The Entanglement of Lot and his Wife

Luke 17:32 - Remember Lots Wife.

I imagine that in some shape or form we are all reflecting on what is the meaning of this juncture in our lives. For me, I think about this often, its spiritual significance and context and whether, have I ordered my personal affairs in my walk with God correctly, and if not, where are those blind spots.

With all of this, I have been reading this story about Lot and his wife, initially though the starting point was to understand the prayer of a righteous man, in the context of Abraham, Lots uncle. Whether you believe we are in the last days or not, I think the warning Jesus gave to his disciples about the circumstances surrounding his second coming are worth the reflection. The one key piece of advice he gave was this verse: “Remember Lots Wife”.

To give context, in the prior verses from 28 to 30 of Luke 17, we find a description of the days preceding the second coming of our Jesus. The Saviour Himself said that it would be similar to the days in which Lot lived. He talks both about Noah and Lot in this passage, and both Noah and Lot lived in days of religious compromise, days of moral decay - not unlike our day today. As he describes these days, he gives a singular instruction in his verse - Remember Lots Wife- ie -remember a nameless, at this point seemingly insignificant woman, married to Abrahams nephew.

Lot and his wife formed part of a unique set apart chosen family by God. Gods intentions for them was to live a sanctified life away from other tribes in their midst so that their identity and character should not become polluted and more importantly, their testimony disregarded.

Abraham, the first patriarch and father of the faith understood and obeyed. With him was his nephew Lot, who had lived with Abraham. Lots socialization was par excellence being in such proximity to a man who walked with God. Though we see his personal conviction and faithfulness was not on par with that of Abraham, he was still somewhat of an upright man himself.

As in the life of any man, the moment came when it became necessary for him to become an independent man in his own right. The flocks and herds of Abraham and Lots family had so greatly multiplied that they could no longer live in the same household (the so called two bulls in one kraal analogy). Then came out the weak side of Lot’s character.

Lot leaves Abraham and goes and pitches his tent overlooking Sodom. He stuck his stake in the ground overlooking an area so wicked in its construct. It means every single day he woke up and every night he fell slept he was an active observer soon to be consumer of the debauchery that was Sodom. Put differently, he moved away from his spiritual covering to go into the “world” that had zero love for him and filled so much wickedness which makes light of testimony and salvation.

Notwithstanding the good moral compass he was brought up in, he was slowly entangling himself into this life that initially seems so liberating but in reality, would be the undoing of his family. I imagine, in addition to what we generally know about Sodom and Gomorrah, these were cities that were probably very cosmopolitan, rich and attractive. Lot was raised in a simple, separated existence. Now, waking up and sleeping to this worldly view of Sodom and Gomorrah slowly led Lot to begin to leave the consecrated path that was actually his inheritance. He eventually went from being a passive observer from to hilltops to eventually a citizen of Sodom to live there with his wife and children. Lot began operating in many shades of grey.

Fine, he did not lose his faith in God, but he most certainly lost his faithful witness for his God because in this entanglement. He allowed his spirit to be defiled. Case in point, when the angels were in his home, the nasty men of Sodom came to want to rape them, Lot instead offers his two virgin daughters to satisfy the evil lust of these men. Any righteous man I believe would have said hell no to both accounts.

His poor resolve is further evidenced in his choice of wife. I only raise this because in those days, it was quite an investment that the wife is carefully searched for and chosen amongst a select group of tribes because to God, this was critical for the legitimacy of his kingdom. Example: It was Abraham’s desire for Isaac, and he charged his steward to carry it out, to find an upright wife for his son Isaac, who was not be selected from the Canaanite tribe. The wives chosen around this time have been seen to have special mention, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel… But here, Jesus himself did bother himself to recall her name in one of his most important warnings to humanity!! Why?

Jesus’ warning at this point really starts to make sense because of course he could see the days preceding his second coming as lukewarm, corrupt with multi-layered blurred lines of compromise we will all be entangled in. So he is saying remember this woman’s story and her demise. Why? Because her love for the world, notwithstanding the best of salvation being presented to her, is what she chose and got her disqualified.

The most sorrowful thing for me is that this was a woman who had the benefit of being wholly connected to first family of our faith. She was the wife of a man who, with all his faults, was a righteous man. She was united to him in the closest possible bonds, and yet she perished. This is a deep warning – our family ties are no guarantees of grace. You may be the wife of the saintliest man of God and yet be a daughter of all things evil.

She got so accustomed to her life in Sodom, she loved it! The freedom to do as she willed. The thought of reverting to a simplified and sacrificial life was not for her. Jeez, in Sodom, she could do as she pleased, unaccountable!

Even the prayer of a righteous man could not save her from this personal stronghold. Remember Abrahams deep intercessory prayer to God. When God told him, He has had enough of this debauchery at Sodom… God came down himself to destroy it!!! Abraham pleaded with God asking him would if He would still destroy the city if there were 50 righteous people there… Basically, Abraham appealed to Gods mercy to save Lot and family, in the face of Gods wrath. Once Abraham trickled the number down from 50 to 10, it was agreed that the angels would go and save Lot and family before God unleashed his judgement. The angel even went so far as to grab her hand when they were fleeing and she still looked back. Remember, her faux pa was disobeying a specific instruction testing her level of faith – don’t look back when you are leaving this sinful place. She looked back because of her own entanglement; dare I say investment in the world.

Jesus warns us to remember her because, here you have a woman who 1) lived with God’s people 2) numbered with them, 3) joined to them by marriage, and still perished. She had a first-class ticket to escape from the filthiest corruption of the world, and to have become moral and excellent, and yet still she still could not be weaned from the world. So entangled.

The most eye-opening revelation for me from this story is - Salvation is ultimately our own individual responsibility: No earthly relationship (with the even the most powerful men of God) can possibly help us if we are personally destitute of the spiritual life. Lot’s wife was lost because she loved Sodom. She seemed to be on the road to safety, but the deepest thoughts of her heart were for the world. What about us? Aren’t the thoughts of too many of us on the world? I think we have compromised more than we should have. We have bought into the world’s agenda a bit too much. Lots wife wasn’t an adulterer or a murderer or a thief, but she professed to be a child of God and she looked back, then turned into a pillar of salt. And I don’t think its because she felt Gods warning was untrue. I think its because she really loved the scintillating prizes of this world more.

NK