PILLAR OF SALT
Recently in the night I heard this: “Don’t look back or you might turn into a pillar of salt.” This of course was a reference to the doom and wickedness of Sodom in Genesis 18-19. Abraham pleaded with the Lord to not destroy Sodom completely because it “would destroy the righteous with the wicked” (18:23). He eventually cut a deal “if ten righteous people can be found in Sodom” (down from fifty people) the Lord would not destroy the city (18:32). We read in Genesis 13:13, “The men of Sodom were sinners and exceedingly wicked.” The angels provided escape for Lot and his wife and two daughters and they were told specifically by the angels, “Run for your lives! Don’t look back! Don’t stop anywhere in the valley! Run to the mountains! If you don’t, you will be swept away!” (19:17). And then the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
“Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur (brimstone) and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.” (19:25) (Note: To this day there is nothing in this valley; no people, no crops, no cities, and no vegetation of any kind. It is known as The Salt Sea or Dead Sea… it has a mass of asphalt like substance that seeps to the surface that is used for paving roads and other things. The Jordan River runs into this Sea and disappears. The Dead Sea has ten times the saltiness of seawater. It is the lowest place on earth below sea level.) The Lord completely destroyed these wicked cities.
Lot and his wife and daughters had escaped this destruction with the help of angels “taking them by the hands and leading them out” (19:16-17). After escaping the destruction of this horrible place of sin and wickedness… Lot’s wife looked back on Sodom while escaping and immediately turned into a pillar of salt (19:26). We should not look back on the sin the Lord has delivered us from. However, in reading this account again recently and being reminded of what transpired between Lot and his daughters after this event, I think if I were the Lord I would have turned Lot, his wife and both daughters and the whole camel load of them into Kosher Rock Salt. Good thing that’s the Lord’s business and not mine.
“Remember Lot’s wife.” Jesus