Lot’s Wife “on one foot”:
Abraham went to the Land of Israel with his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot. There wasn’t enough grass for both Abraham and Lot’s flocks, so Abraham offered Lot to pick where he wanted to go and Abraham would go the other way. Lot chose the green pastures of Sodom, not knowing or not caring that Sodom was inhospitable to foreigners. Lot married a woman, whom the Midrash named “Idit/Edith” (Tanchuma Buber Vayera 8:1, Sefer HaYashar Vayera 2, Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer 25:11), in Sodom. Whether she was swayed by Lot’s Abrahamic values or stayed true to the values of Sodom is up to each reader to decide, and that decision will determine how you interpret her actions.
Act 1
(1) The two messengers arrived in Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to greet them and, bowing low with his face to the ground, (2) he said, “Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house to spend the night, and bathe your feet; then you may be on your way early.” But they said, “No, we will spend the night in the square.” (3) But he urged them strongly, so they turned his way and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. (4) They had not yet lain down, when the town council [and] the militia of Sodom —insignificant and influential alike, the whole assembly without exception—gathered about the house. (5) And they shouted to Lot and said to him, “Where are the ones who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may be intimate with them.” (6) So Lot went out to them to the entrance, shut the door behind him, (7) and said, “I beg you, my friends, do not commit such a wrong. (8) Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you please; but do not do anything to the others, since they have come under the shelter of my roof.” (9) But they said, “Stand back! The fellow,” they said, “came here as an alien, and already he acts the ruler! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” And they pressed hard against that householder —against Lot—and moved forward to break the door. (10) But the agents stretched out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. (11) And the people who were at the entrance of the house, low and high alike, they struck with blinding light, so that they were helpless to find the entrance.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Genesis. The angels who are visiting Lot have just come from Abraham and Sarah, where they announced the birth of Isaac. Abraham has then argued with G-d about not destroying Sodom if 10 good people can be found there. Interestingly, Abraham offered shelter and feet washing to these “men”, just as Lot did in this section.
Note that the Hebrew word for “messengers” (mal’achim) is the same as the word for “angels”, because angels are seen as messengers of G-d.
1. At what points could this part of the story have turned out differently?
2. What should Lot have done when the mob was surging against him to bring out his guests?
3. It is clear that the people of Sodom do not value providing hospitality. How might Lot’s wife, Edith, have felt about Lot offering hospitality to visitors?
4. How might Lot's daughters have felt about his offer regarding them?
Act 2
(12) Then the agents said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? Sons-in-law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else that you have in the city—bring them out of the place. (13) For we are about to destroy this place; because the outcry against them before יהוה has become so great that יהוה has sent us to destroy it.” (14) So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for יהוה is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law as one who jests. (15) As dawn broke, the messengers urged Lot on, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two remaining daughters, lest you be swept away because of the iniquity of the city.” (16) Still he delayed. So the agents seized his hand, and the hands of his wife and his two daughters—in יהוה’s mercy on him—and brought him out and left him outside the city. (17) When they had brought them outside, one said, “Flee for your life! Do not look behind you, nor stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, lest you be swept away.” (18) But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lord! (19) You have been so gracious to your servant, and have already shown me so much kindness in order to save my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. (20) Look, that town there is near enough to flee to; it is such a little place! Let me flee there—it is such a little place—and let my life be saved.” (21) He replied, “Very well, I will grant you this favor too, and I will not annihilate the town of which you have spoken. (22) Hurry, flee there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Hence the town came to be called Zoar.
Context: The name of the town “Zoar” is a pun on the Hebrew word for “little place”.
1. At what points could this part of the story have turned out differently?
2. What might Edith, Lot's wife, have been thinking as they left Sodom? What might she have been feeling?
3. What might Lot's daughters have been thinking as they left Sodom? What might they have been feeling?
4. What might Lot have been thinking as they left Sodom? What might he have been feeling?
5. Why might Lot have delayed leaving? Even the trope (a shalshelet) makes clear his hesitancy.
6. Why might looking behind lead to being swept away?
Act 3
(23) As the sun rose upon the earth and Lot entered Zoar, (24) יהוה rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulfurous fire from יהוה out of heaven— (25) annihilating those cities and the entire Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation of the ground. (26) Lot’s wife looked back, and she thereupon turned into a pillar of salt. (27) Next morning, Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood before יהוה, (28) and, looking down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the Plain, he saw the smoke of the land rising like the smoke of a kiln. (29) Thus it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain and annihilated the cities where Lot dwelt, God was mindful of Abraham and removed Lot from the midst of the upheaval.
1. At what points could this part of the story have turned out differently?
2. Why might Edith have turned back?
Epilogue
Context: There are those who think that this entire chapter exists as a way of explaining the origins of the Moabites and the Ammonites.
