Monday, April 18, 2011
BGOTB Lot's Wife
It has taken alot of thought, and I am not sure I still have solid thoughts for Lot's wife. I grew up with the story of Lot's wife turning to a pillar of salt but I don't think I ever thought about what that meant. I think I thought that she was told not to look back, she did, and wham, pillar of salt. I didn't think of the implications that maybe she didn't want to leave her luxurious life style. After reading the commentary and hearing that she did not utter a single word, I almost wonder what her purpose was. What I was able to come up with was that she probably had no dialogue with her husband or God for that matter. 1 Peter 3:5-6 implies that wives be submissive to their husbands. Be seen and not heard, your actions are what makes you beautiful. (I hope I summed that up OK) But...! I don't know that her actions were beautiful, it never really said. I am assuming that she went along with the lifestyle, accepted it whether she thought it was good or not. It almost reminds me of so many domestic abuse cases. Women stay in relationships because the don't know any better or don't know how to get out. It doesn't sound like domestic abuse but could she have taken a stand? What did she believe in? Another thing that got to me was that Lot was waiting at the entrance of the city, almost like he felt a bit guilty of being there, knowing he was better/ could do better, and he is just waiting to scope up visitors because he knew what they would be subjected to. He pretty much pleads and begs these Angels, Angels of the Lord, to please come to my house, like he can potentially talk his way into saving them if need be. This is another thing that got me... The town came calling, they wanted to do despicable things to the strangers, and he offered his virgin daughters. What? How does that make sense. I just don't understand why Lot would stay in such a place if he felt so strongly that unfortunate things were going to happen. That is an anxiety attack ready to happen. And then, when they Angels plead for him to leave, there is the fact that he complained that he couldn't make it to the mountains but he could go to the small town of Zoar. Hey, if God is setting you free from imminent danger, do you compromise? Anyway, some food for thought I hope. Here are some of my favorite suggested Bible verses: 1 Peter 3:5-6 2 Peter 3:9 Deuteronomy 8:5 Hebrews 12:10-11 Proverbs 6:23 Proverbs 13:19 2 Corinthians 7:10
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That's a whole lot of interpolation from one verse of the Bible. The only thing it says about her is from Gen 19:26, "But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt." That's about it. I can't really draw any conclusions about the woman from that. Does it imply that she just couldn't give up their "life of luxury"? Or was she just curious to see what was happening (like I would be)? The angels did even say, "Don't look back or you'll be turned into a pillar of salt." They just said don't look back. Is it worth speculating about when there's so little to draw any conclusions from? Are we putting words in God's mouth?
ReplyDeleteI was thinking alot of the same things you were about the whole story. I questioned why the author of the book even put it in there. She has been using some no name women to get her point across. I think with Lot's wife you have to get the whole back story of why he was in that city in the first place. Isn't that the point of all this, to discuss what we can learn from such stories? I also thought that I might be in the same situation, looking back to see what's going on, rubber necking as we often do.
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