Lot's Wife
Ask about Lot's Wife
Lot's wife is never named in Scripture, yet she is one of its best-remembered figures. When the angels came to destroy Sodom, they took her by the hand along with Lot and their two daughters and brought them out of the city, warning them to escape for their lives and not look behind them. As fire and brimstone fell on the cities of the plain, she 'looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt' (Genesis 19:26). Jesus later held her up as a warning in three words, 'Remember Lot's wife,' urging his hearers not to cling to the world they are leaving when the day of God's judgment comes.
Biography
- Spouse
- Lot
- Children
- Two daughters
- Era
- Patriarchs
Family
Did You Know?
'Remember Lot's wife' (Luke 17:32) is one of the shortest sayings of Jesus recorded in the Gospels, spoken in his teaching about the day the Son of man is revealed.
Genesis 19:16 notes that the family 'lingered' and that the angels took them by the hand, 'the LORD being merciful unto him' - their escape was an act of mercy from start to finish.
Scripture never gives her name. The region around the Dead Sea, where Sodom is usually located, is known for its salt deposits, and Zephaniah 2:9 later pictures judgment on Moab as becoming 'as Sodom' with 'saltpits.'
Key Chapters
Key Passages
Led Out of Sodom
Genesis 19:15-17
Mercy takes her by the hand. The angels' urgency shows how close she came to being spared, and how clear the command was.
15nd when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
She Looked Back
Genesis 19:26
Her backward glance betrayed a heart still bound to Sodom, and the judgment she had been led away from overtook her.
26ut his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Remember Lot's Wife
Luke 17:28-32
Jesus turns her story into a warning for the day the Son of man is revealed: those who long for what they are leaving behind may lose everything.
28ikewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