Context: This is a 2015 song by Alicia Jo Rabins as part of her "Girls in Trouble" series. Lyrics are available here: https://www.girlsintroublemusic.com/songs/of-meeting-in-the-night/
A Readers’ Theatre Version of “Lot’s Wife”
Adapted from the Book of Genesis, Chapter 19, by David Schwartz
Act 1
Scene 1
(Setting: Sodom city gates)
Narrator: The two divine messengers arrived in Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to greet them and bowed low with his face to the ground.
Lot: Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house to spend the night and bathe your feet, then you may be on your way early.
Divine Messengers: No, we will spend the night in the town square.
Narrator: But Lot urged them strongly, so they turned his way and entered his house.
Scene 2
(Setting: Lot’s house)
Narrator: Lot prepared a feast for his guests and baked unleavened bread and they ate. They had not yet lain down when the whole town gathered around the house.
Sodomites: (shouting) Where are the ones who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may hurt them.
Narrator: Lot went out to the townspeople and shut the door behind him.
Lot: I beg you, my friends, do not commit such a wrong. Look, I have two daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you please, but do not do anything to the others, since they have come under the shelter of my roof.
Sodomites: Stand back! The fellow came here as a foreigner, and already he acts the ruler! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.
Narrator: The Sodomites pressed hard against Lot and moved forward to break the door. But the divine messengers stretched out their hands, pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. The people who were at the entrance of the house were struck with a blinding light, so that they were helpless to find the entrance.
Act 2
Scene 1
(Setting: Lot’s house)
Divine Messengers: Whom else have you here? Sons-in-law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else that you have in the city — bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against them before G-d has become so great that G-d has sent us to destroy it.
Narrator: So Lot went and spoke to his sons-in-law.
Lot: Up, get out of this place, for G-d is about to destroy the city.
Narrator: But he seemed to his sons-in-law as one who jests.
Scene 2
(Setting: Lot’s house)
Divine Messengers: Dawn is breaking. Up, take your wife and your two remaining daughters, lest you be swept away because of the iniquity of the city.
Narrator: Still he delayed. So the divine messengers seized his hand, and the hands of his wife and his two daughters, and brought him out and left him outside the city.
Divine Messengers: Flee for your life! Do not look behind you, nor stop anyway in the Plain; flee to the hills, lest you be swept away.
Lot: Oh no, my lord! You have been so gracious to your servant, and have already shown me so much kindness in order to save my life, but I cannot flee to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. Look, that town there is near enough to flee to; it is such a little place! Let me flee there — it is such a little place — and let my life be saved.
Divine Messengers: Very well. This favor will be granted you also, and the town of which you have spoken will not be annihilated. Hurry, flee there, for nothing can be done until you arrive there.
Act 3
(Setting: Outside Sodom)
Narrator: As the sun rose upon the earth and Lot entered Tzo’ar, G-d rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulfurous fire, annihilating those cities and the entire Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation of the ground. Lot’s wife looked back, and she thereupon turned into a pillar of salt.
Historical Basis for this Story
From The Bible as History, by Ian Wilson, p. 30-31
- While it’s hard to imagine the Dead Sea region as being well-watered and populous now, archeology has shown this was the case in the past up until the late 3rd millennium BCE.
- In the 1960s, the American archeologist Paul Lapp was working at Bab edh’Dhra (“Gate of the Arm”) on the Dead Sea’s Lisan Peninsula.
- He uncovered part of a large Early Bronze Age city, with a cemetery nearby that had so many bodies it seems to have served other cities in the vicinity as well.
- This city suddenly ceased its occupancy around 2100 BCE under very fiery circumstances.
- British geologists Graham M. Harris and A.P. Beardow have envisaged that the Dead Sea was much shallower then than it is now.
- Moreover, the local inhabitants seemed to have been primarily occupied in harvesting the bitumen of the area.
- The Dead Sea is part of a fault line that stretches from Lake Victoria in Africa up to the Taurus Mountains of Turkey.
- It is reasonable to assume that a major earthquake may have caused the bitumen heaps to ignite uncontrollably, which an onlooker could have described as “sulfurous brimstone raining from the sky”.
- The earthquake could have also caused the Dead Sea to flood the dry land where the cities were, and the formerly flourishing areas could have become the desolate wasteland it is today.
Walking The Bible (Youth Edition), by Bruce Feiler (2004)
Perhaps the most amazing thing about the Dead Sea was something I didn't discover until we began to walk into the desert hills on its southern shore. Because the atmosphere is so dense in the area, the air pushes down on the water and the water pushes down on several miles of salt deposits underneath the Dead Sea. These salt deposits are pushed down toward the core of the earth and then out toward the shore, where they sprout up in two- or three-story asparagus-like formations. They look like salt lighthouses.
