Lot's Wife

The people of Sodom were proverbially wicked above all men. Provoked by their abominations, God resolved to take vengeance. But shall he hide from Abraham the thing which he will do? Abraham being informed, immediately became an intercessor; but so general was the corruption, that not ten righteous persons could be found there.

In the evening before the threatened destruction, two angels came to Lot, as he was sitting in the gate of Sodom. These were appointed to be the executioners; and after themselves observing some of the crying enormities of the place, as if they could no longer endure the scene, they said unto Lot; “Hast thou here any besides? Son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.”

Apprized of the impending evil, and full of affectionate anxiety and dread, “Lot went out, and spake unto his sons-in-law who married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed unto them as one that mocked.”

“And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, who are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the man laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said. Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountains, lest thou be consumed.”

“But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt:” — petrified into a substance which would endure the assaults of time. Josephus declares that he saw it standing in his days. But what has now become of it?

The statue is no longer visible to the eye of sense; but it can be yet seen by the eye of faith. Here it is, in “the word of the Lord, which endureth forever.” Let us solemnly approach it, and read the motto with which it is inscribed: “Remember Lot’s Wife!”

This motto was inscribed by the Lord himself; and requires us to consider three things: — The Sln”: — The Punishment: — The Admonition.

1. The Sin. “She looked back from behind him.”

And was this so criminal a deed? In answer to this, we observe, that sins are not to be judged of only or principally by their grossness, but by their guilt; that their guilt arises from their aggravations; and that their aggravations arise from circumstances which often fall not under our cognizance, but are subject only to the judgment of God, who “seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart,”

In the Scriptures we frequently find crimes apparently trivial, followed with direful inflictions; and why? — Because what appears trivial to us, is an abomination in the sight of God. Is he not “a God of knowledge, by whom actions are weighed “? Is he not merciful? and would he punish a slight offence with a tremendous severity? “Is there unrighteousness with God? How then shall God judge the world? Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

What was involved in this retrospection?

Her looking back betrayed Idle and Wanton Curiosity. We are far from supposing that curiosity is peculiar to the female sex; yet it may be allowed that there is no want of this property in their composition. Lot’s wife’s curiosity destroyed herself. Dinah’s curiosity destroyed a city. Eve’s curiosity destroyed a world.

The Scriptures never encourage curiosity. When a man asked our Lord, ‘’ Are there few that shall be saved?” “Instead of seeking to know this,” replied our Saviour, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto jon will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” When Peter, not satisfied with being informed of his own destiny and duty, wished to pry into those of John, and asked: “Lord, and what shall this man do?” he answered, “What is that to thee? follow thou me.”

Let us guard against the intemperance of speculation. Paul reproves the man who “intrudes into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by’ his fleshly mind.” “The secret things,” says Moses, “belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children.” Pr’ing into the affairs of our neighbors is often impertinent and injurious; but prying into the deep things of God is presumptuous and sinful. Let us acquiesce in the limits which reason and revelation have fixed to our inquiries. Let us be satisfied with plain and practical truth; and with tilings clear and important. The religious controversies, which have exhausted so much attention, and spoiled so much temper, have commonly turned upon matters too obstruse for human comprehension, or too unprofitable to rnei’it regard.

Again, this looking back betrayed Unbelief. She not only wished to see how the thing was to be done, but whether it would be done at all. The threatening had declared that the place should be destroyed by fire and brimstone; but whence should these come? Who had ever heard of such a rain as this? She therefore questions the thing, and looks back to see whether the menace is fulfilled.

Circumstances appeared to excite and favor her suspicion. There kerned no probability of the event.

The sun had risen upon the earth; the sky was clear; the elements foreboded no change; she could not therefore think that so large a city, full of inhabitants, and all the adjacent plains, could be immediately desolated, without any previous indication.

And does not this remind us of the language of Peter, “There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation:” — thus fetching arguments against revelation from natm-e and providence; and lulling themselves into fancied security, “crying. Peace, peace, when there is no peace.”

There is alwaj’s enough in the constitution and dispensation of things around us to try our faith in God’s word; and to render it a moral, as well as an intellectual exercise. But, with regard to all that is revealed, we ought to say with Paul, in another case, “I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.” For this shall assuredly be the case, however unlikely the accomplishment may appear, or whatever difficulties may stand in the way.

God had threatened Babylon with destruction; but sbe said, “I shall be a lady for ever, and shall see no sorrow.” Therefore God declared by his Prophet, “Evil shall come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: ^.nd mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.” And was it not so? Most exactly and minutely; for in one night a trailed city, so strong that it seemed impossible to enter it, and so stored with provisions that it was hopeless to think of reducing it by famine, was at once taken and destroyed.

