and growth that God has in store for us; we remain, at best, stationary in our spiritual journey.
- I wonder if part of Lots’ wife’s problem was a fear of change, a fear of the unknown. It’s not unlike God to move us from a place that will bring spiritual death, even spiritual apathy. He wants more for us, but we have to cooperate; we always have a choice, and sometimes, even rotten places feel safer than the risk of the unknown, particularly if we don’t know the one calling so well.
- If we hold onto something so tight we can’t leave it behind when the Lord calls, chances are it’s a little god to you, an idol that’s pushed the real God off his throne in your life.
So there she remains, Lot’s wife. Stuck for eternity? The preserving qualities of salt preserve the view of her choice forever, and maybe the purifying qualities of salt are for us who now hear her story. I’m hoping some aspects of this resonate with you and that she’s come alive a little and we can find some common ground.
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