The Pillar Of Salt

We all know the basics: Sodom is doomed, Lot and his family are warned to flee, and they're given one crucial instruction: don't look back! But Lot's wife… she just couldn't resist. And with that glance, she became a pillar of salt.

But why? What was so compelling about that forbidden glimpse? And why salt?

The Torah tells us plainly, "Lot's wife looked back, and she thereupon turned into a pillar of salt" (Gen. 19:26). Simple, right? But Jewish tradition rarely leaves things at face value. The rabbis, those master interpreters of the sacred word, delved deeper, searching for the hidden meanings behind this stark transformation.

One explanation, found in Genesis Rabbah, suggests her motives were familial. Her name, some say, was Edith. Did she look back for her daughters, married to men of Sodom, wondering if they were following? Was she desperate to know the fate of her father's house? In her longing, according to this tradition, she inadvertently saw God, who had descended to rain fire and brimstone. And that, the tradition implies, was the true transgression.

But there's another, even more intriguing interpretation, one that focuses on a seemingly insignificant detail: salt. It all goes back to hospitality, a value Abraham held dear, and one that Lot, his nephew, tried to emulate. When the angels arrived as guests, Lot prepared a feast. But when he asked his wife for salt, she balked. “Do you want to introduce that evil practice of giving strangers salt?” she supposedly retorted, according to Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer.

Think about that for a moment. Salt, a basic necessity, begrudged to strangers. The story continues that she then went to all her neighbors, asking for salt, thereby alerting them to the presence of these unusual guests and inadvertently precipitating the mob that demanded Lot surrender the angels. In essence, she weaponized salt against the very people she should have been welcoming. So, the Targum Pseudo-Yonathan suggests, because she sinned with salt, she was punished with salt.

And the pillar itself? The legend doesn't end there. Ancient traditions, recounted in Genesis Rabbah and even mentioned in the Mishnah and Talmud (B. Berakhot 54a), claim that the pillar of salt, identifiable to this day near the Dead Sea, was not static. Oxen would lick it throughout the day, diminishing it until only her feet remained. But, miraculously, each morning it would grow back, a constant, agonizing reminder. Those who saw it, the rabbis said, were obligated to recite a special blessing: "Blessed be He who wrought miracles for our ancestors in this place." A poignant recognition of divine power and the consequences of disobedience.

Josephus, in his Jewish Antiquities, also speaks of this pillar, further cementing its place in historical and religious consciousness. Philo of Alexandria, in De Abrahamo, touches on the themes of divine judgment and the perils of attachment to worldly things that are core to this story.

So, what does it all mean? Was it the disobedience, the longing for a lost home, the begrudging of hospitality, or the forbidden glimpse of the divine? Perhaps it's all of these things, interwoven into a powerful cautionary tale. The story of Lot's wife isn't just about a woman turned into a pillar of salt. It's about the dangers of looking back, the importance of hospitality, and the consequences of our choices.

Next time you feel that tug to revisit the past, remember Lot's wife. Ask yourself, what am I really looking for? And is it worth the price?

Commentary

Some say that Lot's wife, whose name was Edith, looked behind her to see if her daughters, who were married to men of Sodom, were coming after her or not. So too did she want to know what would be the end of her father's house. Instead, she saw God, who had descended in order to rain brimstone and fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah. And that is why she was turned into a pillar of salt. Others say that because she sinned with salt. Lot's wife was punished with salt. On the night that the angels visited Lot, Lot prepared a feast for them, as he had learned hospitality from Abraham, and he asked his wife to give them a little salt. She grew angry and said, "Do you want to introduce that evil practice of giving strangers salt?" Then she went to all of her neighbors asking for salt. In this way she alerted them to the presence of the guests, and precipitated the mob who demanded that Lot turn the angels over to them. Thus, because she sinned with salt, she was punished with salt. As for the pillar of salt, it still can be seen to this day. All day oxen lick it and it decreases until nothing remains but her feet. But in the morning the pillar of salt grows afresh. Those who see it are required to say the benediction to be pronounced on seeing Lot's wife, "Blessed be He who wrought miracles for our ancestors in this place." The transformation of Lot's wife into a pillar of salt is one of the most striking images in the Bible. There still exists a pillar of salt near the Dead Sea that is identified as Lot's wife. In the Mishnah this is said to be one of the places where a blessing should be said. Other places listed in the Talmud (B. Ber. 54a) include the place of the crossing of the Red Sea and the walls of Jericho that sank into the ground. Why was Lot's wife transformed into a pillar of salt? Of course, she did disobey the angel's command not to look back, but the real reason for her punishment seems to be because in doing so she saw God, who had descended to destroy the city.

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