Why Lot’s Wife Looked Back – The Danger of Being “Tethered” to this World –
And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
"Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot: they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, the builded; But that same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
"Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife." - Luke 17: 26-32.
If someone says, “Don’t look now … "while gazing over your shoulder, what's your natural response?
To look, of course.
Nearly 4,000 years ago, a woman known only by her husband's name ignored the same advice—"Don't look back" (Genesis 19:17) — and turned from a pillar in the community into a pillar that became a signpost for future generations, showing what happens when human nature collides with divine instruction.
Two angels in the guise of men arrived in nefarious Sodom one evening, determined to lead Lot's family to safety before wiping the ancient city off the planet, since “the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord" (Genesis 13:13).
Angels at Work -
At dawn they urged Lot, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away" (Genesis 19:15). The need for speed was clear, and so was impending disaster.
Alas, he who hesitates is Lot. Undaunted, the angels grabbed Lot and his family by the hands “and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them" (Genesis 19:16).
I shake my head, befuddled by God's boundless grace toward this mulish man and his silent but stubborn family. What’s their problem, Lord? Why couldn't they see you were trying to save them?
Flee! -
Back in Sodom, our foursome headed for the city gates, where they were told, “Flee for your lives!" (Genesis 19:17).
Centuries later the apostle Paul used the same word: “flee from sexual immorality" (1 Corinthians 6:18), "flee from idolatry" (1 Corinthians 10:14), and “flee the evil desires of youth" (2 Timothy 2:22). We get flee—though it's certainly easier to say than obey.
Reluctant Lot and his family were told, “Don’t look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain!" (Genesis 19:17). Simple enough. When the Lord “rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah" (Genesis 19:24), the family was sheltered from the maelstrom.
A Fatal Exception -
"But … " So much hinges on that small word. “But Lot's wife looked back … " (Genesis 19:26).
We wonder, Why? Did she have a rebellious heart, chafing against the simplest of commands? A grieving heart, mourning lost family and friends? A foolish heart, longing for the material goods she left behind?
This we know: Despite much whining and gnashing of teeth, Lot obeyed God; however quiet she might have been, Mrs. Lot defied God.
Her story ends as abruptly as her life did — "she became a pillar of salt" (Genesis 19:26) — yet her example lives on: Choose wisely. Choose well. “Choose life and not death!" (2 Kings 18:32).
Digging Deeper –
This is one of the shortest verses in the Bible: Luke 17:32, “Remember Lot’s wife.”
It is also a very strange verse in that we would normally be encouraged to remember people who achieved greatness or did great exploits for God. But Lot’s wife never did anything great. In fact, we know nothing about her and do not read anything about her until she turned around to look at Sodom burning. We don’t even know her name – she is just “Lot’s wife.”
Jesus tells us to remember her in the context of the warnings about the soon return of our Lord. Jesus also draws a number of parallels between the time of Lot and the time when the He will return. He speaks about the fact that people will be going about their daily living and will be oblivious to the fact that sudden destruction is about to come upon them. He then warns about the danger of turning back like Lot’s wife did.
One wonders about this woman. Who was she and what was so bad about her that the Lord would use her as such a negative example for all eternity?
Jesus tells us to remember her in the context of the warnings about the soon return of our Lord. Jesus also draws a number of parallels between the time of Lot and the time when the He will return. He speaks about the fact that people will be going about their daily living and will be oblivious to the fact that sudden destruction is about to come upon them. He then warns about the danger of turning back like Lot’s wife did.
One wonders about this woman. Who was she and what was so bad about her that the Lord would use her as such a negative example for all eternity?
We read in Genesis 13 that Lot moved ever closer towards Sodom until he lived inside that evil city. Genesis 19:1 records that he was sitting in the gate of the city. This seems to imply that he was serving on the city council of that terrible place. Yet, Peter says: “…righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)” - 2 Peter 2:7...
There appears to be a contradiction in that Lot chose to move towards the city, eventually living in it, while he is vexed by their wickedness. So why did he not just move out? And why did he move there in the first place? Maybe the answer lies with his wife. Maybe it was she who craved the city lights and maybe it was because of her, and in spite of his personal misgivings, that Lot lived in Sodom.
That would certainly explain the powerful hold the city had over her -- to the extent that she could not let go of it, even though the angels had physically removed her from the place. The angels specifically commanded them “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you…” (Genesis 19:17). “But his wife looked back behind him” (Genesis 19:26). She could not let go of the pleasures, comfort and excitement of the evil city; and even though her body had been dragged out of Sodom, her heart remained there and she looked back with longing and desire.
Many years later the children of Israel would do the same thing: They would constantly look back at Egypt and desire the things that they had left behind (Numbers 11:5, 14:3,4).They had clearly forgotten the lesson of Lot’s wife and like her, had become ungrateful for the Lord’s salvation, and rather wanted the carnal pleasures of their former home.
There appears to be a contradiction in that Lot chose to move towards the city, eventually living in it, while he is vexed by their wickedness. So why did he not just move out? And why did he move there in the first place? Maybe the answer lies with his wife. Maybe it was she who craved the city lights and maybe it was because of her, and in spite of his personal misgivings, that Lot lived in Sodom.