We approached one of these salt deposits, which felt scratchy against my hand. "Is it made entirely of salt?" I asked Avner.
"Lick it," he said.
I did, but pulled my tongue back in horror. It was indeed all salt.
This spot, Avner explained, is almost certainly the location of the lost cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which may explain the origin of the story about Lot's wife turning into a pillar of salt.
Standing there, reading that story, I realized that the Bible is many things -- a book of faith, a book of stories, a book of God. But it's also a guidebook, maybe the greatest guidebook ever written. The stories show deep knowledge not just of God and the characters, but also of the actual places where there stories occurred. Today we can take those stories to those places and feel much closer to the Bible ourselves.
p. 47-49.
Appendix A: The Full Story
Appendix B: Lot's Wife in the Talmud
Appendix C: Lot’s Wife in the Midrash
Note: Modern midrashim tend to be much more sympathetic toward her
His wife looked behind her - Rabbi Isaac said, for she sinned with salt. That night when the angels came to Lot, what was she doing? Going to all her neighbors and saying to them, give me salt, because we have guests. And her intention was that the men of the city would come to know of them. Therefore "she became a pillar of salt."
בעת ההיא המטיר ה׳ על סדום ועמורה ועל כל הערים האל גפרית ואש מאת ה׳ מן השמים, ויהפוך את כל הערים ואת כל הככר ואת כל יושבי הערים ואת צמח האדמה. ותבט עירית אשת לוט בהפיכת הערים לראות, כי נכמרו רחמיה אל בנותיה הנשארות בסדום כי לא יצאו עמה. ויהי כאשר הביטה אחריה, ותהי נציב ממלח. עודנו במקום ההוא עד היום הזה. וילכחו אותה על השוורים העוברים במקום ההוא יום יום עד אצבעות הרגלים ובבוקר יצמח אשר לחכו בה, עד היום הזה.
And at that time the Lord let rain upon Sodom and Gomorrah and upon all these cities, brimstone and fire from heaven, and thus he over threw all the cities and all the plain, and all the vegetation of the earth. And Edah, the wife of Lot looked around to see the destruction of the city, for her compassion was aroused for her daughters that did not go along with her but had remained in Sodom. And as she turned backwards to see what hath occurred, she became a pillar of salt. And that pillar is still standing in its place to this very day. And the oxen which frequent that place daily, lick the salt pillar until they come to the toes of its feet, but until morning all they licked off would grow again to be consumed again the coming day, even to this day.
אמ' להם אל תביטו לאחוריכם שהרי ירדה שכינתו של הב"ה להמטיר על סדום ועל עמורה גפרית ואש עירית אשתו של לוט נכמרו רחמה על בנותיה הנשואות והביטה לאחריה לראות אם הולכות אחריה אם לא (וראת אחרי) [וראתה אחריה] השכינה ונעשית נציב מלח, שנאמר ותבט אשתו מאחריו ותהי נציב מלח:
And [the angels] said to [Lot and his family]: Do not look behind you, for verily the Shekhinah of the Holy One, blessed be God, has descended in order to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire. The pity of 'Edith the wife of Lot was stirred for her daughters, who were married in Sodom, and she looked back behind her to see if they were coming after her or not. And she saw behind the Shekhinah, and she became a pillar of salt, as it is said, "And his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt" (Gen. 19:26).
Appendix D: Lot’s Wife in the Commentary
הבדלו מתוך העדה הזאת. ... מה צורך לומר הבדלו. אלא כדי שלא ידבק בהם האויר הרע שבמכת הדבר, כענין האמור באשתו של לוט (בראשית י״ט:כ״ו) ותבט אשתו מאחריו ותהי נציב מלח...
הבדלו מתוך העדה הזאת, “Separate yourselves from this congregation, etc." ... Why did G’d insist on the people distancing themselves physically from the group supporting Korach? It was in order that the contaminated air around Korach and his fellow rebels should not infect the people around him. Just as one has to flee a town in which pestilence rages in order to escape the chance of such infection through radiation of bacteria so the people had to leave the vicinity of Korach. When Lot and family were told by the angel not to stand still while running away from the city of Sodom and his wife ignored the warning she turned into a pillar of salt, i.e. the negative fallout from the sulfur in the air caught up with her (Genesis 19,26). ....
Appendix E: A Song
Safam, a Jewish-American rock band, wrote “A Song for Lot”, which they released on their “Encore” album in 1978. While there is no YouTube video of it, you can hear a taste of it here: https://www.oysongs.com/products/songs.cfm?mp3_id=2783&artist_id=134 and see the lyrics here: http://www.safam.com/safam-lyrics.shtml#encoreasongforlot