“His wife looked behind him, and she became a pillar of salt” (Genesis 19:26). “His wife looked behind him, [and she became a pillar of salt]” – Rabbi Yitzḥak said: This was because she sinned with salt on that night that the angels came to Lot. What did she do? She went to all her neighbors and said to them: ‘Give me salt, as we have guests,’ and her intention was that the residents of the city should become aware of them. That is why “she became a pillar of salt.”
It was when God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham, and He sent Lot from the midst of the upheaval, as He overturned the cities in which Lot lived” (Genesis 19:29). “It was when God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham, and He sent Lot” – what memory did He remember on his [Lot’s] behalf? It was the silence that he had maintained when Abraham said regarding Sarah his wife: “She is my sister” (Genesis 12:18) – He knew [this was not true], but he remained silent. “From the midst of the upheaval [as He overturned the cities in which Lot lived]” – Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: He dwelled in [all of] them.17He spent time in all five cities. The Rabbis say: He would lend them money with usury.18In that sense Lot “lived” in all five cities. He earned his livelihood by moneylending to the residents of all of them.