When Joshua took Jericho, “he burned the city with fire and all that was therein;” and he said, “Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.” For several hundred years this tremendous curse seemed to be a dead letter; but when, in the impious reign of Ahab, the city was rebuilt by Hiel, for his daring impiety he suffered the fearful penalty that had been denounced: for, says the sacred historian, “He laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his first-born, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.” — ^” Be not faithless, but believing,”

Further, this looking back betrayed Disobedience. It was a presumptuous disregard of God’s express order. The injunction given to Lot was perfectly plain: “Look not behind you.” His wife had probably heard this when uttered by the angel himself; or if not, it had certainly been repeated to her by her husband. She could not, therefore, be ignorant of the command; but she was unconcerned about it. The command was reasonable in itself, it was easy of performance, and it regarded her own welfare; yet she contemned it, and she “looked back.”

All pretensions to religion without obedience are vain and useless. “If we know these things, happy are we,” only, “if we do them.” When Saul spared

Agag, and the best of the spoil, contraiy to the express command of God, though under a specious pretence, Samuel said, “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.”

Yet who escapes this charge of disobedience? Sinner, does not your conscience testify against you, that you have, not only in a particular case, but in a general, a constant course of action, disobeyed “the voice that speaketh from heaven”? If God were to make pillars of salt of all those who live in opposition to his revealed will, Ave should find no place for the soles of our feet.

Again, her action betrayed Ingratitude. Favors conferred demand suitable returns. David, therefore, asks, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?” And he could say, “I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and mj supplications. O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord, now, in the presence of all his people.”

Many persons, when God has appeared for them, feel grateful for the time; and even the Jews, upon their various deliverances, would sing his praise, and bless his name. But this woman was void of every grateful feeling; for how striking and distinguishing was the Lord’s favor in saving herself, and her husband, and their daughters, from the horrible overthrow; in saving them only; and in providing a Zoar for their security and accommodation? Yet all this seems aS’ nothing in her eyes; and instead of saying, “What return can we make for mercy such as this? shall we, after experiencing such a deliverance, break his commands?” she immediately incurs the guilt of the most daring opposition to his will.

Again, her looking hack betrayed attachment to a place wicked and devoted to destruction. She lamented her loss, and wished to regain what she had left. Our Lord intimates this when he says, “In that day, he who shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away; and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot’s wife.”

The situation and scenery of Sodom were delightful; and all around was pleasant, and fertile as the garden of the Lord. There were the companions and friends congenial with her feelings. There were the haunts of an“iusement and dissipation in which her soul delighted. Ye endeared objects and attractions! must I leave you forever? If Lot had then addressed her, as Naomi addressed her daughters-in-law, “Turn again, why will ye go with me?” she would have availed heraelf of the license; and, after embracing him, would have gladly returned; and have settled in Sodom, had it been remaining: or, if her relationship to her husband and daughters had prevented this, there she would have been in intention and desire. Just as the Israelites are said to have “turned back” into Egypt, in their heart; though they never actually marched back; so it was with

Lot’s wife; her soul was in Sodom, though hex body was in the plain.

Thus she stands, a representative of those who love the present evil world. The command is, “Arise ye, and depart hence; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.” It is a sink of sin, and “lieth in wickedness.” It is unworthy of your regard, not only as it is vain and wicked, but also because it “is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.” Whatever happiness you may hope to derive from its honors, riches, and attractions, it is a faneral pile, and all the works therein will soon oe dissolved. Therefore, “love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

See the character given of those who attach themselves to the world, and have no heart for God: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

View, then, the world properly, and “come out from it, and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing.” Beware of a mere profession of godliness, while the heart is influenced by the world. In vain you profess to depart from it, and leave your souls behind. Henry, when dying, said to his physican three times, “Beware of the world; — beware of the world; — beware of the world.” A hankering after it will prevent all religious decision; and in time will destroy every serious impression, and stifle every holy conviction. “Demas,” says the Apostle, “hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.”

Again, in the action of Lot’s wife, we see the Image of an Apostate. She began well, but she did not hold on. Our Saviour, therefore, uses her as the representative of those

Who walk the ways of God no more,
A ad make their own destruction sure.

“No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Of many it may be said, as it was of Ephraim; “Your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it passeth away.” Like the Galatians, they “did run well, but were hindered.” They “began in the Spirit,” but ended in the flesh. Many who once heard the Gospel with attention and delight, now treat it with neglect, and even insult. Many who once had the worship of God in their families, morning and evening, have now turned him out of doors, and are living, “without God in the world.” Many are convinced, but not converted; reformed, but not renewed. But what is it to be “not far from the kingdom of heaven,” and yet at last “shut out”? “He that eudureth to the end, the same shall be saved;” — and only he. “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is wprse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.”

