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Remember Lot's Wife
Posted by Lev/Christopher on November 1, 2009 at 10:36am in Torah Studies
Parashat Hashavuah
Vayera - וירא : "And he appeared"
Torah : Genesis 18:1-22:24
Haftarah : II Kings 4:1-37
Gospel : Matthew 8-10
Remember Lot's Wife
Thought for the Week
For Lot's wife, who went forth with him, being of a different mind from himself and not continuing in agreement with him as to the command which had been given them, was made an example of, so as to be a pillar of salt unto this day. This was done that all might know that those who are of a double mind, and who distrust the power of God, bring down judgment on themselves, and become a sign to all succeeding generations. (1 Clement 11:2)
Commentary
But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19:26)
The Apostle Peter tells us that "righteous Lot" was oppressed by the sensual conduct of the men of Sodom, and his "righteous soul" was "tormented day after day by their lawless deeds." Nevertheless, Lot was reluctant to leave Sodom.
The Torah attributes Lot's rescue to Abraham, saying, "God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow" (Genesis 19:29). The angels compelled Lot and his family to flee from Sodom, dragging them by the hands. Then they told them, "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you" (Genesis 19:17). As they fled, though, Lot's wife looked back and "became a pillar of salt" (Genesis 19:26).
Why did she turn to salt? The region of Sodom and Gomorrah is in the area of the Dead Sea, also known as the Salt Sea. The Dead Sea is famous for its extremely high salinity. The shores of the Dead Sea are frosted in salt deposits. Because she turned into a pillar of salt, the natural salt of the Dead Sea area became a reminder of Lot's wife for the generations to come.
Yeshua often warned His disciples about the troubled times to come. He foresaw days of persecution, the coming destruction of Jerusalem and a catastrophic day of judgment at the time of His second coming. He warned His disciples that at the time of His second coming, people will be caught unaware and unprepared. They will be like the people Sodom and Gomorrah, utterly unprepared for the moment of judgment:
In the days of Lot they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:28-30)
Yeshua warns that we must be ready to let go of our things, our hopes, and our plans in an instant. We need to be able to let go of everything without turning back as Lot's wife did. He says, "Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it" (Luke 17:32-33).
He was referring to literally fleeing for one's life in a time of tribulation and cataclysm, but His warning also carries an important spiritual lesson. Lot and his family were nearly swept up in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah along with the rest of the inhabitants, not because they were wicked like the rest of the city but because they had allowed themselves to become attached to the place and the people. They did not indulge in all the vices of the material culture around them, but neither had they maintained a healthy distance from that culture. When it came time to flee, they found that they could not let it go. The angels had to drag them from the city, and even then, Lot's wife could not help but look back.
Disciples of Yeshua are to be in the world, but not of the world. It is easy to let the comforts and mundane things of everyday life lull us into a sense of complacency. We tend to cling to the material world. It's busyness, pleasures and concerns distract us from matters of spirituality and godliness. If we cannot let go of materialism, we will be double-minded like Lot's wife.
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