“Remember Lot’s wife.” Three short words! That’s all there is! But this scant verse found in Luke 17:32 calls to our memory the sad commentary of a woman… a wife… a mother.., who refused to heed the commands of God. Fifteen words in the Old Testament give us the biography of this worldly, selfish woman. They are found in Genesis 19:27: “But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.”
Mrs. Lot had a husband who, when given a choice between the higher, less attractive grazing land, and the fertile plain of Jordan, chose the fertile land and pitched his tent “toward Sodom.” While the Scriptures do not plainly indicate this, one can imagine Mrs. Lot strongly urging her husband to get a “big stone house” in Sodom (in keeping with his abundant wealth). After all, “Why should we live in a tent on the outskirts?” Luke 17:28 conveys the impression that Lot’s wife was a woman who ate and drank and entertained elaborately and who squandered her husband’s money and dressed lavishly and lived for the things of the world. The fact that her daughters married Sodomite men indicates her low ethical ideals and her cheap moral standards.
The city of Sodom is synonymous with all that is evil, immoral, and corrupt. Homosexuality was rampant among its inhabitants. It was out of this city that Lot and his family were told to flee. After much persuasion, Lot, Mrs. Lot, and their daughters left town; and it was then that God poured out His indignation and wrath by raining fire and brimstone upon the city and its inhabitants. Against all warnings, Mrs. Lot turned and looked back at the city as God was showering His fury upon it. Even though she was physically out of the blazing inferno, yet her heart and affections were back in the city. She longed to be where the sin was! And as a result of her disobedience, God immediately turned her body into a lifeless pillar of salt.
Lot’s wife, even today, continues to stand out as a stark evidence of the judgment of God upon all who will not heed His mandates. Mrs. Lot needs no eulogy. She speaks for herself. Remember Lot’s wife!
— Paul W. Brubaker
May/June 1975