Observe again, The sin of Lots wife was enhanced by her Resisting the Force of Example. Not even did either of her daughters look back; and her husband she saw, before her, obediently pressing onward; and by every step he took saying, “Follow me.”

We ought to go forward in a good cause, even if we are without the company and countenance of others; yet it is an advantage to see others preceding us m the way; and it is an aggravation of crim inahty to disregard such excitements and encouragements. But even good, and eminent, and endeared examples, and although the observance of them may be enforced by influence and authority, are not sufficient of themselves to counteract sinful propensities. If nothing more were necessary, we should not have pious masters complaining of wicked servants; nor godly parents weeping over licentious children; nor ministers lamenting that they “have run in vain, and labored in vain.”

Finally, She employed Artifice and Hypocrisy in aid of her design. It is not mentioned without reason, that “she looked back from behind himP She took this position, as knowing that there he could not observe her. By thus endeavoring to act secretly and unseen, she proved that she was convinced of the sinfulness of her action; and so she “condemned herself in the thing which she allowed.”

It is a sad thing to fear restraint from evil, whereas we ought to deem every hinderance a benefit; a sad thing to wish for license and liberty to sin, which is to put ourselves into the way of temptation. If we are inflammable, we should not go near sparks. Though Judas must have been aware of his covetous disposition, he desired to cany the bag, and bear what was put therein. And in like manner, this woman evinced her folly as well as her guilt. Had she been concerned to avoid transgressing the divine commandment, she would not have placed herself in a situation favorable to the committing of the sin; but, instead of falling behind her husband, she would have walked before him, or have kept by his side. Thus, she succeeded in eluding the notice of her husband; for while he was attentive to his own safety, and supposed that she was equally attentive to hers, he saw her not; yea, he could not see her without looking back, and so exposing himself But while holding her crime from the eyes of Lot, she could not conceal it from Him, whose “eyes arc as a flame of fire.” “There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, whore the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.” “Hfell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.”

We have seen the Sin of Lot’s wife; let us now view,

n. Her Punishment. “She looked back from behind hnn, and she became a Pillar of jSaW^

“Sin ai)d sorrow,” says Bacon, “are bound to each other by an adamantine chain.” God himself cannot break that chain. He does not break it even with regard to those who are pardoned and saved; for if they live, their ransom died. “Christ has redeemed them from the curse of the law,” by being “made a curse for them.”

In all well-ordered governments crimes are punished; and shall they escape in the empire of God? Is he not “of purer eyes than to behold iniquity “? Is he not “righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works “? As the moral ruler of the universe, he is concerned to maintain order, and sin is the violation of that order: he is determined to secure the welfare of the universe, and sin is the destruction of that welfare. His “wrath, therefore, is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men:” — revealed in the Scriptures of truth; — in the apprehensions of conscience; — and in the penalties actually inflicted upon communities, families, and individuals. He is bound by oath, not to spare the guilty, and “he cannot deny himself”

“And she became a pillar of salt.” The punishment has four characters.

First, It was Sudden. She looked, and in a moment her body was lifeless; — her soul, where? — In a general way, God is long-suffering, “not willing that any should perish?” and his long-suffering is designed to “lead to repentance.” But “because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” Yet, surely, divine patience should not excite a hope of impunity.,

“The wages of sin is death;” and sometimes the workman is paid immediately. The sinner is sometimes surprised in the very act of iniquit3 Herod, in the elation of pride and vanity, “was smittten by an angel, and was eaten of -worms.” Nebuchadnezzar “walked in his palace in the kingdom of Babylon. And he spake and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty? While the word was in lis mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; thy kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.” Belshazzar made an impious feast, and was profaning the vessels of the sanctuary. “In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand,” writing his doom; and “in that night was Belshazzar slain.” The lie of Gehazi was instantly punished with leprosy; and Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead as soon as they had uttered their falsehood.

Be not, therefore, secure; the avenger may come at an hour when you are not aware. The next time you call for God to damn your soul, he may directly answer your’ prayer. The next time you are intoxicated, you may stagger into hell. How brittle is your frame, and h6w numberless are the accidents and diseases to which you are exposed. “He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”

Secondly, The Punisli’meni was Strange. There had been nothing like it before; there has been nothing like it since. Every judgment of God is called “his strange work:” and he is said to “come out of his place,” when he “punishes the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity:” for “mercy’’’’ is his “sea.”

But sometimes, to surprise and alarm a world unimpressed by his ordinary operations, he invests his dealings with a novel attribute or appearance, in order to give them effect. “Is not,” says Job, “destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?” We are not always to infer the guilt of men from their peculiar sufferings; as our Lord teaches us with regard to the “eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell;” and the worshippers “whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices.” Yet singular crimes are sometimes followed with as singular visitations; so that men are constrained to say, “Verily there is a reward for the wicked: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.”