That would certainly explain the powerful hold the city had over her -- to the extent that she could not let go of it, even though the angels had physically removed her from the place. The angels specifically commanded them “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you…” (Genesis 19:17). “But his wife looked back behind him” (Genesis 19:26). She could not let go of the pleasures, comfort and excitement of the evil city; and even though her body had been dragged out of Sodom, her heart remained there and she looked back with longing and desire.
Many years later the children of Israel would do the same thing: They would constantly look back at Egypt and desire the things that they had left behind (Numbers 11:5, 14:3,4).They had clearly forgotten the lesson of Lot’s wife and like her, had become ungrateful for the Lord’s salvation, and rather wanted the carnal pleasures of their former home.
So, in the New Testament, we are urged to remember Lot’s wife and not to look back towards that from which we have been saved. But it remains an unfortunate human trait to want to return to the things we have been saved from. This is because our minds tend to forget the bad things and to only remember the good of our former lives. The Israelites could not remember the whips of the slave drivers and only remembered the fish, leeks, garlic and onions that they ate in Egypt. Likewise, we often forget the guilt, shame, bondage and frustrations of our lives before Christ and we only remember the passing pleasures of sin.
These words of our Savior Jesus, spoken in Luke, are an admonition to His disciples about how they should react to the conditions that would be prevalent before His second. His first-century disciples are long dead, but the warning still applies to us today as we see the end of this age approaching. If we are to remember Lot’s, we need to review what happened in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Five cities, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Bela (Zoar) dotted the Plain of Jordan, now a desolate waste at the southern end of the Dead Sea (Genesis 14:2, 8). Evidently, Sodom and Gomorrah were the chief two of these five cities, situated in a beautiful, verdant valley “like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar" (Genesis 13:10). In this fertile plain, Lot chose to settle after he had separated from his uncle Abraham, even though he knew “the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD" (verse 13).
Several years later, God visited Abraham and revealed His intention to destroy the cities of the plain because their sin had grown “very grievous" (Genesis 18:20). As He had done at the time of the Flood, God knew that His only just and merciful recourse was to destroy them. Abraham pleaded for the lives of Lot and his family, and God graciously agreed to spare Sodom if only ten righteous people were there (verse 32).
Lot, being a righteous man (II Peter 2:7), recognized the angels whom God had sent and offered them his hospitality, knowing how dangerous it was for strangers to be in public once the sun went down. His fears were well founded, for the perverted men of the city surrounded his house and brazenly demanded that Lot surrender the two angels to them so they could molest them (Genesis 19:4-5). Their depravity was so deep that both old and young, rich and poor, participated in this grotesque riot.
In a moment of weakness, Lot tried to appease the mob by offering his own daughters to them, but this only roused them against him. When they became physically violent, the angels pulled Lot inside and struck the Sodomites with blindness. After a while, tired of searching for the door to Lot's house, the crowd dispersed (verses 6-11).
Having witnessed Sodom's depravity, the angels advised Lot to take his entire family out of the city. “For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it" (verse 13). However, though Lot tried to convince them, his sons-in-law thought he was joking and refused to leave (verse 14).
Although he had seen the perversions first-hand, Lot failed to grasp the urgency of his situation, and the angels literally had to pull him, his wife and two daughters out of the city by hand (verse 16)! Still hesitant, Lot convinced the angels to allow them to flee to Zoar rather than the nearby mountains because he was afraid “some evil" would befall him (verses 19-22). One of the angels charged him, however, with two commands: 1) "Do not look behind you “and 2) do not "stay anywhere in the plain" (verse 17).
When Lot entered Zoar, "the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens" (verse 24). All the cities of the plain were destroyed except Zoar (verse 25), maybe because of Lot's faithless request. Yet just before she reached her place of safety—though she had made some effort to escape the impending disaster—Lot's wife disobeyed the angel's command and looked back. "She became a pillar of salt" (verse 26).
Why Look Back? -
Why did she look back? The context does not specifically give a reason, but she probably had an inordinate love for the world and the material things she had in Sodom. Obviously, Lot was a wealthy man who had enough livestock and servants to cause a problem while he lived with Abraham (Genesis 13:5-7). He and his wife may have had a palatial house with many fine furnishings, servants to do her bidding, fine clothes, sumptuous food and frequent entertainment.
Also, Lot had achieved prominence among the citizens of Sodom beyond his wealth. Genesis shows him sitting in the gate of the city, a place usually reserved for the elders and judges. Lot's wife may have been reconsidering her decision to forsake the privileges of her high social status and her prominent friends.
Maybe she just loved the ways of this more than God. John writes:
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” - 1 John 2:15-17.
There may be more to it, however, than we have thought. Most people assume that Lot had only two daughters, but this is not the case. He says to the Sodomites, "See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man" (Genesis 19:8). He had two unmarried daughters. Later, in verse 14, he "spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters," meaning he had other married daughters who were not virgins. Finally, the angels tell him, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here" (verse 15), implying he had daughters elsewhere.
