Lessons from Lot's Wife

But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Genesis 19:26

Seems a pretty intense punishment for curiosity, doesn't it? I mean, who wouldn't look back at fire and brimstone? That would be a natural thing to do.

But maybe it wasn't curiosity. There are a few things we know about this situation.

First, the communities of Sodom and Gomorrah had always been sinful. They were sinful when Lot chose - keyword, chose - to move there. Second, they were well-to-do cities, which is why Lot chose them in the first place. Third, we know that Lot was himself a wealthy man.

There are many people who think that Lot's wife looked back because she was greedy; she was looking back at her glorious life, wealth, stature, go up in smoke. Perhaps she was grieving for a lifestyle, one she might never have again.

Or maybe she was being a typical mother. Verse 14 talks about Lot going to his sons-in-law to plead with them to come with him, but they refused. When Lot and his wife fled, it says they took two daughters with them. (These were the two daughters that Lot had offered to the rapists is verse 8.) If these two daughters were the ones engaged to his sons-in-law, it's difficult to believe he would have offered them as sexual sacrifices.

So maybe there were other daughters. Maybe, when Lot's wife looked back, she was crying over stuff she loved. Or maybe she was crying over people she loved. Possibly other daughters. Or men she might have loved like sons. Perhaps there were true friends, other family members.

What, then, is wrong with looking back? What woman would not look back over her loved ones? How could this be wrong?

It's wrong when those we love become more important than the One we love. When the One who loves us isn't the voice we are listening to. When He offers to save us, but we hold on to something else.

Jesus talked about this, too. In Matthew chapter ten, He warns, “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." verse 37

Loving our family, our friends, isn't wrong. But they have to come a distant second behind God. He comes first. He'll have nothing less.

Maybe Lot's wife really was greedy, I don't know. But maybe she wasn't. Maybe she was a nice, normal Jewish mother who loved her family and friends.

That makes her a lot like us. And it reminds us that one lesson we can take from her life - from her death - is that God is first, last, and everything in-between.