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26 But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. 29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt. ~ Genesis 19:26-29
Today, we return to our study of Genesis 19 where God sent two angels to warn Lot and anyone else in the city who believed in the God of the Bible to leave the city before God destroyed it with brimstone and fire from heaven. Before the destruction came upon Sodom, Lot and his family left very quickly.
In v.26 of today's passage we read, "But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt."
Lot’s wife made a bad choice as the brimstone and fire was falling down onto the city of Sodom. For whatever reason, she turned back to look. Earlier the angels had given the divine warning to not even look back at the city but Lot's wife ignored that command. Her heart was knit to the city of Sodom so much that she looked back longing for the days gone by. Many say this story is a myth, but I beg to differ. On that day, as Lot and his family were approaching Zoar, a meteor zoomed into the atmosphere, it completely destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. It was at that point that it set in motion a sequence of physical events that led to Lot’s wife being turned to salt.
When the meteor entered into the earth’s atmosphere at an extremely fast velocity, it hit the atmosphere causing the pressure on the meteor to exceed the molecular forces holding it together. At that point, the meteor broke into much smaller pieces and effectively dumped its kinetic energy into the atmosphere. The altitude at which this happened, its speed, the type of material the meteor was made of, the angle of entry and the density of the meteor had a very intense effect on the entire area. Megatons of energy were imparted into the air which caused very high temperatures, creating a blast wave that went downward. The archaeological findings have proven this over the years. In fact, archeologists have found melted rock and bubbles in melted zircons which required intense temperatures.
As Lot’s wife lagged behind, she had not reached a sufficiently long enough distance from the entrance of the meteor. When the heated water reached her, it deposited a layer of salt and anhydrite all over everything it touched, as the liquid exploded into steam. As the salt and anhydrite reached her she was turned into a pillar of salt.
In Luke 17:32-33, the Lord Jesus referred to this incident with a riveting warning, He said, "32 Remember Lot's wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it."
The Lord Jesus told us to remember Lot’s wife, but we know almost nothing about her: We don’t know when or where she was born. We don’t know who she was born to and we don’t know her parents. We don’t even know her name. Making her story even more interesting is that it took place in the book of Genesis, which is the book of origins. There are more genealogies in Genesis than any other book in the Bible. In the book that is all about people’s backgrounds, there is nothing about Lot’s wife. The Lord Jesus told us to remember her because her heart was defined mostly by this world, and this world brings with it destruction and misery.
Divine warnings are posted along life’s highway. The Bible informs us that God has placed eternity in our hearts which means in every human soul is a God-given awareness that only God can satisfy. C.S. Lewis once said, "If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world."
In addition, the Bible informs us that the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows forth His handiwork. It tells us that His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that we are without excuse. God warns us through His creation, through His prophets, and through the cross of His own Son.
In v.27-28 of today's passage we read, "27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace."
Just one day earlier, the Lord and the two messengers arrived to announce the coming birth of Isaac. After their meal and assuring Sarah that a child would come through her, the Lord told Abraham of His intent to go to Sodom, determine its state, and destroy it. Before He left, Abraham received a promise that if ten righteous people could be found there, He would spare the entire city. It was probably a very sleepless night for Abraham, wondering if Lot had met even the most basic example of being a faithful witness to his wife, children, and six others. If he simply had nine converts the destruction would have been averted. But Abraham seemed to know better because he got up early in the morning and went to the exact spot where he had met and talked with the Lord. From that spot, he could overlook the entire region to the south where Lot lived. It seemed his fears about Lot were well founded.
God will always judge sin, He has to, otherwise He would not be God. Abraham saw an awful event which he had been foretold would happen. There was no doubt that this was an act of God. He must have been upset for Lot, thinking he was dead, upset at Lot for not being able to drum up nine righteous people, and sad about Lot because he was his nephew and friend. Looking at the smoke from a distance had to be gut wrenching.
The Hebrew word translated "furnace" here is only used four times in the Old Testament. The only other time it’s used in a similar manner is when the Law was received at Mount Sinai which was engulfed in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. The New Testament has one such example as well. A time is coming when the judgments of God will come upon the world. In one of them, the very pit of hell will be opened and as John the Apostle wrote he saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.
In v.29 of today's passage we read, "And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt."
The term "God" is "Elohim" in Hebrew and it describes the One who administered the judgment. Moses used Elohim to show that God is the judge of all the earth who is elsewhere described as a consuming fire. He is such to those whose sin has not been atoned for, but for those who have had their sin forgiven, He is our friend. And so God remembered His friend Abraham and rescued Lot in the midst of the overthrow. There is no contradiction because the Lord is God and God is the Lord. The terminology changes for our benefit and understanding of God’s nature.
