Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 19-20.

There are several interesting bits to the story about Lot’s rescue before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  First, the men of Sodom reacted with out of proportion hostility to Lot’s verbal offer to leave his guests alone.  Also, was their reaction his calling their intentions evil, or to the offer of his virgin daughters?  Second, while the NIV translates the passage about Lot’s sons-in-law pledged to marry his daughters, the translators’ notes, and other translations, say that it may mean they were married to them.   Then, the angels told Lot to take his wife and two daughters “who are here” and flee.  Finally, the passage tells us that Lot’s wife was turned to a pillar of salt for looking back at Sodom as it was destroyed.  Other translations say that she was behind Lot when she did so, and some commentators have suggested that the words translated as “looked back” imply that she did so longingly for more than just a moment.   Combining those two things, with the description that the vegetation of the land was destroyed suggests to me that she paused to look back before reaching safety and was caught in the destruction. Jesus mentions Lot’s wife when He warns of the destruction which will come when He returns.  I think the warning here, as many others have said, is that we should not look back on the life of sin we left behind to follow Christ with regrets for sinful pleasures we did not embrace.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.