But Lot’s wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Genesis 19:26 (NASB)
Why was Lot’s wife punished for looking back (literally, “behind him,” referring to Lot)? And why a pillar of salt?
Genesis doesn’t say, but there are rabbinical thoughts on this that run through scripture.
One explanation is that Lot’s wife dies because when she looked back at the cities being destroyed, what she saw was the very presence of God in fire and smoke, dwelling in the land. It’s the same “don’t look” that’s given as a warning in Exodus 19.
Same fire and smoke. Same warning.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses: “Go down, warn the people, so that they do not break through to the Lord to stare, and many of them perish.
Exodus 19:21 (NASB)
But why a pillar of salt? What does it mean?
This part is less clear, but the rabbis suggest the punishment is often like the sin. In the same way they wonder if the forbidden fruit was a fig (Adam/Eve clothed themselves in fig leaves), perhaps the salt points to salt-related sin.
The Midrash tells a story of Lot’s wife, being from Sodom, having the same inhospitable heart as everyone else there. So when someone came to their door and asked for a bit of salt, she said no!
From Rashi:
ותהי נציב מלח AND SHE BECAME A PILLAR OF SALT — By salt had she sinned and by salt was she punished. He (Lot) said to her once: “Give a little salt to these strangers” and she answered him, “Do you mean to introduce this bad custom, also, into our city?” (Genesis Rabbah 50:4).
Rashi on Genesis 19:26:2/cite>
Is it true? Is it what happened?
Who knows? But it does have a certain elegance to it, and I think it’s a good way to remember the story, and to remember to be generous and kind to strangers.
And also, don’t stare at the presence of God.