Don’t Look Back

“But Lot’s wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt.” Genesis 19:26

Why did Lot’s wife look back when the family was specifically told “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere on the plain!”? I would have thought she would be too terrified to NOT obey God’s messengers! But let’s study the synonyms for the phrase “look back”- it includes dig into the past, recall, remember, reflect on, think about, brood on, ponder on, reminisce about, be nostalgic about, relive, etc. 

We get the idea that it’s not just stopping and gazing at Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot’s wife who is nameless in the Old Testament books but who bears the name Adith or Irith in Jewish references, dragged her feet and dawdled. She did not want to leave. Her heart remained in the fleshpots of the two cities God destroyed with sulphurous fire. 

Jesus actually mentioned her in Luke 17:32, saying, “Remember Lot’s wife!” We too should remember Lot’s wife when we put the world before the Word of God, before prayer, before God Himself. Instead of being salt of the earth, Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt. Maybe God wanted to say if you refuse to obey, you are better off as salt where you can be useful in many ways. 

In the book, “Exposition of the Bible”, John Gill mentioned that Josephus, the Roman-Jewish historian wrote that the “pillar continued to his times, and that he saw it.” Additionally, “Irenaeus, and Tertullian speak of it as in their times, a thing incredible.” Isn’t that fascinating? Lot’s wife as a pillar of salt was preserved for many years after! 

As salt is used to preserve food from rotting, Lot’s wife serves as a reminder to us that we ourselves should not set our hearts in worldly ways.