Jesus told us to remember Lot’s wife (Luke 17:32). Genesis 19:26 says she became a pillar of salt. What should we learn about her?

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Jesus told us to remember Lot’s wife (Luke 17:32). Genesis 19:26 says she became a pillar of salt. What should we learn about her?

Table of contentsThe Two People in Scripture to RememberWhy It's Surprising We're Told to Remember Lot's WifeDon't Look Back!Lot’s Wife Shows the Lord Knows How to Rescue the Godly and Punish the UnrighteousLot’s Wife Disregarded God’s GraceThe Grace Lot's Wife ReceivedLot’s Wife Disobeyed Divine CommandsLot’s Wife Loved the WorldWhy Lot's Wife Wanted to Remain in SodomSodom Is a Type or Shadow of the WorldLot’s Wife Was Close to SalvationWhat Should We Remember About Lot's Wife?Examine Yourself

The Two People in Scripture to Remember

There are only two people in Scripture we are told to remember. One is Jesus Himself:

Luke 22:19 He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

The other person is, surprisingly, Lot’s wife. If you told me there was a person in Scripture to remember, besides Jesus, I would guess someone like Abraham, David, or Daniel for two reasons:

Their godliness - I could imagine Jesus telling us to remember one of these men, because of how godly they were and how much there is to learn from them.

Their content - I could imagine Jesus telling us to remember one of these men, because of how much is written about them in Scripture.

Why It's Surprising We're Told to Remember Lot's Wife

Lot’s wife wouldn’t even make the list for the opposite of these two reasons:

Her ungodliness

The lack of content about her

Aside from this verse, there is only one other verse in Scripture about her, and it’s a famous one…

Genesis 19:26 But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Jesus tells us to remember Lot’s wife, but we know almost nothing about her:

We don’t know when she was born

We don’t know where she was born

We don’t know who she was born to; we don’t know her parents

We don’t even know her name

Something making this even more interesting is the verse about her is in Genesis, which is the book of origins. There are more genealogies in Genesis than any other book in Scripture. Genesis has six genealogies, while Numbers is in second place with only two. Yet in the book that is all about people’s backgrounds, there is nothing about Lot’s wife. So why did Jesus tell us to remember a woman whom we know almost nothing about?

Let's back up to the previous verse for content:

Luke 17:31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back.

This sounds strange, because we don’t spend time on roofs, but in Jesus’s day roofs were flat and people would spend time on them. There were stairways on the outside of the house leading up to the roofs. Think of the paralytic and how the four men carried him up to the roof. They would have done so using external stairs.

Don't Look Back!

The context is the the Second Coming in Luke 17:22-30. Jesus is destroying His enemies and establishing His Kingdom on the earth. This isn’t the time to turn back because the danger will be so great. People shouldn’t be looking back longingly at their possessions. Doing so would show:

a focus on the earthly versus the heavenly

that this life is more important than the next life

So, this is a warning to people who

are obsessed with the physical instead of the spiritual

cling to their earthly lives despite all that heaven offers

are tempted to confuse the enjoyments of the world with the eternal life that could await them

When Jesus returns, true believers will not be concerned about what is in the house.