Since Lot and his wife had more than two daughters, they left more than just material possessions in the city. When God rained down fire and brimstone upon Sodom, their married daughters and sons-in-law — and possibly grandchildren — perished with the rest of the city's populace. What a poignant and tragic test of their faith!
Thus, when Lot's wife fled for little Zoar, her wealth, her house and her social circle were not the only things on her mind. Those concerns were insignificant beside the certain death of her flesh and blood. Perhaps she did not believe that God would follow through on His threat. As a loving mother, her emotions for her doomed family in the city clouded her ability to make proper decisions.
“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”- Matthew 10:3-39.
Though it goes against our human nature, God requires us to have more allegiance to Him than to the members of our own families. For His disciples, leaving family members behind to do God's will may be the most common hardship that they have to face as they come out of this world (Revelation 18:4). Perhaps this is why He reminds us to "remember Lot's wife. “The day may soon come when we will have to heed God's warnings without hesitation to flee again.
"In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back” - Luke 17:31.
When God commands His elect to flee to a place of safety, many of us will be required to entrust unconverted family members to God's mercy. Without doubt, this will be the greatest test of our spiritual lives. We will know that before us lies life and hope and behind us death and destruction, just as Lot and his family experienced in fleeing Sodom.
Lot’s wife did not actually turn back, she just looked back, but that was so serious in God’s eyes that He killed her instantly and turned her into a pillar of salt. Sometimes we feel that looking back (with longing) is not so serious, as long as we don’t actually turn back. However to the Lord, looking back is very bad. The reason is because even though we continue to walk in the right direction, our hearts are still back in the world, and in so-doing we contaminate everyone else around us with our lack of commitment. It was a small minority amongst the people of Israel who were ungrateful for the Lord’s provision and deliverance and they infected the rest of the people until all Israel were grumbling against the Lord (Numbers 11:4-5). In the same way a small group who are not committed can discourage a whole church or group of believers.
Jesus said: “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). That’s a very strong statement but confirms God’s judgment of Lot’s wife. There is simply no room amongst the Lord’s people for those who are constantly complaining and longing for the former days. In South Africa, immigrants from a particular country are called “whenwe”s because one of the phrases they use most frequently is “when we… were back in the old country.” Spiritual whenwe’s may not often speak about their former life, but they certainly think about it often enough. God says “if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul” (Hebrews 10:38).
Sodom-like Today -
We live in a land today where sin is discussed and displayed daily. Some of our own major cities could easily compare to Sodom or Gomorrah because of their blatant depravity. Even some of our smaller cities and towns have homosexual mayors and commissioners who flaunt their perversions in public. “Gay rights" is a major social concern to those who practice such degeneracy.
Though sexual corruption is the sin most associated with Sodom, the people of that city displayed other evil traits. Ezekiel lists some of their other sins:
“Look, this is the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.”- Ezekiel 16:49 & 50.
The Sodomites also resorted to violence quickly when they were crossed.
Within the Western industrialized world, the United States not only is the undisputed leader in murder, but in rape as well.
Consider, too, where the United States ranks in comparison with the rest of the industrialized world. We are at, or near, the top in rates of abortions, divorces, and unwed births. We lead the industrialized world in murder, rape, and violent crime.
Our society is certainly similar to the one into which Lot led his family. In his selfishness and greed, he purposely chose to expose his children and servants to the depravity of Sodom where Satan lay in wait like a hungry lion (I Peter 5:8). We, already living in Satan's world, are commanded, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4). God wants us to make strides to overcome the ungodly practices that we have absorbed from “this present evil world" (Galatians 1:4).
A Future Test? –
Sometime in the not-too-distant future, we will be tested as Lot and his family was. When God calls for us to flee, we may have family members living hundreds of miles away. Children may be at college in another state. A spouse may be away on a business trip—or a few miles away at work. Will we have the faith to put those family members' lives in God's hands and leave without hesitation? Are we convinced that God will provide a way of escape for us as well as them? If we really trust God, even though we cannot see the future clearly, we have nothing to fear.
Jesus stands in stark contrast to Lot’s wife. Having left His glory and having been born as a man, He certainly had much to look back to. Yet, He set His face steadfastly, and unflinchingly towards Jerusalem and the cross (Isaiah 50:7; Luke 9:51). Paul showed the same determination to complete his work and to fulfill every aspect of his call, no matter how high the cost. So, let’s stop thinking about how good it was in the world and how hard it is to serve the Lord. Let’s fix our eyes on the hope set before us, forget that which is behind and lets press towards the mark for the high call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).
The Truth:
“For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known [it], to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit," and, "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire” – 2 Peter 2:20-22.
“For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known [it], to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit," and, "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire” – 2 Peter 2:20-22.
Today, on Jebel Usdum (Hill of Sodom) on the Dead Sea's western shore, stands a pillar of salt known as "Lot's Wife." This monument is a perpetual reminder of a woman who allowed her human nature to turn her from the express command of God. In a critical moment she took her eyes off the goal. Christ warns that we cannot allow the same to happen to us.
We have an even greater goal than our physical safety, and because our eternal life is at stake, we must always keep it as our first priority. As Paul says in Philippians 3:13-15:
“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind.”