What various and singular plagues did God bring upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians; and what surprising calamities were also inflicted upon the Jews. Although such instances of extraordinary punishment are less common now than they were formerly, because less necessary under the present dispensation; they do still sometimes occur, and in such a manner as to leave us unable to withstand the conviction, “this is the finger of God.”

Do not imagine thnt God can punish you, only as he has punished others. Fear, which magnifies all other evils, here falls short. “Who knoweth the power of his anger?” His capacity for punishing is boundless. His treasures of wrath are inexhaustible. Every creature, from an archangel to a worm, is ready to avenge him of his adversaries. Think in how many parts thou art vulnerable. Every faculty of thy soul, every paiticle of thy frame, opens a passage to misery. Thy imagination can torment thee to distraction: a single thought may vex thee to death.

Thirdly, The Punishment was Ignominiov. She was not only executed, but left, as it were, hung in chains, a public and lasting spectacle of aversion and horror. All sin is a disgraceful business; and though a man may glory in it for a time, it will sooner or later bring him to shame.

This is not unfrequently the case even in the present world. What disgraces have attached to some individuals even here! Their sins have found them out; and have deprived them of the esteem and confidence of mankind; and have only left them in society to be scorned and shunned. Take the intemperate. Drunkenness often covers a man with rags. Take the lewd. “A wound and dishonor shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away,” Well does the Apostle ask, “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.” And truly- does Daniel declare, “They shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt.”

Fourthly Her Punishment was Inevitable. As nothing could mitigate Ler offence, so nothing could prevent her doom. The advantages of relationship have sometimes been available; and so, Noah’s family were saved for his sake. But although Lot was a just man, and variously honored of God, yet you see that he had no power to secure the wife of his bosom, however dear. It is only personal religion that can save us. Pious connections are blessings, but they are not our sureties for good. “Begin not,” said John the Baptist, “to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father.” The rich man in hell was a child of Abraham. And says the Saviour, “There shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.”

We proceed to notice. III. The Admonition: “Bememher Lot’s wife.”

First We learn from this, that it is well to Instruct by Example. Grammarians, and rhetoricians, and all teachers, in proportion as they are wise and wish to be useful, employ this method. Example is above precept; it shows us the possibility of the thing in the performance; and thus it reproves indolence, and encourages hope, and stimulates endeavor. God, who, in his word, “has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence,” -has therefore given us so much of the history and actions of the saints, and command us “not to be slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

But this is not all. We learn, Secondly that Bad Examples may he profitable as well as Good; and that threatenings, as well as promises; and judgments, as well as mercies, are not to be lost upon us. Hence they have been divinely registered. “Go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first; and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.” “Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? She is gone up upon every high mountain, and upon every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. They refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of Hosts” “Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”

But, O the depravity and infatuation of mankind I -’When,” says Josiah, “thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” — and such is their design, and such their adaptation : — but he adds: “Lord, when thy hand is lifted up they will not see.” They turn away their eyes from everything that would awaken in them a salutary alarm, “I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.” “Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands.”

Thirdly, We learn hence, The use and Importance of Memory. Memory is not only a wonderful power, but it is the source of numberless pleasures and pains, and the instrument of unspeakable good or evil. Like every other faculty of the mind, it has been injured by the fall; and the consequence is, that while we easily remember what we ought to forget, we as easily forget what we ought to remember. Hence a Puritan writer says, “The memory is like the mill-sifter, that lets through the flour, and keeps in only the bran.” But as nothing can affect and influence us excepting as it is in the mind, and as we have so many calls and excitements to remembrance, let us pray that our memories may be renewed and strengthened.

“Remember Lot’s wife.” We observe Fourthly, That the meaning exceeds the expression. Though it intends nothing less than, remembrance, it requires much more. Be it, therefore, observed that there is a speculative remembrance, and there is a practical remembrance. The former is necessary to the latter, but is not sufl&cient without it, especially in all moral and religious concerns. When Solomom says, “Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth;” he cannot mean a mere act of recollection, but such a remembrance of God as shall be productive of all those feelings, affections, and actions which he requires,

A man might be able to call to mind the case of Cain, and of Achan, and of Judas, and all the judgments recorded in the Bible, so that a preacher could say nothing on these subjects that would be new to him; and yet he may not “hear, and fear, and turn to the Lord.” And of what avail will this be? Yea, it will be a curse instead of a blessing: for “to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” “He that knew his Lord’s will, and did it not, should be beaten with many stripes.”

Therefore, when you read “Remember Lot’s wife;” say, I am not only to believe the fact, but to consider it, to apply it; I am to ask myself, what am I to learn from this awful event? and I am to pray, “Lord help me to lay it to heart, and prove it to be profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”