When God sent angels to lead Lot and his family out of Sodom before sending judgment on the city, the angels told them to hurry and not look back, but Lot’s wife did look back. She was turned into a pillar of salt.

I have always interpreted this as judgment against her. It is the penalty for disobeying the angel. 

I have also assumed that she was reluctant to leave because her heart was wicked. She did not want to leave Sodom and all of its idolatry and sin.

But she was turned into a pillar of salt. If this view of her is true, why salt?

Jesus says we are the salt of the earth. Salt is a symbol of covenant. It is a preservative! And an essential mineral of life. “Taste and see that the LORD is good!” We are the flavor of His goodness left in the earth, a way to tempt the world to come and taste grace!

So, why would Lot’s wife become salt? She could have become ash, or dust, or brimstone, or any number of things. Why salt?

Also, pillars are erected as monuments, memorials of history we should remember. Jacob erects a pillar at Bethel, although I think Jacob is the pillar that God erects. The true Beth-el is the life surrendered to God’s purposes, but that is another  story. Pillars are monuments and memorials. Sure, idols are often given pillars too, but not by God.

God doesn’t bring an end to her. He makes her a memorial of her. But a memorial of what?

Lot is offered salvation because Abraham makes intercession for Sodom with God. He asks God to spare the city for the sake of the righteous, but there are no righteous, not really. Not even one. Yet God spares Lot and his daughters out of respect of Abraham. No, more than that. Out of love for them. God Himself invites Abraham to hear what is about to happen and to intercede. He seeks an intercessor to minimize what must be.

Could it be that Lot’s wife is another kind of intercession? That God has left a lasting memorial of a heart crying out to save, not because we are good, but because we are loved?

God has loved us even in our brokenness. He does not desire that any should perish but all come to salvation through repentance. 

What longing might this woman hold in her heart that bid her look and yearn for one last moment? The text says Lot tried to convince his daughters’ fiances to come with them and they laughed, but did they have grown children, married daughters? When they separated from Abraham they were large, too large to live together, and now they are just four. Where are the others? Who might she be looking back to see?

It seems like the God I know to flank this dark day with intercessions. A man pleading for the righteous to be spared. A woman seeking mercy for prodigals.

It seems like Him to have one lingering moment of grief during judgment. He is king. Justice is His duty, and Sodom was violence embodied, but mercy is His heart’s desire.