To tell the story of the wife of Lot as a mother, we need to examine her from multiple lenses and
conclude the examination by observing the fruit of her parental skills.
The bible never tells us her name, we know that at some point in the story of Lot, he met and married
her. Genesis 11:27 – 31 introduces us to Lot, the nephew of Abram (Later to be called Abraham). We know
they came from Ur of the Chaldeans, a pagan nation who were deep into idol and celestial celestial
(sun/moon/stars) worship.
We know from scripture that Lot was well aware of the true and Living God (Genesis 12:1 – 4) thus he
would have been in good position to instruct his family and household on the way in which they should
walk. Genesis 18:19 makes this even more apparent because when God was contemplating destroying
Sodom and Gomorrah he said of Abraham, “I have known him, in order that he may command his
children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and
justice”
It is this Genesis 18:19 which becomes an indictment on Lot’s wife later on. Lot had been a part of
Abraham’s household and learnt much from him and he translated the same to his household when he
became a father, husband and businessman.
The history of Sodom is as follows: Genesis 13:13 tells us, “but the men of Sodom were exceedingly
wicked and sinful against the Lord”, and Genesis 18:20 tells us, “the outcry against Sodom and
Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave.” This is the city where Lot had chosen to settle and build
a family (Genesis 13:12) This brings to mind Galatians 5”9 which warns, “a little leaven spoils the whole
lump” – choosing to live in the centre of depravity meant they too picked up habits and characteristics
from there.
Genesis chapter 19 tells us the angels of destruction came to Sodom in the evening and Lot was sitting in
the gate of Sodom – this would likely have been around 6pm in our modern time (I’m so grateful to
these 8 watches that have taught me to recognize the times according to the bible) and verse 4 tells us
before they lay down the men of the city came to cause problems in the family. By the time we get to
verse 12, Lot has been warned to gather all those who are his and get out of the city. We get to verse 15
and the instruction is now, “arise, take your wife and your two daughters.” People had had time to even
sleep a little – this was the opportune time for Lot’s wife to be industrious and gather her household,
sadly, the bible tells us that only the 4 of them made it out. They even needed to be dragged out by the
hand because they were dilly dallying.
There is the instruction: Genesis 19:17 – “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay
anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.” Verse 26 tells us, “but his wife
looked back behind him and she became a pillar of salt.” Notice here that Lot’s wife looked back
behind him – the angel was leading them out and blocking the way and she looks behind the protective
cover of the Lord.
Let’s examine her motherhood
We know that she has up until this point failed her household – their
servants, sons-in-law (Genesis 19:14), livestock, wealth were all destroyed. After her own destruction,
we see an additional aspect of her deficient parenting – her daughters have carried over sexual
depravity from Sodom and they scheme deliberately to get their father drunk so that they can have relations with him and get pregnant. Their reasoning being that there are no more men to marry them –a complete untruth! Matthew 7:17, 18, 20 tells us that you will know them by their fruit – the daughters
are the fruit of their mother.
Lesson’s from Lot’s wife:
1. We have a God who says “this is the way, walk in it (Isaiah 30:21) – stubbornness is dangerous
and will lead to destruction. The only way to enjoy to enjoy the protection of God is to be
obedient. Going outside of what God has instructed
2. Proverbs 14:1 tells us, “the wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her
hands” Lot’s wife failed to build her house and ensure their longevity – they were destroyed. We
would do well to watch over our household
3. Proverbs 22:6 tells us, “train up a child in the way in which he should go, and when he is old he
will not depart from it.” It stands to reason that what you teach your child to do is what they will
continue, in the case of Lot’s wife, her children were never instructed to not followed the
depraved ways of Sodom.
4. Jesus at Luke 17:32 said “remember the wife of Lot” to emphasize that when we make a
decision to follow Jesus we must not look back – there’s nothing back there for us. There’s
nothing back there for any of us.