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LOT'S WIFE
-Disobedient to God's Grace-
Gen. 19:1-17

Lot, his wife and family lived in Sodom where the inhabitants of the city were exceedingly wicked. They became well known citizens. Sodom was situated by the Dead Sea on the plains near the city of Gomorrah. The site was pleasant, green and full of life, for her husband had chosen the rich fertile plains for the grazing of his herds of livestock.

Lot's wife was the mother of two daughters. Her husband was a member of the City of Sodom's ruling council, as a judge. Her husband settled disputes and law issues at the City's main gateway. Although her husband was a foreigner, he rose to a prominent position in the community and was a well respected magistrate.

The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were an affront to the righteousness of God. The men of Sodom were aggressive homosexuals. Homosexuality was characteristic of the men of Sodom that the act of it, is still called Sodomy. The city's wickedness had brought God's judgement upon it.

The family had lived so long among ungodly people they had allowed their environment to shape them instead of God. God's mercy extended to this family because Abraham had pleaded with God for them.

Lot's wife had been previously kidnapped along with her family as well as the inhabitants of all their regional neighbours. All the company were rescued by Abraham and his men. She was a close relative to Abraham through marriage to his nephew.

She was well aware of God and His dealings with Abraham, but Sodom, a sophisticated town offered her a wide variety of cultural opportunities. She had married a rich and influential man and was a worldly materialistic woman.

Lot's wife allowed her daughters to marry men that belonged to the municipality of Sodom. The city was full of iniquity and God was to allow it to be destroyed. Immorality had degenerated to the lowest point of sexual perversion. Two angels went to save this family from the terrible judgement.

The compromising of morality did affect her and her husband, and the family was to be rescued not for their virtue but their close relationship to Abraham.

There was little indication that the judgement of God was coming upon the city.

Lot's wife's family had been chosen to be spared from under the wrath of God. They were warned about the coming harm and given a chance to escape with the help of God's messengers. God's two messengers arrived in Sodom. Lot welcomed them into his house for he knew it to be dangerous for strangers to stay the night out in the city square. Ancient hospitality obliged that the host took on the protection of his guests in every situation.

Lot's wife's guests were angels sent by God to condemn the city. She did know that life in Sodom had been immoral for many years. Unnatural perversion in sexual relations were openly practised. The men of the city wanted to rape her husband's guests, but the angels supernaturally blinded the men so that they could not find the door. God's angels told the family to escape from the city for it was going to be destroyed.

She listened with her husband to the men God had sent, her sons-in-law however refused to leave the city with her daughters because of unbelief.

Lot's wife herself, was very hesitant about leaving her home and material possessions. Her heart had become attached to the lifestyle the city had provided.

Lot's wife was undecided whether destruction of the city would happen. In spite of God's punishment to be carried out upon the city, His heart was moved to save Lot's wife and her family, because of Abraham's intercession.

Both Lot and his wife wavered, wasting precious time. The men of God (angels) waited on her but could not linger long. All her family had to leave this city of sin behind to save their lives.

The angels had visited the city to hasten the family's departure from imminent doom already decreed upon the wicked city. The angels appeared as men. The depravity of the city is illustrated by the attempt to homosexually rape the two visitors at Lot's home by all of the male population.

Divine judgement was the only outcome. One of the angels suddenly grasped her hand and urged her on and told her to hurry and do not look back. The angels finally had to physically pull the family to safety beyond the limits of the city.

The angels themselves were to carry out the judgement and had to wait for the family to leave for the nearby city of Zoar. Lot's wife followed a few steps behind her husband. Her daughters also left the city in obedience to the angels warning.

When her husband reached the city of Zoar, sulphur and fire fell upon and around the area of the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Nature's forces turned two cities into ashes, and the entire region was wiped away by the Hand of God. No life remained at all nor vegetation.

The region around the Dead Sea where Sodom and Gomorrah were situated contained sulphur, natural gasses and tar pits. Either earthquakes, lightning or a volcanic eruption would have caused an explosion causing sulphur and burning tar to rain down upon the cities.

Gases and sulphur were set to fire by volcanic blasts or great land upheavals and Lot's wife felt in her heart to look backward where her house was, she, sadly was not completely willing to give it up and follow the Word of God in obedience.

Though Lot's wife had physically left the city, her heart had been back with the pleasures it offered, because of this, God's judgement fell upon her and she is upheld to all as a warning to those who trifle with God's proposal of His salvation.

As Lot's wife looked back and lingered, she was overtaken by the sulphurous vapours and became encrusted with salt and she perished where she stood, looking back at the destruction of the city which was in her heart. The salt ash whitened her body, and she was entombed in mineral casing. The rain of sulphur and salt overtook her. She became a pillar of salt.

Lot's wife had not taken heed of the angel's warning seriously. Her heart was still hankering after the lifestyle she lived in Sodom. She could have escaped her death.

Deliverance is due to God's mercy and not of any human righteousness. The Hebrews in the wilderness also looked back to Egypt, not being grateful for God's grace and that generation perished in the desert.

Lot's wife lived in self-pleasure. As the wife of a righteous man she still refused to hear the warning of God's agents. Jesus Himself used her as an example. Jesus warns believers not to look back and perish as did Lot's wife.

Lot's wife did not have to die, she had a choice, obedience for life, or disobedience for death. Lot's wife's greed for the best of everything led her in to loving the sinful lifestyle and it cost her life.

Lot's wife had mixed feelings and doubted the need to immediately leave the city. The command was clear, not to linger, not to look back. Lot's wife disobeyed. Her destruction was sudden, nothing was left except a mineral heap.

Only Lot's family were to be saved, but his wife perished for not heeding and taking seriously what she had been told.

Ruth, an ancestor of Jesus Christ, was a descendant of one of Lot's wife's daughters who fled the city with the angels.

The destruction of these wicked cities is frequently pointed out throughout the Bible as a warning of judgement against sin.

Archaeological findings confirm that the two cities had once rested on a plain which is now covered by the waters of the southern end of the Dead Sea. Evidence does indicate that it was once a rich valley that was well-watered green valleys for livestock but it did have tar pits. The judgement had come completely by natural means but with miraculous timing.

Lot's wife was warned away from unrighteousness. By disobeying a direct command similar to that of Adam, it proved to be that unbelief was the cause of her problem. She questioned and hesitated about the Truth of God's Word, whether the city would really be destroyed. Looking back when told not to, shows her inclination to go back. Although she was in a better position than her neighbours by the grace and mercy of God, her disobedience did not bring her deliverance.

Christians are not to desire after the world system that they professed to have abandoned, because of the love of Christ. Lot's wife is an example of warning to turn toward God's righteousness and continue looking forward and upward to Him.

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