Lot's wife

This article is about the biblical person. For other uses, see Lot's wife (disambiguation).

"Lot's Wife" pillar, Mount Sodom, Israel

Lot's wife is a character in the Book of Genesis. She is described as turning into a pillar of salt for failing to heed the orders of the angels of deliverance while fleeing from the city of Sodom. Lot's wife is first mentioned in Genesis Chapter 19, but is not named anywhere in the Hebrew Bible. She is also referred to in the New Testament at Luke 17:32.

Genesis narrative

See also: Sodom and Gomorrah#Judgement

The Sodom and Gomorrah motif from the Nuremberg Chronicle by Hartmann Schedel, 1493. Note Lot's wife, already transformed into a salt pillar, in the center.

In Genesis 18, Yahweh sends three men, thought by most commentators to have been angels appearing as men,^[1] to Abraham in the plains of Mamre.

After the angels received the hospitality of Abraham and Sarah, his wife, Yahweh reveals to Abraham that he will destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, because their cry is great, "and because their sin is very grievous."^[Gen 18:20] In response, Abraham reverently inquires of Yahweh if he would spare the city if 50 righteous people were found in it, to which Yahweh agrees he would not destroy it after each request, for the sake of the righteous yet dwelling therein. Abraham then inquires of Yahweh for mercy at lower numbers (first 45, then 40, then 30, then 20, and finally at 10), with Yahweh agreeing each time.^{[Gen 18:22-33][2]} Two of the angels of God proceed to Sodom and are met by Abraham's righteous nephew Lot, who convinces the angels to lodge with him, and they eat with his family.

Genesis 19:4-5 describes what followed (RSV):

But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them (KJV: know them, RSV: know them, NIV: can have sex with them, NJB: can have intercourse with them)."

In response, Lot refuses to give his guests to the inhabitants of Sodom and, instead, offers them his two virgin daughters to "do to them whatever you like." ^{[Gen 19:8]NASB} However, they refuse this offer and threaten to do worse to Lot than they would have done to his guests, and then lunged toward Lot to break down the door. Lot's angelic guests rescue him and strike the men with blindness.

Then, (not having found even 10 righteous people in the city) they command Lot to gather his family and leave, revealing that they were sent to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. As they make their escape, the angels command Lot and his family not to look back under any circumstance.^{[Gen. 19:15-17]} However, as Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed by Yahweh with fire and brimstone, Lot's wife looks back at the city in defiance of the angels' specific command, and she becomes a pillar of salt.^{[Gen. 19:26]}

New Testament

In Luke 17:20-32, the Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come. This triggered a topic that Jesus addressed his disciples about, concerning "the days of the Son of Man". In his discourse, he brought up Lot and his wife as follows:

It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot's wife!

—Luke 17:28-32, NIV

Parallels

Book of Judges 19:22 - 22 As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain base fellows, beset the house round about, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying: 'Bring forth the man that came into thy house, that we may know (sodomize) him.' 23 And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them: 'Nay, my brethren, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into my house, do not this wanton deed. 24 Behold, here is my daughter a virgin, and his concubine; I will bring them out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you; but unto this man do not so wanton a thing.' etc.

• But Jesus said to him, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."^{[Luke 9:62]} (Parallel?)

• Death of Eurydice

Location

The pillar can be reached by driving southbound on Road 90, few kilometers before Dead Sea industrial area so-called Dead Sea Factories. There's a brown road sign "Lot's Wife" showing the direction on the way. Also, many tourist maps point this place as "Lot's Cave", that can be found just beneath the pillar.

See also

• List of names for the biblical nameless

References

1. ^ According to Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible, the "three men" were three heavenly beings in human bodies. "Some think they were all created angels; others, that one of them was the Son of God, the Angel of the covenant." In Genesis 18:3, the word "Lord" is the same word as in verse 1, but is plural, which would seem to indicate that Abraham could not determine that they were heavenly beings since they appeared as men. It wasn't until after the three had eaten, verses 9-15, that Abraham realized the true identity of his visitors and their purpose.[1]
2. ^ This is compared with the Sorites paradox in Geocomputation, Stan Openshaw, Robert J. Abrahart, 2000, p. 167.